Ottoman Salonika
also attended, illustrating the school’s international connections.^56 At the
same time, the Dönme schools, like Dönme businesses, continued to be
based on an ethno-religious model. The Journal de Salonique compared
the Feyziye graduation ceremony of 1899 to a family gathering.^57 The
newspaper was not far from the mark. In 1902 , the members of the board
were largely related: the thirteen members were headed by Mustafa Tevfik
and included his older brothers Suleiman Şevket and Osman Vasıf and his
brother İbrahim Ziver. Osman Fettan, Mehmet Sarım, and Mehmet Rıza,
who owned Kibar Ali Brothers and Sons, which was recognized both at
home and abroad for its role in the hardware and metal goods businesses,
and for selling American goods, were also on the board.^58
The schools emphasized Dönme morals and ethics as one of their core
purposes. In a 1903 announcement placed in the Dönme Fazlı Necip’s
Asır (Century / Age) newspaper soliciting student applicants, the Terakki
school boasts of devoting particular attention to morals and ethics.^59
Unsurprisingly, considering the heavy emphasis Şemsi Efendi placed on
morality, the founder of the Feyziye school, Mustafa Tevfik, emphasized
morals in the 1904 graduation speech quoted earlier, which was reported
in the Dönme-owned Selânik [Salonika] and Asır newspapers. Tevfik also
stressed the need for graduates to be both local and international, looking
to their own morals (mentioned five times), while participating in inter-
national commerce, aided by mastery of foreign languages.
Morals were also instilled through the exercise called “public assembly.”
Once a week, the principal would give several questions to a student, who
had two days to prepare answers, which he delivered before an assembly.
After the student’s presentation, the principal would give a lesson on mo-
rality based on the questions the student had answered. The aim was to
ensure that students would be able to express themselves, defend their
thoughts in public, and be ethical.^60 The Dönme were creating a moral
community. In 1897 , the Selânik Vilâyeti Salnamesi (Yearbook of the Prov-
ince of Salonika) noted approvingly that the Feyziye school attempted to
ensure students’ spiritual and material advancement by instructing them
in Islamic virtues.^61 The yearbook also lauded the fact that the Terakki
aimed to reform and improve the character of those who attended its
schools, instituting courses devoted to improving students’ morals.^62
A textbook guide to morality issued under Abdülhamid II in 1900
promoted morals similar to those that had been emphasized for years in
Dönme schools: sound morals were based on Islamic virtues, which in-