The first thing "Abdul Hamid II" did when he took over the Ottoman State was that it was bankrupt.. and it was in turmoil because of the resistance in the Balkans, and in the Ottoman provinces a new concept of patriotism began to take shape, and calls for independence began.
In order for "Abdul Hamid" to pull things together, he decided for the first time to make a constitution for the state.. and it had been running along like that without any constitution, so on 23 December 1876, he formed a committee he called the "First Constitutional Era".. and tasked it with drafting a constitution for the state.. in which the state was described as the "State of the Caliphate", and out of it arose the first parliament.. which they called the "Chamber of Deputies".. and according to the agreements decided by his predecessor "Sultan Abdul Aziz", the Jews had fixed seats in this council, in order to issue legislation for the Ottoman State.
Bear in mind that when we say in this context "Jews" and "Christians", that does not mean we are against these revealed religions, rather that is what is literally stated in the documents and official correspondence about this era of the history of the Ottoman State.
In this period, the demonstrations and problems increased, the state fell behind in paying salaries, and at the same time it raised the prices of goods and services and narrowed the paths of trade with fees, so "Rushdi Pasha" resigned from the post of Grand Vizier, and was succeeded by "Ahmed Shafik Midhat Pasha".. who had deposed Sultan "Abdul Aziz" together with the Mufti and "Suleiman Pasha".
With the revolutions and the attempts of Serbia and Montenegro to gain independence, Russia began to show its head in the picture, and began to support these revolutionaries against the Ottoman State, and to encourage them towards independence.. and in the same year, the armies of Montenegro, Serbia and Bulgaria mobilized against the Ottoman State, and began to advance, so the Ottoman army moved in turn, and clashed with these armies and defeated them ignominiously, and reached the borders of Belgrade.. so England, Austria and France intervened, and stopped the fighting.. and matters remained as they were.. these states remained subject to the Ottomans.. with a promise of special reforms.. to reassure the people.
And in order for England to shut the door of this war completely and give Russia no opportunity to expand its influence at the expense of its loyal dog "the Ottoman State", it sent the Ottoman State a joint statement with France and Austria, demanding that it improve the living conditions of the Christian subjects.. and carry out reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bulgarian lands, and fix the borders with Montenegro, and it decided that the ambassadors of Europe would be observers of the implementation of these matters.
And because the Chamber of Deputies imagined itself in a real state, and believed it was a real parliament, it rejected the statement, and considered it interference in the affairs of the state, so Russia set out to mock it with its pens and its writers in all parts of Europe, saying that the rulers of Europe support the Ottoman State which refuses to improve the living conditions of Christians.. and that they support the extremist Ottoman State, against Christian Russia.. so the European street began to get restless and to move.. and when Russia felt that its media had produced a result, it withdrew its ambassador from the Ottoman State, and declared war on it in the year 1877.
The Russian army was exhausted, having lost nearly two-thirds of its strength after the Crimean War in which it was defeated.. and the Ottoman army surpassed it in equipment, numbers and strength.. but there was a young officer, who began his military life with the Crimean War, and was promoted until he became a commander.. and his name was "Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia".. the third son of the Tsar of Russia "Nicholas I".
"Nicholas" went to the Tsar of Russia.. and asked him to place the whole story of this war on his shoulders.. so the Tsar agreed.. so "Nicholas" went and brought all the documents and the living eyewitnesses from the battles of "Ibrahim Pasha" with the Ottoman State.. and "Nicholas" studied these battles with interest, and read and listened to the testimonies of dozens of witnesses, with thoroughness and patience.
The biography, battles and plans of "Ibrahim Pasha" fascinated "Nicholas", and dazzled him.. they bewitched him and captivated his heart and enthralled him to the marrow, so he began to impersonate the character of "Ibrahim" and imitate him.. and he imagined images similar to what had reached the world of the drawings of "Ibrahim", and he was a man with a shaved beard and a light moustache, so he let his beard and moustache grow in the very same style.. in the manner of "Ibrahim"...!
And after he had studied all of "Ibrahim's" military techniques, "Nicholas" moved on 24 April 1877, with an army of 280 thousand soldiers, to confront the Ottoman State and its army of 400 thousand soldiers.
And this time, under the pressure of the European street.. Europe did not intervene to support the Ottoman State with any forces, it only supplied it with weapons secretly as much as possible.
And "Nicholas" clashed with the enormous Ottoman army, and this time he was victorious, and the Russian army occupied Romania, Moldavia and Bulgaria.
"Nicholas" was not satisfied with this victory and advanced from Bulgaria into Anatolia itself, and before his crushing blows the Ottoman army retreated and was defeated time after time, and Edirne fell into his hands, and Sivas, and he reached as far as Çorlu, and on 3 March 1878, just as his inspiration "Ibrahim Pasha" had done more than 40 years earlier.. and for the first time in its history, the Russian army camped only 50 km from the capital of the Ottoman State, Istanbul.
And at this very moment, Serbia and Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman State.
And here, "Abdul Hamid" rushed to England and asked it to intervene, but England refused to send any forces, because of the pressure of the English street on it, so he asked it to mediate for a peace with the Russians.. and Russia at first refused the English mediation.. but this time, Europe feared that if the Russians brought down the Ottomans, they would control the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and the Straits region.. so the fleets of England, France and Austria moved, and their warships anchored in the Bosphorus.. and this method succeeded in saving the Ottoman State for the thousandth time.. and "Abdul Hamid" signed with Russia the "Treaty of San Stefano".
In this treaty the Ottoman State lost most of its lands in Europe, and Serbia, Montenegro and Romania became independent, and Bulgaria obtained administrative independence, and the officials of the Ottoman State were expelled from it.. and the posts became only for the people of Bulgaria.. on condition that Bulgaria pay an annual tribute to the Ottomans.. and its people had the right to emigrate as they wished, throughout the lands of the Ottoman State, and the Ottoman State undertook to protect the Christians and the Armenians, and undertook that the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits would remain open to Russia in peace and war, and the Ottoman State would pay a war fine of 250 million gold liras to Russia, along with 20 ships that Russia would choose from the ships of the Ottoman fleet.. and this last condition "Abdul Hamid" brought down to only 14 ships.. and saved the state 6 ships.
As soon as this tragedy ended, "Abdul Hamid" ordered the dissolution of parliament.. without any understandable reason.. out of a desire to monopolize power.. and indeed parliament was dissolved.. and England was displeased because this move was made without consulting it.. and because it was a violation of the rules of the covenants that the Ottoman State had granted, because the parliament had Christians and Jews represented in it.. and now they had no role in the state.. so it put its hand on an Islamic activist and journalist named "Ali Saawi".
And this "Saawi" was exactly "Sayyid Qutb" but a little on the thin side.. he hated the Ottoman State because it did not apply the law of God, and he saw that the role of parliaments was to apply Sharia.. and he saw that there was no such thing as a homeland or a race.. and that sovereignty belongs only to religion.. so he wrote literally that "in the East, there is no such thing as ethnicity and nationalism, but rather there is monotheism, for soil and ethnic origin do not give you sovereignty, rather the Islamic identity is what gives it to you, whereas sovereignty in Europe belongs to the land and to the race, not to religion, and here the East differs from the West".
Some people joined "Saawi", among them soldiers from the army, about 400 of them.. and he began to spread his ideas.. and in the year 1878, he stormed with a cell of rebels the palace of "Abdul Hamid", seeking to depose him, but the rebellion failed, and about 30 of them died, among them "Saawi" himself, from a violent blow with an iron rod to his head.. and most of the rest were arrested.. History has preserved this incident for us under the name "the Ali Saawi Incident".. they were all brought before an extraordinary military court, which sentenced them to death.. and then the sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.
Bear in mind that the ideas of "Saawi" and "Qutb" are evil and a rebellion that warrants execution when they are applied among them.. but when they support them among us, that is nice and democratic and caliphate and the famous nonsense of that sort. After this story "Abdul Hamid" established an intelligence apparatus called the "Hidden Organization".. and this is a security apparatus made of people who appear ordinary like me and you, but they are harsh, cruel security men.. they hear the conversations that go on among the people and relay them in special reports, and people began to be snatched from their beds at dawn, to be arrested, and thrown into the cellars of the prisons of Istanbul for torture.. and freedoms were extinguished and fear spread, and it became possible for your own brother to inform on you to please the "Hidden Organization".. and this body remained squatting on people's chests throughout the rule of "Abdul Hamid".. this too is nice "over there".. and the dogs of the Ottomans among us still defend him to this very day. Here, when you arrest a spy caught red-handed, it becomes "forced disappearance" and "repression".
After this incident, on 13 July 1878, a conference was held called the "Berlin Conference", to amend the "San Stefano" agreement.. because Europe found in it a disaster that was not in its favour.. such as the condition that the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits remain open to Russia in peace and war.. and that was a strategic catastrophe for Europe.
And this conference produced the "Treaty of Berlin".. in it the Ottoman State lost new lands.. and Russia took "Kars", "Ardahan" and "Batum", and the Ottoman State undertook reforms for the people of Crete.
In general, you will notice all the time, that the cheapest thing "Abdul Majid" had was land.. he gets cornered and gives up land.. and you wish it were their own land, for example.. inherited from the mother of "Abdul Hamid".. no, these were lands they had originally occupied as well.. take for example Tunisia.. during his reign it was disgusting and annoying to the Ottomans like Egypt, and you feel that all the time, despite being occupied by the Ottoman State, it was nevertheless independent.. and indeed it had a degree of self-rule, and that did not prevent him from agreeing to hand it over to France.. so the "Ksar Said Convention" or the "Treaty of Bardo" was signed in his reign on 12 May 1881 between the Ottoman governor in Tunisia and the French government.. and by virtue of it Tunisia came under French protection.. the first step towards the beginning of the French colonization of Tunisia.
Every state that was occupied in the Middle East by a foreign power was because of the Ottomans and with their consent.. even Libya, it was handed over by the "Treaty of Lausanne" to Italy in exchange for the recognition of Turkey over the corpse of the Ottoman State.
And in this period "Ahmed Shafik Midhat Pasha" had become governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina.. and there he ran it along the European model, and tried to please England at any price.. so "Abdul Hamid" feared that the English might ally with him and replace him with him.. and in April of the year 1880, he summoned him to Istanbul to head the Consultative Council.
But a year after "Midhat" remained in Istanbul.. "Abdul Hamid" suddenly discovered that he had to reopen the investigation into the suicide of Sultan "Abdul Aziz".. and he also suddenly discovered that Sultan "Abdul Aziz" had not killed himself and that "Midhat Pasha" was the one who killed him with scissors.. and he went and made him a sham trial called the "Yildiz Court".. which sentenced him to death, and then the sentence was lightened and he was exiled to Taif, and there he died in prison, strangled with a rope, in a mysterious crime whose perpetrator was never known, following the way of the ancestors of the House of Osman, in the year 1883.
And in the year 1883, the Christians and the Armenians began to grow weary of the attacks of the Kurds on them.. and the Ottoman system at that time ran on the theory that "the Turk is always right".. so if you were an Armenian, for example, and you went and complained that a Turk had assaulted you.. no one would look into your complaint.. and it was possible that while you were innocent you would come out guilty and be imprisoned or pay a fine.. and if you complained about a non-Turk they would begin to look into "which of you is a Muslim?".. you are an Armenian, for example, complaining about a Muslim Kurd.. then the Kurd is in the right. This opened an enormous field for injustice.. and the Kurds and the Circassians began to assault the Armenians personally and to assault their property regularly, so the Armenians began to demonstrate, and to demand from the Ottoman State the reforms it had promised.. and this was a movement that annoyed "Abdul Hamid" and disturbed his sleep.
And in the year 1890, a man named "Theodor Herzl" rose to the fore.. an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist, he is the father of contemporary Zionism.. and he began to convince Europe of the idea of establishing a national homeland for the Jews.
And the strange thing is that his idea provoked the condemnation of two groups of Jews, the upper class and the merchants and businessmen.. and the group of the religious.. the first saw that they were integrated in Europe with their nationality and there was no need for a homeland based on religious identity.. and the second rejected the principle from a religious standpoint.. because God in the Torah decreed dispersion in the earth for the Jews and deprived them of a homeland.. and this idea, according to their belief.. is against the will of the Lord.. and no one believed in his idea except the rabble.
And "Herzl" reached the Ottoman Sultan, and became a personal friend of his.. and asked him to allow the Jews to own lands in Sinai and Palestine in particular, as they are holy lands in the Jewish creed, and "Abdul Hamid" rejected his request, and several meetings and correspondences took place between them, with "Abdul Hamid's" categorical refusal at the beginning of the matter.
And the reason for the refusal was that these holy lands have a special status in the East, and like the Hejaz, Mount Sinai in Sinai has a status among Muslims, likewise the holy lands in Palestine.. they confer on his existence as Sultan a special legitimacy.
But "Herzl" kept after his close friend "Abdul Hamid" and pursued him insistently.. so "Abdul Hamid" offered him that he carry out his project in Iraq, instead of Palestine.
But "Herzl" rejected this Iraq story, and promised "Abdul Hamid" that they would buy lands far from the holy places, and they began a new round of negotiations, during which "Abdul Hamid" agreed to the immigration of any Jew who wished to emigrate, to Palestine.. but he remained firm in his refusal of the Jews owning any lands there.
And in the midst of the negotiations between "Herzl" and "Abdul Hamid".. the problem of Greece suddenly rose to the fore.. the island of Crete wanted in turn to become independent, and to return to the embrace of Greece.. and indeed the Greek forces entered the island, and expelled the Ottomans from it, so on 18 April of the year 1897, the Greco-Ottoman War broke out.
And the war of Greece and the story of "Abdul Hamid" and "Herzl", and the rest of these adventures, are long, so we will continue our talk about them later..
And the talk has a remainder.
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- Previous posts in the first comment.
- The first image is of "Herzl's" letter to "Chamberlain" about the settlement of Jews in Sinai and Palestine, source: Documents of Palestine, 280 selected documents - 1839 - 1987 - Tunis - Palestine Liberation Organization - Department of Culture, pages 38 - 39.
- The second image is of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich.
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