The Young Turk Period, 1908-1918 - PSI424

278 The Rise of Modern Turkey, 1808-1975
from the Greek government, the Dashnaks, and even the patriarch in return for its
support of minority aspirations. The Greek ambassador declared that there were
6.5 million Greeks in the empire and demanded that they be given one quarter of
all the seats in the new assembly and that Greek be made an official language. The
Dashnaks made similar demands for the Armenians. In reaction the Muslims turned
more and more to Islamic and Turkish views, though since the latter had no
candidates the CUP prevailed, winning all the 288 deputy seats but one, which went
to the Liberal Union. The Turks gained a bare majority, with 147 seats, while
60 seats went to the Arabs, 27 to Albanians, 26 to Greeks, 14 to Armenians, 10 to
Slavs, and 4 to Jews. 9 The voting had been honest, all the millets were represented
in proportion to their actual population, and it seemed possible at least that
democracy in the empire might well be given a second chance. The upper house,
or Chamber of Notables (Meclis-i Ay an), was soon appointed by the Council of
Ministers, and the Parliament and government seemed fully prepared for the new
Ottoman constitutional regime.
On December 17, 1908, the old city of Istanbul witnessed one of the most remarkable
scenes in its long history. Sultan Abdulhamit drove through the narrow streets
in an open carriage, waving to the crowds assembled as he went to open the new
Parliament, assembled in the Ministry of Justice building behind the Aya Sofya
mosque. With his first secretary reading his speech, the sultan explained why he
had not recalled the Parliament since 1878, stating that his advisers had recommended
postponing this part of the Constitution until the empire was ready for it,
the people better educated, and the basic reforms well established. "Being satisfied
that the fulfillment of this wish would promote the present and future happiness of
my Empire and Country, I proclaimed the Constitution anew without hesitation in
spite of those who hold views and opinions opposed to this," he explained. 10 In
response, both councils praised the sultan for restoring the Constitution and criticized
those of his advisers who had misguided him in the past. Then they went on
record to support the government's efforts to regain the recently lost territories. 11
But the new regime had little chance of success. The Parliament simply helped
focus attention on the divisions and rivalries that had been momentarily extinguished.
The minority delegates did what they could to paralyze action until their
demands were granted. The Muslim delegates and ministers were divided on
whether to follow the CUP or the sultan or to develop an independent policy. Endless
debates soon stalled most of the laws prepared by the Council of State. After
he saw how unsuccessful the Porte had been in countering foreign aggression and
how ineffective the Parliament was in facilitating the passage of legislation,
Abdulhamit did not hesitate to intervene. The supporters of Islamism began to
agitate openly, possibly but not definitely with the support of the sultan. Reacting
to the secularism of the Constitution, the appearance of unveiled women on the
streets, and the new equality recognized for non-Muslims, the Muslim religious
conservatives began to campaign openly against the Constitution, declaring that the
empire's decline had been caused by its departure from basic Islamic foundations
and that Islam could be adapted to meet the demands of a modern age; Islam could
provide the laws to regulate every aspect of the empire's social and political life,
while only the technology of the West need be borrowed. Sympathizers were found
everywhere, not only among the ulema, but also in the bureaucracy and the army,
the dervish orders, and among the masses. The attempts of the new government to
make provincial government more efficient and to conscript everyone also irritated
the tribes of eastern Anatolia, which had always insisted on autonomy. Leading the