the beginnings of ottoman-german partnership - Bilkent University

eplace him in February 1909 with an openly Unionist Grand Vizier, Hüseyin Hilmi
Paşa. 55
Neither the Ottoman liberals nor the conservative religious circles liked the
CUP’s actions. Supported by the British and French, the Party of Ottoman Liberals
joined the religious extremists in carrying out demonstrations and spreading
propaganda against the new regime. On 12 April 1909, 56 the imperial guards from
the Taşkışla barracks in İstanbul marched to the Parliament with religious teachers
and students, demanding changes to the cabinet, restoration of the Muslim Holy Law
(şeriat) and amnesty for the rebellious troops. Under this pressure, Hüseyin Hilmi
Paşa resigned from his office the next day with the approval of the sultan, while
Tevfik Paşa was appointed in his place. In the meantime, the rebels assassinated a
number of well-known Unionists in the capital and drove most of the other members
out of İstanbul and back to Macedonia. The Liberal Party (Ahrar) thus failed in its
efforts to keep the insurrection “a purely anti-CUP affair and to prevent it from
moving into a reactionary, anti-constitutionalist and pro-Abdulhamid direction.” 57
Confronted with a real threat to the constitutional regime, the CUP
organized an “Army of Deliverance (Action Army)” 58 in Macedonia led by Mahmud
Şevket Paşa in order to suppress the insurrection. On April 24, the Action Army
moved from Salonica to İstanbul by train, occupied the city, arrested and executed a
large number of the rebels. Three days later, the CUP deposed Abdulhamid II and
replaced him with Mehmed V. “The new sultan, Mehmed Reşad, was at the mercy of
the Committee, who made a clean sweep of the palace and put their own nominees
55 Karal, pp. 64-72, Zürcher, pp. 99-100.
56 March 31, 1909 according to the Ottoman calendar. Therefore, the counter-revolution is called “31
Mart Ayaklanması” in Turkish historiography.
57 Zürcher, p.101.
58 Hareket Ordusu.
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