reform and repression, 1901–19
The Young Turks’ ideology, however, was not consistent, for while they
declared their support for Pan-Islamic ideals, at the same time they whole-
heartedly endorsed social Darwinism, which was popular in Europe at this
era, and the radical ethno-nationalism of Germany’s Völkisch Movement.
According to the Young Turks, Turkey was the vatan of the Turks, a term
synonymous with the German concept of Fatherland or Homeland. As
such, the Young Turks embraced an ethnocentric world view in which
those who were not Turkish by birth or language were relegated to the
status of minorities. This idea of Turkism and Turkishness was alien to
Islamic and Ottoman understanding of citizenship. In the Ottoman Empire,
non -Muslim confessional groups, known as millets, had a high degree of
autonomy and freedom to practise their religion. To be an Ottoman it
was not essential to be a Muslim or an ethnic Turk, nor was being Greek,
Armenian, Slav, an Orthodox Christian or a Jew a bar to high office. Indeed
many high Ottoman officials were from the non -Muslim community while
the Ottoman Christian schools provided the best education in the empire.
Since the political agenda of the Young Turks was opposed to the status
quo and Islamic domination of the Ottoman state, the cpu started life as an
underground movement with some of its more radical members resorting
to direct action and terrorism. Mahmud Tarzi grew up in this milieu of
radical political and social reform. Like most educated and well -connected
young men of his generation, he embraced the cpu’s radicalism and its
ethno -nationalism, which was grafted onto the Tarzi family’s existing
enchantment with al-Afghani’s Pan-Islam and anti-colonialism.
In 1892, while the Tarzis were still in Damascus, the Ottoman Caliph
invited Jamal al-Din al-Afghani to settle in Istanbul, following his expul-
sion from Egypt and Iran and several years in Paris where he published the
highly polemical newspaper al-‘Urwah al-Wuthqa. 3 Al-Afghani’s expect-
ation was that he could persuade the Caliph to endorse and embrace his
Pan-Islamic vision, but this optimism was soon dashed. Al-Afghani was
a virulent opponent of British rule in India, but the Ottoman government
was reliant on British financial, military and political assistance in its war
with Russia, and had no intention of upsetting its most important ally.
Al-Afghani did not help his cause by encouraging Arab nationalist move-
ments and conducting a polemic against Sufi pirs and the madrasa system.
In 1896, after one of al-Afghani’s followers assassinated Nasir al-Din Qajar,
Shah of Persia, al-Afghani was placed under house arrest; the following
year he died from throat cancer. Six months before his death, Mahmud
Tarzi travelled to Istanbul to meet al-Afghani and, according to the Tarzi
family, he was at al-Afghani’s side when he passed away.
nandana
(Nandana)
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