afghanistanShaikh Muhammad Saleh al-Fatal of Aleppo, imam of one of the main
mosques in Damascus.
The era of the Tarzis’ exile in Damascus was one of great turmoil as
the Ottoman Empire imploded under military and political pressure from
European powers, particularly Russia and Britain. By the mid-1870s Turkey
was technically bankrupt and in 1881 the Ottoman government was forced
to hand management of its debt to a council of European bankers, mostly
French and British. Successive Russian military interventions across the
Danube had led to the loss of most of the Balkans and Greece, too, had
declared its independence. Cyprus and Egypt were effectively under British
rule, there was unrest in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula with the rise
of Arab nationalism, while in Anatolia the Armenian National Awakening
led to a series of revolts. The loss of territory led to a mass influx of intern-
ally displaced peoples to Istanbul, Damascus and other cities, which put
further strain on the already overstretched Ottoman treasury. To add to
the misery, there was a series of natural disasters.
The decline of Ottoman power led to a political crisis and demands for
radical reform of state institutions. Between 1839 and 1876 the Tanzimat, or
Reorganization, Period was an era of profound social and political change.
Young Turks, educated in Paris, embraced the political philosophies of
Rousseau, Compte, the Italian Carbonari, Marxism and even Anarchism,
which in turn led to demands for the secularization of state institutions.
State schools began to teach Western subjects such as natural sciences and
the madrasas became increasingly marginalized. In 1876 Turkey adopted
its first Constitution based on the Napoleonic Code, which restricted the
powers of the caliph and downgraded the role of Hanafi Islamic law. To
demonstrate their modernity, progressive Turks increasingly embraced
both European manners and dress codes.
From the late 1880s onwards these reformers, known as Young
Ottomans and later Young Turks, formed societies aimed at democratic
and liberalizing reforms based on the ideals of Europe’s Enlightenment.
They were particularly obsessed with the notion that the natural sciences,
rather than religion, were the answer to Turkey’s political and social prob-
lems. Even their slogan, ‘Liberty, Equality, Justice’, echoed the battle cry
of the French Revolution. Eventually these societies coalesced under the
banner of the Ittihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, or the Committee of Union
and Progress (cup), which later become the Party of Union and Progress
(cpu). These organizations were republican in outlook and sought the
disestablishment of Islam and Islamic institutions and their replacement
with European-style democracy.