Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Fariba Zarinebaf
Research for this essay was funded by a grant from the Iran Heri- 3. Hakki Tarik Us, Meclis-i Mebusan, 1293:1877; Zabit Ceridesi,
tage Foundation in London. This essay was presented at the cen- 2 vols. (Istanbul: Vakif Matbaasi, 1939 – 40); Şerif Mardin, The
tennial of the Iranian constitutional revolution at Oxford Univer- Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought: A Study in Moderniza-
s of sity in June 2006. I thank the Başbakanlik Archives in Istanbul, tion of Turkish Political Ideas (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
tu di e the Atatürk Library, the interlibrary loan at Northwestern Uni- Press, 1962); Robert Devereux, The First Ottoman Constitutional
iv eS versity Library, and the Middle East staff at Regenstein Library Period: A Study of the Midhat Constitution and Paliament (Balti-
a rat a nd
mp ic a at the University of Chicago. I also thank my father for his invalu- more: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1963), Niyazi Berkes, The
Co r
Af able insights. A shorter version of this article was published in Development of Secularism in Turkey (Montreal: McGill University
s ia ,
ut hA the Turkish journal Toplumsal Tarih, no. 166 (October 2007). Press, 1964); and Feroz Ahmad, The Young Turks (Oxford: Claren-
o st
S Ea don, 1969). For a critical historiography of the Young Turk revolu-
le 1. For recent publications of these sources in Iran, see Mansoureh
idd Ettehadieh, “‘Newspapers and Journals Reprinted from 1991 to
tion, see Şükru Hanioğlu, Preparation for a Revolution: The Young
th eM 2001’ and ‘Historical Works Relating to the Qajar Era Published in
Turks, 1902 – 1908 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
00
8 2
. 1, 2 7 - 06 Iran, 1996 – 2001,’ ” Iranian Studies 34 (2001): 195 – 226; Peter Avery, 4. Thierry Zarcone and Fariba Zarinebaf-Shahr, eds., Les Iraniens
No -2 00 “Printing, the Press, and Literature in Modern Iran,” in Cambridge d’Istanbul (Louvain: Peeters, 1993); Nader Sohrabi, “Constitution-
2 8, 0 1x s
ol. 92 res History of Iran, vol. 7, From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic, alism, Revolution, and State: The Young Turk Revolution of 1908
V 108 it yP
15 /
12 er s ed. Peter Avery, Gavin Hambly, and Charles Melville (Cambridge: and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 with Compar-
1 0. ni v
oi eU Cambridge University Press, 1991), 815 – 69; and Mansour Bon- isons to the Russian Revolution of 1905” (PhD diss., University
d
D uk
by akdarian, Britain and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of of Chicago, 1996); Sohrabi, “Historicizing Revolutions: Consti-
08
20 1906 – 11: Foreign Policy, Imperialism, and Dissent (Syracuse, NY: tutional Revolutions in the Ottoman Empire, Iran, and Russia,
©
Syracuse University Press, 2006). 1905 – 1908,” American Journal of Sociology 100 (1995): 1383 – 1448;
and Sohrabi, “Global Waves, Local Actors: What the Young Turks
2. The opening of the Russian archives will shed light on a very
Knew about Other Revolutions and Why It Mattered,” Compara-
important player in the constitutional revolution. That history
tive Studies in Society and History 44 (2007): 45 – 79.
is still to be written. On the influence of Indian intellectual cur-
rents on Persian nationalism, see Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Re-
fashioning Iran: Orientalism, Occidentalism, and Historiography
154 (London: Palgrave, 2001).
tions, most of the existing historiography has dependence dealt a heavy blow to the position 155
emphasized the role of Western thought in the of non-Muslims. The Ottoman state manifested
development of Turkish and Iranian modernity, the strongest modernist impulse, which can be
while local and regional influences have been traced back to the eighteenth century; under
ignored. Moreover, less attention has been paid pressure from Western powers and in order to
to the reception of Western ideas and the subse- save the empire from further disintegration, a
quent cross-fertilization of modernist discourse new class of bureaucrats and reformists created
among different intellectual and social groups. a pan-Ottoman discourse for a modern type of
Fariba Zarinebaf
5. I have undertaken a larger study on the history of 7. Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought.
Tabriz during the constitutional era.
8. Robert Landen, The Emergence of the Modern Mid- 9. The role of Western missionaries (American and 11. Ervand Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolu-
dle East: Selected Readings (Columbia: University of French) has not received much attention in the spread tions (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982),
South Carolina, 1970), 128 – 29. See also Iraj Afshar, ed., of modern education in Iran. Because of its large Chris- 75 – 76.
Zendegi-yi Tufânî: Khâtirât-i Seyyid Hasan Taqizade tian minority, Azerbaijan was one of the first places
12. They were Mirza Yusuf Khan Mustashar al-Dawleh
(Tehran: ‘Ilmi, AH 1358/1979), 26 – 45. Taqizaded went for the establishment of Western missionaries.
Tabrizi, the author of Yek Kalama and Ganj-i Danesh;
to Istanbul via Tiflis and Batumi.
10. Afshar, Zendegi-yi Tufani, 35 – 36. Najaf Quli Khan, the author of Mizan al-Mavâzin; Haji
Zeyn al-Abidin Marâgha’î; Jamal al-Din al-Afghani;
paper Akhtar and Zeyn al-Abidin Marâgha’î, the percent ad valorem). After the opening of the 157
author of the Travelogue of Ibrahim Beg, which Tabriz-Trabzon-Istanbul route in the 1830s,
was printed in Istanbul and banned in Iran.13 the volume of trade with Russia, the Ottoman
Taqizade also traveled to Dagestan in 1906 Empire, and Europe increased enormously
and met Abdul-Rehim Talibuf (1834–1911), the in the second half of the nineteenth century.
author of Ketab-i Ahmad, which was printed in The introduction of steamships and European
Istanbul in 1890 – 93.14 These two books played shipping on the Black Sea made travel between
an important role in the political awakening of Tabriz and Istanbul (via Tif lis) shorter and
Fariba Zarinebaf
Haji Mirza Hasan Khan Kabir al-Mulk; Mirza Agha Khan 15. Fariba Zarinebaf-Shahr, “The Iranian (Azeri) Mer- 17. Abbas Amanat, Pivot of the Universe: Nasir ad-Din
Kirmani; Sheikh Ahmad Ruhi; and Huseyn Danish. chant Community in the Ottoman Empire and the Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1851 – 1 896
Constitutional Revolution,” in Zarcone and Zarinebaf- (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 74 – 75.
13. Afshar, Zendegi-yi Tufani, 37 – 43. Travel from Iran
Shahr, Les Iraniens d’Istanbul, 203 – 12 . See also Charles Many leading bureaucrats like Amir Kabir first served
to Istanbul usually went through the Caucasus and
Burghess and Edward Burghess, Letters from Persia, in the court of Qajar, the heir apparent in Tabriz.
the Black Sea, via Tiflis, Baku, Batumi, Trabzon, and
1828 – 1855, ed. Benjamin Schwartz (New York: New
Istanbul.
York Public Library, 1942), 84 – 85; and Vanessa Mar-
14. Marâgha’î died in Istanbul; Talibuf died in Dag- tin, ed., Anglo-Iranian Relations since 1800 (London:
estan. Both were born in Iranian Azerbaijan. Abd Routledge, 2005).
al-Rahim Talibuf, Kitâb-i Ahmad, ed. B. Mo’mini (Teh-
16. Fariba Zarinebaf-Shahr, “Tabriz under Ottoman
ran: Shabgir, AH 2537/1977), 122 – 3 7. Talibuf claims
Rule, 1725 – 1730” (PhD diss., University of Chicago,
that he was inspired by Rousseau’s Emile. He wrote
1991).
his book in two volumes. Talibuf advocated unity
between Shi‘is and Sunnis.
158 In the late nineteenth century, the dis- The establishment of Iranian embassies
covery of oil and the economic boom in Baku and consulates in the Ottoman, European, and
attracted many Iranian Azeri workers to Baku. Russian capitals and port cities raised the level of
Local oil barons like Zeyn al-Abidin Taqiyev in- diplomatic and intellectual interaction. In many
vested their wealth in the modernization of the instances, merchants served as consular repre-
city, making Baku the jewel of the Caspian Sea. sentatives (shehbenders) and translators whose
Russian and European firms were very active in main mission was to protect the interests of the
the oil sector, and a large Russian, European, growing Iranian merchant communities and pil-
t i ve
ar a and Iranian/Azeri community settled in Baku. grims. In cities like Istanbul with a sizable and
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f By 1897, their number in Russia had grown to growing European presence, Iranians came into
ie so
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73,920, of whom 60,405 lived in the Caucasus contact with Ottoman reformers and intellectu-
S ,
A si a (23,968 in Baku and 8,142 in Tiflis).18 Many were als as well as European communities. Iranian
u th
So t he common laborers and lived in miserable condi- Muslim merchants of predominantly Azeri back-
a nd tions. Zeyn al-Abidin Marâgha’î, a merchant ground felt at ease in the capital of a Muslim
frica
A st from Iranian Azerbaijan who lived and traded in empire that boasted both Eastern and Western
Ea
d le Transcaucasia and Istanbul, deplored the condi- traditions, a wide commercial and diplomatic
d
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tion of Iranian émigrés and merchants in Baku network, and an international community.
and Tiflis in his travelogue.19 Their exposure to According to Khan Malek Sassani, the
Marxist ideas and their social marginalization Iranian chargé d’affaires in Istanbul (1919 – 21),
radicalized many Iranians who participated in sixteen thousand Iranians (four thousand fami-
oil strikes in Baku. The Iranian Azeri émigré lies) lived in Istanbul in 1889, 80 percent of
community established the Social Democratic whom were from Azerbaijan. 22 Other than Is-
Party of Iran in Baku in 1904. The party drew tanbul, the largest Iranian communities in Ana-
inspiration from Russian social democracy and tolia were in Adana (2,714), Izmir (955), Aleppo
Marxism, established contacts with the Secret (850), Erzurum (721), Van (448), and other cit-
Center in Tabriz, and lent military assistance ies, totaling 10,800 families that received tezkires
to revolutionaries such as Sattar Khan during in 1889.23 Most of them were merchants; some
the Qajar repression of constitutionalists and had become Ottoman subjects and married Ot-
the Russian siege of Tabriz in 1908. The party toman women despite the Ottoman prohibition
called for workers’ rights to organize and strike against the marriage of Sunnis and Shi‘is. The
and work an eight-hour day. It also advocated community had a printing press that published
women’s rights; the distribution of land among Persian books like the travelogue of Marâgha’î
peasants; a progressive income tax; freedom of and the Persian newspaper Akhtar in 1876.24 It
speech, press, and public meetings; and tolera- had its own caravansary in Valide Hani, shops,
tion of all religions.20 Ottoman and Russian mo- schools, mosques, even coffeehouses, and a cem-
dernity and political movements reached Iran etery in Üsküdar. Iranian merchants dominated
via this route, and Tabriz, Baku, and Istanbul the Istanbul carpet trade with Europe.25 They im-
became the centers of cultural and political ported European luxury goods and woolen and
contact.21 cotton textiles into Tabriz via Trabzon, and many
18. This figure is based on the first national census 19. Haj Zeyn al-Abidin Marâgha’î, Sayâhatnâmah-yi 22. Khan Malek-e Sassani, Yâdbudhây-i Safârat-i
in Russia. See Hassan Hakimian, “Iranian Diaspora Ibrahim Beg, ed. M. Sepanlu (Tehran: Nashr-i Asfâr, Istanbul (Tehran: Firdusi, AH 1345/1966), 94.
in Caucasus and Central Asia in the late Nineteenth 1985), 18 – 6 6. He was critical of the failure of the
23. Ibid., 97 – 1 00. See also Fariba Zarinebaf-Shahr,
Century,” Encyclopedia Iranica (Costa Mesa, CA: Iranian government to protect Iranian goods and
“Iranian Diaspora in Ottoman Turkey,” Encyclopedia
Mazda Publishers, 1995), 7:375 – 7 7. According to this merchants who were losing out in competition to
Iranica, 7:373 – 75.
author, many Iranians worked in construction, rail- Russian and Western merchants. He praised Taqiyev
ways, and the oil industry and their number in the for his progressive ideas and investment in Muslim 24. Marâgha’î, Sayâhatnâmah-yi Ibrahim Beg.
last field grew from 11 percent in 1893 to 29 percent enterprises. Ibid., 24.
25. Tsutomu Sakamoto, “Istanbul and the Carpet Trade
in 1915.
20. Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolutions, 77. of Iran since the 1870’s,” in Zarcone and Zarinebaf-
Shahr, Les Iraniens d’Istanbul, 213 – 31.
21. See Zarcone and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les Iraniens
d’Istanbul, 203 – 12. On the Azeri press in Baku, see A.
Holly Shissler, Between Two Empires: Ahmet Ağaoğlu
and the New Turkey (London: I. B. Tauris, 2003), 128 – 32.
made fortunes from this trade. Many poorer administration or to build new churches. In 159
Iranians who owned tobacco shops and drove Istanbul, only half of the population was Mus-
carriages also lived in Istanbul. The volume of lim, while 40 percent were Christian (Greek
trade on this route declined in the last decade Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox) and the
of the nineteenth century when trade with Eu- rest (10 percent) were Jewish, Catholic, or Prot-
rope shifted to the Persian Gulf with the open- estant. Although these reforms were never fully
ing of the Suez Canal, causing economic distress implemented and the millet system continued
and even bankruptcies among the Iranian mer- to exist, the concept of equality of Muslims and
Fariba Zarinebaf
29. Ibid., 283 – 336. Namik Kemal wrote on Ottoman 32. Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought, Muslims in the parliament and the administration.
history; he completed six plays, short biographies, 281 – 82. They also opposed any man-made law based on con-
novels, essays, and several translations and articles sultation (shura). The pro-constitutionalists used the
33. Ibid., 42 – 43.
that he contributed to Hürriyet and Ibret. Koranic verse 42:38, “Discuss among yourselves.”
34. Ibid., 72 – 73. These tensions were very similar to those among
30. Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought,
the Iranian opponents of the constitution. But in
296 – 97. 35. Enver Ziya Karal, “Non-Muslim Representatives
Iran, the Shi‘i ulema first appeared to be divided on
in the First Constitutional Assembly, 1876 – 1877,” in
31. Ibid., 32 – 33. Courier was widely read by Turkish this question; Ayatollah Tabâtabâ’î and Bihbahânî as
Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire: The Func-
intellectuals. Its owner, Giampietry, was in contact well as Mirza Muhammad Hussein Nâ’inî were pro-
tioning of a Plural Society, ed. Benjamin Braude and
with Mustafa Fazil Pasha, who claimed credit for this constitutionalists, while Fazlullâh Nurî turned against
Bernard Lewis (London: Holmes and Meier, 1982),
proposal. it on similar grounds. In ‘Atabât, Ayatollah Khurasanî
387 – 4 01. The opponents of the constitution used
and Mâzandarânî initially supported the constitu-
the inequality of Muslims and non-Muslims prom-
tional movement but were opposed to radical secu-
ised in the Sharia against the participation of non-
larists like Taqizade.
and Prussian constitutions. Namik Kemal advo- growing power of Midhat and Kemal, dismissed 161
cated the constitution of the Second Empire of the former and arrested Kemal on charges of
France (1830) and rejected those of America, as trying to depose him. Namik Kemal was exiled
a result of its republicanism, and Prussia. Based to Mytilene, Rhodes, and Chios and died on 2
on the French model, the constitution would December 1888.40
create a system of government composed of Sultan Abdülhamid II ordered the closure
three branches: a council of state and a senate of the parliament, using the Russian invasion as
appointed by the sultan and a lower chamber justification for an emergency measure, and sus-
Fariba Zarinebaf
36. Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought, 38. Ibid., 394. The nine Balkan provinces sent twenty- 41. Hamid Algar, Mîrzâ Malkum Khân: A Study in the
311. The council of the state was nominated by the two Muslims and twenty-two non-Muslims, while ten History of Iranian Modernism (Berkeley: University of
sultan and was in charge of preparing and draft- Anatolian provinces sent twenty-one Muslims and California Press, 1973); Algar, “Participation of Iranian
ing laws that would be accepted or rejected by the twelve non-Muslims. See also Feroz Ahmed, “Union- Diplomats in Masonic Lodges of Istanbul,” in Zarcone
elected deputies and the senate. ist Relations with the Greek, Armenian, and Jewish and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les Iraniens d’Istanbul, 33 – 4 4;
Communities of the Ottoman Empire, 1908 – 1914,” in Homa Nategh, “Mirza Aqa Khan, Sayyed Jamâ al-Din
37. Karal, “Non-Muslim Representatives,” 391.
Braude and Lewis, Christians and Jews in the Ottoman et Malkom Khan a Istanbul, 1860 – 1897,” in Zarcone
Empire, 401 – 34. and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les Iraniens d’Istanbul, 49 – 52.
Algar is very critical of Malkum Khan’s character and
39. Karal, “Non-Muslim Representatives,” 394 – 95.
ideas and his opportunism. Malkum Khan was appar-
40. Mardin, Genesis of the Young Ottoman Thought, ently very pro-British, helping them to gain conces-
76 – 7 7. sions, and he attributed Ottoman reforms to British
pressures. He also supported Abdülhamid’s pan-
Islamic policies.
162 the Iranian embassies in St. Petersburg, Paris, leading role in informing the Iranian merchants
and London before his appointment as ambas- about the content of the tobacco concession,
sador to Istanbul.42 He served as the Iranian which led to widespread boycotts and rebellions
ambassador in Istanbul for eighteen years and in Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan, and Tehran in 1891.
became closely associated with Sultan Abdül Edward Browne, a British orientalist and a firm
hamid II. One positive outcome of this friend- supporter of the Iranian constitutional move-
ship was Abdülhamid’s initial support for the ment who subscribed to Akhtar, claims that he
establishment of the Persian weekly newspaper changed his mind about serving the Regie when
t i ve
ar a Akhtar in Istanbul in 1876. he received this issue of Akhtar in London.
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f Naja Quli Khan, the Iranian consul gen- Some members of the Iranian community
ie so
tu d
eral, supported the paper and placed it under were members of Masonic lodges in Istanbul.
S ,
A si a the editorship of Muhammad Tahir Tabrizi. Mu’in al-Mulk was politically very active in the
u th
So t he Nasir ad-Din Shah (1848 – 96) personally sub- foreign diplomatic community in Istanbul and
a nd scribed to the paper and read it with great in- became a member of the Masonic lodge, the
frica
A st terest. The paper was distributed in Tabriz, Grand Orient in Istanbul.45 According to Algar,
Ea
d le Tehran, Isfahan, and Baku, and in India, in many Iranian diplomats belonged to Masonic
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Hyderabad and Lahore.43 Akhtar drew some of lodges active in Istanbul, like the French Grand
its financial support from the Iranian merchant Orient and the Greek Proodos. They came into
community that resided in Istanbul. Its purpose contact with the Young Ottomans as well as Eu-
was to inform and educate the Iranian commu- ropean, Greek, and Armenian intellectuals.46
nity in Istanbul about the news in the empire Malkum Khan was born to a family of Ar-
and Europe. Since it was printed in Istanbul, it menian merchants in Isfahan, attended Catholic
escaped the censorship of the government in missionary school, and converted to Islam. He
Iran. It translated and printed the text of the served in diplomatic missions in Istanbul and
Ottoman constitution of 1876 in February 1877. there joined Masonic lodges. In 1859, after his
The content of the Ottoman constitution and first stay in Istanbul and his contacts with Reşid
the elections to the parliament were discussed Pasha, Malkum Khan, with the help of his fa-
in several issues, and the paper began inform- ther, Ya’kub Khan, composed a pamphlet called
ing its Iranian readers about the benefits of a Daftar-i tanzimat (The Book of Tanzimat), which
constitutional type of government. At times, introduced Ottoman reformist institutions like
it even promoted the agenda of Abdülhamid shuray-i devlet (the council of state), divan-i adliye
II; that is, the need for Muslim unity and the (the council of justice), and kanun-i ceza (the
loyalty of all Muslims, Sunnis and Shi‘is alike, penal code) into Iran. In his treatise Kitabcha-yi
to the caliph-sultan, no doubt under the influ- ghaybi (The Secret Notebook), composed in 1859, he
ence of Afghani, who contributed to Akhtar and put forward his ideas concerning the need for
called for the boycott of the Tobacco Regie. legal reform and the adoption of Western laws
Akhtar was briefly suspended for reporting as the foundation of state and society. Malkum
and exposing to a British company the harmful Khan spent some time in France and witnessed
effects of the tobacco concession on local mer- the French Revolution of 1858 in Paris. Upon his
chants and producers in its November issue in return, he established the first freemason lodge
1890 (no. 430), following Sabah, a Turkish news- in Iran in 1858. Later, in his Daftar-i qanun (Book
paper, and the European press.44 Akhtar played a of Law), composed in 1883 – 84, he put forward
42. Sassani, Yâdbudhây-i Safârat-i Istanbul, 255 – 64. 44. E. G. Browne, The Persian Revolution, 1905 – 1909
(Washington, DC: Mage Publishers, 1995), 46 – 49.
43. Orhan Koloğlu, “Un journal Persan d’Istanbul:
Browne has translated the text of the news from the
Akhtar,” in Zarcone and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les Iraniens
Turkish newspaper Sabah that printed this informa-
d’Istanbul, 133 – 40; and ‘Anja Pistor-Hatam, “The Per-
tion for the first time.
sian Newspaper Akhtar as a Transmitter of Ottoman
Political Ideas,” in Zarcone and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les 45. Sassani, Yâdbudhây-i Safârat-i Istanbul, 261.
Iraniens d’Istanbul, 141 – 47. Pistor-Hatam argues that
46. Algar, “Participation of Iranian Diplomats in Ma-
the paper was first financed and supported by the Per-
sonic Lodges.”
sian and Ottoman governments but soon fell under
the control of the Iranian community in Istanbul.
the elements of a new penal code that reformed Nasir ad-Din Shah appointed Mustashâr 163
the Sharia.47 In 1890 he set up the monthly news- al-Dawlah minister of justice in 1881, but he be-
paper Qanun (Law) in London, which lasted came disillusioned with the degree of corrup-
until 1898 (twenty-two issues were published) tion and injustice and quit his post. He contrib-
and was modeled after the Turkish press, espe- uted articles to Akhtar that were critical of the
cially the exilic opposition paper Hüriyyet. In his system of justice in Iran. 52 He wrote a letter in
editorials, he attacked the Iranian ministers and 1888 to Muzaffar ad-Din Mirza when the latter
advocated the incorporation of European ide- was the governor of Azerbaijan, asking him to
Fariba Zarinebaf
48. Ibid., 187 – 88. Algar describes the paper as a propa- 51. Ibid., 67 – 76.
ganda periodical sheet against the Qajar government.
52. Mustashâr al-Dawlah, Yek kalameh, 11 – 17.
49. Mirza Yusuf Mustashâr al-Dawlah-yi Tabrizi, Yek
53. Ibid., 81 – 90.
kalameh ve yek nâmeh, ed. Seyyid Muhammad Sadiq
Fayz (Tehran: Sabah, 1962).
164 founding or writing for opposition newspapers ernment (meshruteh). 55 Akhtar translated and
and providing advice to rulers. Namik Kemal, printed the text of the Ottoman constitution in
Mustashâr al-Dawlah, and other Iranian activ- February 1877, while the news of its promulga-
ists like Afghani, Mirza Agha Khan Kirmani, tion was suppressed in Iran. 56 The editorials in
and Sheikh Ahmad Ruhi shared a common fate Akhtar offered commentaries and analysis on
of exile, banishment, imprisonment, and death the principles of the Ottoman constitution that
for their ideas. Their idea of Islamic modernism introduced political vocabularies like kanuni-
was appropriated by Sultan Abdülhamid II. esasi (fundamental laws), majlis (assembly), and
t i ve
ar a Abdülhamid’s call for pan-Islamic unity shura (consultation) to Persian readers. But it
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f under the caliph-sultan was an attempt to gain had serious shortcomings because it gave su-
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legitimacy and unite all his Muslim subjects preme authority to the sultan, whose personality
S ,
A si a against British and Russian imperialism. He was was sacred as the caliph of Muslims and whose
u th
So t he also inspired by Afghani’s (1839 – 97) anti-British duty was to protect Islamic law rather than the
a nd crusade in India and Egypt that aimed at bring- constitution. The sultan had the authority to
frica
A st ing all Muslims, Shi‘i and Sunni, together to suspend the parliament, which he used when
Ea
d le battle the British and Russians. Afghani, or Asa- the Russians attacked in 1878, thus ending the
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dabadi, was a Shi‘i reformist preacher of Azeri short life of the first parliament after it had sat
origin who became an activist and agitator and for only two sessions. The significance of the
chose the surname Afghani to cover his Shi‘i Ottoman constitution was debated in Akhtar
background while he was in India and Egypt. in the context of European (British) pressures
He sought the support of Sultan Abdülhamid for reform, Russian threats, Balkan uprisings,
when he was expelled from Iran for his role in and the need for equal rights among Ottoman
the Tobacco Rebellion of 1891. He spent some subjects regardless of religion. Following the
time in London and went to Istanbul in 1892 debates in the Turkish press, the editorials in
at the invitation of Abdülhamid II, where he Akhtar emphasized the patrimonial rights of
died or was allegedly poisoned by order of the the Ottoman sultan over all his subjects, which
sultan five years later. In Istanbul he formed an contradicted the promise of liberty and equal-
Iranian and Ottoman pan-Islamist circle with ity in the constitution. At the same time, Akhtar
two leading Azali-Babi thinkers, Mirza Agha reflected Ottoman optimism that the granting
Khan Kirmani, who wrote for the Persian news- of the constitution would satisfy European de-
paper Akhtar, and Sheikh Ahmad Ruhi. 54 With mands and unite all the subjects of the empire
the support they received from the sultan, they as equal Ottoman subjects (taba’a) with loyalty
wrote letters to the Shi‘i ulema inviting them to a common state and only contractual rights
to join their pan-Islamic group. In May 1896, to the sultan. Abdülhamid supported Akhtar fi-
after the assassination of Nasir ad-Din Shah by nancially because it promoted his pan-Islamic
Mirza Reza Kirmani, a disciple of Afghani, the policies, which attracted many Muslim activists
Iranian government demanded the extradition to his cause.
of all three men to Iran. Abdülhamid’s govern- The economic crisis of the last decades of
ment kept an eye on Afghani and the Iranian the century in Iran and the Ottoman Empire,
community in Istanbul. The Persian newspaper marked by budget crises, high inflation, West-
Akhtar was suspended permanently for its politi- ern economic ascendancy, and the granting of
cal tone critical of Nasir ad-Din Shah. unfavorable concessions, undoubtedly affected
The editorials in Akhtar debated the the lot of many Iranians trading in the empire.57
compatibility of Islamic notions of governance Their grievances were reflected in the editorials
(din ve devlet), liberty (hüriyyet), equality (musa- of Akhtar. As stated above, the paper was shut
vat), just rule (‘adâlat), and constitutional gov- down permanently by the Ottoman government
54. Nikki Keddie, Modern Iran: Roots and Results of 56. Akhtar, no. 4 ( 7 February, 1877).
Revolution (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
57. Zarinebaf-Shahr, “Iranian (Azeri) Merchant Com-
2003), 62.
munity,” 203 – 12.
55. Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolutions.
after the assassination of Nasir ad-Din Shah in Sheikh Muhammad Va’ez. First, they demanded 165
1896.58 Shortly thereafter, the two Babi contrib- the dismissal of both the governor and the
utors to Akhtar, Mirza Agha Khan Kirmani and Belgian customs officials and a representative
Ruhi, were extradited to Iran and executed in house of justice (adâlatkhâne). This protest later
Tabriz by the Qajar governor and prince, Mu- evolved into a demand for a representative maj-
hammad Ali Mirza in 1897. After Akhtar, Shams lis and a constitution with the input of the intel-
was printed under the directorship of Sayyid lectuals. The shah first agreed to an adâlatkhâne
Hasan Shams Tabrizi and with the support of in January 1906 and accepted a majlis in August
Fariba Zarinebaf
58. See Koloğlu, “Un Journal Persan d’Istanbul”; and 60. According to Mansour Bonakdarian, Sir Edward
Pistor-Hatam, “Persian Newspaper Akhtar.” Grey (British foreign secretary, 1905 – 16) encountered
considerable opposition to this agreement from the
59. Keddie, Modern Iran, 68 – 69. On the Fundamental
radicals in the parliament — Edward Browne and Lord
Laws, see Browne, Persian Revolution, 353 – 7 1.
George Nathaniel Curzon (governor general and vice-
roy of India, 1899 – 1905) — as well as Iranian national-
ists like Taqizade, though the agreement pledged to
respect Iran’s independence and territorial integrity.
Bonakdarian, Britain and the Iranian Constitutional
Revolution, 71 – 96.
166 movement.61 Taqizade fled to London and Cam- Tabriz via telegraphs and spread the news to
bridge where he was hosted by Edward Browne the Iranian communities in the Ottoman Em-
in 1908. In Browne’s house, he came into con- pire and to the Shi‘i ulema in the holy cities of
tact with Young Turk leaders like Ahmed Reza Najaf and Karbalâ. 66 The Young Turk newspa-
Beg and exchanged ideas with them about con- pers like Tanin supported the Iranian constitu-
stitutionalism. According to Taqizade, in these tionalists during the counterrevolution and the
meetings Browne encouraged cooperation be- royalist siege of Tabriz from June 1908 to July
tween the Young Turks and the constitutional- 1909.67 Tanin expressed its sincere support for
t i ve
ar a ists in Iran.62 According to Taqizade, the British the Iranian constitutionalists and reported that
mp
Co
f supported the Young Turks against the sultan two hundred people had taken refuge in the Ot-
ie so
tu d
on account of his pro-German sentiments and toman embassy in Tehran in June 1908.68 The
S ,
A si a policies. After being exiled to Istanbul in 1910, same issue discussed the new Ottoman constitu-
u th
So t he there, Taqizade spent two years, met Morgan tion of 1908. The Turkish newspaper Sabah set
a nd Shuster, the American lawyer and financial ad- up an account to collect contributions to help the
frica
A st viser to the majlis on his way to Iran, and lived constitutionalists in Tabriz.69 According to Anju-
Ea
d le with Muhammad Emin Resulzâde, who had man, the local newspaper in Tabriz, the Young
d
Mi
fled Tehran and Baku under Russian pressure. Turks honored Sattar Khan for his defense of
He also came into close contact with the Young the constitution and the sultan gave him a me-
Turk leaders like Ahmed Reza Beg and attended dallion. The Anjuman-i Sa’âdat send a letter to
one of the sessions of the Ottoman parliament.63 Anjuman of Tabriz in November 1908 claiming
During the counterrevolution in Iran, Istanbul that it rather than the sultan gave Sattar Khan
became the center for the Iranian exiles who the medallion of honor.70 The Anjuman-i Sa’âdat
gathered there from Iran and Europe. in Istanbul sent telegraphs to the local council
Ali Akbar Dihkhuda, who had also fled in Tabriz regularly and expressed its support for
to Istanbul, established the Persian newspa- the constitutionalists.71
per Sorush in Istanbul in 1909; it lasted for six
months and was the official organ of Anjuman-i Ottoman and Iranian Constitutions
Sa’âdat (the society for the welfare of Iranians The first Ottoman constitution was the culmi-
in Istanbul). Iranian and Azeri intellectual fig- nation of modern reformist principles of state
ures like Huseyn Danish and Ahmad Ağaoğlu building, demand for equal rights by Ottoman
contributed editorials to the paper in support of ethnic and religious minorities, and a response
Iranian constitutionalists during the civil war in to European pressures to carry out legal and po-
Tabriz.64 After the restoration of constitutional litical reforms among the empire’s non-Muslim
government by the Young Turks in July 1908, subjects.72 The aim of the Ottoman bureaucrats
the Iranian constitutionalists in Tabriz, Qazvin, was to unify the empire by forging a new identity
Kermanshah, and Tehran wrote petitions and and loyalty to the state among the empire’s vari-
sent telegrams to the Ottoman consulates and ous subjects, although the principle of religious
government asking for their support, and some and communal identity remained part and par-
took refuge in Ottoman consulates.65 Anjuman-i cel of the Ottoman constitution, in line with the
Sa’âdat in Istanbul received word of the siege of Sharia and the Ottoman millet system.
61. Janet Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution lution, 125. On Browne’s formation in London of the 66. Anjuman (Tabriz), 2 (Şevval AH 1326/October 1908),
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), 211 – 31. Persian Committee, which was critical of Grey’s Per- (Tehran, AH 1376/1997).
sia policy, see Bonakdarian, Britain and the Iranian
62. Afshar, Zendegi-yi Tufânî, 157. Taqizade claims 67. Tanin, no. 4 (June 1908), Atatürk Library, Istanbul.
Constitutional Revolution, 133 – 37.
that Ahmed Reza Beg, who was the speaker of the
68. Tanin, no. 7 (August 1908).
parliament, recognized him and invited him to sit in 63. Afshar, Zendegi-yi Tufânî, 157 – 7 1.
the front row. Research on the two years that Taq- 69. Anjuman, no. 35 (24 Zilhijja AH 1326/December 1908).
64. Thierry Zarcone, “‘Ali Akbar Dihkhuda et le Journal
izade spent in Istanbul would shed great light on his
Surūsh d’Istanbul (Juin-November 1909),” in Zarcone 70. Anjuman, no. 22 (Zilkade AH 1326/November 1908).
connections to the Young Turks. According to Bonak-
and Zarinebaf-Shahr, Les Iraniens d’Istanbul, 243 – 51.
darian, Wilfrid Blunt, the British writer and diplomat, 71. Anjuman, no. 31 (Zilhijja AH 1326/December 1908).
On Ağaoğlu, see Shissler, Between Two Empires.
had advised Browne to go to Istanbul and seek Young
72. For an English translation of the Ottoman consti-
Turk support for the Iranian constitutionalists. Bon- 65. Hariciye-Siyasiye dossiers 743/80, 743/70 – 7 2,
tution of 1876, see www.worldstatesmen.org/Otto
akdarian, Britain and the Iranian Constitutional Revo- 743/76, Başbakanlik Archives, Istanbul.
manConstitution1876.htm (accessed 16 July 2007).
Despite its shortcomings and short life entire Persian nation (articles 35 – 57). After 167
(one year), the first Ottoman constitution had the victory of the conservative sheikh Fazlullâh
a major impact on political developments in Nurî, the Iranian Supplementary Laws declared
the empire by inspiring not only the Young that none of the legal enactments of the Na-
Turks who engineered the 1908 revolution but tional Assembly should be at variance with the
also the Young Iranians who came into contact sacred principles of Islam. Therefore, the Na-
with Ottoman political thinkers in Istanbul and tional Assembly should select a “supreme com-
played a major role in the constitutional revolu- mittee” composed of five mujtahids elected by
Fariba Zarinebaf
73. For an English translation of the Iranian consti- 75. Browne, Persian Revolution, 363 – 96.
tution of 1906, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_
76. Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolutions, 90.
Constitution_of_1906 (accessed 23 January 2008).
77. Afary, Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 89 – 115.
74. For the translation of the Ottoman constitution,
see Landen, Emergence of the Modern Middle East.
For the English translation of the Iranian constitu-
tion, see Browne, The Persian Revolution, 1905 – 1909
(Washington, DC: Mage, 1995).
168 in the judiciary and those who advocated sec- Conclusion
ular laws, popular principles of sovereignty The constitutional movements in Turkey and
(mashrutay-i mutlak), freedom of religion, and Iran had a great deal in common, but they had
equality among all religions.78 The ambiguity of some major differences as well. The first Otto-
the Iranian constitution reflected different un- man constitutional movement of 1876 was a
derstandings of a constitutional type of govern- continuation of the Tanzimat reforms led by Ot-
ment by different social classes and groups in toman statesmen and a reflection of the chang-
society.79 Both constitutions were based on lim- ing Ottoman attitudes toward non-Muslims. It
t i ve
ar a ited suffrage that denied equal rights to women; was also to some degree a response to Western
mp
Co
f apostates (Babis), in the case of the Iranian con- pressures to improve the status of non-Muslims
ie so
tu d
stitution; and ethnic minorities. and an attempt to rein in Balkan nationalism
S ,
A si a While both the Ottoman and Iranian and centrifugal forces among non-Muslim sub-
u th
So t he constitutions specified three branches of gov- jects. 80 The Iranian constitutional movement
a nd ernment, the Iranian constitution drew a clear was a grassroots and urban movement with the
frica
A st and important distinction among the execu- active participation of artisans, merchants, the
Ea
d le tive, the legislative, and the judiciary (articles progressive ulema, and a small but vocal group
d
Mi
26 – 29). The sultan and the shah appointed of the intelligentsia. Iran faced similar issues
and dismissed members of the executive and of religious dissent among the Babis, centrifu-
the ministers of state and opened and ended gal disintegration in the north (Azerbaijan
the sessions of the parliament. The sultan and and Gilan), and great power rivalry. The loss
the shah could dismiss the parliament in special of territories in the Caucasus to Russia during
circumstances. the first half of the nineteenth century and the
After a period of thirty-one years, the granting of concessions to the subjects of Russia
Young Turks restored the Ottoman constitution and England mobilized Iranian merchants, arti-
in 1908 and revised it on 22 August 1909; they sans, ulema, and intellectuals. What united the
took out twenty-one articles and added three middle class, the artisans, the ulema, and the
new ones. The sultan was obliged to be loyal to intellectuals was a struggle against Western (and
the constitution, the government was respon- Russian) economic penetration of Iranian mar-
sible to the parliament, and the legislative and kets and the policies of Qajar rulers in “selling
executive branches were balanced out and their out” the resources of the country to foreigners.
relations regulated. The absolute supremacy of In the Ottoman Empire, the struggle against
the sultan was abolished. imperial powers took on similar expressions, al-
The Balkan wars in the Ottoman Empire though the Ottoman economy and society were
and World War I and the allied occupation of far more open to Western economic domina-
Istanbul ended the Young Turk government. It tion. The active role of the Shi‘i ulema in Otto-
was left for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Reza man Iraq had to do with their relative freedom
Shah to continue state building under strong of action outside the Iranian borders. The ini-
leadership and a weakened parliament and civil tial support Ottoman sultan Abdülhamid gave
society. While the Kemalist republic completed to Iranian activists in Istanbul and Atabât sheds
institutional secularization in Turkey, the ulema a new light on his legacy as the “Red Sultan.”81 A
and secularists forged an alliance with Reza revised history of the Qajar era would also con-
Shah in Iran in the hope of saving the nation, tribute to our understanding of a more complex
the Sharia, and the constitutional monarchy. society that underwent change and experienced
78. F. Adamiyat, Idi’uluji-yi Nihzat-i Mashrutiyat-i Iran 81. See Selim Deringil, The Well-Protected Domains:
(Tehran: Payâm, AH 2535/1976), 408 – 23. Ideology and the Legitimation of Power in the Otto-
man Empire, 1876 – 1909 (London: I. B. Tauris, 1998).
79. Sohrabi, “Constitutionalism, Revolution, and
State,” 176 – 93.
Fariba Zarinebaf