An Oxymoron: The Origins of Civic-republican Liberalism in Turkey

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Notes

¹ Ayşe Kadıoğlu, ‘Citizenship and individuation in Turkey: the triumph of will over reason,’ CEMOTI (Cahiers d'études sur la Méditerranée Orientale et le monde Turco-Iranien), 26 (1998), pp. 23–43.

² Accordingly, the title Prince was a misnomer because only those who descended from the sultan's family through their fathers could use it. Men like Sabahattin who descended from the sultan's family through their mothers normally were called ‘Sultanzade.’ Prince Sabahattin's utilization of the title ‘Prince’ was probably related to his quest for prestige during his years spent in Europe; see further Ali Erkul, ‘Prens Sabahattin,’ in: Emre Kongar (Ed.) Türk Toplumbilimcileri I (Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi, 1982), pp. 83–150.

³ Nezahet Nurettin Ege, Prens Sabahattin: Hayatı ve İlmi Müdafaaları (Istanbul: Güneş Neşriyatı, 1977), p. 6.

⁴ They acquired the name Young Turks from the French words Jeune Turks. In the Ottoman context the term comprised all those persons and organizations that tried to overthrow the Hamidian regime via activities in European cities. Universally, the term has been used to refer to all political leaders who try to topple regimes in their own countries from outside through opposition activities abroad.

⁵ The Committee was divided into two in the aftermath of the First Young Turk Conference in 1902, which was convened in Paris. While the liberal wing founded a separate organization espousing individual initiative and decentralization as well as British custody for Turkey, the more centralist wing began to advocate Turkism as opposed to Ottomanism. In the period between 1902 and 1906, Young Turk activities in Europe relapsed to a certain extent but they were rejuvenated in 1906 with the arrival of new members fleeing from the Ottoman lands. In the aftermath of the Second Young Turk Conference in 1907, again in Paris, the centralist, Turkist wing began to acquire prominence. It was through the activities of this wing that the road to the second constitutional monarchy was opened. In 1906, the rejuvenated organization was called Committee of Progress and Unity (with internal and external wings). The organization reclaimed the name Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress after the second constitutional monarchy was established in 1908.

⁶ The division within the CUP between the Liberals and Unionists is summarized succinctly by Feroz Ahmad, The Making of Modern Turkey (London and New York: Routledge, 1993), esp. pp. 33–51. The information regarding the parameters of the conflict between the Liberals and Unionists in this text is informed by Ahmad's book.

⁷ Although Prince Sabahattin opposed the invitation of Western powers to back the regime at the beginning, it is very likely that he later succumbed to British intervention in order to ‘prevent other haphazard, unwanted interventions’ that may have been forced on the Ottoman regime during a crisis. Hence, he embraced the idea of ‘intervention by those free and liberal Western powers whose interests match our interests’; see Sina Akşin, Jön Türkler ve İttihat ve Terakki (Istanbul: Gerçek Yayınevi, 1980), p. 40.

⁸ The Third Army in Macedonia had been a home for many Unionist officers, including Enver Paşa and Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk); see ibid., p. 36.

⁹ The CUP members who fled to Paris from Erzincan were Bahaeddin Şakir and Dr. Nazım. They resorted to Turkist themes when they dominated the CUP after 1906. The first text referring to the history of Turks that influenced the works of subsequent Turkists was written by a Polish refugee who acquired the name Mustafa Celaleddin Paşa. It was titled Les Turcs anciens et moderne, and had been published in 1869; its author was the grandfather of the eminent Turkish poet Nazım Hikmet. For the origins of Turkism, see Şerif Mardin, ‘19.yy'da Düşünce Akımları ve Osmanlı Devleti,’ in: Tanzimat'tan Cumhuriyet'e Türkiye Ansiklopedisi 2 (Istanbul: İletişim yayınları, 1985), pp. 342–351.

¹⁰ Akşin, Jön Türkler ve İttihat ve Terakki, p. 65.

¹¹ Sükrü Hanioğlu, ‘Türkçülük,’ in: Tanzimat'tan Cumhuriyet'e Türkiye Ansiklopedisi 5 (Istanbul: İletişim yayınları, 1985), pp. 1394–1399, esp. p. 1397.

¹² Ahmet Ağaoğlu's Turkism, for instance, is quite revealing in this sense. Ağaoğlu regarded the principle of national sovereignty as a prerequisite to being Western. Hence, his Turkism was laden with Westernist motifs; see Ahmet Ağaoğlu, ‘Garp ve Şark,’ in: Atatürk Devri Fikir Hayatı I (Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı yayınları, 1992 [originally published in 1923]).

¹³ See Akşin, Jön Türkler ve İttihat ve Terakki; and Erkul, ‘Prens Sabahattin,’ pp. 83–150.

¹⁴ Cited in Ege, Prens Sabahattin, p. 36 (my translation). This encounter with Demolins' book is reminiscent of a well-known verse by Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk: ‘One day I read a book and my whole life has changed’; see Orhan Pamuk, Yeni Hayat (Istanbul: İletişim yayınları, 1994).

¹⁵ ‘How to save Turkey?' was the title of the book that Prince Sabahattin published in 1918. Prens Sabahattin, Türkiye Nasıl Kurtarılabilir? (Istanbul: Türkiye Basımevi, 1950).

¹⁶ This view became predominant especially in the Second Young Turk Congress, in 1907.

¹⁷ Cited in Erkul, ‘Prens Sabahattin,’ p. 128 (my translation).

¹⁸ Ibid., p. 121.

¹⁹ Cited in ibid., p. 118 (my translation).

²⁰ Ibid., p. 122.

²¹ Cited in ibid., p. 103 (my translation).

²² When the CUP was divided at the end of the First Young Turk Congress of 1902, Prince Sabahattin founded a new organization that stressed the two goals of individual initiative and decentralization, the Committee of Individual Initiative and Decentralization (Teşebbüs-ü Şahsi ve Adem-i Merkeziyet Cemiyeti).

²³ He wrote three exegeses as a response to his critics between 1908 and 1910. He addressed the issue of administrative decentralization especially in his second exegesis, cited in Ege, Prens Sabahattin, pp. 173–189.

²⁴ See ibid., pp. 183–186.

²⁵ Ibid., p. 187 (my translation).

²⁶ This Congress was convened largely thanks to the personal efforts of Prince Sabahattin and his brother. These two young men even gave financial support to the Congress for funding the trips and accommodation of the delegates invited from Egypt, Italy, Switzerland, Romania, and England; see further Erkul, ‘Prens Sabahattin,’ pp. 92–96.

²⁷ Ahmet Ağaoğlu's family life, the first years of his education, his years in France and his activities upon his return to his place of birth are covered in detail in A. Holly Shissler, Between Two Empires: Ahmet Ağaoğlu and the New Turkey (London: I. B. Tauris, 2003).

²⁸ Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Serbest Fırka Hatıraları (Istanbul: İletişim yayınları, 1994).

²⁹ The de-liberalizing impact of the republican principles is portrayed in Simten Coşar, ‘Liberal thought and democracy in Turkey,’ Journal of Political Ideologies, 9(1) (February 2004), pp. 71–98.

³⁰ Ahmet Ağaoğlu, İslamiyette Kadın (Ankara: Birey ve Toplum yayınları, 1985 [originally published in 1901, translated from Russian to Turkish by Hasan Ali Ediz]).

³¹ Ibid., p. 23.

³² Ibid., p. 59.

³³ Ibid., p. 60.

³⁴ Ahmet Ağaoğlu, ‘Milli Şuur,’ in: Atatürk Devri Fikir Hayatı I (Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı yayınları, 1992 [originally published in 1924]), pp. 97–101.

³⁵ Ağaoğlu, ‘Garp ve Şark,’ p. 85.

³⁶ Ibid., p. 86 (my translation).

³⁷ Cited in Murat Yılmaz, ‘Ahmet Ağaoğlu ve Liberalizm Anlayışı,’ Türkiye Günlüğü, 23 (Summer 1993), pp. 56–71, esp. p. 64 (emphasis mine).

³⁸ Ahmet Ağaoğlu, İhtilal mi İnkilap mı? (Ankara: n.p., 1941–42), p. 38.

³⁹ Ibid., p. 39.

⁴⁰ Ağaoğlu, Serbest Fırka Hatıraları, p. 59 (my translation).

⁴¹ Ibid., p. 88.

⁴² Ahmet Ağaoğlu, ‘Nizamlı Hürriyet,’ Akın (daily), 5 June 1933.

⁴³ Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Devlet ve Fert (Istanbul: Sanayii Nefise Matbaası, 1933), p. 27 (my translation).

⁴⁴ Ibid., p. 140.

⁴⁵ Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Ben Neyim? (Istanbul: n.p., 1939 [an earlier, incomplete version was published in 1936]).

⁴⁶ Ibid., p. 27.

⁴⁷ Ibid., p. 15.

⁴⁸ Ahmet Ağaoğlu, ‘Özcülük ve Özgecilik (Egoizm ve Altörizm),’ Akın (daily), 30 May 1933.

⁴⁹ He suggested, for instance, that in Ottoman-Turkish literature there was no equivalent of Goethe's Margret, Shakespeare's Dezdamona, Dante's Beatrice, and Pushkin's Tatiana, all of whom constituted role models for German, English, Italian, and Russian women; see Ahmet Ağaoğlu, ‘Serbest Kadın,’ Akın (daily), 25 June 1933.

⁵⁰ Such a feature of Ağaoğlu's thought is depicted in a very eloquent article by François Georgeon, ‘Ahmet Ağaoğlu: Aydınlanma ve Devrim Hayranı Bir Türk Aydını,’ Toplumsal Tarih, 36 (December 1996), pp. 28–35, esp. p. 32.

⁵¹ See ibid., p. 31. See also Ahmet Ağaoğlu, ‘Entellektüellerin Zaafları,’ Akın (daily), 7 June 1933.

⁵² Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Serbest İnsanlar Ülkesinde (Istanbul: Sanayii Nefise Matbaası, 1930).

⁵³ On Bergsonism, see Hilmi Ziya Ülken, Türkiye'de Çağdaş Düşünce Tarihi (Istanbul: Ülken yayınları, 1979).

⁵⁴ Samet Ağaoğlu, Babamın Arkadaşları (Istanbul: Nebioğlu yayınevi, n.d.).

⁵⁵ Ağaoğlu literally utilizes the concepts of ‘will’ and ‘reason.’ See Ağaoğlu, Serbest İnsanlar Ülkesinde, p. 98. Moreover, he refers to Şevket Süreyya Aydemir who sets the national ideal as full employment as a ‘materialist.’ Ağaoğlu, however, thinks having honor has priority over alleviating physical hunger. See Ağaoğlu, Devlet ve Fert, p. 86.

⁵⁶ Ağaoğlu, Serbest İnsanlar Ülkesinde, p. 75; see also, Ahmet Ağaoğlu's description of the process of cleansing of the spirit in Tanrı Dağında (text attached to Ağaoğlu, Ben Neyim?), p. 61.

⁵⁷ His thought in this sense was in line with extreme Westernist thought currents led by Abdullah Cevdet and Celal Nuri. On Ağaoğlu's insistence on the adoption of Western civilization and culture as a whole, see Güven Bakırgezer, ‘Batı Medeniyeti Hayranı Liberal Bir Aydının Çelişki ve Sınırları: Ahmet Ağaoğlu,’ Toplumsal Tarih, 41 (May 1997), pp. 36–51, esp. p. 41.

⁵⁸ Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Gönülsüz Olmaz (Ankara: n.p., 1941).

⁵⁹ Ahmet Agayef (Ağaoğlu), ‘Türk Alemi,’ Türk Yurdu, 1 (1327/28), pp. 195–201, reprinted in Tarih ve Toplum, 11(63) (March 1989), pp. 146–148.

⁶⁰ Ibid., p. 147.

⁶¹ Such features in Ağaoğlu's thought paved the way to arguments that depict an articulation of Turkist and Islamist themes in his work. See Süleyman Seyfi Öğün, ‘Bir Türkçü -İslamcı Eklemlenme Figürü Olarak Ağaoğlu Ahmed,’ in: Süleyman Seyfi Öğün, Modernleşme, Milliyetçilik ve Türkiye (Istanbul: Bağlam yayınları, 1995).

⁶² Ahmet Ağaoğlu, ‘Milliyetçilik Cereyanının Esasları,’ in: Atatürk Devri Fikir Hayatı I (Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı yayınları, 1992 [originally published in 1925]), pp. 115–122, esp. p. 117.

⁶³ Ibid., p. 120.

⁶⁴ Reprinted in Ağaoğlu, Serbest Fırka Hatıraları, pp. 219–223.

⁶⁵ Ibid., p. 220.

⁶⁶ See, for instance, the allegations that were addressed to the leader of the Free Republican Party, Fethi Okyar in ibid., p. 110.

⁶⁷ His hatred of the Eastern culture and his Orientalism was nowhere better expressed than in his comparison of Nasreddin Shah and Carnot in a public proceeding during the world fair in Paris in 1889. Ağaoğlu was embarrassed with the exaggerated, shiny costumes of this Iranian leader whose pompous display signified the image of despotism. Carnot, the French leader, who represented Western liberalism, was dressed in a simple coat and portrayed a modest image. The sight of the two of them together was a source of humiliation for Ağaoğlu. Cited in Georgeon, ‘Ahmet Ağaoğlu,’ p. 32.

⁶⁸ Ibid., p. 30.

⁶⁹ Adrian Oldfield, ‘Citizenship: an unnatural practice?,’ Political Quarterly, 61 (1990), pp. 177–187. See also Michael Ignatieff, ‘The myth of citizenship,’ in: Ronald Beiner (Ed.) Theorizing Citizenship (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995) on the philosophical traditions of liberalism and civic-republicanism.

⁷⁰ For the notions of ‘discourse of the just’ and ‘discourse of the unjust,’ see Şerif Mardin, ‘The just and the unjust,’ Daedalus: Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Social Sciences, 120(3) (Summer 1991), pp. 113–129.

⁷¹ These political dynamics are reminiscent of the convergence of all the anti-Unionist opposition in 1909 before the Incident of 31 March.