Making a Revolution, 1908 election, to which the population had been looking forward, was marked
by the defeat of the “Turks”: among those who had obtained the majority
of the vote, three were Jews and the three others “belong to the Dönme
sect (Jews converted to Islam).” The CUP had put forward a common list
with the Greeks, consisting of one Greek and five Turks, but the consul
says that none of these were elected. Having been cheated by the Turks in
a previous election, the Greeks did not want to be fooled again, so they
gave their full support to the Jewish and Dönme candidates, preferring to
not elect a Greek rather than elect Turks. According to this analysis, this
was an example of Christians and Jews (here including the Dönme) unit-
ing against the Turks, who are called their hereditary enemy.
The French cable reflects the biases of its western European writer, who
bears in mind the interests of his audience in Paris. Yet one cannot dismiss
entirely the sentiment it contains. It reflects a racialized understanding
of identity. Although converts to Islam, the Dönme are not considered
Turks (which is to say, Muslims). Instead, the author of the cable groups
them with Christians and Jews and says that Dönme interests and politi-
cal affiliations are not the same as those of the Turks. This was one thing
when stated in a foreign ambassadorial cable, but quite another when it
reflected Greek or Turkish governmental and public opinion.
The British and French diplomats were correct to point out the Dönme
identity of one key actor. Of several Dönme government ministers who
came to power after the sultan was deposed, and the so-called Action
Army suppressed the counterrevolution, the most influential was the
Freemason Mehmet Cavid, former Feyziye principal and instructor and
director of a Dönme commerce school.^99 While serving as director of the
Feyziye school, Mehmet Cavid became an active member in the same
underground organization as Captain Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk). The
latter had founded the Fatherland and Freedom Society in Damascus in
1905 and had come to Salonika to open a branch in that city. He may or
may not have founded a branch, but he was in contact with other opposi-
tion politicians. In the end, the Fatherland and Freedom Society became
the Ottoman Freedom Society, all of whose members were Freemasons,
and one of whom was a leading Sufi (Bursalı Mehmet Tahir, director of
the Military School at Salonika and a member of the Melami order),^100
which merged with the CUP in 1907.^101 After the revolution, Mehmet
Cavid served in the new parliament from 1908 to 1918 , and he was one of
the leaders of the CUP in 1916 and 1917. He was finance minister between