Derviş Vahdeti (1870 – 19 July 1909) was a Cypriot-born religious figure and Islamist politician. He was the leading figure of

31 March incident The 31 March incident () was an uprising in the Ottoman Empire in April 1909, during the Second Constitutional Era. The incident broke out during the night of 30–31 Mart 1325 in Rumi calendar ( GC 12–13 April 1909), thus named after 31 Mar ...

. He was executed on 19 July 1909 due to his role in the incident.

Biography

Vahdeti was born in Cyprus in 1870. He was educated at a missionary school where he might first be familiar with the anti-semitic views supported by the British. He worked as a hafiz in Cyprus and joined the

Naqshbandi Naqshbandi (Persian: نقشبندیه) is a major Sufi order within Sunni Islam, named after its 14th-century founder, Baha' al-Din Naqshband. Practitioners, known as Naqshbandis, trace their spiritual lineage (silsila) directly to the Prophet ...

order or the Bektaşi order. In 1902 he settled in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

where he began to work as a public servant. After a while he was exiled to

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

and soon returned to Constantinople. He attempted to continue to work in his former post, but he was not given the post. He established a daily newspaper entitled '' Volkan'' in 1908 for which he asked for financial support from Sultan Abdulhamid. However, his request was not accepted by the Sultan. He headed an Islamist movement, Muhammadan Union (Ittihad-i Muhammadi in Ottoman Turkish), which was founded by him on 5 April 1908 and was one of the major critics of 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 ...

. His paper also acted as the organ of the Muhammadan Union. On 13 April 1909 a group of religious figured led by Vahdeti started a riot against the constitution and the Committee of Union and Progress, which is known as 31 March incident in reference to the Islamic date of the day, namely 31 March 1325. They demanded the annulment of the constitution, dissolution of the parliament, the expulsion of the Committee of Union and Progress members which were considered to be atheist, and the implementation of the

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

as the constitution of the Empire. Vahdeti argued that the rule of the Committee of Union and Progress would terminate the Ottoman Empire and damage Islam. He called for military action to realize the group's goals. During the events the editor of '' Serbestî'', Hasan Fehmi, was killed on 6 April. They achieved their goals, and Sultan Abdulhamid endorsed all of these demands of the group which he secretly supported. However, the Committee of Union and Progress regained the power following the suppression of the revolt by the Third Army under the leadership of Mahmud Shevket Pasha, and Derviş Vahdeti was arrested in Constantinople on 18 April. He managed to escape, but he was arrested again on 25 May in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

. Vahdeti was sentenced to death for his involvement in the 31 March Incident and was executed in Constantinople on 19 July 1909.

In popular culture

Vahdeti was implied in a story by

Refik Halit Karay Refik Halit Karay (15 March 1888 – 18 July 1965) was a Turkish educator, writer and journalist. Biography He was born in Beylerbeyi, İstanbul, on 14 March 1888. His parents were Mehmed Halid Bey and Nefise Ruhsar Hanım. After studying at G ...

entitled "Dervish Hasan's Conscience" (Turkish: "Dede Hasan'ın Vicdanı").

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vahdeti, Dervis 19th-century newspaper founders 19th-century people from the Ottoman Empire 20th-century executions by the Ottoman Empire 1870 births 1909 deaths People executed by the Ottoman Empire by hanging Rebels from the Ottoman Empire Naqshbandi order Sunni Islamists Journalists from the Ottoman Empire Turkish Cypriot journalists Turkish Cypriot Muslims