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238-466: The organization began as a liberal reform movement, and the autocratic government of Sultan Abdul Hamid II ( r.  1876–1909 ) persecuted it because of its calls for constitutional government and reform. Most of its members were exiled and arrested after a failed coup-attempt in 1896 which started a period infighting among émigré Young Turk communities in Europe. The CUP's cause revived by 1906 with

476-544: A bicameral legislature with senatorial appointments made by the sultan. The first ever election in the Ottoman Empire was held in 1877. Crucially, the constitution gave Abdul Hamid the right to exile anyone he deemed a threat to the state. The delegates to the Constantinople Conference were surprised by the promulgation of a constitution, but European powers at the conference rejected

714-604: A constitution and a parliament upon his ascension to the throne in 1876, but suspended both after defeat in the 1877-1878 Russo Turkish War . From 1878 to 1908, Abdul Hamid ruled the empire as a personal dictatorship. Critically though, the empire was still in decline. It was in massive debt to European creditors to the point where its finances were controlled by Western bankers, and nationalist movements by non-Muslim minorities continued making inroads. Therefore, those opposed to his regime, called Young Turks , hoped to overthrow Abdul Hamid II for one of his brothers in order to save

952-592: A coup d'état , which failed. They later founded the Private Enterprise and Decentralization League , which called for a more decentralized and federalized Ottoman state in opposition to Rıza's centralist vision. After the congress, Rıza formed a coalition with the Activists and founded the Committee of Progress and Union ( CPU , Osmanlı Terakki ve İttihat Cemiyeti ). This unsuccessful attempt to bridge

1190-399: A İttihadçı or Komiteci , which means İttihadist (Unionist) and Committeeman respectively. Its ideology is known as İttihadçılık , or İttihadism (Unionism). The Central Committee informally referred to itself as the "Sacred Committee" ( Cemiyet-i mukaddese ) or the " Kaaba of Liberty" ( Kâbe-i hürriyet ). The Committee of Ottoman Union ( İttihad-ı Osmanî Cemiyeti ) was established as

1428-596: A Greek expedition sailed to Crete to overthrow Ottoman rule on the island. This act was followed by the Greco-Turkish War , in which the Ottoman Empire defeated Greece, but as a result of the Treaty of Constantinople , Crete was taken over en depot by the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. Prince George of Greece was appointed ruler and Crete was effectively lost to the Ottoman Empire. The ʿAmmiyya ,

1666-736: A Sufi lodge for the Madani order of Shadhili Sufism in Istanbul, which he commissioned as part of the Ertuğrul Tekke mosque . The relationship of the sultan and the sheik lasted for 30 years, until the latter's death in 1903. Istanbul Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey , straddling the Bosporus Strait , the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is considered the country's economic, cultural and historic capital. The city has

1904-694: A Turkish city since 1923, it contains many ancient, Roman, Byzantine, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish monuments. The Neolithic settlement in the Yenikapı quarter on the European side, which dates back to c.  6500 BCE and predates the formation of the Bosporus by approximately a millennium, when the Sea of Marmara was still a lake, was discovered during the construction of the Marmaray railway tunnel. It

2142-583: A beacon of the Silk Road and one of the most important cities in history. The city played a key role in the advancement of Christianity during Roman/Byzantine times, hosting four of the first seven ecumenical councils before its transformation to an Islamic stronghold following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE—especially after becoming the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1517. In 1923, after

2380-488: A center of Greek culture and Christianity. Numerous churches were built across the city, including Hagia Sophia which was built during the reign of Justinian I and remained the world's largest cathedral for a thousand years. Constantine also undertook a major renovation and expansion of the Hippodrome of Constantinople ; accommodating tens of thousands of spectators, the hippodrome became central to civic life and, in

2618-403: A city with above-freezing average temperatures. Istanbul's precipitation is unevenly distributed, with winter months getting at least twice the level of precipitation of their summerly counterparts. The mode of precipitation also varies by season. Winter precipitation is generally light, persistent and often of mixed precipitation such as rain-snow mixes and graupel ; while summer precipitation

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2856-561: A consequence of the Italian invasion, İbrahim Hakkı Pasha 's Unionist government collapsed and two factions formed within the CUP: the right-wing New Party , and the left-wing Progress Party . Union and Progress was forced into a coalition government with some minor parties under Mehmed Said Pasha . Another blow against the CUP came in mid-November, when all of the opposition parties coalesced around

3094-492: A cosmopolitan society that persisted through much of the Ottoman period. Revitalizing Istanbul also required a massive program of restorations, of everything from roads to aqueducts . Like many monarchs before and since, Mehmed II transformed Istanbul's urban landscape with wholesale redevelopment of the city center. There was a huge new palace to rival, if not overshadow, the old one , a new covered market (still standing as

3332-583: A crisis. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), a Young Turks organization that was especially influential in the Rumelian army units, undertook the Young Turk Revolution in the summer of 1908. Upon learning that the troops in Salonica were marching on Istanbul (23 July), Abdul Hamid capitulated. On 24 July an irade announced the restoration of the suspended constitution of 1876 ;

3570-658: A delegation of seven high-ranking Unionists known as the Committee of Seven, including Talât, Ahmet Cemal , and Mehmed Cavid to monitor the government. After the revolution, power was informally shared between the palace (Abdul Hamid), the liberated Sublime Porte , and the CUP, whose Central Committee was still based in Salonica, and now represented a powerful deep state faction. The CUP's continued reliance on komitecilik quickly earned ire from genuine democrats and prompted accusations of authoritarianism. An early victory of

3808-422: A few months before his brother Mehmed V , the reigning sultan. He was buried in Istanbul. In 1930, his nine widows and thirteen children were granted $ 50 million from his estate after a lawsuit that lasted five years. His estate was worth $ 1.5 billion. Abdul Hamid was the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire to hold absolute power. He presided over 33 years of decline, during which other European countries regarded

4046-527: A group of medical students of the Imperial Military School of Medicine . Ahmet Rıza , being an avid follower of Auguste Comte and his theories on progressivism , changed the name of the early club to the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( Ottoman Turkish : اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی , romanized :  İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti ). Between 1906 and 1908 it was known as the Committee of Progress and Union, but changed its name back to

4284-497: A lack of co-ordination with heavy losses. Following reports that the Ottoman army had at most 165,000 troops to oppose the 400,000 of the League army together with news that morale in the army was poor due to Edirne's surrender to Bulgaria on 26 March, the pro-war regime finally agreed to an armistice on 1 April 1913 and signed the Treaty of London on 30 May, acknowledging the loss of all of Rumelia except for Constantinople. News of

4522-541: A large portion of the empire's revenues were handed over to the Public Debt Administration for the benefit of (mostly foreign) bondholders (see Kararname of 1296 ). The 1885 union of Bulgaria with Eastern Rumelia was another blow to the Empire. The creation of an independent and powerful Bulgaria was viewed as a serious threat to the Empire. For many years Abdul Hamid had to deal with Bulgaria in

4760-483: A large role in the city's infrastructure development, with over 500,000 vulnerable buildings demolished and replaced since 2012. According to ministry statements and geologist comments made in 2023, the city's infrastructure was in reasonably good shape, however, due to very high costs, buildings were not: over half a million flats were still vulnerable to collapse, and casualties largely depend on how many collapse. As of 2024 , most buildings in Istanbul were built to

4998-479: A low seismic standard in the 20th century, and residents think the city is not properly prepared for the earthquake . Istanbul's climate is temperate , and is often described as transitional between the Mediterranean climate typical of the western and southern coasts of Turkey, and the oceanic climate of the northwestern coasts of the country. Much divergence exists in the terminology used to classify

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5236-572: A more accurate and faithful translation of İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti into English would be "The Society of Union and Progress". They especially wished to model their movement of the Jacobin club and thought of themselves as such . In the West, the CUP was conflated with the wider Young Turks movement and its members were called Young Turks, while in the Ottoman Empire a member was known as

5474-401: A natural toll-gate. Several picturesque islands— Büyükada , Heybeliada , Burgazada , Kınalıada , and five smaller islands—are part of the city. Istanbul's shoreline has grown beyond its natural limits. Large sections of Caddebostan sit on areas of landfill, increasing the total area of the city to 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi). Despite the myth that seven hills make up

5712-551: A new big tent party known as Freedom and Accord , which immediately attracted 70 deputies to its ranks. When it came time for general elections in April 1912 , held in the midst of the war with Italy and one of many Albanian revolts , the Union and Progress Party and Dashnak campaigned for the elections under an electoral alliance. Alarmed at the success of Freedom and Accord and increasingly radicalised, Union and Progress won 269 of

5950-697: A new " Macedonian " cadre of bureaucrats and Ottoman army contingents based in Ottoman Macedonia which were fighting ethnic insurgents in the Macedonian Struggle . In 1908 the Unionists revolted in the Young Turk Revolution , and forced Abdul Hamid to re-instate the 1876 Constitution , ushering in an era of political plurality. During the Second Constitutional Era, the CUP at first influenced politics from behind

6188-579: A number of other European countries. Abdul Hamid ascended the throne after his brother Murad was deposed on 31 August 1876. At his accession, some commentators were impressed that he rode practically unattended to the Eyüp Sultan Mosque , where he was presented with the Sword of Osman . Most people expected Abdul Hamid II to support liberal movements, but he acceded to the throne at a critical time . Economic and political turmoil, local wars in

6426-646: A population of over 15 million residents, comprising 19% of the population of Turkey, and is the most populous city in Europe and the world's sixteenth-largest city . The city was founded as Byzantium in the 7th century BCE by Greek settlers from Megara . In 330 CE, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great made it his imperial capital, renaming it first as New Rome ( Ancient Greek : Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Rhomē ; Latin : Nova Roma ) and then finally as Constantinople ( Constantinopolis ) after himself. In 1930,

6664-614: A primary urban park, but it has several green areas. Gülhane Park and Yıldız Park were originally included within the grounds of two of Istanbul's palaces — Topkapı Palace and Yıldız Palace —but they were repurposed as public parks in the early decades of the Turkish Republic. Another park, Fethi Paşa Korusu , is on a hillside adjacent to the Bosphorus Bridge in Anatolia, opposite Yıldız Palace in Europe. Along

6902-500: A rejection, and following the expected rejection, invaded Ottoman Tripolitania . The Unionist officers in the army were determined to resist the Italian aggression, and the parliament had succeeded in passing the "Law for the Prevention of Brigandage and Sedition", a measure ostensibly intended to prevent insurgency against the central government, which assigned that duty to newly created paramilitary formations. These later came under

7140-428: A result of Istanbul's exponential growth in the 20th century, a significant portion of the city is composed of gecekondus (literally "built overnight"), referring to illegally constructed squatter buildings. At present, some gecekondu areas are being gradually demolished and replaced by modern mass-housing compounds. Moreover, large scale gentrification and urban renewal projects have been taking place, such as

7378-432: A revolt in 1889–90 among Druze and other Syrians against excesses of the local sheikhs, similarly led to capitulation to the rebels' demands, as well as concessions to Belgian and French companies to provide a railroad between Beirut and Damascus . Most people expected Abdul Hamid II to have liberal ideas, and some conservatives were inclined to regard him with suspicion as a dangerous reformer. Despite working with

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7616-534: A secret constitutionalist organization called the Ottoman Freedom Committee ( Osmanlı Hürriyet Cemiyeti ; OFC) was formed in Salonica. It had ten founders, among whom were Mehmet Talât , regional director of Post and Telegraph services in Salonica; Dr. Midhat Şükrü (Bleda) , director of a municipal hospital, Mustafa Rahmi (Arslan) , a merchant from the well known Evranoszade family, and first lieutenants İsmail Canbulat and Ömer Naci . Most of

7854-470: A secret society on 2 June 1889 by Ibrahim Temo , Dr. Mehmed Reşid , Abdullah Cevdet , and İshak Sükuti , all of whom were medical students of the Imperial Military School of Medicine in Constantinople. While they held many contradicting Enlightenment derived beliefs, they were united by the necessity of a constitution to prevent further decline of the empire. Sultan Abdul Hamid II promulgated

8092-451: A series of nationwide protests in 2013 covering a wide range of issues. Popular during the summer among Istanbulites is Belgrad Forest , spreading across 5,500 hectares (14,000 acres) at the northern edge of the city. The forest originally supplied water to the city and remnants of reservoirs used during Byzantine and Ottoman times survive. Istanbul is primarily known for its Byzantine and Ottoman architecture. Despite its development as

8330-717: A series of assassinations and sent threats to senior officers. At this point, the mutiny which originated in the Third Army in Salonica took hold of the Second Army based in Adrianople (modern Edirne ) as well as Anatolian troops sent from İzmir . Under pressure of being deposed, on 24 July 1908 Abdul Hamid capitulated and promulgated the İrade-i Hürriyet , which announced the Constitution to be reinstated. Multi-ethnic parades and celebrations were held throughout

8568-519: A set of corridors lined with office buildings, residential towers, shopping centers, and university campuses, and over 2,000,000 m (22,000,000 sq ft) of class-A office space in total. Maslak , Levent , and Bomonti are important nodes within the CBD. The Atatürk Airport corridor is another such edge city -style business, residential and shopping corridor with over 900,000 m (9,700,000 sq ft) of class-A office space. During

8806-517: A third time, on 15 October 1917, as a guest of Mehmed V .) German officers such as Baron von der Goltz and Bodo-Borries von Ditfurth were employed to oversee the organization of the Ottoman Army . German government officials were brought in to reorganize the Ottoman government's finances. The German emperor was also rumored to have counseled Abdul Hamid in his controversial decision to appoint his third son as his successor. Germany's friendship

9044-679: A war against the Empire in an alliance known as the Balkan League . On 28 September 1912, the Ottoman army conducted military maneuvers on the Bulgarian border, to which Bulgaria responded by mobilizing. On 4 October, the Committee organized a pro-war rally in Sultanahmet Square . On 8 October, Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire, starting the First Balkan War , with the rest of its allies joining in during

9282-801: A way that did not antagonize the Russians or the Germans. There were also key problems regarding the Albanian question resulting from the Albanian League of Prizren and with the Greek and Montenegrin frontiers, where the European powers were determined that the Berlin Congress 's decisions be carried out. Crete was granted "extended privileges", but these did not satisfy the population, which sought unification with Greece . In early 1897

9520-623: A willingness to commit acts of terrorism to highlight the Armenian plight (see Ottoman Bank Takeover and Abdul Hamid II assassination attempt in Yıldız ). The Dashnaks signed the alliance with the hope that decentralizing reforms could be conceded to Ottoman Armenians once the Young Turks took power, even though the CPU's core mantra was centralization. Their ambiguous relationship can be traced back

9758-469: Is a large and rapidly expanding city, its urban heat island has been intensifying the effects of climate change. If trends continue, sea level rise is likely to affect city infrastructure, for example Kadıkoy metro station is threatened with flooding. Xeriscaping of green spaces has been suggested, and Istanbul has a climate-change action plan. The natural vegetation of the province is made up of mixed broadleaf forest and pseudo-maquis , reflecting

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9996-445: Is acute in İstanbul with cars, buses and taxis causing frequent urban smog , as it is one of the few European cities without a low-emission zone . As of 2019 the city's mean air quality remains at a level so as to affect the heart and lungs of healthy street bystanders during peak traffic hours, and almost 200 days of pollution were measured by the air pollution sensors at Sultangazi , Mecidiyeköy , Alibeyköy and Kağıthane . It

10234-647: Is generally abrupt and sporadic. Cloudiness, as with precipitation, varies greatly by season. Winters are quite cloudy, with around 20 percent of days being sunny or partly cloudy. Meanwhile, summers experience 60-70 percent of possible sunshine. Snowfall is sporadic, but accumulates virtually every winter; and when it does, it is highly disruptive to city infrastructure. Sea-effect snowstorms with more than 30 centimetres (1 ft) of snowfall happen almost annually, most recently in 2022 . Climate change has caused an increase in Istanbul's heatwaves, droughts, storms, and flooding in Istanbul. Furthermore, as Istanbul

10472-516: Is one of the 10 worst cities for NO 2 . However a trial of congestion pricing is planned for the historic peninsula. Algal blooms and red tides were reported in the Sea of Marmara and Bosporus (especially in Golden Horn), and regularly happen in urban lakes such as Lake Büyükçekmece and Küçükçekmece . In June 2021, a marine mucilage wave allegedly caused by water pollution spread to Sea of Marmara. The Fatih district, which

10710-402: Is thought to be impossible. Istanbul Municipality's Directorate of Earthquake and Ground Research is responsible for analysing the methods to reduce the urban seismic risk , whereas the national government-controlled Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency is responsible for earthquake emergency response , and will be helped by NGOs such as İHH . The threat of major earthquakes plays

10948-714: The Hamidiye Alayları ("Hamidian Regiments"). The Hamidiye and Kurdish brigands were given free rein to attack Armenians – confiscating stores of grain, foodstuffs, and driving off livestock – confident of escaping punishment as they were subject only to court-martial. In the face of such violence, the Armenians established revolutionary organizations: the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Hunchak; founded in Switzerland in 1887) and

11186-515: The Millet system : a system of traditional rights and obligations imposed on ethnic groups which isolated the nations from each other. They wished instead for multi-ethnic Ottoman society to function under rational, centralized, and republican principles. Conscription was reformed to apply to all Ottoman citizens, instead of just Muslims that weren't enrolled in Madrasas . This caused an uproar from

11424-462: The 1875 insurrection in Bosnia and Herzegovina , the ongoing war with Serbia and Montenegro , and the feeling aroused throughout Europe by the cruelty used in stamping out the 1876 Bulgarian rebellion , Abdul Hamid promulgated a constitution and a parliament. Midhat Pasha headed the commission to establish a new constitution, and the cabinet passed the constitution on 6 December 1876, allowing for

11662-640: The Action Army , which marched on Constantinople. Şevket Pasha's chief of staff was captain Mustafa Kemal . The Action Army stopped first in Aya Stefanos , and negotiated with the rival government established by deputies who escaped from the capital, which was led by Mehmed Talat . It was secretly decided there that Abdul Hamid must be deposed. When the Action Army entered Istanbul, a fatwa

11900-749: The Allies occupied Constantinople on 13 November 1918. The Ottoman Parliament was dissolved by the Allies on 11 April 1920 and the Ottoman delegation led by Damat Ferid Pasha was forced to sign the Treaty of Sèvres on 10 August 1920. Following the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922), the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara abolished the Sultanate on 1 November 1922, and

12138-805: The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (the ARF or Dashnaktsutiun, founded in 1890 in Tiflis ). Unrest ensued and clashes occurred in 1892 at Merzifon and in 1893 at Tokat . Abdul Hamid put these revolts down with harsh methods. As a result, 300,000 Armenians were killed in what became known as the Hamidian massacres . News of the massacres was widely reported in Europe and the United States and drew strong responses from foreign governments and humanitarian organizations. Abdul Hamid

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12376-572: The Armenian Revolutionary Federation assassinated several of them (including Talât and Cemal) in Operation Nemesis in revenge for their genocidal policies. Many CUP members were court-martialed and imprisoned in war-crimes trials with support from the Allied powers . However, most former Unionists were able to join the burgeoning Turkish nationalist movement led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk , ultimately continuing their political careers in

12614-415: The Caliph 's supremacy. During his rule, Abdul Hamid refused Theodor Herzl 's offers to pay down a substantial portion of the Ottoman debt (150 million pounds sterling in gold) in exchange for a charter allowing the Zionists to settle in Palestine . He is famously quoted as telling Herzl's Emissary, "as long as I am alive, I will not have our body divided; only our corpse they can divide." Pan-Islamism

12852-402: The Committee of Union and Progress was also foiled in 1896 . His ascendancy finally ended in a revolution in 1908, and his reign for good ended with the 31 March Incident . These conspiracies were primarily driven by members of inside the Ottoman government, due to dissatisfaction with autocracy. Journalists had to contend with a strict censorship regime, while the intelligentsia chafed under

13090-408: The Grand Bazaar ), porticoes, pavilions, walkways, as well as more than a dozen new mosques. Mehmed II turned the ramshackle old town into something that looked like an imperial capital. Social hierarchy was ignored by the rampant plague, which killed the rich and the poor alike in the 16th century. Money could not protect the rich from all the discomforts and harsher sides of Istanbul. Although

13328-403: The Latin Empire in place of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire. Hagia Sophia was converted to a Catholic church in 1204. The Byzantine Empire was restored, albeit weakened, in 1261. Constantinople's churches, defenses, and basic services were in disrepair, and its population had dwindled to a hundred thousand from half a million during the 8th century. After the reconquest of 1261, however, some of

13566-411: The Liberty Party and later in 1911 the Freedom and Accord Party . Most of the Old Unionists soon distanced themselves from a CUP which was a very different organization than what it was originally founded as. Ibrahim Temo and Abdullah Cevdet , two original founders of the CUP, established the Ottoman Democratic Party in February 1909. Ahmet Rıza returned to the capital from Paris. He was welcomed as

13804-409: The Medieval Greek phrase eis tḕn Pólin ( εἰς τὴν Πόλιν , pronounced [is tim ˈbolin] ), literally 'to the city' and is how Constantinople was referred to by the local Greeks. This reflected its status as the only major city in the vicinity. The importance of Constantinople in the Ottoman world was also reflected by its nickname Dersaadet ( Ottoman Turkish : درساعدت ) meaning

14042-478: The Ministry of Justice and developed rail and telegraph systems. The telegraph system was expanded to incorporate the furthest parts of the Empire. Railways connected Constantinople and Vienna by 1883, and shortly afterward the Orient Express connected Paris to Constantinople. During his rule, railways within the Ottoman Empire expanded to connect Ottoman-controlled Europe and Anatolia with Constantinople as well. The increased ability to travel and communicate within

14280-477: The Ottoman Caliphate . Given the great diversity of ethnicities in the Ottoman Empire, he believed that Islam was the only way to unite his people. Pan-Islamism encouraged Muslims living under European powers to unite under one polity. This threatened several European countries: Austria through Bosnian Muslims ; Russia through Tatars and Kurds ; France and Spain through Moroccan Muslims; and Britain through Indian Muslims. Foreigners' privileges in

14518-406: The Turkish War of Independence , Ankara replaced the city as the capital of the newly formed Republic of Turkey. Istanbul was the 2010 European Capital of Culture . The city has surpassed London and Dubai to become the most visited city in the world, with more than 20 million foreign visitors in 2023. The historic centre of Istanbul is a UNESCO World Heritage Site , and the city hosts

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14756-478: The Young Turks movement. Ethnic minorities started organizing their own national liberation movements . Armenians especially suffered from massacres and pogroms at the hands of the Hamidiye regiments. Of the many assassination attempts during Abdul Hamid's reign, one of the most famous is the Armenian Revolutionary Federation 's Yıldız assassination attempt of 1905. In 1908, the Committee of Union and Progress forced him to recall parliament and reinstate

14994-439: The metropolitan area of Istanbul as result of urban sprawl . Istanbul is in north-western Turkey and straddles the Bosporus Strait , which provides the only passage from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean via the Sea of Marmara . Historically, the city has been ideally situated for trade and defense: The confluence of the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Golden Horn provide both ideal defense against enemy attack and

15232-418: The war with Serbia and Montenegro , the result of Russo-Turkish war , and the feeling aroused throughout Europe by Abdul Hamid's government in stamping out the Bulgarian rebellion all contributed to his apprehension regarding enacting significant changes. His push for education resulted in the establishment of 18 professional schools; and in 1900, Darülfünûn-u Şahâne , now known as Istanbul University ,

15470-408: The " Sacrifices of the Şeref " (Şeref Kurbanları ) and was the biggest exile event in Abdul Hamid's reign. Following the failure of the Ottoman Union's plots in the mid-1890s, the organization's Constantinople section turned inoperable and the headquarters moved to Paris. Young Turk émigré communities were established in Paris, London, Geneva, Bucharest, and British occupied Egypt . In exile though

15708-609: The "Father of Liberty" ( hürriyetçilerin babası) and unanimously elected president of the Chamber of Deputies , the parliament's lower house, and in 1910 renounced his membership from the CUP as the radical Macedonians took over. Despite the period of post-revolutionary euphoria felt throughout the empire, what constitutionalism and reform meant for each group meant different things, and pessimism would soon set in with unfulfilled expectations. Many non-Turkish CUP members would also soon renounce their membership, as ethnic nationalist organizations which were once allies would cut ties. Much to

15946-445: The 'Gate to Prosperity' in Ottoman Turkish. An alternative view is that the name evolved directly from "Constantinople", with the first and third syllables dropped. Some Ottoman sources of the 17th century, such as Evliya Çelebi , describe it as the common Turkish name of the time; between the late 17th and late 18th centuries, it was also in official use. The first use of the word Islambol ( Ottoman Turkish : اسلامبول ) on coinage

16184-468: The 1890s, Greek, Bulgarian, Serbian, and Aromanian militant groups started fighting Ottoman authorities, and each other, in the Macedonian conflict . Using the İdare-i Örfiyye , a clause in the defunct Ottoman constitution comparable to declaring a state of siege , the government suspended civil rights in the Ottoman Balkans . İdare-i Örfiyye was also soon declared in Eastern Anatolia to more effectively prosecute fedayi . The statute persisted under

16422-475: The 1913 Raid on the Sublime Porte , while also growing increasingly splintered, radical and nationalistic due to Turkey's defeat in the First Balkan War and attacks on Balkan Muslims . The CUP seized full power following Grand Vizier Mahmud Şevket Pasha 's assassination in June 1913, with major decisions ultimately being decided by the party's Central Committee . A triumvirate of the CUP leader Talât Pasha with Enver Pasha and Cemal Pasha took control of

16660-412: The 1930s, when Turkish authorities began to press for the use of Istanbul in foreign languages. Ḳosṭanṭīnīye ( Ottoman Turkish : قسطنطينيه ) and İstanbul were the names used alternatively by the Ottomans during their rule. The name İstanbul ( Ottoman Turkish : استانبول ; pronounced [isˈtanbuɫ] , colloquially [ɯsˈtambuɫ] ) is commonly held to derive from

16898-458: The 1950s the number of dolphin observations has become increasingly rare. Mediterranean monk seals were present in Bosporus, and Princes' Islands and Tuzla shores were seal breeding areas during summer, but they have not been observed in Istanbul since the 1960s and thought to be extinct in the region. Water pollution, overfishing and destruction of coastal habitats caused by urbanization are main threats to Istanbul's marine ecology. Apart from

17136-459: The 1960s as part of the process of Turkification . Further mass expulsions of Greeks took place in 1964–1965. As a result of these policies, the Greek population of Istanbul decreased from 110,000 in 1919 to 2,500 today. From the late 1940s and early 1950s, Istanbul underwent great structural change, as new public squares, boulevards, and avenues were constructed throughout the city, sometimes at

17374-575: The 19th century, leaving only the Galata Tower , to make way for the northward expansion of the city. Galata ( Karaköy ) is today a quarter within the Beyoğlu district, which forms Istanbul's commercial and entertainment center and includes İstiklal Avenue and Taksim Square . Dolmabahçe Palace , the seat of government during the late Ottoman period, is in the Beşiktaş district on the European shore of

17612-512: The 275 seats in parliament through electoral fraud and violence, which led to the election being known as the "Election of Clubs " ( Turkish : Sopalı Seçimler ), leaving the Freedom and Accord just six seats. Although they won ten seats from the Union and Progress lists, Dashnak terminated the alliance as they expected more reforms from the CUP as well as more support for their candidates to be elected. In May 1912, Miralay Sadık separated from

17850-583: The 5th and 6th centuries, the center of episodes of unrest, including the Nika riots . Constantinople's location also ensured its existence would stand the test of time; for many centuries, its walls and seafront protected Europe against invaders from the east and the advance of Islam. During most of the Middle Ages , the latter part of the Byzantine era, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city on

18088-916: The Alliance forces led by the German Captain Guido von Usedom at the Battle of Langfang during the Seymour Expedition , in 1900, and besieged the trapped Alliance forces during the Siege of the International Legations . It was only on the second attempt, in the Gasalee Expedition , that the Alliance forces managed to get through to battle the Chinese Muslim troops at the Battle of Peking . Wilhelm

18326-577: The Americans, inasmuch as no interference with their religion would be allowed under American rule. As the Moros have never asked more than that, it is not surprising, that they refused all overtures made, by Aguinaldo's agents, at the time of the Filipino insurrection. President McKinley sent a personal letter of thanks to Mr. Straus for the excellent work he had done, and said, its accomplishment had saved

18564-497: The Ankara government, commanded by Şükrü Naili Pasha (3rd Corps), entered the city with a ceremony on 6 October 1923, which has been marked as the "Liberation Day of Istanbul" ( İstanbul'un Kurtuluşu ), and has been commemorated annually since. On 29 October 1923 the Grand National Assembly of Turkey declared the establishment of the Turkish Republic, with Ankara as its capital. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became

18802-618: The Armenian desire for reform, led western European powers to take a more hands-on approach with the Turks. Abdul Hamid survived an attempted stabbing in 1904 as well. Abdul Hamid did not believe that the Tanzimat movement could succeed in helping the disparate peoples of the empire achieve a common identity, such as Ottomanism . He adopted a new ideological principle, Pan-Islamism ; since, beginning in 1517, Ottoman sultans were also nominally Caliphs, he wanted to promote that fact and emphasized

19040-642: The Balkans, and the Russo-Turkish War threatened the Empire's very existence. Abdul Hamid worked with the Young Ottomans to realize some form of constitutional arrangement. This new form could help bring about a liberal transition with an Islamic provenance. The Young Ottomans believed that the modern parliamentary system was a restatement of the practice of consultation, or shura , that had existed in early Islam. In December 1876, due to

19278-615: The Belgian government was also pressured to deport the group a couple years later. A congress in December 1896 saw Murat elected as chairman over Rıza and the headquarters moved to Geneva, causing a schism in the society between Rıza's supporters in Paris and Murat's supporters in Geneva. After the Ottoman Empire's triumph over Greece in 1897 Sultan Abdul Hamid used the prestige he gained from

19516-690: The Bosporus, to the north of Beyoğlu. The former village of Ortaköy is within Beşiktaş and gives its name to the Ortaköy Mosque on the Bosporus, near the Bosporus Bridge . Lining both the European and Asian shores of the Bosporus are the historic yalıs , luxurious chalet mansions built by Ottoman aristocrats and elites as summer homes. Inland, north of Taksim Square is the Istanbul Central Business District ,

19754-797: The Bosporus. The settlers built an acropolis adjacent to the Golden Horn on the site of the early Thracian settlements, fueling the nascent city's economy. The city experienced a brief period of Persian rule at the turn of the 5th century BCE, but the Greeks recaptured it during the Greco-Persian Wars . Byzantium then continued as part of the Athenian League and its successor, the Second Athenian League , before gaining independence in 355 BCE. Long allied with

19992-500: The Bulgarian army (see First Battle of Çatalca ). Edirne was a symbolic city, as it was an important city in Ottoman history, serving as the Empire's third capital for nearly one hundred years, and together with Salonica represented Europe's Islamic heritage. Muhtar Pasha's government resigned on the 29th of October following total military defeat in Rumelia for Kâmil Pasha 's return, Freedom and Accord's leader and keen on destroying

20230-551: The CUP and organized a group of pro-Freedom and Accord officers in the army calling themselves the Saviour Officers Group , which demanded the immediate dissolution of the Unionist dominated parliament. The fraudulent electoral result of the "Election of Clubs" had badly hurt the popular legitimacy of the CUP, and faced with widespread opposition and Mahmud Şevket Pasha's resignation as Minister of War in support of

20468-580: The CUP captured almost every seat in the Chamber of Deputies, but the discord surrounding the new constitutional order resulted in a reliably Unionist parliamentary group only 60 deputies (out of 275) strong despite its leading role in the revolution. Other parties represented in parliament included the Armenian Dashnak and Hunchak parties (with four and two members respectively) and the main opposition, Sabahaddin's Liberty Party. A sign of how

20706-453: The CUP once and for all. With the loss of Salonica to Greece the CUP was forced to relocate its Central Committee to Istanbul, but by mid-November the new headquarters was shut down by the government and its members were forced into hiding. Grand Vizier Kâmil Pasha and his War Minister Nazım Pasha wished to ban the CUP, so the CUP launched a preemptive strike: a coup d'état known as the Raid on

20944-474: The CUP over Abdul Hamid happened on 1 August, when Abdul Hamid was forced to assign ministries according to the Central Committee's will. Four days later, the CUP told the government that the current Grand Vizier (at this point a de jure prime ministerial title) Mehmed Said Pasha was unacceptable to them, and had Kâmil Pasha appointed Grand Vizier. Kâmil later proved to be too independent for

21182-609: The CUP power worked occurred in February 1909, when Ali Haydar, who had just been appointed ambassador to Spain, went to the Sublime Porte to discuss his new appointment with Hilmi Pasha, only be to be informed by the Grand Vizier he needed to confer with a man from the Central Committee who was due to arrive shortly. The murder of the anti-Unionist journalist Hasan Fehmi on 6 April was widely seen as an assassination by

21420-470: The CUP. Facing a vote of no confidence, he was forced to resign. He was replaced by Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha who was more partial towards the committee. Moral was high amongst Ottomans following revolution, but in the lead up to the election, dissatisfaction of the Young Turks' unfulfilled promises to improve worker's rights lead to a major worker strike wave across the empire. The CUP initially supported

21658-502: The CUP. His funeral turned into a demonstration against the committee when a crowd of 50,000 assembled in Sultanahmet Square and eventually in front of the parliament. These events served to be the backdrop of the 31 March incident . Days afterward, discontent against the CUP and disappointment from broken promises culminated in an uprising by reactionaries and liberals. A mob revolted in Constantinople that Abdul Hamid II took advantage of, securing his absolutism once again. The members of

21896-572: The Central Committee, and in the future worked closely with the Ministry of War and Ministry of Interior. A great many officers, most of whom Unionist, including Enver, his younger brother Nuri , Mustafa Kemal, Süleyman Askerî , and Ali Fethi (Okyar) all departed to Libya to fight the Italians. With many of the Unionist officers in Libya, this weakened the power of the CUP and the army at home. As

22134-690: The Dashnaks and IMRO's left wing, and cordial relations with the Hunchaks . On 22 December 1907, in the Second Congress of Ottoman Opposition , Rıza, Sabahaddin, and the Dashnaks were finally able to put their differences aside and signed an alliance, declaring that Abdul Hamid had to be deposed and the regime replaced with a representative and constitutional government by any means necessary, without foreign interference. The Dashnak Party ( Dashnaktsutyun , or Armenian Revolutionary Federation , ARF)

22372-448: The Empire; with his assassination, the CUP took full control over the country. The power vacuum in the army created by Şevket's death was filled by the committee. Any remaining opposition to the CUP, especially Freedom and Accord, was suppressed and their leaders exiled. All provincial and local officials reported to " Responsible Secretaries " chosen by the party for each Vilayet . Mehmed V appointed Said Halim Pasha , an Egyptian royal who

22610-406: The European continent and at times the largest in the world. Constantinople is generally considered to be the center and the "cradle of Orthodox Christian civilization ". Constantinople began to decline continuously after the end of the reign of Basil II in 1025. The Fourth Crusade was diverted from its purpose in 1204, and the city was sacked and pillaged by the crusaders. They established

22848-511: The European railway network in the 1880s. Modern facilities, such as a water supply network, electricity, telephones, and trams, were gradually introduced to Constantinople over the following decades, although later than to other European cities. The modernization efforts were not enough to forestall the decline of the Ottoman Empire . With the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Ottoman Parliament , closed since 14 February 1878,

23086-605: The European side, and close to the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge , is Emirgan Park , which was known as the Kyparades ('Cypress Forest') during the Byzantine period. In the Ottoman period, it was first granted to Nişancı Feridun Ahmed Bey in the 16th century, before being granted by Sultan Murad IV to the Safavid emir Gûne Han in the 17th century, hence the name Emirgan . The 47-hectare (120-acre) park

23324-522: The European side, near the point of the peninsula ( Sarayburnu ), there was a Thracian settlement during the early 1st millennium BCE. Modern authors have linked it to the Thracian toponym Lygos , mentioned by Pliny the Elder as an earlier name for the site of Byzantium. The history of the city proper begins around 660 BCE, when Greek settlers from Megara established Byzantium on the European side of

23562-671: The Great Powers' insistence (especially the United Kingdom's), the treaty was revised at the Congress of Berlin so as to reduce the great advantages Russia gained. In exchange for these favors, Cyprus was ceded to Britain in 1878. There were troubles in Egypt, where a discredited khedive had to be deposed. Abdul Hamid mishandled relations with Urabi Pasha , and as a result, Britain gained de facto control over Egypt and Sudan by sending its troops in 1882 to establish control over

23800-531: The Great effectively became the emperor of the whole of the Roman Empire in September 324. Two months later, he laid out the plans for a new, Christian city to replace Byzantium. As the eastern capital of the empire, the city was named Nova Roma ; most called it Constantinople, a name that persisted into the 20th century. On 11 May 330, Constantinople was proclaimed the capital of the Roman Empire, which

24038-534: The Hamidian regime for a constitutional one. During the countercoup, massacres against Ottoman Armenians in Adana occurred that was facilitated by members of the local CUP branch, straining the alliance between the CUP and Dashnak. The committee made up for this by nominating Cemal as governor of Adana. Cemal restored order, providing compensation to victims and bringing (light) justice to the perpetrators, thus mending

24276-463: The Liberty Party that took part in the uprising lost control of the situation when the sultan accepted the mob's demands, again suspending the constitution and shuttering the parliament. The uprising was localised in the capital, so MPs and other Unionists were able to flee and organise. Talât was able to escape to Aya Stefanos ( Yeşilköy ) with 100 deputies to organise a counter government. In

24514-547: The Ministry of Military Schools launched an investigation that recommended expelling nine leaders from the medicine school but the palace pardoned them as they viewed the Unionists as a harmless student movement. Soon however, some members of Ottoman Union started fleeing to Europe, where they congregated in colonies. In 1894, Selanikli Mehmet "Doctor" Nazım was sent by Ottoman Union to recruit an influential Young Turk émigré based in Paris: Ahmed Rıza Bey . Rıza soon led

24752-573: The OFC founders also joined the Salonica Freemason lodge Macedonia Risorta , as Freemason lodges proved to be safe havens from the secret police of Yıldız Palace . Army officers İsmail Enver and Kazım Karabekir would found the Monastir (modern Bitola ) branch of the OFC, which turned out to be a potent source of recruits for the organization. Unlike the mostly bureaucrat recruits of

24990-581: The Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey until the 1940s. Educated Muslim women resented the Salafist Hatts that mandated veils be worn outside the home and to be accompanied by men, though these decrees were mostly ignored. The national humiliation of the Macedonian conflict , together with the resentment in the army against the palace spies and informers, at last brought matters to

25228-580: The Ottoman Empire but chose not to overthrow Abdul Hamid choosing instead to monitor situation from the sidelines. This was because most of its members were mostly junior officers and bureaucrats and held little to no skill in statecraft, while the organization itself held little power outside of Rumelia . Besides, only a small fraction of the army's lower ranking officer corps were loyal to the committee, and total membership numbered around approximately 2,250. The CUP decided to continue its clandestine nature by keeping its membership secret but sent to Constantinople

25466-459: The Ottoman Empire had it that during the summit a secret Anglo-Russian agreement was signed to partition the Ottoman Empire. Though this story was not true, the rumour led the CUP's Monastir branch –which had recruited many army officers– to act. Enver and Ahmed Niyazi fled to the Albanian hinterlands to organise militias in support of a constitutionalist revolution. The Unionists then carried out

25704-564: The Ottoman Empire into a one party state of Union and Progress, known in history as the Three Pashas Triumvirate . Members of Said Halim Pasha's cabinet , the triumvirate consisted of Talât who returned to the Interior Ministry , Enver who became War Minister , and Cemal who became Naval Minister and de facto ruler of Syria , all of whom soon became Pashas. Some historians claim that Halil (Menteşe)

25942-536: The Ottoman Empire served to strengthen Constantinople's influence over the rest of the Empire. Abdul Hamid introduced legislation against the slave trade via the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1880 and the Kanunname of 1889 . Abdul Hamid took stringent measures regarding his security. The memory of the deposition of Abdul Aziz was on his mind and convinced him that a constitutional government

26180-611: The Ottoman Empire went to war with the Russian Empire . Abdul Hamid's biggest fear, near dissolution, was realized with the Russian declaration of war on 24 April 1877. In that conflict, the Ottoman Empire fought without help from European allies. Russian chancellor Prince Gorchakov had by that time effectively purchased Austrian neutrality with the Reichstadt Agreement . The British Empire, though still fearing

26418-610: The Ottoman Empire, which were an obstacle to effective government, were curtailed. At the very end of his reign, Abdul Hamid finally provided funds to start construction of the strategically important Constantinople-Baghdad Railway and the Constantinople-Medina Railway , which would ease the trip to Mecca for the Hajj ; after he was deposed, the CUP accelerated and completed construction of both railways. Missionaries were sent to distant countries preaching Islam and

26656-725: The Ottoman Empire. Abdul Hamid and his close advisors believed the Empire should be treated as an equal player by these great powers. In the Sultan's view, the Ottoman Empire was a European empire that was distinguished by having more Muslims than Christians. Over time, the hostile diplomatic attitudes of France (the occupation of Tunisia in 1881) and Great Britain (the 1882 establishment of de facto control in Egypt ) caused Abdul Hamid to gravitate towards Germany. Abdul Hamid twice hosted Kaiser Wilhelm II in Istanbul, on 21 October 1889 and on 5 October 1898 . (Wilhelm II later visited Constantinople

26894-710: The Ottoman dynasty Damat Mahmud Pasha and his sons Sabahaddin and Lütfullah fled to Europe to join the Young Turks. However, Prince Sabahaddin believed that embracing the Anglo-Saxon values of capitalism and liberalism would alleviate the Empire's problems such as separatism from non-Muslim minorities such as the Armenians . In 1902 the First Congress of Ottoman Opposition , which included Rıza's Unionists, Sabahaddin's supporters, Armenian Dashnaks and Vergazmiya Hunchaks , and other Greek and Bulgarian groups,

27132-663: The Ottoman fleet (the world's third-largest fleet during the reign of his predecessor Abdul Aziz ) inside the Golden Horn indirectly caused the loss of Ottoman overseas territories and islands in North Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Aegean Sea during and after his reign. Financial difficulties forced him to consent to foreign control over the Ottoman national debt . In a decree issued in December 1881,

27370-458: The Ottoman period, Üsküdar (then Scutari) and Kadıköy were outside the scope of the urban area, serving as tranquil outposts with seaside yalıs and gardens. But in the second half of the 20th century, the Asian side experienced major urban growth; the late development of this part of the city led to better infrastructure and tidier urban planning when compared with most other residential areas in

27608-597: The Paris section of a united organization of dissidents operating in Europe and those in Constantinople: the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress ( Osmanlı İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti ) (CUP), which was centered around the organ Meşveret and its French supplemental. The CUP became the preeminent faction of the Young Turks once it absorbed other opposition groups and established contact with exiled intelligentsia, Freemasons, and cabinet ministers, to

27846-676: The Philippines, ordering them not to join the Moro Rebellion and submit to American suzerainty and American military rule. The Sultan obliged the Americans and wrote the letter, which was sent to Mecca, whence two Sulu chiefs brought it to Sulu. It was successful, since the "Sulu Mohammedans ... refused to join the insurrectionists and had placed themselves under the control of our army, thereby recognizing American sovereignty." Despite Abdul Hamid's "pan-Islamic" ideology, he had readily acceded to Straus's request for help in telling

28084-447: The Republic of Turkey as members of Atatürk's Republican People's Party following the Turkish War of Independence . Atatürk and the Republican People's Party expanded on reforms introduced by Union and Progress and continued one-party rule in Turkey until 1946 . The CUP was first established as the Committee of the Ottoman Union ( Ottoman Turkish : İttihad-ı Osmanî Cemiyeti ) in Constantinople (now Istanbul ) on 6 February 1889 by

28322-488: The Republic's first President . A 1942 wealth tax assessed mainly on non-Muslims led to the transfer or liquidation of many businesses owned by religious minorities. The state-sanctioned 1955 Istanbul pogrom , in which hundreds of Greek men, women and children were attacked and raped and dozens murdered, led to the emigration of most of the remaining Greeks in Istanbul. Government persecution of Greeks and religious minorities, especially Christians , intensified through

28560-452: The Romans, Byzantium officially became a part of the Roman Empire in 73 CE. Byzantium's decision to side with the Roman usurper Pescennius Niger against Emperor Septimius Severus cost it dearly; by the time it surrendered at the end of 195 CE, two years of siege had left the city devastated. Five years later, Severus began to rebuild Byzantium, and the city regained—and, by some accounts, surpassed—its previous prosperity. Constantine

28798-601: The Russian threat to the British presence in India , did not involve itself in the conflict because of public opinion against the Ottomans, following reports of Ottoman brutality in putting down the Bulgarian uprising. Russia's victory was quick; the conflict ended in February 1878. The Treaty of San Stefano , signed at the end of the war, imposed harsh terms: the Ottoman Empire gave independence to Romania , Serbia, and Montenegro; it granted autonomy to Bulgaria; instituted reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and ceded parts of Dobrudzha to Romania and parts of Armenia to Russia, which

29036-495: The Salonica OFC branch, OFC recruits from Monastir were officers of the Third Army . The Third Army was engaging Greek , Bulgarian , and Serbian insurgent groups (which were also engaging each other) in what was known as the Macedonian conflict , and its officers believed a constitution and drastic reform would bring peace and maintain Ottoman authority in a region that was in seemingly perpetual intercommunal conflict. These officers feared that foreign influence would increase in

29274-464: The Sublime Porte on 23 January 1913. During the coup Kâmil Pasha was forced to resign as Grand Vizier at gunpoint and a Unionist officer Yakub Cemil killed Nazım Pasha. The coup was justified under the grounds that Kâmil Pasha was about to "sell out the nation" by agreeing to a truce in the First Balkan War and giving up Edirne. The intention of the new leadership, dominated by Talât, Enver, Cemal, under Şevket Pasha's premiership (who reluctantly accepted

29512-411: The Sultan lived at a safe remove from the masses, and the wealthy and poor tended to live side by side, for the most part Istanbul was not zoned as modern cities are. Opulent houses shared the same streets and districts with tiny hovels. Those rich enough to have secluded country properties had a chance of escaping the periodic epidemics of sickness that blighted Istanbul. The Ottoman dynasty claimed

29750-435: The Sultan's powers in favor of parliament and the Sublime Porte. The years after the 31 March Crisis were much less free compared to the euphoric start of the Second Constitutional Era. Censorship and restrictions on gatherings were implemented in a context of increasing polarization between the CUP and its opposition. During this time the party began a nationalist turn, with many of its leaders frustrated by ethnic politics. This

29988-433: The Sultanate's autonomy in its internal affairs and governance , was then violated by the Americans , who then invaded Moroland, causing the Moro Rebellion to break out in 1904, with war raging between the Americans and Moro Muslims and atrocities committed against Moro Muslim women and children, such as the Moro Crater Massacre . The Triple Entente – the United Kingdom, France and Russia – had strained relations with

30226-448: The Sulu Muslims to not resist America, since he felt no need to cause hostilities between the West and Muslims. Collaboration between the American military and Sulu Sultanate was due to the Ottoman Sultan persuading the Sulu Sultan. John P. Finley wrote: After due consideration of these facts, the Sultan, as Caliph caused a message to be sent to the Mohammedans of the Philippine Islands forbidding them to enter into any hostilities against

30464-425: The Three Pashas and Halil, éminence grises such as Dr. Nazım , Bahattin Şakir , Ziya Gökalp , and the party's secretary general Midhat Şükrü at times also dominated the Central Committee without formal positions in the Ottoman government. The CUP regime was less hierarchically totalitarian than future European dictatorships. Instead of relying on strict and rigid chains of command the regime functioned through

30702-431: The United States at least twenty thousand troops in the field. President McKinley did not mention the Ottoman role in the pacification of the Sulu Moros in his address to the first session of the Fifty-sixth Congress in December 1899, since the agreement with the Sultan of Sulu was not submitted to the Senate until 18 December. The Bates Treaty, which the Americans signed with the Moro Sulu Sultanate, and which guaranteed

30940-425: The Young Turks driven out of the capital, Abdul Hamid appointed Ahmet Tevfik Pasha in his place, and once again suspended the constitution and shuttered the parliament. But the Sultan controlled only Constantinople, while the Unionists were still influential in the rest of the army and provinces. The CUP appealed to Mahmud Shevket Pasha to restore the status quo. Shevket Pasha organized an ad hoc formation known as

31178-454: The Young Turks would be racked by expat infighting. Rıza was an avowed positivist , and advocated for a Turkish nationalist and secularist agenda. Even though he denounced revolution, he had a more conservative and Islamist rival in Mehmet Murat Bey of Mizan fame. Rıza also had to deal with the " Activist " faction of the CUP that did push for a revolution. Other CUP branches often acted autonomously with their own ideological currents, to

31416-425: The age of two. The two were brought up in the same household, where they spent their childhood together. Unlike many other Ottoman sultans, Abdul Hamid II visited distant countries. In the summer of 1867, nine years before he ascended the throne, he accompanied his uncle Sultan Abdul Aziz on a visit to Paris (30 June – 10 July 1867), London (12–23 July 1867), Vienna (28–30 July 1867), and capitals or cities of

31654-632: The balancing of factions through massive corruption and kickbacks. Individual governors were allowed much autonomy, such as Cemal Pasha's reign of Syria and Mustafa Rahmi 's governorship of the Aydin vilayet . Loyalty to the committee was seen more valuable than competence. This lack of rule of law, lack of respect to the constitution, and extreme corruption worsened as the regime aged. Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II ( Ottoman Turkish : عبد الحميد ثانی , romanized :  Abd ul-Hamid-i s̱ānī ; Turkish : II. Abdülhamid ; 21 September 1842 – 10 February 1918)

31892-468: The beginning of the 21st century, indicate that Istanbul's historic peninsula was settled as far back as the 6th millennium BCE. That early settlement, important in the spread of the Neolithic Revolution from the Near East to Europe, lasted for almost a millennium before being inundated by rising water levels. The first human settlement on the Asian side, the Fikirtepe mound, is from the Copper Age period, with artifacts dating from 5500 to 3500 BCE, On

32130-560: The bureaucracy, extension of the Rumelia Railway and the Anatolia Railway , and construction of the Baghdad Railway and the Hejaz Railway . Systems for population registration, sedentarization of tribal groups , and control over the press were part of a unique imperialist system in fringe provinces known as borrowed colonialism . The farthest-reaching reforms were in education, with many professional schools established in fields such as law, arts, trades, civil engineering, veterinary medicine, customs, farming, and linguistics, along with

32368-431: The censors' clumsy restrictions. Starting around 1890, Armenians began demanding implementation of the reforms promised to them at the Berlin Conference . To prevent such measures, in 1890–91 Abdul Hamid gave semi-official status to the bandits who were already actively mistreating the Armenians in the provinces. Made up of Kurds and other ethnic groups such as Turcomans , and armed by the state, they came to be called

32606-420: The city , there are, in fact, more than 50 hills within the city limits. Istanbul's tallest hill, Aydos, is 537 meters (1,762 ft) high. The North Anatolian Fault , under the Sea of Marmara , is locked just south of the city. This fault caused the earthquakes in 1766 and 1894 , and a quake of at least magnitude 7.0 is very likely in the 21st century, though an earthquake with a magnitude above 7.5

32844-439: The city's climate , however. The city's summers are warm to hot and moderately dry, with an average daytime temperature of about 28 °C (82 °F), and less than 7 days of precipitation per month. Despite the generally acceptable temperature range, mid-summer in Istanbul is considered moderately uncomfortable, due to high dew points and relative humidity. Winters, meanwhile, are cool, quite rainy, and relatively snow-rich for

33082-532: The city's monuments were restored, and some, like the two Deesis mosaics in Hagia Sophia and Kariye, were created. Various economic and military policies instituted by Andronikos II Palaiologos , such as the reduction of military forces, weakened the empire and left it vulnerable to attack. In the mid-14th-century, the Ottoman Turks began a strategy of gradually taking smaller towns and cities, cutting off Constantinople's supply routes and strangling it slowly. On 29 May 1453, after an eight-week siege during which

33320-467: The city's name was officially changed to Istanbul, the Turkish rendering of εἰς τὴν Πόλιν eis tḕn Pólin 'to the City', the appellation Greek speakers used since the 11th century to colloquially refer to the city. The city served as an imperial capital for almost 1600 years: during the Byzantine (330–1204), Latin (1204–1261), late Byzantine (1261–1453), and Ottoman (1453–1922) empires. The city grew in size and influence, eventually becoming

33558-432: The city's transitional, Mediterranean-influenced humid temperate climate. Chestnut , oak , elm , linden , ash and locust comprise the most prominent temperate forest genera, while laurel , terebinth , Cercis siliquastrum , broom , red firethorn , and oak species such as Quercus cerris and Quercus coccifera are the most important species of Mediterranean and Submediterranean distribution. Apart from

33796-494: The city. Much of the Asian side of the Bosporus functions as a suburb of the economic and commercial centers in European Istanbul, accounting for a third of the city's population but only a quarter of its employment. However, Kozyatağı – Ataşehir , Altunizade , Kavacık and Ümraniye , all together having around 1.4 million sqm of class-A office space, are now important " edge cities ", i.e. corridors and nodes of business and shopping centers and of tall residential buildings. As

34034-494: The committee's dismay, the instability during the revolution resulted in more territorial loses for the Empire, which would not be reversed due to the European powers refusing to uphold the status quo set by the Treaty of Berlin . Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia , Crete announced a union with Greece , and Bulgaria declared independence . As a result, the CUP organized a boycott against Austro-Hungarian made goods. The CUP succeeded in reestablishing democracy and constitutionalism in

34272-404: The constitution as a too-radical change; they preferred the 1856 constitution ( Islâhat Hatt-ı Hümâyûnu ) or the 1839 Gülhane edict ( Hatt-ı Şerif ), and questioned whether a parliament was necessary to act as an official voice of the people. In any event, like many other would-be reforms of the Ottoman Empire, it proved nearly impossible. Russia continued to mobilize for war, and early in 1877

34510-402: The constitution in the Young Turk Revolution . Abdul Hamid II attempted to reassert his absolutism a year later, resulting in his deposition by pro-constitutionalist forces in the 31 March incident , though the role he played in these events is disputed. Hamid Efendi was born on 21 September 1842 either in Çırağan Palace , Ortaköy , or at Topkapı Palace , both in Constantinople . He was

34748-412: The control of the Special Organisation ( Ottoman Turkish : تشکیلات مخصوصه , romanized :  Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa ), which was used to conduct guerrilla operations against the Italians in Libya. Those who had once served as fedâiin assassins during the years of underground struggle were often assigned as leaders of the Special Organisation. The ultra-secretive Special Organisation answered to

34986-414: The counter-revolution attempt known as the 31 March incident . A series of wars in the early 20th century, such as the Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912) and the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), plagued the ailing empire's capital and resulted in the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état , which brought the regime of the Three Pashas . The Ottoman Empire joined World War I (1914–1918) on the side of the Central Powers and

35224-409: The country, and sided with Germany in World War I . With the help of their paramilitary, the Special Organization , the Unionist régime enacted policies resulting in the destruction and expulsion of the empire's Armenian , Pontic Greek , and Assyrian citizens in order to Turkify Anatolia. Following Ottoman defeat in World War I in October 1918, CUP leaders escaped into exile in Europe, where

35462-424: The crisis, Ottoman rule in the Balkans and its international prestige were severely diminished, and the Empire lost its economic sovereignty as its finances came under the control of the Great Powers through the Ottoman Public Debt Administration . In 1878, Abdul Hamid consolidated his rule by suspending both the constitution and the parliament, purging the Young Ottomans  [ tr ] , and curtailing

35700-404: The divide amongst the Young Turks instead deepened the rivalry between Sabahaddin's group and Rıza's CPU. The 20th century began with Abdul Hamid II's rule secure and his opposition scattered and divided. Despite all these setbacks for the CPU and Young Turks, the cause for liberty ( hürriyet ) was effectively revived under a new cadre in Salonica (modern Thessaloniki ) by 1907. In September 1906,

35938-567: The empire as the " sick man of Europe ". Abdul Hamid II was a skilled carpenter and personally crafted some high-quality furniture, which can be seen at the Yıldız Palace , Şale Köşkü , and Beylerbeyi Palace in Istanbul. He was also interested in opera and personally wrote the first-ever Turkish translations of many classic operas. He also composed several opera pieces for the Mızıka-yı Hümâyun (Ottoman Imperial Band/Orchestra, established by his grandfather Mahmud II who had appointed Donizetti Pasha as its Instructor General in 1828), and hosted

36176-473: The empire through constitutionalism: either the crown prince Mehmed Reşad (Mehmed V) or former Sultan Murad V . Under the guise of a banquet, the Committee of Ottoman Union held its first meeting in Midhat Pasha 's vineyard outside Edirnekapı , Constantinople. It was decided at this meeting that the society would be modeled from the Italian Carbonari and be structured into cells. They met every Friday in different places, where they held seminaries discussing

36414-457: The empire, and selected wrestlers were invited to the palace. Abdul Hamid personally tried the sportsmen, and good ones remained in the palace. He was also skilled at drawing, having drawn the sole known portrait of his fourth wife, Bidar Kadın . He was extremely fond of Sherlock Holmes novels, and awarded their author, Arthur Conan Doyle , the Order of the Medjidie , 2nd-Class, in 1907. Bilgi University professor Suraiya Farooqi stated that

36652-432: The empire. With the reestablishment of the constitution and parliament , a general election was called for December of that year, prompting most Young Turk organizations to turn into political parties, including the CUP. After meeting of the goal reinstating the constitution, in the absence of this uniting factor, the Young Turks began to formally establish proper parties in place of their émigré factions. Sabahaddin founded

36890-427: The empire." Abdul Hamid's new attitude did not save him from the suspicion of intriguing with the state's powerful reactionary elements, a suspicion confirmed by his attitude toward the counter-revolution of 13 April 1909, known as the 31 March Incident , when an insurrection of the soldiers backed by a conservative upheaval in some parts of the military in the capital overthrew Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha 's government. With

37128-424: The exiled Old Unionists. For now this merger reoriented the committee from an intellectual opposition group into a secret revolutionary organization. Intending to emulate other revolutionary nationalist organisations like the Dashnak Party or IMRO , an extensive cell based organisation was constructed. The CPU's modus operandi was " Komitecilik" (Committeemanship), or rule by revolutionary conspiracy. Joining

37366-419: The expense of historical buildings. The overall population of Istanbul began to rapidly increase in the 1970s, as people from Anatolia migrated to the city to find employment in the many new factories that were built on the outskirts of the sprawling metropolis. This sudden, sharp rise in the city's population caused a large demand for housing, and many previously outlying villages and forests became engulfed into

37604-431: The failure to rescue Rumelia by the CUP prompted the organization of a countercoup by Kâmil Pasha that would overthrow the CUP and bring Freedom and Accord back into power. Kâmil Pasha was put under house arrest on 28 May, but the conspiracy continued and aimed to assassinate Grand Vizier Mahmud Şevket Pasha and major Unionists. On 11 June, Şevket Pasha was assassinated. He had represented the last independent personality in

37842-439: The famous performers of Europe at the Opera House of Yıldız Palace, which was restored in the 1990s and featured in the 1999 film Harem Suare (it begins with a scene of Abdul Hamid watching a performance). One of his guests was the French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt , who performed for audiences. Abdul Hamid was also a good wrestler at Yağlı güreş and a "patron saint" of the wrestlers. He organized wrestling tournaments in

38080-447: The fatherland and Islam at all times; and to follow orders from the Central Committee to kill anyone whom the Central Committee wanted to see killed, including one's own friends and family. The penalty for disobeying orders from the Central Committee or attempting to leave the CPU was death. To enforce its policy, the Unionists had a select group of especially devoted party members known as fedâi , or self-sacrificing volunteers, whose job

38318-474: The first local modern law school in 1898. A network of primary, secondary, and military schools extended throughout the Empire. German firms played a major role in developing the Empire's railway and telegraph systems. Ironically, the same education institutions that the Sultan sponsored proved to be his downfall. Large sections of the pro-constitutionalist Ottoman intelligentsia sharply criticized and opposed him for his repressive policies, which coalesced into

38556-454: The government for their role in foiling the countercoup, and maneuvered Cavid into the Finance Ministry in June, becoming the first CUP affiliated minister in the government. Two months later, Talât was appointed minister of interior . CUP and the Dashnak held a strong alliance throughout the Second Constitutional Era , with their cooperation dating back to the Second Congress of Ottoman Opposition of 1907; as both were united in overthrowing

38794-417: The group became the internal center of the CPU in the Ottoman Empire. Talât became secretary general of the internal CPU, while Bahattin Şakir became secretary general of its external department. After the Young Turk Revolution , this cadre known as the " Macedonians ", consisting of Talât , Şakir , Dr. Mehmet Nazım , Enver , Ahmed Cemal , Midhat Şükrü , and Mehmed Cavid supplanted Rıza's leadership of

39032-412: The headquarters of numerous Turkish companies, accounting for more than thirty percent of the country's economy . The first known name of the city is Byzantium ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιον , Byzántion ), the name given to it at its foundation by Megarian colonists around 657 BCE. Megarian colonists claimed a direct line back to the founders of the city, Byzas, the son of the god Poseidon and

39270-411: The last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed VI , was declared persona non grata . Leaving aboard the British warship HMS Malaya on 17 November 1922, he went into exile and died in Sanremo , Italy, on 16 May 1926. The Treaty of Lausanne was signed on 24 July 1923, and the occupation of Constantinople ended with the departure of the last forces of the Allies from the city on 4 October 1923. Turkish forces of

39508-450: The last Roman emperor, Constantine XI , was killed, Sultan Mehmed II "the Conqueror" captured Constantinople . Sultan Mehmed declared Constantinople the new capital of the Ottoman Empire . Hours after the fall of the city, the sultan rode to the Hagia Sophia and summoned an imam to proclaim the shahada , converting the grand cathedral into an imperial mosque due to the city's refusal to surrender peacefully. Mehmed declared himself as

39746-418: The membership of the OFC was only accessible for Muslims, mostly Albanians and Turks, with some Kurds and Arabs also becoming members, but neither Greeks nor Serbs nor Bulgarians were accepted or approached. Its first seventy members were exclusively Muslims. After 1907, non-Muslims were able to become members of the OFC. Under Talât's initiative, the OFC merged with Rıza's Paris-section CPU in September 1907, and

39984-402: The military, Mahmud Şevket Pasha joined forces with Unionist and constitutionalist officers to form the " Action Army " ( Turkish : Hareket Ordusu ) and began a march on Constantinople. Some lower ranking Unionist officers within the formation included Enver, Niyazi, and Cemal, as well as Mustafa İsmet (İnönü) and Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) . Upon the Army of Action arriving at Ayastefanos, it

40222-410: The more recognizable Committee of Union and Progress during the Young Turk Revolution . The word cemiyet has many translations. It is a loanword from the Arabic ( جمعية, jām‘ia ) and a classical translation would be "committee" or "society" or "organization". As the Young Turks greatly admired the French Revolution and the radical political clubs and societies that were founded over its course,

40460-414: The name Mehmed V , committing to the role of a constitutional monarch and figurehead of the future CUP party-state. While the CUP survived the failed countercoup, their influence was now checked by Mahmud Şevket Pasha, who became the most powerful person in the Ottoman Empire. Şevket Pasha, representing the military, started butting heads with the CUP as he represented the only opposition to them other than

40698-430: The natural flora, Platanus orentalis , horse chestnut , cypress and stone pine make up the introduced species that got acclimatized to Istanbul. In a study that examined urban flora in Kartal , a total of 576 plant taxa were recorded; of those 477 were natural and 99 were exotic and cultivated. The most prominent native taxa were in the Asteraceae family (50 species), while the most diverse exotic plant family

40936-569: The new Kayser-i Rûm , the Ottoman Turkish equivalent of the Caesar of Rome, and the Ottoman state was reorganized into an empire. Following the capture of Constantinople, Mehmed II immediately set out to revitalize the city. Cognizant that revitalization would fail without the repopulation of the city, Mehmed II welcomed everyone–foreigners, criminals, and runaways– showing extraordinary openness and willingness to incorporate outsiders that came to define Ottoman political culture. He also invited people from all over Europe to his capital, creating

41174-407: The next day, further irades abolished espionage and censorship, and ordered the release of political prisoners. On 17 December, Abdul Hamid reopened the General Assembly with a speech from the throne in which he said that the first parliament had been "temporarily dissolved until the education of the people had been brought to a sufficiently high level by the extension of instruction throughout

41412-407: The nymph Ceroëssa. Modern excavations have raised the possibility that the name Byzantium might reflect the sites of native Thracian settlements that preceded the fully-fledged town. Constantinople comes from the Latin name Constantinus , after Constantine the Great , the Roman emperor who refounded the city in 324 CE. Constantinople remained the most common name for the city in the West until

41650-409: The officers, Said Pasha's Unionist government resigned on 9 July 1912. It was replaced by Ahmed Muhtar Pasha's "Great Cabinet" that deliberately excluded the CUP by being made up of older ministers, many of which were associated with the Ancien Régime. On 5 August 1912, Muhtar Pasha's government shuttered the Unionist dominated parliament and called for snap elections which would never happen due to

41888-438: The one in Tarlabaşı ; some of these projects, like the one in Sulukule , have faced criticism. The Turkish government also has ambitious plans for an expansion of the city west and northwards on the European side in conjunction with the new Istanbul Airport , opened in 2019; the new parts of the city will include four different settlements with specified urban functions, housing 1.5 million people. Istanbul does not have

42126-431: The organization was noticeably absent from intellectual circles and army units based in Anatolia and the Levant , Smyrna ( İzmir ) being an exception. Under this umbrella name, one could find ethnic Albanians, Arabs, Armenians, Aromanians, Bulgarians, Serbians, Jews, Greeks, Turks, and Kurds, united by the common goal of overthrowing Abdul Hamid II's despotic regime. During this time, the CPU cultivated close relations with

42364-405: The outbreak of the Second Balkan War , the Ottomans attacked Bulgaria and, on 21 July 1913, Colonel Enver retook Edirne from Bulgaria, further increasing his status as a national hero. By the terms of the Treaty of Bucharest in September 1913, the Ottomans regained some of the land lost in Thrace during the First Balkan War. The new regime was a dictatorship dominated by a triumvirate that turned

42602-536: The outbreak of war in the Balkans. For the moment, the CUP had become isolated, driven from power, and risked being banned by the government. With the CUP out of power, in the lead up to the elections, the party challenged Muhtar Pasha's government to a jingoistic game of pro-war populism against the Balkan states by utilizing its still powerful propaganda network. Unbeknownst to the CUP, the Sublime Porte , and most international observers, Bulgaria , Serbia , Montenegro , and Greece were already preparing themselves for

42840-402: The point where European observers started calling them the "Young Turk Party". The CUP supported Kâmil Pasha 's coup attempt during height of the diplomatic crisis caused by the Hamidian massacres . With Kâmil's defeat, a wave of arrests and exiles caused chaos for the organization inside the Ottoman Empire. In August 1896, card-carrying Unionist ministers conspired a coup d'état to overthrow

43078-408: The point where the committee resembled more of an umbrella organization. Meşveret (Rıza) called for the reinstatement of the constitution but without revolution, as well as a more centralized Turkish-dominated Ottoman Empire sovereign of European influence . Under pressure from the palace, French authorities banned Meşveret and deported Rıza and his Unionists in 1896. After settling in Brussels ,

43316-435: The power of the Sublime Porte . He ruled as an absolute monarch for three decades. Ideologically an Islamist , the sultan asserted his title of Caliph to Muslims around the world. His paranoia about being overthrown, like his uncle and brother , led to the creation of secret police organizations and a censorship regime. The Ottoman Empire's modernization and centralization continued during his reign, including reform of

43554-421: The public. However, neither the pledge for more transparency nor the pledge to discontinue initiation ceremonies were fully achieved. The committee continued to influence politics in the backrooms and through the occasional assassination (see Ahmet Samim ), inviting criticism from many politicians that the committee was opaque and authoritarian rather than a force of democracy. By the end of 1909, Union and Progress

43792-419: The reformist Young Ottomans while still crown prince and appearing to be a liberal leader, he became increasingly conservative after taking the throne. In a process known as İstibdad , Abdul Hamid reduced his ministers to acting as secretaries and concentrated much of the Empire's administration into his own hands. Default in the public funds, an empty treasury, the 1875 insurrection in Bosnia and Herzegovina ,

44030-463: The region if the conflict was left unsolved. The Great Powers already imposed a reform package in 1903 that allowed international inspectors and gendarme to assist with governance in the region. This made joining imperially biased revolutionary secret societies especially appealing to the officers. This widespread sentiment led the senior officers to turn a blind eye to the fact that many of their junior officers had joined secret societies. Initially

44268-419: The relations between the two committees. In its 1909 congress in Salonica , the Committee of Union and Progress was formally transformed from a conspiracy group into a mass politics organization. A separate parliamentary group from the committee was created, known as the Union and Progress Party ( Ottoman Turkish : إتحاد و ترقى فرقه‌ سی , romanized :  İttihad ve Terakki Fırkası ), whose membership

44506-473: The revolutionary committee was by invitation only, and those who did join had to keep their membership secret. Recruits would undergo an initiation ceremony, where they swore a sacred oath with the sacred book of their religion in the right hand and a sword, dagger, or revolver in the left hand. They swore to unconditionally obey all orders from the Central Committee ; to never reveal the CPU's secrets and to keep their own membership secret; to be willing to die for

44744-457: The role), was to break the truce and renew the war against Bulgaria. The CUP once again did not take over the government, instead opting for the creation of a national unity government; only four Unionist ministers were appointed into the new government. The immediate aftermath of the coup resulted in a much more severe state of emergency than previous governments had ever implemented. Cemal in his new capacity as military commander of Constantinople

44982-436: The scenes, and introduced major reforms to continue the modernization of the Ottoman Empire. The CUP's main rival was the Freedom and Accord Party , a conservative party which called for the decentralization of the empire, in opposition to the CUP's desire for a centralized and unitary Turkish-dominated state. The CUP consolidated its power at the expense of the Freedom and Accord Party in the 1912 " Election of Clubs " and in

45220-429: The small Ottoman Democratic Party after the 31 March Incident. Martial Law was implemented in the wake of the counter-coup, which would continue until the demise of the empire, save for a brief interruption in 1912. Şevket positioned himself as the Constantinople martial law governor. The Liberty Party's reluctant support for the counter revolution meant that the party was banned. The Unionists expected more influence in

45458-442: The son of Sultan Abdulmejid I and Tirimüjgan Kadın ( Circassia , 20 August 1819 – Constantinople, Feriye Palace , 2 November 1853), originally named Virjinia. Following his mother's death, he became the adoptive son of his father's legal wife, Perestu Kadın . Perestu was also the adoptive mother of Abdul Hamid's half-sister Cemile Sultan , whose mother Düzdidil Kadın had died in 1845, leaving her motherless at

45696-453: The status of caliphate in 1517, with Constantinople remaining the capital of this last caliphate for four centuries. Suleiman the Magnificent 's reign from 1520 to 1566 was a period of especially great artistic and architectural achievement; chief architect Mimar Sinan designed several iconic buildings in the city, while Ottoman arts of ceramics , stained glass , calligraphy , and miniature flourished. The population of Constantinople

45934-398: The strikes to gain more popular support, but soon assisted the government in controlling organized labor by supporting factory owners in their disputes with their workers and sending gendarme and soldiers to crack down on railroad strikes. By October workers unions and labor injunctions were declared illegal (see Socialism in the Ottoman Empire ). In the Ottoman general election of 1908

46172-535: The sultan's "tastes were distinctly Verdi " despite his political rule being "conservative". It was rumored that Abdul Hamid always carried a pistol on his person at all times. In addition to locking the Ottoman Navy in the Golden Horn, he also did not allow the army to train with live ammunition. Abdul Hamid practiced traditional Islamic Sufism . He was influenced by the Libyan Shadhili Madani Sheikh, Muhammad Zafir al-Madani, whose lessons he attended in disguise in Unkapani before he became sultan. After he ascended

46410-459: The sultan, but the plot was leaked to the palace. Prominent statesmen were exiled to Fezzan , Tripolitania , Acre and Benghazi . Another plot was hatched the year after where Unionist cadets of the Military Academy planned to assassinate the Minister of Military Schools. Authorities were tipped off, and a major arrest operation was carried out. 630 people were arrested; 78 of them were sent to Tripolitania. This exile incident went down in history

46648-452: The surveillance of intelligence agencies. It was in this context that a broad opposition movement to the sultan emerged, known as the Young Turks to European observers. Most Young Turks were ambitious military officers, constitutionalists, and bureaucrats of the Sublime Porte . With state policy fostering an Islamist Ottomanism, Christian minority groups also began to turn against the government, going so far as to advocate for separatism. By

46886-476: The throne, Abdul Hamid asked al-Madani to return to Istanbul. Al-Madani initiated Shadhili gatherings of remembrance ( dhikr ) in the newly commissioned Yıldız Hamidiye Mosque ; on Thursday evenings he accompanied Sufi masters in reciting dhikr. He also became a close religious and political confidant of the sultan. In 1879, the sultan forgave the taxes of all of the Caliphate's Madani Sufi lodges (also known as zawiyas and tekkes ). In 1888, he even established

47124-540: The traditionally exempted non-Muslim communities and the Ulema . The Bulgarians wished for segregated units with Christian commanders and priests, which was struck down by the Committee. Other laws were introduced with assimilation in mind: The Law of Public Education banned all languages in school except for Turkish as the language of instruction. This led to the Albanian Revolt of 1910 . The Law of Associations banned minority interest parties. An extensive set of constitutional amendments were signed into law that weakened

47362-418: The two provinces. Cyprus, Egypt, and Sudan ostensibly remained Ottoman provinces until 1914, when Britain officially annexed them in response to the Ottoman participation in World War I on the side of the Central Powers . Abdul Hamid's distrust of the reformist admirals of the Ottoman Navy (whom he suspected of plotting against him and trying to restore the constitution) and his subsequent decision to lock

47600-421: The victory to coax the exiled Young Turks network back into his fold. After expelling Rıza from the CUP, Murat accepted the amnesty offer, as well as Cevdet and Sükuti. A wave of extraditions, more amnesties, and buy-outs, weakened an opposition organization already operating in exile. Though moral was low, Ahmet Rıza, who returned to Paris, was the sole leader of the exiled Young Turks network. In 1899, members of

47838-409: The wake of Young Ottoman coups , he promulgated the Ottoman Empire's first constitution during the Tersane Conference , a sign of the progressive thinking that marked his early rule . But his enthronement came in the context of the Great Eastern Crisis , which began with the Empire's default on its loans, uprisings by Christian Balkan minorities, and a war with the Russian Empire . At the end of

48076-404: The waters of Istanbul has dwindled in the recent decades. From around 60 different fish species recorded in the 1970s only 20 of them still survive in the Bosporus. Common bottlenose dolphin (Turkish: afalina ), short-beaked common dolphin (Turkish: tırtak ) and harbor porpoise (Turkish: mutur ) make up the marine mammals presently found in the Bosporus and surrounding waters, though since

48314-419: The week. The Ottoman Empire and Italy concluded their war so that the Empire could focus on the Balkan states with the Treaty of Ouchy , in which Tripolitania was annexed and the Dodecanese were occupied by Italy. This proved too little and too late to salvage Rumelia ; Albania , Macedonia , and western Thrace was lost, Edirne was put under siege , and Constantinople was in serious risk of being overrun by

48552-555: The wild land mammals Istanbul hosts a sizeable stray animal population. The presence of feral cats in Istanbul ( Turkish : sokak kedisi ) is noted to be very prevalent, with estimates ranging from a hundred thousand to over a million stray cats. The feral cats in the city have gained widespread media and public attention and are considered to be symbols of the city. Rose-ringed parakeet colonies are present in urban areas, similar to other European cities as feral parrots , and considered as invasive species . Air pollution in Turkey

48790-442: The works of Young Ottoman thinkers such as Namık Kemal and Ziya Pasha , drafted regulations, and read banned philosophy and literature. The society gained support from civilian and military students from other colleges around Constantinople. Abdul Hamid II first became aware of the society's activities in July 1890. From that date on, members of the society were under surveillance and some would be arrested and interrogated. In 1894

49028-440: The year before, when they cooperated in establishing cells in Trabzon and Erzurum . Although Ahmet Rıza eventually pulled out of the tripartite agreement and this alliance played no critical role in the upcoming revolution, the CPU and the Dashnaks continued a contentious alliance throughout the Second Constitutional Era up until 1914. Sultan Abdul Hamid II persecuted the Young Turks in an attempt to hold on to absolute power, but

49266-443: Was Rosaceae (16 species). Turkish Straits and Sea of Marmara play a vital role for migrating fish and other marine animals between Mediterranean, Marmara and Black Sea. Bosporus hosts pelagic , demersal and semipelagic fish species and more than 130 different taxa have been documented in the strait. Bluefish , bonito , sea bass , horse mackerel and anchovies compose the economically important species. Fish diversity in

49504-406: Was 570,000 by the end of the 18th century. A period of rebellion at the start of the 19th century led to the rise of the progressive Sultan Mahmud II and eventually to the Tanzimat period, which produced political reforms and allowed new technology to be introduced to the city. Bridges across the Golden Horn were constructed during this period, and Constantinople was connected to the rest of

49742-414: Was a considerable success. After the Greco-Ottoman war , many Muslims celebrated the Ottoman victory as their victory. Uprisings, lockouts, and objections to European colonization in newspapers were reported in Muslim regions after the war. But Abdul Hamid's appeals to Muslim sentiment were not always very effective, due to widespread disaffection within the Empire. In Mesopotamia and Yemen , disturbance

49980-495: Was a fourth member of this clique. Scholar Hans-Lukas Kieser asserts that this state of rule by a triumvirate is only accurate for the year 1913–1914, and that Talât increasingly became a more central figure within the Union and Progress party state, especially once he also became Grand Vizier in 1917. Alternatively, it is also accurate to call the Unionist regime a clique or even an oligarchy , as many prominent Committeemen held some form of de jure or de facto power. Other than

50218-408: Was also paid an enormous indemnity. After the war, Abdul Hamid suspended the constitution in February 1878 and dismissed the parliament, after its only meeting, in March 1877. For the next three decades, Abdul Hamid ruled the Ottoman Empire from Yıldız Palace . As Russia could dominate the newly independent states, the Treaty of San Stefano greatly increased its influence in Southeastern Europe . At

50456-464: Was an Armenian Marxist–socialist political party stemming from Narodnik tradition which was demanding for autonomy and reform for Armenia, while their Hunchak (Social Democrat Hunchakian Party, SDHP) brothers were positioned more towards their left, and more willing to call for separatism. Both parties took inspiration from committee organizations from the Balkans, leading to the creation of well organized fedayi cells to defend Armenian peasentry, and

50694-423: Was both an organization and a party with 850,000 members and 360 branches spread across the country. In 1910 Ahmed Rıza nominated the CUP for a Nobel Peace Prize "...for its advocacy to bring peace in the Ottoman Empire." In the summer of 1909, the CUP (and Şevket) introduced several laws designed to settle the question of Ottomanism through an egalitarian approach. The Unionists hoped these reforms would dismantle

50932-413: Was called the "Bloody Sultan" or "Red Sultan" in the West. On 21 July 1905, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation attempted to assassinate him with a car bomb during a public appearance, but he was delayed for a minute, and the bomb went off too early, killing 26, wounding 58 (four of whom died during their treatment in hospital), and destroying 17 cars. This continued aggression, along with the handling of

51170-424: Was conveyed into captivity at Salonica (now Thessaloniki ), mostly at the Villa Allatini in the city's southern outskirts. In 1912, when Salonica fell to Greece, he was returned to captivity in Constantinople. He spent his last days studying, practicing carpentry, and writing his memoirs in custody at Beylerbeyi Palace in the Bosphorus , in the company of his wives and children. He died there on 10 February 1918,

51408-409: Was endemic; nearer home, a semblance of loyalty was maintained in the army and among the Muslim population only by a system of deflation and espionage . In 1898, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay asked United States Minister to the Ottoman Empire Oscar Straus to request that Abdul Hamid, in his capacity as caliph , write a letter to the Sulu Muslims , a Moro subgroup, of the Sulu Sultanate in

51646-459: Was established. He also created a large system of primary, secondary, and military schools throughout the empire. 51 secondary schools were constructed in a 12-year period (1882–1894). As the goal of the educational reforms in the Hamidian era were to counter foreign influence, these secondary schools used European teaching techniques while instilling in students a strong sense of Ottoman identity and Islamic morality. Abdul Hamid also reorganized

51884-434: Was forced to reinstate the Ottoman constitution , which he had originally suspended in 1878, after threats to overthrow him by the organization now known as the CUP in the 1908 Young Turk Revolution . The revolution was spontaneous, and was sparked by a summit in July 1908 in Reval, Russia (modern Tallinn , Estonia ) between King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and the emperor Nicholas II of Russia. Popular rumour within

52122-490: Was held in Paris. It was defined by the question of whether to invite foreign intervention for regime change in Constantinople to better minority rights; a majority which included Sabahaddin and his followers as well as the Armenians argued for foreign intervention, a minority which included Rıza's Unionists and the Activist Unionists were against violent change and especially foreign intervention. With this majority, Prince Sabahaddin, Ismail Qemali , and Rexhep Pasha Mati plotted

52360-470: Was in 1730 during the reign of Sultan Mahmud I . In modern Turkish , the name is written as İstanbul , with a dotted İ, as the Turkish alphabet distinguishes between a dotted and dotless I . In English, the stress is on the first or last syllable, but in Turkish it is on the second syllable. A person from the city is an İstanbullu (plural İstanbullular ); Istanbulite is used in English. Neolithic artifacts, uncovered by archeologists at

52598-431: Was ingratiating itself to gain German assistance, an order imploring Chinese Muslims to avoid assisting the Boxers was issued by the Ottoman Khalifa and reprinted in Egyptian and Muslim Indian newspapers. Abdul Hamid II made many enemies in the Ottoman Empire. His reign featured several coup d'état plans and many rebellions. The Sultan triumphed in a challenge by Kâmil Pasha of absolute rule in 1895. A large conspiracy by

52836-408: Was intended to mobilize the resources of the empire for an all-out effort to turn the tide. On 3 February 1913 the war resumed. In the Battle of Şarköy , the new government staked a daring operation in which XX Army Corps was to make an amphibious landing at the rear of the Bulgarians at Şarköy while the Straits Composite Force was to break out of the Gallipoli peninsula. The operation failed due to

53074-421: Was issued condemning Abdul Hamid, and the parliament voted to dethrone him. On 27 April, Abdul Hamid's half-brother Reshad Efendi was proclaimed as Sultan Mehmed V . The Sultan's countercoup, which had appealed to conservative Islamists against the Young Turks' liberal reforms, resulted in the massacre of tens of thousands of Christian Armenians in the Adana province, known as the Adana massacre . Abdul Hamid

53312-437: Was later owned by Khedive Isma'il Pasha of Ottoman Egypt in the 19th century. Emirgan Park is known for its diversity of plants and an annual tulip festival is held there since 2005. The AKP government's decision to replace Taksim Gezi Park with a replica of the Ottoman era Taksim Military Barracks (which was transformed into the Taksim Stadium in 1921, before being demolished in 1940 for building Gezi Park) sparked

53550-403: Was later permanently divided between the two sons of Theodosius I upon his death on 17 January 395, when the city became the capital of the empire; during the following millennium of Roman history the state is commonly referred to as the "Byzantine Empire". The establishment of Constantinople was one of Constantine's most lasting accomplishments, shifting Roman power eastward as the city became

53788-513: Was loosely affiliated with the committee, to serve as Grand Vizier until Talât replaced him in 1917. A courts marshal sentenced to death 16 Freedom and Accord leaders, including Prince Mehmed Sabahaddin who was sentenced in absentia, as he already fled to Geneva in exile. After surrendering in the First Balkan War, the CUP became fixated on retaking Edirne, while other important issues like economic collapse, reform in Eastern Anatolia, and infrastructure were largely ignored. On 20 July 1913, following

54026-403: Was named after Mehmed II ( Turkish : Fatih Sultan Mehmed ), corresponds to what was the whole of Constantinople until the Ottoman conquest; today it is the capital district and called the historic peninsula of Istanbul on the southern shore of the Golden Horn , across the medieval Genoese citadel of Galata on the northern shore. The Genoese fortifications in Galata were largely demolished in

54264-529: Was not a good idea. Because of this, information was tightly controlled and the press rigidly censored. A secret police ( Umur-u Hafiye ) and a network of informants was present throughout the empire, and many leading figures of the Second Constitutional Era and Ottoman successor states were arrested or exiled. School curricula were closely inspected to prevent dissidence. Ironically, the schools that Abdul Hamid founded and tried to control became "breeding grounds of discontent" as students and teachers alike chafed at

54502-462: Was not altruistic; it had to be fostered by railway and loan concessions. In 1899, a significant German wish, the construction of a Berlin-Baghdad railway , was granted. Kaiser Wilhelm II also requested the Sultan's help when he had trouble with Chinese Muslim troops. During the Boxer Rebellion , the Chinese Muslim Kansu Braves fought the German Army, routing them and the other Eight Nation Alliance forces. The Muslim Kansu Braves and Boxers defeated

54740-473: Was open to the public. Though officially unrelated to the CUP, it was very much an instrument of the Central Committee, and the two organizations merged in 1913. Also at the congress Pan-Turkism was introduced in its party program for an eventual union with the other Turkic populations in the world. The committee pledged to discontinue komitecilik characteristics such as initiation ceremonies and other conspiratorial practices and vowed to be more transparent with

54978-410: Was reopened 30 years later on 23 July 1908, which marked the beginning of the Second Constitutional Era . The civil strife and political uncertainties in the Ottoman Empire during the months after the revolution encouraged Austria-Hungary to annex Bosnia and Bulgaria to declare its independence in a jointly coordinated move on 5 October 1908. Sultan Abdul Hamid II was deposed in 1909, following

55216-399: Was responsible for arresting many and heavily stifling opposition. At this point the Unionists were no longer concerned with their actions being considered constitutional. The pro-war regime immediately withdrew the Empire's delegation from the London conference on the same day it took power. The first task of the new regime was to found the National Defense League on 1 February 1913 which

55454-415: Was secretly agreed there that Abdul Hamid would be deposed. Constantinople was taken back within a few days and order was restored through many courts marshals and executions, and the constitution was reinstated for the third and final time. Abdul Hamid II was deposed via a fatwa issued by the Shaykh-al-Islam and a unanimous vote of the Ottoman Parliament. Abdul Hamid's younger brother replaced him and took

55692-491: Was seen in the expanding influence of Hüseyin Cahid who propegated for the supremacy of the Turkish nation ( millet-i hâkime ), which drew backlash from the Armenian press and consternation from their Dashnak allies. In February 1910 several parties splintered from the Union and Progress Party, including the People's Party , Ottoman Committee of Alliance , and the Moderate Liberty Party . In September 1911, Italy submitted an ultimatum containing terms clearly meant to provoke

55930-400: Was so alarmed by the Chinese Muslim troops that he requested that Abdul Hamid find a way to stop the Muslim troops from fighting. Abdul Hamid agreed to Wilhelm's demands and sent Hasan Enver Pasha (no relation to the Young Turk leader ) to China in 1901, but the rebellion was over by that time. Because the Ottomans did not want conflict with the European nations and because the Ottoman Empire

56168-525: Was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire , from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a period of decline with rebellions (particularly in the Balkans ), and presided over an unsuccessful war with the Russian Empire (1877–78), the loss of Egypt and Cyprus from Ottoman control, followed by a successful war against the Kingdom of Greece in 1897 , though Ottoman gains were tempered by subsequent Western European intervention. Elevated to power in

56406-444: Was to assassinate any CPU members who disobeyed orders, disclosed its secrets, or were suspected of being police informers. The CPU professed to be fighting for the restoration of the Constitution , but its internal organisation and methods were intensely authoritarian, with its cadres expected to strictly follow orders from the "Sacred Committee". The committee had a secret presence in towns throughout European Turkey . By comparison,

56644-405: Was ultimately defeated. The deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915 was among the major events which marked the start of the Armenian genocide during WWI. Due to Ottoman and Turkish policies of Turkification and ethnic cleansing , the city's Christian population declined from 450,000 to 240,000 between 1914 and 1927. The Armistice of Mudros was signed on 30 October 1918 and

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