Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization

Last updated

The Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization (Hizb al-lamarkaziyya al-idariyya al-'uthmani) was a political party in the Ottoman Empire founded in January 1913. Based in Cairo, the party called for the reform of the Ottoman provincial administration for Arab provinces through decentralization of power and functions, rather than outright independence.

Contents

Most support for the party came from Syrian intellectuals and Muslims, though Christians were encouraged to join as well. The party was accused of being political propagandists affiliated with European imperialists.

History and formation

In the wake of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, the modus vivendi between the Greater Syrian notables and the Ottoman center was disrupted. The power balance between the local notables and the center, which had characterized Sultan Abdul Hamid II's long rule, gave way as supporters of the Committee of Union of Progress (CUP) were given new political privileges and positions at the expense of individuals seen as loyal to the Sultan. [1] Some contemporary Arab commentators remarked that the CUP's Turkification of administration directly contradicted its spoken ideology of Ottomanization. [2] This discontent surfaced immediately following the start of the 1909 countercoup and took on the form of public celebrations as well as planned assassinations of local CUP activists. With the failure of the coup came increased censorship and surveillance of Greater Syria and a flight of many of its intellectuals, either in forced or self-imposed exile, to Paris and Cairo. [3] As a result of this intellectual diaspora and the Khedive's implicit support of press that may destabilize the Ottoman grip on Syrian lands, Cairo emerged as a political and literary hub providing Syrians with freedoms and networks they didn't have before. Following the April 1912 elections, which, one historian recounts, "were arranged so that Unionists [CUP members] won everywhere", [3] disenfranchised Syrian intellectuals realized they could not work within the CUP's political framework and took to creating an organization to advocate decentralization and provincialization.

The resulting product was the Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization (or the Ottoman Decentralization Party). It was founded in Cairo in January 1913. Its initial executive committee was a 14-man panel consisting of 8 Muslims, 5 Christians (Michel Tueni, Josef Hani, Pierre Tarrad, Doctor Eyub Sabit, Khalil Zeine), and 1 Druze (Rizcullah Arcash). [4] Rafiq al-Azm was its President, and, his cousin, Haqqi al-Azm was its Secretary. [5]

Ideology

The party's primary spoken goal was to attain greater administrative decentralization throughout the empire. Despite this, their activism revolved almost exclusively on the Arab lands, and Greater Syria in particular. They adopted Switzerland's governmental model as their ideal, noting its autonomous cantons as an appropriate solution. [6] Rather than agitating for independence, the party sought to remain within the Ottoman Empire, albeit with improved political representation and autonomy. This resembled that of the Liberal Union, who at the time were the main opposition party in the Parliament. [5]

By the end of 1913, it had become clear to the party that the CUP would not willingly accept their demands. [7] In response, some members of the party began to espouse complete Syrian independence. [8] Though the party seems to also have worked towards this end during World War I, seemingly no formal document declares its policy as such.

Membership and reception

By late 1913, the party, in a loose coalition with other Arabist movements, had developed a sophisticated networks of clubs, associations, organizations, and parties spanning the Empire's Arab provinces. [7] Known branches include Beirut, Damascus, Jaffa, [9] and Basra. [10] For fear of repression, the party's membership and chapters were shrouded in secrecy. This is reflected in instructions passed on from the leadership to a prominent Palestinian activist in 1913: "Each branch will remain secret until the government recognizes the party officially". [8]

The party heavily relied on Egyptian-based press to spread its ideology. As such, it appealed more to the educated, influential elite than it did to the masses. Despite this, many local Syrian notables, who were in favor with the CUP, opposed the party while many illiterate Arabs, who absorbed the ideas through local newspaper readings, supported it. [5]

The First World War

With the outbreak of the war, the Ottoman state tightened its grip on Arab lands significantly. The nascent Arab nationalist movement, faced with the decision of supporting the state or agitating for independence, became divided. Party activity decreased as members adopted different projects away from the party.

By 1915, Jamal Pasha had begun to imprison Arab intellectuals he deemed disloyal. In many cases, they were sentenced on the grounds of treason on evidence either in the form of testimony of local notables or documents left in the French consulate in Beirut. [11] This violent censorship culminated in the targeted executions of journalists and political activists on August 21, 1915 and on May 6, 1916 (also known as Martyrs' Day).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hashim al-Atassi</span> Syrian statesman, thrice president (1875–1960)

Hashim al-Atassi was a Syrian nationalist and statesman and the President of Syria from 1936 to 1939, 1949 to 1951 and 1954 to 1955.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shukri al-Quwatli</span> President of Syria (1891–1967)

Shukri al-Quwatli was the first president of post-independence Syria. He began his career as a dissident working towards the independence and unity of the Ottoman Empire's Arab territories and was consequently imprisoned and tortured for his activism. When the Kingdom of Syria was established, Quwatli became a government official, though he was disillusioned with monarchism and co-founded the republican Independence Party. Quwatli was immediately sentenced to death by the French who took control over Syria in 1920. Afterward, he based himself in Cairo where he served as the chief ambassador of the Syrian-Palestinian Congress, cultivating particularly strong ties with Saudi Arabia. He used these connections to help finance the Great Syrian Revolt (1925–1927). In 1930, the French authorities pardoned Quwatli and thereafter, he returned to Syria, where he gradually became a principal leader of the National Bloc. He was elected president of Syria in 1943 and oversaw the country's independence three years later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Awni Abd al-Hadi</span>

Awni Abd al-Hadi, aka Auni Bey Abdel Hadi was a Palestinian political figure. He was educated in Beirut, Istanbul, and at the Sorbonne University in Paris. His wife was Tarab Abd al-Hadi, a Palestinian activist and feminist.

Syrian Turkmen, also referred to as Syrian Turkomans, Turkish Syrians, or simply Syrian Turks or Turks of Syria, are Syrian citizens of Turkish origin who mainly trace their roots to Anatolia. Turkish-speaking Syrian Turkmen make up the third largest ethnic group in the country, after the Arabs and Kurds respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wasfi al-Atassi</span> Syrian politician

Wasfi al-Atassi (1888–1933) was a Syrian nationalist, statesman and one of the original writers of the Syrian constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Fatat</span>

Al-Fatat or the Young Arab Society was an underground Arab nationalist organization in the Ottoman Empire. Its aims were to gain independence and unify various Arab territories that were then under Ottoman rule. It found adherents in areas such as Syria. The organization maintained contacts with the reform movement in the Ottoman Empire and included many radicals and revolutionaries, such as Abd al-Mirzai. They were closely linked to the Al-Ahd, or Covenant Society, who had members in positions within the military, most were quickly dismissed after Enver Pasha gained control in Turkey. This organization's parallel in activism were the Young Turks, who had a similar agenda that pertained to Turkish nationalism.

Martyrs' Day is a Syrian and Lebanese national holiday commemorating the Syrian and Lebanese nationalists executed in Damascus and Beirut on 6 May 1916 by Jamal Pasha, also known as 'Al Jazzar' or 'The Butcher', the Ottoman wāli of Greater Syria. They were executed in both the Marjeh Square in Damascus and Burj Square in Beirut. Both plazas have since been renamed Martyrs' Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamil Mardam Bey</span> Syrian politician (1895–1960)

Jamil Mardam Bey, was a Syrian politician. He was born in Damascus to a prominent aristocratic family. He is a descendant of the Ottoman general, statesman and Grand Vizier Lala Mustafa Pasha and the penultimate Mamluk ruler Qansuh al Ghuri. He studied at the school of Political Science in Paris and it was there that his political career started.

As'ad Pasha al-Azm was the governor of Damascus under Ottoman rule from 1743 to his deposition in 1757. He was responsible for the construction of several architectural works in the city and other places in Syria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haqqi al-Azm</span> Syrian politician

Haqqi al-Azm was a Syrian politician active during the late Ottoman period and during the First Syrian Republic. From 1932 to 1934, he served as Prime Minister of Syria under the presidency of Muhammad Ali Bey al-Abid. He was a co-founder of the Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Azm family</span>

Al-Azm family is a prominent Damascene family. Their political influence in Ottoman Syria began in the 18th century when members of the family administered Maarrat al-Nu'man and Hama. A scion of the family, Ismail Pasha al-Azm, was appointed wāli of Damascus Eyalet in 1725. Between 1725 and 1783, members of the family, including As'ad Pasha al-Azm, held power in Damascus for 47 years, in addition to periodical appointments in Sidon Eyalet, Tripoli Eyalet, Hama, Aleppo Eyalet, and Egypt Eyalet. The family's influence declined in the 19th century, failing to establish a true dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arab Congress of 1913</span>

The Arab Congress of 1913 met in a hall of the French Geographical Society at 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris from June 18–23 in Paris to discuss more autonomy for the Arab people living under the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore The Arab National Congress, which was established by 25 official Arab Nationalists delegates, was convened to discuss desired reforms and to express their discontent with some Ottoman policies. It took place at a time of uncertainty and change in the Ottoman Empire: in the years leading up to World War I, the Empire had undergone a revolution (1908) and a coup (1913) by the Young Turks, and had been defeated in two wars against Italy and the Balkan states. The Arabs were agitating for more rights under the fading empire and early glimmers of Arab nationalism were emerging. A number of dissenting and reform-oriented groups formed in Greater Syria, Palestine, Constantinople, and Egypt. Under Zionist influence, Jewish immigration to Palestine was increasing, and England and France were expressing interest in the region, competing for spheres of influence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nasuhi al-Bukhari</span>

Nasuhi al-Bukhari or Nasuh al-Boukhari was a Syrian soldier and politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of Syria in 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhammad al-Ashmar</span> Syrian-Palestinian rebel and politician

Muhammad al-Ashmar was a Syrian rebel commander during the Great Syrian Revolt and the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, and a prominent communist figure in post-independence Syria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramadan al-Shallash</span>

Ramaḍān Pāshā al-Shallāsh was a prominent rebel commander of the 1925 Great Syrian Revolt and, prior to that, a military officer in the Ottoman and Sharifian armies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shukri al-Asali</span>

Shukri al-Asali was a prominent Syrian politician, nationalist leader, and senior inspector in the Ottoman government, in addition to being a ranking member of the Council of Notables. He served in the Ottoman parliament from 1911 until April 1912. He was executed with other Syrian nationalists by the Ottoman governor Jamal Pasha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rafīq Bey al-ʿAzm</span>

Rafīq Bey ibn Mahmūd al-ʿAzm was a Syrian intellectual, author, and politician. 'Azm served as the president of the Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization and was a key figure in the intellectual formation of Arabism.

The Syrian Unity party was set up by Syrian emigres in Cairo at the end of 1918. Its founders included signatories to the memorandum that resulted in the Declaration to the Seven and persons previously connected with the Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization. In August 1921, the party organized the Syrian–Palestinian Congress in Geneva with a view to influencing the terms of the proposed League of Nations mandate over the region.

Before the outbreak of the First World War, scholars of the Arab Salafiyya movement represented the leading voice of Islamic religious dissent within the Ottoman Empire. Their most influential theologian Muhammad Rashid Rida, an ardent critic of Abdul Hamid II and Turkish nationalism, regarded Ottoman kings as unqualified to rule over the affairs of the Muslim World. While excoriating the Ottomans as an artificial caliphate based on unjust wars and conquests; Salafi scholars nonetheless strongly forbade rebellion against the Ottoman authority due to their insight of dangers posed by the expanding European colonialism. Rashid Rida and his pupils perceived the Ottoman state as an essential entity for allowing Muslims to successfully repel European imperial powers and rebuked the proponents for an alternative Caliphate; suspecting them of serving the aims of imperial powers. All of this changed with the Ottoman entry into World War 1 in October 1914, on the side of the Central Powers. Rashid Rida viewed the war as part of the secular Turkish nationalist programme of the Young Turks, a faction he vehemently denounced as murtadd (apostates).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Hamid al-Zahrawi</span> Syrian Arab nationalist (1855-1916)

Abdul Hamid al-Zahrawi was a Syrian Arab nationalist and former member of the General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire. A journalist with the Arab newspaper Al Qabas he supported the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), a Young Turks movement that carried out a successful coup in 1908. Zahrawi sat for the CUP in parliament but turned against them when they started replacing Arab officials with Turks and was replaced in a rigged election in 1912.

References

  1. Khoury, Philip S. (2003). Urban Notables and Arab Nationalism: The Politics of Damascus 1860-1920 . Cambridge University Press. pp.  52. ISBN   978-0521533232.
  2. Khoury (2003), p.56
  3. 1 2 Khoury (2003), p.62
  4. Memories of A Turkish Statesman 1913-1919 by Djemal Pasha, p. 231
  5. 1 2 3 Khoury (2003), p.63
  6. Rogan, Eugene (2015). The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East. Basic Books. ISBN   978-0465097425.
  7. 1 2 Khalidi, Rashid I (Winter 1981). "The Press as a Source for Modern Arab Political History: 'Abd al-Ghani al-'Uraisi and al-Mufid". Arab Studies Quarterly. 3 (1): 26. JSTOR   41857558.
  8. 1 2 Tauber, Eliezer (Jan 1997). "Secrecy in Early Arab Nationalist Organizations". Middle Eastern Studies. 33 (1): 122. doi:10.1080/00263209708701145. JSTOR   4283850.
  9. Tauber (1997), p.123
  10. Dawn, C. Ernest (Spring 1962). "The Rise of Arabism in Syria". Middle East Journal. 16 (2): 146. JSTOR   4323468.
  11. Bunton, Martin (2016). A History of The Modern Middle East (6th Ed). Westview Press. p. 145. ISBN   978-0-8133-4980-0.