1912 Ottoman Coup D'état
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The 1912 Ottoman coup d'état (17 July 1912) was a coup by military memorandum in the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
against the
Committee of Union and Progress The Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP, also translated as the Society of Union and Progress; , French language, French: ''Union et Progrès'') was a revolutionary group, secret society, and political party, active between 1889 and 1926 ...
by a group of military officers calling themselves the Saviour Officers () during the
dissolution of the Ottoman Empire The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) was a period of history of the Ottoman Empire beginning with the Young Turk Revolution and ultimately ending with the empire's dissolution and the founding of the modern state of Turkey. The ...
. The coup occurred in the context of increasing distrust in the CUP's political agenda, the fallout of the
Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish (, "Tripolitanian War", , "War of Libya"), also known as the Turco-Italian War, was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911 to 18 October 1912. As a result of this conflict, Italy captur ...
, and rising political polarization. In late 1911, anti-CUP opposition consolidated into the Freedom and Accord Party, and both sides sought to abuse the constitution for their own gain. After the CUP's election victory in the 1912 election, widely deemed fraudulent, Freedom and Accord members recruited army officers serving in Albania to their cause in protest. They organized themselves into the Saviour Officers, which are often referred to as the military wing of the Freedom and Accord Party. By the summer of 1912, the pro-CUP
Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...
Said Pasha resigned under Savior Officer pressure, completing the coup. Said Pasha turned over the premiership to Ahmed Muhtar Pasha's non-partisan Great Cabinet. With his resignation due to the First Balkan War, Kâmil Pasha's anti-CUP ministry came to power, until the CUP violently returned to power on 23 January 1913, with the
Raid on the Sublime Porte RAID (; redundant array of inexpensive disks or redundant array of independent disks) is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical data storage components into one or more logical units for the purposes of data redu ...
. The coup was one of the central events of the politically volatile 1912–13 years, which saw political instability due to the power struggle between the CUP and Freedom and Accord, as well as the newly sparked
Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...
.


Background

The
Committee of Union and Progress The Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP, also translated as the Society of Union and Progress; , French language, French: ''Union et Progrès'') was a revolutionary group, secret society, and political party, active between 1889 and 1926 ...
(CUP) was a revolutionary group that instigated the
Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908; ) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. Revolutionaries belonging to the Internal Committee of Union and Progress, an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II ...
and the
Second Constitutional Era The Second Constitutional Era (; ) was the period of restored parliamentary rule in the Ottoman Empire between the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and the 1920 retraction of the constitution, after the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, during the ...
. The revolution resulted in the Sultan
Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) 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 Decline and modernizati ...
announcing the restoration of the Ottoman Constitution on 24 July 1908 and an election to elect a new parliament. The 1908 election put the CUP firmly in the legislature, while the main opposition was the Liberty Party. The 31 March Incident (13 April 1909) was an attempt to dismantle the Second Constitutional Monarchy and to restore the Sultan-Caliph Abdul Hamid II his powers. The countercoup was put down by a constitutionalist force which marched on the capital: the Action Army (''Hareket Ordusu''), and Abdul Hamid II was deposed for his half-brother
Mehmed V Mehmed V Reşâd (; or ; 2 November 1844 – 3 July 1918) was the penultimate List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1909 to 1918. Mehmed V reigned as a Constitutional monarchy, constitutional monarch. He had ...
. While the CUP was back in power and purged reactionaries from government, it was not fully in control, and elements in the country became alarmed at the manner in which the CUP was becoming increasingly authoritarian. In government with the CUP was the War Minister Mahmud Shevket Pasha, a confederate with the CUP during the 31 March Incident by organizing the Action Army, but now skeptical of the party's intentions.


Lead up


Discord in the CUP

A group of officers led by CUP member and hero of the
revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
Mehmed Sadık would separate from the CUP, after accusing central committee members
Mehmed Talat Mehmed Talât (1 September 187415 March 1921), commonly known as Talaat Pasha or Talat Pasha, was an Ottoman Young Turks, Young Turk activist, revolutionary, politician, and Ottoman Special Military Tribunal, convicted war criminal who served ...
, Mehmed Cavid, and Hüseyin Cahid of being seduced by
Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
and
Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
. Cavid would subsequently resign his post as minister of finance.


Discord in government

On 30 September 1911, Unionist İbrahim Hakkı Pasha resigned as
Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...
following the outbreak of the
Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish (, "Tripolitanian War", , "War of Libya"), also known as the Turco-Italian War, was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911 to 18 October 1912. As a result of this conflict, Italy captur ...
. When Tripolitanian MPs proposed to put him on trial for failing to stop Italian occupation of the area, the CUP blocked the motion, increasing partisanship. A meeting in October by all of the parliament's major politicians: Krikor Zohrab, Cavid, Talat,
Halil Menteşe Halil Menteşe (1874–1948) was a Turkish government minister and politician, who was a well known official of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the President of the Chamber of Deputies in th ...
, Hakkı, Vartkes Serengülian, and Karekin Pastermadjian was held, the agenda being the CUP's lack of commitment to constitutional government, and a potential way to resolve differences between the CUP and opposition. The CUP rejected the proposals from Zohrab, increasing polarization. In November 1911, the opposition consolidated into the Freedom and Accord Party, with Sadık as the party's vice president and Damat Ferid Pasha as president. An early victory for the party occurred in the late 1911 Istanbul by-election, in which the Freedom and Accord candidate won against the CUP's candidate. The Unionists immediately called for Mehmed V to dissolve parliament and call an election, with the hope that they could stop the momentum of the new opposition party, but constitutional amendments passed after the 31 March Incident meant the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
, now dominated by Freedom and Accord, held that prerogative, no longer the Sultan. Seeing parliament getting out of control, the CUP pressured Grand Vizier Said Pasha to get parliamentary approval for a constitutional amendment which would return to the Sultan the power to dissolve parliament, but when Freedom and Accord blocked this proposal, he resigned. Though the Freedom and Accord Party was ascendant in the chamber, it did not yet have an empire wide political apparatus and was averse to an election which would inevitably come with a dissolved parliament. Mehmed V reappointed Said Grand Vizier with a cabinet which included more Unionists, despite disapproval from Freedom and Accord and the President of the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
: Ahmed Muhtar Pasha. Said Pasha again introduced a constitutional amendment to the Chamber that would give the Sultan prerogative to dissolve parliament, and it was again blocked by Freedom and Accord. On 18 January, 1912 Article 7 of the constitution was employed; the Senate voted to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies and Mehmed V obliged. In April 1912,
elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...
were held for a new session of parliament. However the CUP employed electoral fraud and violence at a massive scale, winning all but 6 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, to the point that it was known as the "election of clubs". The election results immediately caused an uproar against the CUP. Moreover, because of the war in Libya and the start of Albanian revolt, CUP lost its former support and prestige. This time, Freedom and Accord was pushing for the Chamber's dissolution so it could win in a new election.


Coup

By June, Colonel Sadık and staff major Gelibolulu Kemal (
later Later may refer to: * Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the futur ...
surnamed Şenkil) would form the Saviour Officers (''Halâskâr Zâbitân'') clique, and requested President of the Ottoman Assembly Halil Bey to disband the CUP dominated parliament. During this time, the units sent to Albania to put down the revolt joined the rebels and took to the hills, much like the Unionists themselves did in 1908. These officers being affiliated with the Saviour Officers, they delivered an ultimatum that the new parliament should be dissolved and an impartial government under Kâmil Pasha be promulgated. Shevket immediately resigned from his ministry in support of the Saviour Officers, leaving the CUP isolated, and starting a wave of resignations from Said Pasha's cabinet. On 16 June 1912 the Unionist dominated parliament voted Said Pasha their confidence, which failed to appease the rebels. When the officers published a manifesto in the press and a message to the sultan, and ostensibly prepared to march on the capital, Said Pasha's finally resigned. On July 19, Mehmed V announced to the army that a new impartial and technocratic government would be formed and that he would facilitate negotiations for the selection of premier. Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha, a war hero, was finally selected, with the hope that his appointment would stop the ever increasing politicization of the army. Muhtar Pasha's government, known as the "Great Cabinet", included several prestigious statesmen, and they easily received a vote of confidence. The CUP though, notwithstanding its majority in the parliament, lost its executive power. Although Ahmed Muhtar Pasha and his cabinet were non-partisan, the Saviour Officers next pressured Ahmed Muhtar Pasha's government to dissolve parliament -which was accomplished through the passage of several constitutional amendments- costing the CUP its last stronghold, on August 4. Mehmed V subsequently enacted their vote. Martial law enacted following the 31 March Incident, was thus lifted, until returning with the start of the
First Balkan War The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League (the Kingdoms of Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Greece, Greece and Kingdom of Montenegro, Montenegro) agai ...
.


Aftermath

With the Chamber of Deputies dissolved, a new general election was called. This time, the CUP was restricted by the government. Some Unionist leaders thought of boycotting the election, but Talat convinced the Central Committee to participate. On October 8,
Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...
declared war on the Ottoman Empire, beginning the
Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...
, and these elections were ultimately shelved. Muhtar Pasha resigned, he was to be succeeded by Kâmil Pasha, who began to persecute members of the CUP. The Ottoman Empire's defeat in the Balkan Wars was largely attributed to partisanship and lack of discipline within the military. This defeat gave the CUP the casus belli to return to power. In January 1913, the leadership of the CUP staged a coup, forcing Kâmil Pasha to resign at gunpoint. The leaders of the Saviour Officers escaped to
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
and
Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
. Only in 1914 would the empire conduct an
election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...
, this was after the CUP took control over the government following Mahmud Shevket's assassination. CUP governments continued up until the end of the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.


See also

* Taksim meeting


References


Sources

*
Google Books
* {{Rebellions in the Ottoman Empire Coup July 1912 Military coups in the Ottoman Empire Ottoman coup 1910s coups d'état and coup attempts Military history of Istanbul June 1912 in Europe June 1912 in Asia July 1912 in Europe July 1912 in Asia