Arabs and Young Turks: Ottomanism, Arabian and Islamism in the Ottoman Empire 1908-1918.

Hasan Kayali. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. 291 pp. Paper $18.00.

Reviewed by Caesar E. Farah 

In the words of the author, this volume "portrays the political, social, and ideological currents in the Arab-populated periphery of the Ottoman Empire in relation to transformations in the imperial center, Istanbul" (p. 11). Kayali subscribes to the theory advanced by Ernest Dawn, who took exception with his predecessor's version of ideological interpretation by emphasizing the Islamic component of the struggle for Arab independence. Kayali seeks to develop that theme further. He rightly points out the dearth of extensive and objective studies of the second constitutional period, which coincided with Young Turk domination, because important Ottoman archival data was unavailable to scholars until recently. In Kayali's opinion the few studies of the period resulted also from the ideological attitude which posited that there was little value in studying the short era that preceded the extinction of the Ottoman Empire.

Due to a failure to examine this era in its own right and the prevalent view that the CUP was promoting overtly or covertly Turkish nationalism, too many generalizations have characterized the study of this period. In addition, contemporary European writers often viewed the prewar Middle East from their own nationalist perspectives, wherein the majority of Ottoman citizens, the Muslims, were not perceived as belonging to a nation or nation-state.

The general thrust of this study is that among the chief Muslim groups of the Ottoman Empire, political nationalism was not a vital force until the end of World War I. To that end Kayali undertakes in his Introduction to reassess the viewpoints of those who dwell on the genesis of nationalism among the Arabs of the empire commencing with George Antonius's The Arab Awakening (first published in 1938). Antonious and others relied on the testimony of post-empire nationalists; Kayali points out the weaknesses of these arguments owing to misconceptions and shortsightedness. Zeine Zeine was one of the first to criticize Antonius' idea of a secular and liberal awakening and the notion of a tyrannical Ottoman rule that catalyzed this nationalist awakening (p. 6). He then refers to the views of Albert Hourani and Tibawai who substantiated Zeine's conclusion about the Islamic thrust, with so many Arab notables being integrated in the Hamidian regime with strong proclivities to stress the Islamism of the empire. In more recent times authors like al-Duri have corroborated Tibawi and Hourani's arguments with respect to the Muslim component of Arab nationalist consciousness.

In the successive six chapters, the author proceeds to discuss the impact of the Tanzimat reforms (1839-76) and Hamididan era (1876-1908) on Arabs and their provinces during the time in which the government was attempting to project imperial rule on the periphery and to incorporate its economy with Europe. The influx of Western ideas did no more than awaken a consciousness that neither superseded local parochialism nor Ottoman universalism. The new conditions brought about by the 1908 Revolution are dealt with in the second chapter. The subsequent events generated a new level of discourse with the Young Turk government that suppressed opposition with the help of the army and imposed its own narrow political agenda on an unreceptive Arab population.

This chapter focuses on the Second Constitutional Period (1908-1909), the crisis of authority in the capital and in the provinces, the impact of CUP role in the Arab provinces after 1908, the controversial 1908 elections, the Arab parliamentary representation in the first year of the Meclis-i Mebusan (parliament), the Counterrevolution, and lastly Reform and Centralization, all of which served to widen the social and political gap and gave rise to Arab resentment. It was during this period that we witness the rise of ethnically based societies many of which were at loggerheads with the CUP-controlled government.

Chapter three focuses on the Opposition and the Arabs, 1910-1911, the resentment toward the policy of "Turkification," issues of Arab concern in parliamentary debates, and the rising unrest coupled with arrests, trials and executions of those condemned by the CUP often on lack of evidence, which Kayali does not treat in the detail merited. The case of the Kurda 'Ali brothers, ardent supporters of the Young Turks before they came to power, is perhaps the most celebrated, given the lengthy court martial's detailed procedures in this case, the transcript of which is in the Prime Minister's Archives in Istanbul. This chapter also treats the controversy and strong opposition aroused by the Young Turk government superseding policies of Abdulhamid and allowing Zionist immigration in spite of the warnings presented by Arab deputies. What the author might have done to elaborate on the motives was to reveal the role played by the Dome of Salonika in this unfolding drama.

Chapter four treats the reform movements in the Arab provinces in terms of the political contest between the CUP and its decentralist rival, the Liberty and Entente Party. The contest was driven in part by growing interest and direct involvement of the imperialist powers in the Arab provinces. The CUP consolidated its power in 1913 and neutralized the reform movements in the Arab provinces, with a compromise that put greater stress on Islam in the ideology of an Ottoman state which had been restored to Anatolia and the Arab provinces and its predominately Muslim population after the 1912-13 Balkan Wars.

The province of Hijaz is presented in Chapter 5 as a case study of Young Turk rule in the Arab provinces. The Hashimite family led by Husayn as emir of Mecca at the start of the Young Turk revolution illustrates the nature of the interaction between prominent local dignitaries and Istanbul and the thrust of Istanbul's centralizing policies and their provincial repercussions. Focusing on the Hijaz allows a closer examination of the increased attention given to religion in the formulation of political ideologies, both in the center and in the provinces.

World War I witnessed the final breakup in the wake of the Arab uprising brought on by harsh Young Turk policies in the Syrian provinces. The Arab Revolt was not just the culmination of Arab nationalist activity or a rejection oft he ill-defined Ottomanist ideology, rather it was the convergence of dynastic ambition and strategic exigency that brought on the final break between Arab and Turk. But as Kayali observes, the demise of the empire did not induce Arab urban elites immediately to embrace Arab nationalism. The swift occupation of the key centers - Beirut, Damascus, and Jerusalem - gave little respite for nationalist leaders who found themselves suddenly preoccupied with combating new occupiers, the French and British.

As the author concludes, the Arabs, Christian and Muslim, would have rather remained an integral part of the Ottoman Empire if reform measures had been introduced to maintain its unity, integrity and respect of the millet structure. In seeking to Turkify the remnant of the empire, the CUP left no alternative except a parting of the ways. They got separate secularized states courtesy of Mustafa Kemal and the Arab provinces passed into another occupation that further fragmented what had remained of the unity once fostered by the Ottoman umbrella.

The book is well documented and makes full use of archival sources in Europe, as well as in Turkey for the late Ottoman period. Such documentation is absent in the works of Kayali's predecessors. The narrative is balanced, objective and factual. This is the type of scholarship that serves to enhance the value of works of this nature, long absent from our scholarly bookshelf. In many respects Kayali corrects, updates and further elaborates on preceding works (as listed above). The work helps us understand this critical era in the transition from Ottomanism to Arabism and Islamism. As one colleague, Engin Akarli, has observed, "Kayali's work will be a welcome addition to the growing body of literature on the state of the Arab provinces and on the rise of Arab nationalism in the final decades of Ottoman history."

Caesar E. Farah is a professor in the Department of Afro-American and African Studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul.