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From Istanbul to Tabriz:

Modernity and Constitutionalism in the


Ottoman Empire and Iran

Fariba Zarinebaf

any scholars consider the Iranian constitutional revolution of 1906  –11 as a turn-


ing point in the history of modern Iran that ushered in a long century of popular
struggles and resistance against the absolutism of the shahs (Qajars and Pahlavis)
and Western imperialism. The historiography of the Iranian constitutional revolution is rich
and varied; the recent publication in Iran of primary sources like newspapers, memoirs, politi-
cal tracts, parliamentary debates, and consular reports only enhances it further.1 The inter-
national dimension of the Iranian constitutional revolution is receiving more attention with
access to foreign consular reports in the British, Turkish, and French archives.2 Except for a
few notable studies, the Turkish constitutional movements of 1876 and 1908, by comparison,
have received much less attention from scholars of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. 3 De-
spite two divergent historiographies, a comparative study of the Ottoman and Iranian con-
stitutional movements is just beginning to receive some attention.4 With a few notable excep-

Research for this essay was funded by a grant from the Iran Heri- 3.  Hakki Tarik Us, Meclis-i Mebusan, 1293:1877; Zabit Ceridesi,
tage Foundation in London. This essay was presented at the cen- 2 vols. (Istanbul: Vakif Matbaasi, 1939 – 40); Şerif Mardin, The
tennial of the Iranian constitutional revolution at Oxford Univer- Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought: A Study in Moderniza-
s of  sity in June 2006. I thank the Başbakanlik Archives in Istanbul, tion of Turkish Political Ideas (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
tu di e the Atatürk Library, the interlibrary loan at Northwestern Uni- Press, 1962); Robert Devereux, The First Ottoman Constitutional
iv eS   versity Library, and the Middle East staff at Regenstein Library Period: A Study of the Midhat Constitution and Paliament (Balti-
a rat a nd
mp ic a at the University of Chicago. I also thank my father for his invalu- more: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1963), Niyazi Berkes, The
Co r
Af able insights. A shorter version of this article was published in Development of Secularism in Turkey (Montreal: McGill University

  s ia ,

ut hA the Turkish journal Toplumsal Tarih, no. 166 (October 2007). Press, 1964); and Feroz Ahmad, The Young Turks (Oxford: Claren-

  o st 
       S Ea don, 1969). For a critical historiography of the Young Turk revolu-
    le 1.  For recent publications of these sources in Iran, see Mansoureh
    idd Ettehadieh, “‘Newspapers and Journals Reprinted from 1991 to
tion, see Şükru Hanioğlu, Preparation for a Revolution: The Young


th eM 2001’ and ‘Historical Works Relating to the Qajar Era Published in
Turks, 1902 – 1908 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).


      00
8 2 
  . 1, 2 7 - 06 Iran, 1996 – 2001,’ ” Iranian Studies 34 (2001): 195 – 226; Peter Avery, 4.  Thierry Zarcone and Fariba Zarinebaf-Shahr, eds., Les Iraniens
  No -2 00 “Printing, the Press, and Literature in Modern Iran,” in Cambridge d’Istanbul (Louvain: Peeters, 1993); Nader Sohrabi, “Constitution-
  2 8, 0 1x s 
ol. 92 res History of Iran, vol. 7, From Nadir Shah to the ­Islamic Republic, alism, Revolution, and State: The Young Turk Revolution of 1908
   V 108 it yP
  15 /
  12 er s ed. Peter Avery, Gavin Hambly, and Charles Melville (Cambridge: and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 with Compar-

  1 0. ni v
oi eU Cambridge University Press, 1991), 815 – 69; and Mansour Bon- isons to the Russian Revolution of 1905” (PhD diss., University
    d
D uk
    by akdarian, Britain and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of of Chicago, 1996); Sohrabi, “Historicizing Revolutions: Consti-
08
20 1906  – 11: Foreign Policy, Imperialism, and Dissent (Syracuse, NY: tutional Revolutions in the Ottoman Empire, Iran, and Russia,
 ©
  Syracuse University Press, 2006). 1905 – 1908,” American Journal of Sociology 100 (1995): 1383 – 1448;
and Sohrabi, “Global Waves, Local Actors: What the Young Turks
2.  The opening of the Russian archives will shed light on a very
Knew about Other Revolutions and Why It Mattered,” Compara-
important player in the constitutional revolution. That history
tive Studies in Society and History 44 (2007): 45 – 79.
is still to be written. On the influence of Indian intellectual cur-
rents on Persian nationalism, see Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Re-
fashioning Iran: Orientalism, Occidentalism, and Historiography
154 (London: Palgrave, 2001).
tions, most of the existing historiography has dependence dealt a heavy blow to the position 155
emphasized the role of Western thought in the of non-Muslims. The Ottoman state manifested
development of Turkish and Iranian modernity, the strongest modernist impulse, which can be
while local and regional influences have been traced back to the eighteenth century; under
ignored. Moreover, less attention has been paid pressure from Western powers and in order to
to the reception of Western ideas and the subse- save the empire from further disintegration, a
quent cross-fertilization of modernist discourse new class of bureaucrats and reformists created
among different intellectual and social groups. a pan-Ottoman discourse for a modern type of

Fariba Zarinebaf 

From Istanbul to Tabriz: Modernity and Constitutionalism 

in the Ottoman Empire and Iran


The aim of this study is to shed light on the re- government that would grant citizenship rights
lationship between Turkish and Iranian reform- to all male subjects regardless of religion and
ists, intellectuals, and activists by drawing on ethnicity and would continue the Tanzimat
Turkish archival material, consular reports, nar- reforms. But Islam and Turkish ethnic senti-
rative sources, Persian newspapers, and books ments were emerging as the dominant intel-
printed in Istanbul.5 I highlight the role of Ira- lectual paradigms in the aftermath of wars of
nian and Ottoman reformists in this formative independence and the Russo-Turkish wars that
period in the articulation of two competing led to the ethnic cleansing of the Balkans and
discourses: Western liberal constitutionalism the Caucasus and created millions of Muslim
based on French and Belgian models and an Is- refugees crossing into the Ottoman lands. The
lamist constitutionalism (mashrutay-i mashru’ah) Transcaucasian Muslim refugees of Crimean
that was popular among the ulema and more and Azeri background identified with both the
traditional classes. 6 In Iran the merchants, in Sunni Ottomans and the Shi‘i Iranians and set-
alliance with some members of the Shi‘i ulema, tled in both states. In both states, these groups
played an important role in the mobilization of played an important role in forging a nationalist
urban masses in the constitutional movement of discourse.
1906  –11. The conservative outcome of the Ira- The intellectual interaction between Otto­
nian constitutional movement had to do with man and Iranian reformists and intellectuals
the active participation of these two tightly knit took place in several phases that began first in
social groups, which composed the traditional the Ottoman Empire during the Tanzimat re-
middle class and survived until the Islamic revo- forms (1839 – 78) and culminated in the grant-
lution of 1979. The urban masses made up of ing of the first Ottoman constitution of 1876 by
artisans and professional members of guilds Sultan Abdülhamid II (1876  –1909). The second
played an important role in the success of the period started in the last decade of the nine-
Iranian revolution of 1906. The latter vein of teenth century and culminated in the Iranian
Iranian constitutionalism laid the foundation constitutional revolution of 1906  –11 and the
for the constitution of the Islamic Republic in Young Turk revolution of 1908.7 In both states,
1979. In the Ottoman Empire, the merchant the first phase of reform started with modern-
bourgeoisie was largely non-Muslim and prone ization projects traceable to the late eighteenth
to nationalist ideologies that promoted indepen- and early nineteenth centuries that were initi-
dence (Armenians and Greeks); the ulema were ated by reformist bureaucrats in response to
closely tied to the state and were independent of Western and Russian military victories and
the middle class. The reforms of the Tanzimat territorial gains. Military academies, modern
era undermined the status of the lower-ranking schools, modern bureaucracy, the printing
ulema, while the nationalist movements for in- press, and newspapers were the products of the

5.  I have undertaken a larger study on the history of 7.  Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought.
Tabriz during the constitutional era.

6.  I do not discuss the European intellectual influ-


ences, particularly of the Enlightenment and the
French Revolution, since this topic has already re-
ceived a great deal of attention by scholars of both
modern Turley and Iran. See Vanessa Martin, Islam
and Modernism: The Iranian Revolution of 1906 (Lon-
don: I. B. Tauris, 1989).
156 first phase of the reform movements. Gradu- sian territories, especially Transcaucasia and
to a degree Astrakhan (in the Crimea). Agha
ates of modern schools became the leaders of
the second phase of the reform movement for Muhammad Tahir, the founder and owner of
the newspaper Akhtar in Istanbul, which for a
national awakening and constitutionalism. The
time was the only modern-style newspaper in
print media, particularly newspapers, offered a
Persia, was a Tabrizi. So were the two editors of
forum for the exchange of ideas among the in-
that newspaper, Hajji Mirza Mehdi and Mirza
tellectuals and a growing literate middle class. Mehdi. The latter afterwards went to Egypt and
  Persian newspapers printed in Istanbul, Cairo,
t i ve founded the newspaper Hekmat (1892) in Cairo,
ar a Calcutta, Tiflis, and European capitals enjoyed
mp
which lasted almost until the beginning of the
Co
f  more freedom in expressing criticism of the constitutional movement and whose articles
ie so were very influential.8
tu d
government and in bypassing censorship laws.
S , 

A si a The use of the telegraph was equally important
Taqizade was born to an ulema family of
u th  
So he in communication among the revolutionaries in
dt Sheikhi background in Tabriz, studied modern
an various cities and between Iran and the Otto-
frica sciences and English in the American mission-
A st man Empire. It goes without saying that both
Ea ary school (Memorial), and read with great in-
d le Ottoman and Iranian thinkers and bureaucrats
d
Mi terest books and newspapers published in Istan-
were directly influenced by Western liberal phi-
bul, the Caucasus, and Europe.9 He established
losophy during their educational sojourns in
the first secular bookstore (Tarbiyat) with Mirza
Europe; many became members of freemason
Muhammad Ali Khan Tarbiyat (“Education”)
lodges that were established in the second half
in 1903.10 Taqizade and Tarbiyat published an
of the nineteenth century. During this period,
influential newspaper called Ganjinah-yi funun
diplomatic, commercial, and cultural contacts
(Treasure of Knowledge) in Tabriz and founded
among intellectuals and reformists in Tabriz
the Secret Center together with twelve young
and Istanbul as well as Transcaucasia assumed
radicals, including several merchants like Ali
great importance.
Karbalâ’î (“Monsieur”), who traveled to Baku
Seyyid Hasan Taqizade (1878 –1970), a
for business; two tanners; and a linguist. The
leading constitutionalist figure who was elected
members promoted Western secular educa-
to the majlis twice as the deputy of Tabriz and
tion and were interested in French political
Azerbaijan, described the history of these con-
philosophy and the Young Ottoman movement
tacts in his autobiography in the following
in the Ottoman Empire.11 Taqizade traveled
manner:
to Istanbul via Tif lis, which he described as
Preliminary steps to acquire western accomplish- the gateway to Europe. In Tiflis he met Mirza
ments began in Tabriz. One important thing Jalil Muhammad Qulizade Tabrizi, founder of
which helped progress on the road of civiliza- the well-known satirical paper Molla Nasr ad-
tion was that, because of the presence in Tabriz Din and whom he called the Molière and Tol-
of Abbas Mirza and his vizir, Qaim Maqam Fara-
stoy of Muslim Russia. In Istanbul he lived in
hani, who was a very intelligent man, this city
the Iranian neighborhood next to Valide Hani,
became the exclusive center of Iranian foreign
relations. Foreign ambassadors usually came
the caravansary of Iranians, for six months. He
here and Iranian envoys abroad, with few excep- spent most of his time in bookstores in Beyoğlu,
tions, went out from Tabriz. Modern civilization borrowing and reading banned books like
came to Azerbaijan primarily from two sources: those written by Namik Kemal. He also read the
through knowledge of the Turkish language Persian opposition newspapers and literature
there were intellectual ties first with Istanbul in Istanbul and came into contact with the au-
and Ottoman territories and second with Rus- thors.12 He met the editors of the Persian news-

8.  Robert Landen, The Emergence of the Modern Mid- 9.  The role of Western missionaries (American and 11.  Ervand Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolu-
dle East: Selected Readings (Columbia: University of French) has not received much attention in the spread tions (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982),
South Carolina, 1970), 128 – 29. See also Iraj Afshar, ed., of modern education in Iran. Because of its large Chris- 75 – 76.
Zendegi-yi Tufânî: Khâtirât-i Seyyid Hasan Taqizade tian minority, Azerbaijan was one of the first places
12.  They were Mirza Yusuf Khan Mustashar al-Dawleh
(Tehran: ‘Ilmi, AH 1358/1979), 26 – 45. Taqizaded went for the establishment of Western missionaries.
Tabrizi, the author of Yek Kalama and Ganj-i Danesh;
to Istanbul via ­Tiflis and Batumi.
10.  Afshar, Zendegi-yi Tufani, 35 – 36. Najaf Quli Khan, the author of Mizan al-Mavâzin; Haji
Zeyn al-Abidin Marâgha’î; Jamal al-Din al-Afghani;
paper Akhtar and Zeyn al-Abidin Marâgha’î, the percent ad valorem). After the opening of the 157
author of the Travelogue of Ibrahim Beg, which Tabriz-Trabzon-Istanbul route in the 1830s,
was printed in Istanbul and banned in Iran.13 the volume of trade with Russia, the Ottoman
Taqizade also traveled to Dagestan in 1906 Empire, and Europe increased enormously
and met Abdul-Rehim Talibuf (1834–1911), the in the second half of the nineteenth century.
author of Ketab-i Ahmad, which was printed in The introduction of steamships and European
Istanbul in 1890  –  93.14 These two books played shipping on the Black Sea made travel between
an important role in the political awakening of Tabriz and Istanbul (via Tif lis) shorter and

Fariba Zarinebaf 

From Istanbul to Tabriz: Modernity and Constitutionalism 

in the Ottoman Empire and Iran


many Iranians. They were written in the form safer; Istanbul and Trabzon became the ports
of imaginary conversations about the causes of Tabriz. Greek and Persian merchants carried
of the economic and cultural backwardness of on the bulk of trade between Manchester, Istan-
Iran and the need for legal, educational, and bul, and Tabriz and imported cotton textiles
economic reforms as well as a constitutional and shawls and exported silks, hides, carpets,
form of government to limit the absolutism of dried fruits, and so forth. Traffic on this route
the shah and his ministers and to preserve the became greater than that on the old overland
independence of Iran. route via Erzurum and Anatolia.15
In his travels, Taqizade received financial Because of its strategic location, Tabriz
support and lodging from the Iranian commu- was the seat of the Qajar heir apparent; the
nities in Baku, Tiflis, Istanbul, Paris, and Lon- frontier between Iran, the Ottoman Empire,
don. In the absence of rigid borders between and Russia; and the center of modernization
Iran, Russian Transcaucasia, and the Ottoman and international trade.16 The Qajar prince and
Empire, Iranian merchants of mostly Azeri governor of Azerbaijan, Abbas Mirza (d.1833),
background traveled to the Ottoman Empire established a modern army (of six thousand sol-
via the Caucasus and resided in major towns diers) modeled after the nezam-i jedid of Selim
and cities. The bilingual background of Azeris III (1789  –1807) and built a canon factory and
who spoke both Azeri Turkish and Persian (as a musket plant by importing cast iron from the
well as Russian in some cases) made these con- Ottoman Empire. He set up a translation office,
tacts possible. The cessation of religious hostili- established Iran’s first permanent missions in
ties between the Sunni Ottomans and the Shi‘i Paris and London, and hired Western (French)
Iranians played an important role in the easing military advisers. He founded the printing press
of tensions, although border disputes and Otto­ (1816) and sent the first group of Iranian stu-
man skirmishes continued into the twentieth dents to Europe to acquire Western education
century. The signing of the Treaty of Erzurum in military science, engineering, modern lan-
with the Ottoman Empire in 1823, 1841, and guages, and medicine. Trade, modern reforms,
1876; the Treaty of Turkmanchai with Russia and the presence of European and Russian
in 1814 and 1828; and the Anglo-Persian Treaty diplomatic and merchant communities made
of 1841 opened up Iranian markets to English Tabriz the largest (three hundred thousand
and Russian goods and granted their merchants residents) and most cosmopolitan and modern
freedom of trade and lower customs rates (4 – 5 city in nineteenth-century Iran.17

Haji Mirza Hasan Khan Kabir al-Mulk; Mirza Agha Khan 15.  Fariba Zarinebaf-Shahr, “The Iranian (Azeri) Mer- 17.  Abbas Amanat, Pivot of the Universe: Nasir ­ad-Din
­Kirmani; Sheikh Ahmad Ruhi; and Huseyn Danish. chant Community in the Ottoman Empire and the Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1851 –  1 896
Constitutional Revolution,” in Zarcone and Zarinebaf- (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 74 – 75.
13.  Afshar, Zendegi-yi Tufani, 37 – 43. Travel from Iran
Shahr, Les Iraniens d’Istanbul, 203 – 12 . See also Charles Many leading bureaucrats like Amir Kabir first served
to Istanbul usually went through the Caucasus and
Burghess and Edward Burghess, Letters from Persia, in the court of Qajar, the heir apparent in Tabriz.
the Black Sea, via Tiflis, Baku, Batumi, Trabzon, and
1828 – 1855, ed. Benjamin Schwartz (New York: New
Istanbul.
York Public Library, 1942), 84 – 85; and Vanessa Mar-
14.  Marâgha’î died in Istanbul; Talibuf died in Dag- tin, ed., Anglo-Iranian Relations since 1800 (London:
estan. Both were born in Iranian Azerbaijan. Abd Routledge, 2005).
­al-Rahim Talibuf, Kitâb-i Ahmad, ed. B. Mo’mini (Teh-
16.  Fariba Zarinebaf-Shahr, “Tabriz under Ottoman
ran: Shabgir, AH 2537/1977), 122 – 3 7. Talibuf claims
Rule, 1725 – 1730” (PhD diss., University of Chicago,
that he was inspired by Rousseau’s Emile. He wrote
1991).
his book in two volumes. Talibuf advocated unity
­between Shi‘is and Sunnis.
158 In the late nineteenth century, the dis- The establishment of Iranian embassies
covery of oil and the economic boom in Baku and consulates in the Ottoman, European, and
attracted many Iranian Azeri workers to Baku. Russian capitals and port cities raised the level of
Local oil barons like Zeyn al-Abidin Taqiyev in- diplomatic and intellectual interaction. In many
vested their wealth in the modernization of the instances, merchants served as consular repre-
city, making Baku the jewel of the Caspian Sea. sentatives (shehbenders) and translators whose
Russian and European firms were very active in main mission was to protect the interests of the
  the oil sector, and a large Russian, European, growing Iranian merchant communities and pil-
t i ve
ar a and Iranian/Azeri community settled in Baku. grims. In cities like Istanbul with a sizable and
mp
Co
f  By 1897, their number in Russia had grown to growing European presence, Iranians came into
ie so
tu d
73,920, of whom 60,405 lived in the Caucasus contact with Ottoman reformers and intellectu-
S , 

A si a (23,968 in Baku and 8,142 in Tiflis).18 Many were als as well as European communities. Iranian
u th  
So t he common laborers and lived in miserable condi- Muslim merchants of predominantly Azeri back-
a nd tions. Zeyn al-Abidin Marâgha’î, a merchant ground felt at ease in the capital of a Muslim
frica
A st from Iranian Azerbaijan who lived and traded in empire that boasted both Eastern and Western
Ea
d le Transcaucasia and Istanbul, deplored the condi- traditions, a wide commercial and diplomatic
d
Mi
tion of Iranian émigrés and merchants in Baku network, and an international community.
and Tiflis in his travelogue.19 Their exposure to According to Khan Malek Sassani, the
Marxist ideas and their social marginalization Iranian chargé d’affaires in Istanbul (1919 – 21),
radicalized many Iranians who participated in sixteen thousand Iranians (four thousand fami-
oil strikes in Baku. The Iranian Azeri émigré lies) lived in Istanbul in 1889, 80 percent of
community established the Social Democratic whom were from Azerbaijan. 22 Other than Is-
Party of Iran in Baku in 1904. The party drew tanbul, the largest Iranian communities in Ana-
inspiration from Russian social democracy and tolia were in Adana (2,714), Izmir (955), Aleppo
Marxism, established contacts with the Secret (850), Erzurum (721), Van (448), and other cit-
Center in Tabriz, and lent military assistance ies, totaling 10,800 families that received tezkires
to revolutionaries such as Sattar Khan during in 1889.23 Most of them were merchants; some
the Qajar repression of constitutionalists and had become Ottoman subjects and married Ot-
the Russian siege of Tabriz in 1908. The party toman women despite the Ottoman prohibition
called for workers’ rights to organize and strike against the marriage of Sunnis and Shi‘is. The
and work an eight-hour day. It also advocated community had a printing press that published
women’s rights; the distribution of land among Persian books like the travelogue of Marâgha’î
peasants; a progressive income tax; freedom of and the Persian newspaper Akhtar in 1876.24 It
speech, press, and public meetings; and tolera- had its own caravansary in Valide Hani, shops,
tion of all religions.20 Ottoman and Russian mo- schools, mosques, even coffeehouses, and a cem-
dernity and political movements reached Iran etery in Üsküdar. Iranian merchants dominated
via this route, and Tabriz, Baku, and Istanbul the Istanbul carpet trade with Europe.25 They im-
became the centers of cultural and political ported European luxury goods and woolen and
contact.21 cotton textiles into Tabriz via Trabzon, and many

18.  This figure is based on the first national census 19.  Haj Zeyn al-Abidin Marâgha’î, Sayâhatnâmah-yi 22.  Khan Malek-e Sassani, Yâdbudhây-i Safârat-i
in Russia. See Hassan Hakimian, “Iranian Diaspora Ibrahim Beg, ed. M. Sepanlu (Tehran: Nashr-i Asfâr, ­Istanbul (Tehran: Firdusi, AH 1345/1966), 94.
in Caucasus and Central Asia in the late Nineteenth 1985), 18 – 6 6. He was critical of the failure of the
23.  Ibid., 97 – 1 00. See also Fariba Zarinebaf-Shahr,
Century,” Encyclopedia Iranica (Costa Mesa, CA: ­Iranian government to protect Iranian goods and
“Iranian Diaspora in Ottoman Turkey,” Encyclopedia
Mazda Publishers, 1995), 7:375 – 7 7. According to this merchants who were losing out in competition to
Iranica, 7:373 – 75.
author, many Iranians worked in construction, rail- Russian and Western merchants. He praised Taqiyev
ways, and the oil industry and their number in the for his progressive ideas and investment in Muslim 24.  Marâgha’î, Sayâhatnâmah-yi Ibrahim Beg.
last field grew from 11 percent in 1893 to 29 percent enterprises. Ibid., 24.
25.  Tsutomu Sakamoto, “Istanbul and the Carpet Trade
in 1915.
20.  Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolutions, 77. of Iran since the 1870’s,” in Zarcone and Zarinebaf-
­Shahr, Les Iraniens d’Istanbul, 213 – 31.
21.  See Zarcone and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les Iraniens
d’Istanbul, 203 – 12. On the Azeri press in Baku, see A.
Holly Shissler, Between Two Empires: Ahmet Ağaoğlu
and the New Turkey (London: I. B. Tauris, 2003), 128 – 32.
made fortunes from this trade. Many poorer administration or to build new churches. In 159
Iranians who owned tobacco shops and drove Istanbul, only half of the population was Mus-
carriages also lived in Istanbul. The volume of lim, while 40 percent were Christian (Greek
trade on this route declined in the last decade Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox) and the
of the nineteenth century when trade with Eu- rest (10 percent) were Jewish, Catholic, or Prot-
rope shifted to the Persian Gulf with the open- estant. Although these reforms were never fully
ing of the Suez Canal, causing economic distress implemented and the millet system continued
and even bankruptcies among the Iranian mer- to exist, the concept of equality of Muslims and

Fariba Zarinebaf 

From Istanbul to Tabriz: Modernity and Constitutionalism 

in the Ottoman Empire and Iran


chants in Istanbul. Iranian merchants became non-Muslims led to more demands for equal-
critical of Qajar policies in granting commercial ity and privileges by non-Muslims, such as
concessions to foreign merchants and failing to the building of new churches. These reforms
protect the interests of Iranian merchants and strengthened the hand of Ottoman bureaucrats
voiced their discontent in Akhtar and another like Ali Pasha and Fuad Pasha and generated
Persian newspaper, Sorush. They formed their opposition among the lower-ranking ulema
own society called Anjuman-i Sa’âdat in 1908, and the populace at large, culminating in the
established contact with the town council (anju- kuleli rebellion in Istanbul in September 1859.26
man) in Tabriz, and supported Iranian activists Government control of pious foundations, the
and exiles, whose number in Istanbul grew in introduction of the European penal code and
the late nineteenth century. In Istanbul, Iranian mixed tribunals, and the concept of equal-
bureaucrats and intellectuals came into contact ity between Muslims and non-Muslims were at
with the Young Ottomans and were inspired by the heart of this opposition.27 The jurisdiction
the Tanzimat reforms. of the Sharia courts became confined to fam-
ily law and inheritance-related matters. To put
Ottoman Reforms and Discontent these reforms into practice, Ottoman provincial
The Tanzimat reforms of 1839 – 78 were initi- councils made up of Muslims and non-Muslims
ated by a group of Ottoman bureaucrats after introduced the principle of proportional rep-
the bloody elimination of the janissary corps in resentation among the empire’s various ethnic
1826 and the suppression of provincial ayans by and religious communities. The limited applica-
Sultan Mahmud II (1808 – 39), thus paving the tion of these reforms, however, and continuing
way for centralization, modernization of the unrest in the Balkans (Herzegovina, Crete, Leb-
bureaucracy, and fiscal and legal reforms in anon, the Romanian principalities, and Serbia)
several stages. The semiconstitutional charter made these reforms ineffective. An opposition
known as Hatt-i şerif-i gülhane drafted by Reşit group called the Patriotic Alliance was led by
Pasha in 1839 introduced the concept of the Mehmed Bey, who had received an education in
equality of Ottoman subjects before the law Paris and returned to Istanbul and was calling
and the protection of the property, honor, and for a constitutional government. The rest were
lives of all Ottoman subjects regardless of reli- Namik Kemal Bey, a poet and the publisher of
gion. Traditionally, Ottoman subjects had been the periodical Tafsir-i Efkâr ; Ayetullah Bey; and
divided into millets based on religious identity Refik Bey, owner of the periodical Mir’at. Mus-
and maintained a degree of cultural, legal, and tafa Fazil Pasha, brother of Kedive Isma‘il of
social autonomy. As people of the book, they Egypt, joined this group and became its leader
paid the poll tax in return for protection but in 1866. 28 Namik Kemal (1840 – 88), the most
were not allowed to serve in the military or the important thinker of this group, forged a syn-

26.  Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought,


18. According to Mardin, the group was inspired by po-
litical movements in Italy (led by Giuesepe Mazzini),
France, and Spain.

27.  Uriel Heyd, “The Ottoman Ulama and Westerniza-


tion in the Time of Selim III and Mahmud II,” in The Mod-
ern Middle East, ed. Albert H. Hourani, Phillip Khoury,
and Mary Wilson (London: I. B. Tauris, 1993), 34 – 36.

28. Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought, 14.


160 thesis between Islamic and Western political ital.32 Namik Kemal and his collaborators were
concepts and introduced the concepts of father- subsequently banished from Istanbul, and their
land (vatan), liberty (hüriyyert), and consultation papers were closed down; they eventually es-
(meşveret). He advocated checks on the absolutist caped to Paris at the invitation of Mustafa Fazil
rule of the sultan based on the ideas of Baron Pasha. Mustafa Fazil Pasha, who was bypassed
de Montesquieu and the implementation of jus- for succession in favor of Khedive Isma‘il’s son
tice based on the Sharia to achieve harmony in and had sold all his property in Egypt, provided
  an ideal Islamic state.29 In his opinion, rule was important financial support to this group and
t i ve
ar a a trust given to the ruler by the will of the com- their periodical in exile, Hüriyyet.33 The return
mp
Co
f  munity, and the Islamic state was a “republic at of Mustfa Fazil Pasha to Istanbul, the thawing
ie so
tu d
its inception.”30 But majority rule and individual of his relationship with Sultan Abdülaziz, the
S , 

A si a rights could not transgress the boundaries of difficulties of life in exile, and the differences
u th  
So t he the moral law of the Sharia. of opinion among the Young Ottomans led to
a nd According to Şerif Mardin, no document their return to Istanbul after the death of Ali
frica
A st exists that describes the agenda of the Patriotic Pasha in 1871. The appointment of Midhat
Ea
d le Alliance. The group was inspired by political Pasha as the grand vizier in 1872, the deposi-
d
Mi
movements in Italy (led by Giusepe Mazzini tion of Abdülaziz, and the accession of Murad V
[1805 – 72]), France, and Spain. Mardin states as sultan in 1876 drastically changed the politi-
that a letter from a Turco-Egyptian pasha to the cal atmosphere in favor of the Young Ottomans.
sultan demanding a constitution in 1866 and The young sultan and his grand vizier seemed
the uprising in Crete played important roles in committed to the principle of liberty and rep-
the political awareness of this group. The group resentative government and assembled a grand
was opposed to the monarchical rule of Sultan council of notables to discuss constitutional re-
Abdülaziz (1861–  76) and the interference of the form. The mental illness of Murad V, however,
great powers in the internal affairs of the em- opened the way for the accession in 1876 of his
pire after the Crimean War of 1856. Members brother Abdülhamid II, who at first supported
wrote articles criticizing government policies in the constitutionalists.34 He encouraged the for-
periodicals like Tafsir-i Efkâr and Muhbir. Tafsir-i mation of a constitutional committee in Octo-
Efkâr  printed and discussed the news of the ber 1876 and appointed both Ziya and Namik
proclamation of the Egyptian constitution in Kemal to it.
1866 and the opening of the Romanian parlia- Midhat Pasha, the grand vizier and a lead-
ment. The foreign press in Istanbul led by Courier ing figure in the drafting of the constitution,
d’Orient started a rigorous constitutional cam- had served as governor of the Balkan provinces
paign in 1867. 31 In March 1867, Mustafa Fazil in Salonika, Danube, and Niş for a few years and
Pasha, brother of Egyptian Khedive Isma‘il, who was a firm believer in cooperation between Mus-
resided in Istanbul, wrote a letter to the sultan lims and non-Muslims in order to save the em-
demanding a constitution as a cure for the em- pire from collapsing.35 He formed a commission
pire’s ills. This letter was soon published in the of twenty-eight men that included three non-
French daily Liberté. Namik Kemal translated it Muslims and drafted more than twenty propos-
and distributed fifty thousand copies in the cap- als based on translations of the French, Belgian,

29.  Ibid., 283 – 336. Namik Kemal wrote on Ottoman 32.  Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought, ­Muslims in the parliament and the administration.
history; he completed six plays, short biographies, 281 – 82. They also opposed any man-made law based on con-
novels, essays, and several translations and articles sultation (shura). The pro-constitutionalists used the
33.  Ibid., 42 – 43.
that he contributed to Hürriyet and Ibret. Koranic verse 42:38, “Discuss among yourselves.”
34.  Ibid., 72 – 73. These tensions were very similar to those among
30.  Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought,
the Iranian opponents of the constitution. But in
296 – 97. 35.  Enver Ziya Karal, “Non-Muslim Representatives
Iran, the Shi‘i ulema first appeared to be divided on
in the First Constitutional Assembly, 1876 – 1877,” in
31.  Ibid., 32 – 33. Courier was widely read by Turkish this question; Ayatollah Tabâtabâ’î and Bihbahânî as
Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire: The Func-
intellectuals. Its owner, Giampietry, was in contact well as Mirza Muhammad Hussein Nâ’inî were pro-
tioning of a Plural Society, ed. Benjamin Braude and
with Mustafa Fazil Pasha, who claimed credit for this ­constitutionalists, while Fazlullâh Nurî turned against
Bernard Lewis (London: Holmes and Meier, 1982),
proposal. it on similar grounds. In ‘Atabât, Ayatollah Khurasanî
387 – 4 01. The opponents of the constitution used
and Mâzandarânî initially supported the constitu-
the inequality of Muslims and non-Muslims prom-
tional movement but were opposed to radical secu-
ised in the Sharia against the participation of non-
larists like Taqizade.
and Prussian constitutions. Namik Kemal advo- growing power of Midhat and Kemal, dismissed 161
cated the constitution of the Second Empire of the former and arrested Kemal on charges of
France (1830) and rejected those of America, as trying to depose him. Namik Kemal was exiled
a result of its republicanism, and Prussia. Based to Mytilene, Rhodes, and Chios and died on 2
on the French model, the constitution would December 1888.40
create a system of government composed of Sultan Abdülhamid II ordered the closure
three branches: a council of state and a senate of the parliament, using the Russian invasion as
appointed by the sultan and a lower chamber justification for an emergency measure, and sus-

Fariba Zarinebaf 

From Istanbul to Tabriz: Modernity and Constitutionalism 

in the Ottoman Empire and Iran


elected indirectly by the people and supervised pended the constitution in February 1878. The
by the sultan.36 Ottoman Empire faced a serious crisis of legiti-
Sultan Abdülhamid finally accepted the macy at home and abroad. With the loss of most
translation of the French constitution but re- of its non-Muslim subjects in the Balkans and
tained considerable executive authority.37 On 3 the flow of more than 1 million Muslim refu-
December 1876, an imperial firman proclaimed gees, the empire had acquired a distinctly Mus-
the constitution. Provincial administrative coun- lim character. Pan-Islamic unity among the Ot-
cils set up by direct elections were in charge of toman Empire, Egypt, Iran, and India became
sending electors to the assembly in proportion an attractive idea to the sultan, his advisers, and
to the number of Muslims and non-Muslims some leading ulema like Muhammad ‘Abduh
in each province. Istanbul’s twenty districts and Seyyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani as well as
each chose two electors, one Muslim and one many Iranian intellectuals. An Ottoman-Iranian
non-Muslim, who met at the municipality and alliance against British and Russian imperialism
selected ten representatives, five Muslims and united Iranian and Ottoman intellectuals and
five non-Muslims. Following the first elections, reformists.
of 115 deputies, 67 were Muslim and 48 were
non-Muslim.38 Iranian Reformists in Istanbul
The great powers did not show much sup- Leading Iranian bureaucrats and reformists
port for the constitution while discussing the who spent some time in Istanbul and were ex-
question of nationalities and the Balkan crisis posed to Ottoman reformist trends were Prime
at an international conference in Istanbul. The Minister Amir Kabir (1848 – 51); Malkum Khan
British press and the Western press in general (1833–1908), an official in the embassy who
were very hostile to the constitution. This led lived in Istanbul from 1861 to 1871; and Mirza
to the dismissal of Vizier Midhat Pasha and his Muhsin Khan Mu’in al-Mulk, the Iranian am-
banishment to the provinces.39 The Russian in- bassador to Istanbul from 1880 to 1898.41 Mu’in
vasion in April 1877 resulted in Ottoman defeat, al-Mulk was born in Tabriz to a merchant fam-
Austrian control of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the ily. His father traveled to Istanbul and took his
granting of autonomy to Bulgaria and Roma- son, who learned French in Istanbul. His father
nia, and the mass migration of more than 1 mil- returned to Iran during the premiership of
lion Muslims from the Balkans. Several months Amir Kabir. Mu’in al-Mulk became a translator
later, the sultan, who was becoming weary of the for the government and served as a member of

36.  Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought, 38.  Ibid., 394. The nine Balkan provinces sent twenty- 41.  Hamid Algar, Mîrzâ Malkum Khân: A Study in the
311. The council of the state was nominated by the two Muslims and twenty-two non-Muslims, while ten History of Iranian Modernism (Berkeley: University of
sultan and was in charge of preparing and draft- Anatolian provinces sent twenty-one Muslims and California Press, 1973); Algar, “Participation of Iranian
ing laws that would be accepted or rejected by the twelve non-Muslims. See also Feroz Ahmed, “Union- Diplomats in Masonic Lodges of Istanbul,” in Zarcone
elected deputies and the senate. ist Relations with the Greek, Armenian, and Jewish and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les Iraniens d’Istanbul, 33 – 4 4;
Communities of the Ottoman Empire, 1908 – 1914,” in Homa Nategh, “Mirza Aqa Khan, Sayyed Jamâ al-Din
37.  Karal, “Non-Muslim Representatives,” 391.
Braude and Lewis, Christians and Jews in the Ottoman et Malkom Khan a Istanbul, 1860 – 1897,” in Zarcone
Empire, 401 – 34. and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les Iraniens d’Istanbul, 49 – 52.
Algar is very critical of Malkum Khan’s character and
39.  Karal, “Non-Muslim Representatives,” 394 – 95.
ideas and his opportunism. Malkum Khan was appar-
40.  Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought, ently very pro-British, helping them to gain conces-
76 – 7 7. sions, and he attributed Ottoman reforms to British
pressures. He also supported Abdülhamid’s pan-
­Islamic policies.
162 the Iranian embassies in St. Petersburg, Paris, leading role in informing the Iranian merchants
and London before his appointment as ambas- about the content of the tobacco concession,
sador to Istanbul.42 He served as the Iranian which led to widespread boycotts and rebellions
ambassador in Istanbul for eighteen years and in Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan, and Tehran in 1891.
became closely associated with Sultan Abdül­ Edward Browne, a British orientalist and a firm
hamid II. One positive outcome of this friend- supporter of the Iranian constitutional move-
ship was Abdülhamid’s initial support for the ment who subscribed to Akhtar, claims that he
  establishment of the Persian weekly newspaper changed his mind about serving the Regie when
t i ve
ar a Akhtar in Istanbul in 1876. he received this issue of Akhtar in London.
mp
Co
f  Naja Quli Khan, the Iranian consul gen- Some members of the Iranian community
ie so
tu d
eral, supported the paper and placed it under were members of Masonic lodges in Istanbul.
S , 

A si a the editorship of Muhammad Tahir Tabrizi. Mu’in al-Mulk was politically very active in the
u th  
So t he Nasir ad-Din Shah (1848 – 96) personally sub- foreign diplomatic community in Istanbul and
a nd scribed to the paper and read it with great in- became a member of the Masonic lodge, the
frica
A st terest. The paper was distributed in Tabriz, Grand Orient in Istanbul.45 According to Algar,
Ea
d le Tehran, Isfahan, and Baku, and in India, in many Iranian diplomats belonged to Masonic
d
Mi
Hyderabad and Lahore.43 Akhtar drew some of lodges active in Istanbul, like the French Grand
its financial support from the Iranian merchant Orient and the Greek Proodos. They came into
community that resided in Istanbul. Its purpose contact with the Young Ottomans as well as Eu-
was to inform and educate the Iranian commu- ropean, Greek, and Armenian intellectuals.46
nity in Istanbul about the news in the empire Malkum Khan was born to a family of Ar-
and Europe. Since it was printed in Istanbul, it menian merchants in Isfahan, attended Catholic
escaped the censorship of the government in missionary school, and converted to Islam. He
Iran. It translated and printed the text of the served in diplomatic missions in Istanbul and
Ottoman constitution of 1876 in February 1877. there joined Masonic lodges. In 1859, after his
The content of the Ottoman constitution and first stay in Istanbul and his contacts with Reşid
the elections to the parliament were discussed Pasha, Malkum Khan, with the help of his fa-
in several issues, and the paper began inform- ther, Ya’kub Khan, composed a pamphlet called
ing its Iranian readers about the benefits of a Daftar-i tanzimat (The Book of Tanzimat), which
constitutional type of government. At times, introduced Ottoman reformist institutions like
it even promoted the agenda of Abdülhamid shuray-i devlet (the council of state), divan-i adliye
II; that is, the need for Muslim unity and the (the council of justice), and kanun-i ceza (the
loyalty of all Muslims, Sunnis and Shi‘is alike, penal code) into Iran. In his treatise Kitabcha-yi
to the caliph-sultan, no doubt under the influ- ghaybi (The Secret Notebook), composed in 1859, he
ence of Afghani, who contributed to Akhtar and put forward his ideas concerning the need for
called for the boycott of the Tobacco Regie. legal reform and the adoption of Western laws
Akhtar was briefly suspended for reporting as the foundation of state and society. Malkum
and exposing to a British company the harmful Khan spent some time in France and witnessed
effects of the tobacco concession on local mer- the French Revolution of 1858 in Paris. Upon his
chants and producers in its November issue in return, he established the first freemason lodge
1890 (no. 430), following Sabah, a Turkish news- in Iran in 1858. Later, in his Daftar-i qanun (Book
paper, and the European press.44 Akhtar played a of Law), composed in 1883 – 84, he put forward

42.  Sassani, Yâdbudhây-i Safârat-i Istanbul, 255 – 64. 44.  E. G. Browne, The Persian Revolution, 1905 – 1909
(Washington, DC: Mage Publishers, 1995), 46 – 49.
43.  Orhan Koloğlu, “Un journal Persan d’Istanbul:
Browne has translated the text of the news from the
Akhtar,” in Zarcone and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les Iraniens
Turkish newspaper Sabah that printed this informa-
d’Istanbul, 133 – 40; and ‘Anja Pistor-Hatam, “The Per-
tion for the first time.
sian Newspaper Akhtar as a Transmitter of Ottoman
Political Ideas,” in Zarcone and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les 45.  Sassani, Yâdbudhây-i Safârat-i Istanbul, 261.
Iraniens d’Istanbul, 141 – 47. Pistor-Hatam argues that
46.  Algar, “Participation of Iranian Diplomats in Ma-
the paper was first financed and supported by the Per-
sonic Lodges.”
sian and Ottoman governments but soon fell under
the control of the Iranian community in Istanbul.
the elements of a new penal code that reformed Nasir ad-Din Shah appointed Mustashâr 163
the Sharia.47 In 1890 he set up the monthly news- al-Dawlah minister of justice in 1881, but he be-
paper Qanun (Law) in London, which lasted came disillusioned with the degree of corrup-
until 1898 (twenty-two issues were published) tion and injustice and quit his post. He contrib-
and was modeled after the Turkish press, espe- uted articles to Akhtar that were critical of the
cially the exilic opposition paper Hüriyyet. In his system of justice in Iran. 52 He wrote a letter in
editorials, he attacked the Iranian ministers and 1888 to Muzaffar ad-Din Mirza when the latter
advocated the incorporation of European ide- was the governor of Azerbaijan, asking him to

Fariba Zarinebaf 

From Istanbul to Tabriz: Modernity and Constitutionalism 

in the Ottoman Empire and Iran


als of enlightenment and progress and the sepa- form an alliance with the Ottoman government,
ration of the executive from the judiciary and other Muslim states, and France against Russia
religious from civil law as models for reform in and England. To gain economic and political in-
Iran.48 Mustashâr al-Dawlah, a leading Iranian dependence, the government had to guarantee
reformist, wrote articles critical of the Iranian everyone’s liberty and equality and provide for
system of justice in Qanun. good and just government based on laws that
Mirza Yusuf Tabrizi, known as Mustashâr would be in harmony with Islam. 53 He was ar-
al-Dawlah, was born to a merchant family in rested, beaten up, and imprisoned for several
Tabriz in 1822. He worked in the British Consul- months on the order of Nasir ad-Din Shah for
ate in Tabriz, was appointed as Iranian general his critical articles in Akhtar. His book Yek ka-
consul in Astrakhan for eight years (1853 – 61), lameh was presented by his enemies to Nasir ad
spent six months as the Iranian minister in St. Din Shah, who accused him of collaborating
Petersburg, and became the consul general in Ti- with Malkum Khan and dismissed him from his
flis for four years. He was then appointed chargé new post in the foreign mission in Tabriz. He
d’affaires to Paris for three years (1866 – 69). In was arrested in 1891 and was beaten over the
1870, during his second appointment to Paris, head with his book until he fainted. His house
he wrote his book Yek kalameh. In this book, he was looted, his property was confiscated, and
placed the principles of the French constitution he was incarcerated and tortured at a prison in
in an Islamic framework based on the Koran Qazvin. He died in Qazvin in 1895.
and the tradition of the prophet Muhammad.49 Much like Namik Kemal, both Mustashâr
He basically advocated nineteen principles of al-Dawlah and Malkum Khan paid lip service to
reform highlighted by the need for a constitu- Islam and couched their Western-oriented phi-
tional monarchy modeled after the French sys- losophy of law and progress in universal human-
tem. He claimed that the principles of equality itarian terms not alien to religion. They based
of all before the law, a representative govern- their ideas on the tradition of reform, Islamic
ment based on consultation (meşveret, shura), modernism, advice literature, and just govern-
just rule, the separation of the executive from ment. These men were involved in an intense
the judiciary, a jury system, a law code, personal intellectual dialogue and in forging a synthesis
liberty, and protection of life and property, free- between Ottoman and Iranian reformist ideals,
dom of speech and assembly, were within the Islamic legal and political principles (din ve dev-
Koran and the Islamic tradition. 50 He believed let, shura), the Iranian and Ottoman traditions
the main foundation of European progress to of “mirror for princes,” and modern European
be the principles of absolute liberty (hurriyet-i political concepts inspired by the ideals of the
mutlak), education, good administration, mili- French Revolution (liberty, fraternity, and equal-
tary organization, and interaction with non- ity). They led a life of literary and intellectual
Muslims and European governments.51 production, activism, and service to the state,

47.  Algar, Mîrzâ Malkum Khân, 190 – 91. 50.  Ibid., 44 – 79.

48.  Ibid., 187 – 88. Algar describes the paper as a propa- 51.  Ibid., 67 – 76.
ganda periodical sheet against the Qajar government.
52.  Mustashâr al-Dawlah, Yek kalameh, 11 – 17.
49.  Mirza Yusuf Mustashâr al-Dawlah-yi Tabrizi, Yek
53.  Ibid., 81 – 90.
kalameh ve yek nâmeh, ed. Seyyid Muhammad Sadiq
Fayz (Tehran: Sabah, 1962).
164 founding or writing for opposition newspapers ernment (meshruteh). 55 Akhtar translated and
and providing advice to rulers. Namik Kemal, printed the text of the Ottoman constitution in
Mustashâr al-Dawlah, and other Iranian activ- February 1877, while the news of its promulga-
ists like Afghani, Mirza Agha Khan Kirmani, tion was suppressed in Iran. 56 The editorials in
and Sheikh Ahmad Ruhi shared a common fate Akhtar offered commentaries and analysis on
of exile, banishment, imprisonment, and death the principles of the Ottoman constitution that
for their ideas. Their idea of Islamic modernism introduced political vocabularies like kanuni-
  was appropriated by Sultan Abdülhamid II. esasi (fundamental laws), majlis (assembly), and
t i ve
ar a Abdülhamid’s call for pan-Islamic unity shura (consultation) to Persian readers. But it
mp
Co
f  under the caliph-sultan was an attempt to gain had serious shortcomings because it gave su-
ie so
tu d
legitimacy and unite all his Muslim subjects preme authority to the sultan, whose personality
S , 

A si a against British and Russian imperialism. He was was sacred as the caliph of Muslims and whose
u th  
So t he also inspired by Afghani’s (1839 – 97) anti-British duty was to protect Islamic law rather than the
a nd crusade in India and Egypt that aimed at bring- constitution. The sultan had the authority to
frica
A st ing all Muslims, Shi‘i and Sunni, together to suspend the parliament, which he used when
Ea
d le battle the British and Russians. Afghani, or Asa- the Russians attacked in 1878, thus ending the
d
Mi
dabadi, was a Shi‘i reformist preacher of Azeri short life of the first parliament after it had sat
origin who became an activist and agitator and for only two sessions. The significance of the
chose the surname Afghani to cover his Shi‘i Ottoman constitution was debated in Akhtar
background while he was in India and Egypt. in the context of European (British) pressures
He sought the support of Sultan Abdülhamid for reform, Russian threats, Balkan uprisings,
when he was expelled from Iran for his role in and the need for equal rights among Ottoman
the Tobacco Rebellion of 1891. He spent some subjects regardless of religion. Following the
time in London and went to Istanbul in 1892 debates in the Turkish press, the editorials in
at the invitation of Abdülhamid II, where he Akhtar emphasized the patrimonial rights of
died or was allegedly poisoned by order of the the Ottoman sultan over all his subjects, which
sultan five years later. In Istanbul he formed an contradicted the promise of liberty and equal-
Iranian and Ottoman pan-Islamist circle with ity in the constitution. At the same time, Akhtar
two leading Azali-Babi thinkers, Mirza Agha reflected Ottoman optimism that the granting
Khan Kirmani, who wrote for the Persian news- of the constitution would satisfy European de-
paper Akhtar, and Sheikh Ahmad Ruhi. 54 With mands and unite all the subjects of the empire
the support they received from the sultan, they as equal Ottoman subjects (taba’a) with loyalty
wrote letters to the Shi‘i ulema inviting them to a common state and only contractual rights
to join their pan-Islamic group. In May 1896, to the sultan. Abdülhamid supported Akhtar fi-
after the assassination of Nasir ad-Din Shah by nancially because it promoted his pan-Islamic
Mirza Reza Kirmani, a disciple of Afghani, the policies, which attracted many Muslim activists
Iranian government demanded the extradition to his cause.
of all three men to Iran. Abdülhamid’s govern- The economic crisis of the last decades of
ment kept an eye on Afghani and the Iranian the century in Iran and the Ottoman Empire,
community in Istanbul. The Persian newspaper marked by budget crises, high inflation, West-
Akhtar was suspended permanently for its politi- ern economic ascendancy, and the granting of
cal tone critical of Nasir ad-Din Shah. unfavorable concessions, undoubtedly affected
The editorials in Akhtar debated the the lot of many Iranians trading in the empire.57
compatibility of Islamic notions of governance Their grievances were reflected in the editorials
(din ve devlet), liberty (hüriyyet), equality (musa- of Akhtar. As stated above, the paper was shut
vat), just rule (‘adâlat), and constitutional gov- down permanently by the Ottoman government

54.  Nikki Keddie, Modern Iran: Roots and Results of 56.  Akhtar, no. 4 ( 7 February, 1877).
Revolution (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
57.  Zarinebaf-Shahr, “Iranian (Azeri) Merchant Com-
2003), 62.
munity,” 203 – 12.
55.  Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolutions.
after the assassination of Nasir ad-Din Shah in Sheikh Muhammad Va’ez. First, they demanded 165
1896.58 Shortly thereafter, the two Babi contrib- the dismissal of both the governor and the
utors to Akhtar, Mirza Agha Khan Kirmani and Belgian customs officials and a representative
Ruhi, were extradited to Iran and executed in house of justice (adâlatkhâne). This protest later
Tabriz by the Qajar governor and prince, Mu- evolved into a demand for a representative maj-
hammad Ali Mirza in 1897. After Akhtar, Shams lis and a constitution with the input of the intel-
was printed under the directorship of Sayyid lectuals. The shah first agreed to an adâlatkhâne
Hasan Shams Tabrizi and with the support of in January 1906 and accepted a majlis in August

Fariba Zarinebaf 

From Istanbul to Tabriz: Modernity and Constitutionalism 

in the Ottoman Empire and Iran


Tefvik Beg in Istanbul, but it did not enjoy the 1906. The first majlis opened in October 1906.
popularity of Akhtar. Persian books, political After the election of deputies from Tehran, it
treatises, and newspapers printed abroad pre- undertook to write the Fundamental Laws based
pared the ground for the constitutional move- on the French and Belgian constitutions, which
ment in Iran. the shah signed in December 1906.59 The death
The accession to the throne of Muzaffar of the shah in January 1907 and the accession
ad-Din Shah in 1896 coincided with the growing of his son Muhammad Ali, who was very hostile
economic crisis exacerbated by fresh loans from to the majlis and the constitutionalists, led to
Russia in 1900 and 1902 and economic conces- tensions and conflicts between the more radical
sions by Iran to the subjects of Russia and Great deputies like Taqizade, the deputy of Tabriz and
Britain. Furthermore, the shah’s extravagant the leader of the Social Democratic Party, and
trips and courtly expenditures, the arbitrary the conservative ulema like Bihbahânî. This
rule of Qajar, and Belgian customs officials conflict of opinion revolved around the role of
led to social discontent and unrest throughout the Sharia in the legal system and that of the
the country and in major towns in 1903. The ulema in drafting laws that would not be con-
Russo-Japanese War of 1904 – 5 and the Russian trary to the Sharia. The Supplementary Laws of
Revolution of 1905 emboldened the opposition 1907 were the product of the resolution of this
led by intellectuals, merchants, and progres- conflict in favor of conservative preachers like
sive ulema. Secret centers and anjumans were Sheikh Fazlullâh Nurî.
established that smuggled newspapers abroad The Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1907, which
into Iran and disseminated the news of Qajar divided Iran into two spheres of influence and
oppression through secret leaflets (shabnames). a neutral zone, ended any hope of British sup-
The bazaar and mosques played an important port for the constitutionalists and against Rus-
role in the mobilization of the masses. sian intervention. 60 The coup of Muhammad
The revolution started in December 1905 Ali Shah with the help of the Russian Cossack
when the governor of Tehran beat the feet of brigade headed by General Liakhoff in June
sugar merchants for not lowering the price. 1908 and the bombardment of the majlis re-
In protest against this act of the governor, a sulted in the execution of nationalists and the
large number of mullahs, merchants, and arti- exile of leading intellectuals like Ali Akbar Di-
sans took refuge (bast) in the royal mosque of hkuda and Taqizade to Istanbul and Europe.
Tehran and retired later to the shrine of ‘Abd The subsequent civil war and the siege of Tabriz
­al-’Azim. The ulema were led by the liberal muj­ by royalist forces and the reactionary ulema in
tahid Seyyid Mohammaf Tabâtabâ’î and radi- June 1908 and the Russian occupation in April
cal preachers Seyyed Jamâl al-Din Isfahani and 1909 ended the first phase of the constitutional

58.  See Koloğlu, “Un Journal Persan d’Istanbul”; and 60.  According to Mansour Bonakdarian, Sir Edward
Pistor-Hatam, “Persian Newspaper Akhtar.” Grey (British foreign secretary, 1905 – 16) encountered
considerable opposition to this agreement from the
59.  Keddie, Modern Iran, 68 – 69. On the Fundamental
radicals in the parliament — Edward Browne and Lord
Laws, see Browne, Persian Revolution, 353 – 7 1.
George Nathaniel Curzon (governor general and vice-
roy of India, 1899 – 1905) — as well as Iranian national-
ists like Taqizade, though the agreement pledged to
respect Iran’s independence and territorial integrity.
Bonakdarian, Britain and the Iranian Constitutional
Revolution, 71 – 96.
166 movement.61 Taqizade fled to London and Cam- Tabriz via telegraphs and spread the news to
bridge where he was hosted by Edward Browne the Iranian communities in the Ottoman Em-
in 1908. In Browne’s house, he came into con- pire and to the Shi‘i ulema in the holy cities of
tact with Young Turk leaders like Ahmed Reza Najaf and Karbalâ. 66 The Young Turk newspa-
Beg and exchanged ideas with them about con- pers like Tanin supported the Iranian constitu-
stitutionalism. According to Taqizade, in these tionalists during the counterrevolution and the
meetings Browne encouraged cooperation be- royalist siege of Tabriz from June 1908 to July
  tween the Young Turks and the constitutional- 1909.67 Tanin expressed its sincere support for
t i ve
ar a ists in Iran.62 According to Taqizade, the British the Iranian constitutionalists and reported that
mp
Co
f  supported the Young Turks against the sultan two hundred people had taken refuge in the Ot-
ie so
tu d
on account of his pro-German sentiments and toman embassy in Tehran in June 1908.68 The
S , 

A si a policies. After being exiled to Istanbul in 1910, same issue discussed the new Ottoman constitu-
u th  
So t he there, Taqizade spent two years, met Morgan tion of 1908. The Turkish newspaper Sabah set
a nd Shuster, the American lawyer and financial ad- up an account to collect contributions to help the
frica
A st viser to the majlis on his way to Iran, and lived constitutionalists in Tabriz.69 According to Anju-
Ea
d le with Muhammad Emin Resulzâde, who had man, the local newspaper in Tabriz, the Young
d
Mi
fled Tehran and Baku under Russian pressure. Turks honored Sattar Khan for his defense of
He also came into close contact with the Young the constitution and the sultan gave him a me-
Turk leaders like Ahmed Reza Beg and attended dallion. The Anjuman-i Sa’âdat send a letter to
one of the sessions of the Ottoman parliament.63 Anjuman of Tabriz in November 1908 claiming
During the counterrevolution in Iran, Istanbul that it rather than the sultan gave Sattar Khan
became the center for the Iranian exiles who the medallion of honor.70 The ­Anjuman-i Sa’âdat
gathered there from Iran and Europe. in Istanbul sent telegraphs to the local council
Ali Akbar Dihkhuda, who had also fled in Tabriz regularly and expressed its support for
to Istanbul, established the Persian newspa- the constitutionalists.71
per Sorush in Istanbul in 1909; it lasted for six
months and was the official organ of Anjuman-i Ottoman and Iranian Constitutions
Sa’âdat (the society for the welfare of Iranians The first Ottoman constitution was the culmi-
in Istanbul). Iranian and Azeri intellectual fig- nation of modern reformist principles of state
ures like Huseyn Danish and Ahmad Ağaoğlu building, demand for equal rights by Ottoman
contributed editorials to the paper in support of ethnic and religious minorities, and a response
Iranian constitutionalists during the civil war in to European pressures to carry out legal and po-
Tabriz.64 After the restoration of constitutional litical reforms among the empire’s non-Muslim
government by the Young Turks in July 1908, subjects.72 The aim of the Ottoman bureaucrats
the Iranian constitutionalists in Tabriz, Qazvin, was to unify the empire by forging a new identity
Kermanshah, and Tehran wrote petitions and and loyalty to the state among the empire’s vari-
sent telegrams to the Ottoman consulates and ous subjects, although the principle of religious
government asking for their support, and some and communal identity remained part and par-
took refuge in Ottoman consulates.65 Anjuman-i cel of the Ottoman constitution, in line with the
Sa’âdat in Istanbul received word of the siege of Sharia and the Ottoman millet system.

61.  Janet Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution lution, 125. On Browne’s formation in London of the 66. Anjuman (Tabriz), 2 (Şevval AH 1326/October 1908),
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), 211 – 31. Persian Committee, which was critical of Grey’s Per- (Tehran, AH 1376/1997).
sia policy, see Bonakdarian, Britain and the Iranian
62.  Afshar, Zendegi-yi Tufânî, 157. Taqizade claims 67.  Tanin, no. 4 (June 1908), Atatürk Library, Istanbul.
Constitutional Revolution, 133 – 37.
that Ahmed Reza Beg, who was the speaker of the
68.  Tanin, no. 7 (August 1908).
parliament, recognized him and invited him to sit in 63.  Afshar, Zendegi-yi Tufânî, 157 – 7 1.
the front row. Research on the two years that Taq- 69. Anjuman, no. 35 (24 Zilhijja AH 1326/December 1908).
64.  Thierry Zarcone, “‘Ali Akbar Dihkhuda et le Journal
izade spent in Istanbul would shed great light on his
Surūsh d’Istanbul (Juin-November 1909),” in Zarcone 70. Anjuman, no. 22 (Zilkade AH 1326/November 1908).
connections to the Young Turks. According to Bonak-
and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les Iraniens d’Istanbul, 243 – 51.
darian, Wilfrid Blunt, the British writer and diplomat, 71.  Anjuman, no. 31 (Zilhijja AH 1326/December 1908).
On Ağaoğlu, see Shissler, Between Two Empires.
had advised Browne to go to Istanbul and seek Young
72.  For an English translation of the Ottoman consti-
Turk support for the Iranian constitutionalists. Bon- 65.  Hariciye-Siyasiye dossiers 743/80, 743/70 – 7 2,
tution of 1876, see www.worldstatesmen.org/Otto 
akdarian, Britain and the Iranian Constitutional Revo- 743/76, Başbakanlik Archives, Istanbul.
manConstitution1876.htm (accessed 16 July 2007).
Despite its shortcomings and short life entire Persian nation (articles 35 – 57). After 167
(one year), the first Ottoman constitution had the victory of the conservative sheikh Fazlullâh
a major impact on political developments in Nurî, the Iranian Supplementary Laws declared
the empire by inspiring not only the Young that none of the legal enactments of the Na-
Turks who engineered the 1908 revolution but tional Assembly should be at variance with the
also the Young Iranians who came into contact sacred principles of Islam. Therefore, the Na-
with Ottoman political thinkers in Istanbul and tional Assembly should select a “supreme com-
played a major role in the constitutional revolu- mittee” composed of five mujtahids elected by

Fariba Zarinebaf 

From Istanbul to Tabriz: Modernity and Constitutionalism 

in the Ottoman Empire and Iran


tion in Iran. the deputies from among twenty mujtahids who
The Iranian Supplementary Fundamental shall determine whether or not such laws that
Laws of October 1907 (articles 1–  57) followed may be proposed are in conformity with the
very closely the French (1830), the Belgian principles of Islam.75 The judiciary was divided
(1831), and the first (1876) Ottoman constitu- into civil and religious courts with extensive
tions but departed from them in important jurisdiction over religious laws. The executive
ways.73 Following the French and Belgian con- had the authority to ban “heretical” organiza-
stitutions, articles 8  –10 of the Ottoman consti- tions and publications.76 This was a radical de-
tution and articles 8 and 9 of the Iranian Sup- parture from the Ottoman constitution, which
plementary Laws of 1907 defined the rights of had minimal reference to Islam and the Sharia.
Ottoman and Persian nations as equal before The active role of the Iranian Shi‘i ulema in the
the law and gave them protection of life, prop- constitutional movement was an important fac-
erty, domicile, and honor.74 The idea of indirect tor in this development. It was the precursor of
elections and two chambers was drawn from the the Guardian Council in the constitution of the
French constitution of 1830. The Islamic char- Islamic Republic.
acter of the Ottoman and Iranian constitutions The drafting of the Supplementary Laws in
was stated in their declaration that Islam was Iran, however, reflected the ideological struggle
the official religion of the state (Twelver Shiism and deep polarization between the conservative
in Iran). Article 11 of the Ottoman constitu- ulema led by Bihbahânî and Sheikh Fazlullâh
tion recognized the free expression of all reli- Nurî and the more secular-minded representa-
gions, whereas the Iranian Supplementary Laws tives like Taqizade and Sad ad-Dawleh. Both Fer-
spelled out Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastri- eydun Adamiyat and Janet Afary rightly point
anism as recognized religions outside Islam. out the intense struggle going on inside and
Following the French constitution and Is- outside the parliament. According to Afary, the
lamic notions of rule, the Ottoman constitution secularists received support from the provincial
elaborated the sacred and executive authority council in Tabriz and the radical press like Sur-i
of the sultan, who belonged to the Ottoman Israfil, Musavat, and Molla Nasr al-Din. The last
dynasty and was the caliph of all Muslims (ar- two were inspired by Russian social democracy,
ticles 3 – 7) and exempt from all responsibilities. strong in the Caucasus.77 Adamiyat regards the
Similarly, the Iranian constitution defined sov- Supplementary Laws of 1907 as a victory for the
ereignty as a trust and divine gift confided by the secularists, but Afary is right to be more cau-
people to the king, who in turn established the tious in her final assessment. The Supplemen-
constitution as a favor with the assistance of tary Laws were a compromise between the con-
the Imam of the Age, the care of the proofs of servative ulema, who stood for the strong role of
Islam, the ulema, and, last, the people of the the Sharia, and the ulema (mashrutay-i mashru’a)

73.  For an English translation of the Iranian consti- 75.  Browne, Persian Revolution, 363 – 96.
tution of 1906, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_ 
76.  Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolutions, 90.
Constitution_of_1906 (accessed 23 January 2008).
77.  Afary, Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 89 – 115.
74.  For the translation of the Ottoman constitution,
see Landen, Emergence of the Modern Middle East.
For the English translation of the Iranian constitu-
tion, see Browne, The Persian Revolution, 1905 – 1909
(Washington, DC: Mage, 1995).
168 in the judiciary and those who advocated sec- Conclusion
ular laws, popular principles of sovereignty The constitutional movements in Turkey and
(mashrutay-i mutlak), freedom of religion, and Iran had a great deal in common, but they had
equality among all religions.78 The ambiguity of some major differences as well. The first Otto-
the Iranian constitution reflected different un- man constitutional movement of 1876 was a
derstandings of a constitutional type of govern- continuation of the Tanzimat reforms led by Ot-
ment by different social classes and groups in toman statesmen and a reflection of the chang-
  society.79 Both constitutions were based on lim- ing Ottoman attitudes toward non-Muslims. It
t i ve
ar a ited suffrage that denied equal rights to women; was also to some degree a response to Western
mp
Co
f  apostates (Babis), in the case of the Iranian con- pressures to improve the status of non-Muslims
ie so
tu d
stitution; and ethnic minorities. and an attempt to rein in Balkan nationalism
S , 

A si a While both the Ottoman and Iranian and centrifugal forces among non-Muslim sub-
u th  
So t he constitutions specified three branches of gov- jects. 80 The Iranian constitutional movement
a nd ernment, the Iranian constitution drew a clear was a grassroots and urban movement with the
frica
A st and important distinction among the execu- active participation of artisans, merchants, the
Ea
d le tive, the legislative, and the judiciary (articles progressive ulema, and a small but vocal group
d
Mi
26 – 29). The sultan and the shah appointed of the intelligentsia. Iran faced similar issues
and dismissed members of the executive and of religious dissent among the Babis, centrifu-
the ministers of state and opened and ended gal disintegration in the north (Azerbaijan
the sessions of the parliament. The sultan and and Gilan), and great power rivalry. The loss
the shah could dismiss the parliament in special of territories in the Caucasus to Russia during
circumstances. the first half of the nineteenth century and the
After a period of thirty-one years, the granting of concessions to the subjects of Russia
Young Turks restored the Ottoman constitution and England mobilized Iranian merchants, arti-
in 1908 and revised it on 22 August 1909; they sans, ulema, and intellectuals. What united the
took out twenty-one articles and added three middle class, the artisans, the ulema, and the
new ones. The sultan was obliged to be loyal to intellectuals was a struggle against Western (and
the constitution, the government was respon- Russian) economic penetration of Iranian mar-
sible to the parliament, and the legislative and kets and the policies of Qajar rulers in “selling
executive branches were balanced out and their out” the resources of the country to foreigners.
relations regulated. The absolute supremacy of In the Ottoman Empire, the struggle against
the sultan was abolished. imperial powers took on similar expressions, al-
The Balkan wars in the Ottoman Empire though the Ottoman economy and society were
and World War I and the allied occupation of far more open to Western economic domina-
Istanbul ended the Young Turk government. It tion. The active role of the Shi‘i ulema in Otto-
was left for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Reza man Iraq had to do with their relative freedom
Shah to continue state building under strong of action outside the Iranian borders. The ini-
leadership and a weakened parliament and civil tial support Ottoman sultan Abdülhamid gave
society. While the Kemalist republic completed to Iranian activists in Istanbul and Atabât sheds
institutional secularization in Turkey, the ulema a new light on his legacy as the “Red Sultan.”81 A
and secularists forged an alliance with Reza revised history of the Qajar era would also con-
Shah in Iran in the hope of saving the nation, tribute to our understanding of a more complex
the Sharia, and the constitutional monarchy. society that underwent change and experienced

78.  F. Adamiyat, Idi’uluji-yi Nihzat-i Mashrutiyat-i Iran 81.  See Selim Deringil, The Well-Protected Domains:
(Tehran: Payâm, AH 2535/1976), 408 – 23. Ideology and the Legitimation of Power in the Otto-
man Empire, 1876 – 1909 (London: I. B. Tauris, 1998).
79.  Sohrabi, “Constitutionalism, Revolution, and
State,” 176 – 93.

80.  Roderic Davison, “Turkish Attitudes concerning


Christian-Muslim Equality in the Nineteenth Cen-
tury,” in Hourani, Khoury, and Wilson, Modern ­Middle
East, 64.
modernity that was very similar to the same Furthermore, their representatives would be in 169
process in the Ottoman Empire. Neither expe- a position to put an end to unfavorable conces-
rienced direct colonialism like Egypt and India. sions to the subjects of Great Britain and Russia,
Instead, commercial, diplomatic, and intellec- protect the interests of local merchants and pro-
tual contacts grew stronger between these two ducers, and create a more just government in the
states during this period. The Turkish-speaking framework of a constitutional type of monarchy,
Azeri intellectuals and merchants played an however limited in scope. The divisive issues in
important role in this interaction. Therefore, both movements were the question of the sover-

Fariba Zarinebaf 

From Istanbul to Tabriz: Modernity and Constitutionalism 

in the Ottoman Empire and Iran


political debates on the nature of reform, the eignty of the people, the extent of the sacred and
form of government, the role of Islam and the executive authority of the sultan and the shah,
Sharia, freedom and liberty, and independence the legislative authority of the national assembly,
from foreign control among Ottomans, Iranian and the role of Islam, the Sharia, and the ulema
reformists, intellectuals, and activists started far in the legislative branch and the judiciary. These
earlier than one might imagine, influenced one issues directly impacted the religious dimension
another mutually, and contributed to the forma- of both constitutions and the citizenship rights
tion of a civil society and public sphere with a of religious and ethnic minorities. The Commit-
rich range of print media. These debates were tee of Union and Progress, composed of young
printed in the numerous newspapers, satirical military officers and secret cells in the Balkans,
journals, and books (in the form of travelogues was inspired by Balkan nationalism and pushed
and biographies) in Istanbul, Tabriz, Tiflis, and for centralizing and radical reforms and an end
Baku during the second half of the nineteenth to the reign of the caliph-sultan Abdülhamid II.
century. A shared discourse on government and In many ways, Atatürk’s state building and secu-
civil society and the modernization and inde- lar reforms were a continuation of the Young
pendence of Muslim societies emerged during Turk policies. While the liberal elements lost
this period that continued into the republican out in Turkey, in Iran the growing polarization
era and the reign of Reza Shah.82 This discourse between the liberal secularists like Taqizade and
was anticolonial, protonationalist, and modern- the more conservative ulema like Sheikh Faz-
ist. But Ottoman and Iranian modernity had lullâh Nurî was never really resolved, even after
a great deal more in common with each other the execution of the latter. Turkish and Iranian
than with the Western models. Iranian reform- constitutionalists supported each other and
ists like their Ottoman counterparts sought to made a united front whenever the opportunity
limit the absolutist rule of the sultans and the presented itself. They also reached out to more
shahs, modernize the army, reorganize the cen- liberal elements abroad, particularly the Social
tral administration and the legal system, and Democrats in Russia and the liberal members of
spread secular and Western education. The Parliament in Great Britain. The success of both
unintended consequence of these reforms was movements, however, was hampered by World
the creation of a civil society and a quest for full War I and occupation.
citizenship rights. The graduates of missionary
and modern secular schools who became activ-
ists aimed at pushing these reforms further by
creating checks and balances on the absolutist
power of the ruler and his ministers who would
be responsible to the elected representatives.

82.  Touraj Atabaki and Eric Zürcher, eds., Men of


Order: Authoritarian Modernization under Atatürk
and Reza Shah (London: I. B. Tauris, 2004). See the
introduction and the article by Houchang Chehabi,
“Dress Codes for Men in Turkey and Iran,” 209 – 37.

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