Stephanov | 261with were ethnonational groups. In fact, such groups did not exist at the time.
They simply had no basis in reality. Moreover, being born and raised in a town or
village and its vicinity created a horizontal bond that frequently cut across reli-
gious or professional ties. This was the fatherland in physical, linguistic, cultural,
and emotional terms.
After the abolition of the Janissaries, almost overnight Mahmud II moved
from dressing in Oriental splendor to simple military garb, riding a horse in the
European fashion, and inspecting his troops in the manner of a Western ruler.
More importantly, he chose to bypass the established chain of intermediaries,
which had precluded direct contact, both physical and mental, between the ruler
and the ruled. Thus, he undertook to thoroughly re-source the mystique of ulti-
mate secular authority within the realm. At the core of this project lay the task
of making the sultan’s visage available to the public gaze. Therefore, Mahmud II
went on a number of imperial tours where he could mix with his subjects and
be seen and experienced by them. His portraits were painted, hung in public
offices, and disseminated throughout the provinces. By reflecting his exploits
on a regular, ever more frequent basis, the domestic press, which the sultan had
jumpstarted in 1831, took the role of a magnifying mirror for and champion of
his public image.
Finally, in 1836, the sultan broke new ground with the initiation of annual
celebrations of the royal birthday and accession day in the capital, the provinces,
and abroad. His goal was twofold—to forge vertical ties of loyalty to the ruler,
especially among non-Muslims at home, and gain ceremonial and diplomatic
reciprocity with the Western states, thereby securing a place for the Ottoman
Empire in the international order. Both considerations stemmed from the lessons
of the Greek Revolution (1821–1829), in which Ottoman subjects rallied support
in the West and succeeded in gaining an independent state of Greece chiseled out
of Ottoman territory in 1832.
The question of which calendar to use for the new secular ceremonies of
state—Islamic (lunar) or Christian (solar)—became crucial. Previously, Otto-
man state holidays were predominantly religious—the birthday of the Prophet
Muhammad, the departure of the annual caravan with royal gifts to Mecca, and
so on. Naturally, they were celebrated according to the Islamic calendar. This
meant that their equivalent dates in the solar calendar shifted from year to year
and the Western powers could not keep track. Mahmud II’s attempt to establish
stable solar celebrations, which could give him access to the minds and hearts of
non-Muslims both at home and abroad, met with strong resistance from conser-
vative domestic political and religious circles. However, the annual festivities he
introduced, in conjunction with the foundation of the Ottoman Foreign Minis-
try and the establishment of permanent Ottoman embassies in Paris, London,
Vienna, and Berlin, survived him and grew larger for many decades.