Ahmet Rıza | |
|---|---|
 Rıza in 1909 | |
| President of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 17 December 1908 – 1911 | |
| Monarchs | Abdul Hamid II Mehmed V |
| Deputy | Mehmed Talaat, Ruhi al-Khalidi |
| Preceded by | Hasan Fehmi Pasha(1878) |
| Succeeded by | Halil Menteşe |
| Senator | |
| In office 18 April 1912 – 1919 | |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 17 December 1908 – 18 January 1912 | |
| Constituency | Istanbul(1908) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1858 (1858) Constantinople,Ottoman Empire (modern Istanbul, Turkey) |
| Died | 26 February 1930(1930-02-26) (aged 71–72) |
| Political party | Committee of Union and Progress (1894–1910) |
| Other political affiliations | Vahdet-i Milliye Cemiyeti (1918) |
| Relations | Selma Rıza (sister) |
| Parent(s) | Ali Rıza Naile Sabıka |
| Alma mater | École nationale supérieure d'Agronomie de Grignon University of Sorbonne |
Ahmet RızaBey (1858 – 26 February 1930) was anOttoman educator, activist, revolutionary, intellectual, politician, polymath,[1] and a prominentYoung Turk.[2] He was also an early leader of theCommittee of Union and Progress.[3]
During the nearly twenty years he lived in Paris, he led the Paris branch of the Committee of Ottoman Union, which would later be named theCommittee of Union and Progress, and together withDoctor Nâzım Bey he founded theMeşveret, the first official publication of the society, where he was exiled. In addition to his work as an opposition leader, Rıza doubled as apositivist ideologue.
Following the1908 revolution he was proclaimed as the "Father of Liberty" and became the first President of the revivedChamber of Deputies, the lower house of theOttoman Parliament. By 1910 he distanced himself from the CUP as it turned more radical and authoritarian. In 1912, he was appointed as aSenator.[4] He was the leading negotiator during the failed talks for a military alliance between the Ottoman Empire,France, andBritain forWorld War I. During the war, he was one of the only politicians who opposed and condemned theArmenian genocide while it was ongoing. In theArmistice Era he was appointed as president of theSenate and prosecuted his former Unionist comrades. After a falling out withDamat Ferid Pasha he once again went to France, where he supportedMustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk)'s Nationalists. He returned to Turkey after the signing of theTreaty of Lausanne.
Ahmed Rıza was born inIstanbul in 1858 to a family that was in public service for generations, the eldest of seven children. He was the son ofAli Rıza Bey [tr] a statesman andSenator. Ahmet's grandfather was the Minister of Agriculture and Mint, also named Ali Rıza. Ahmet's great-grandfather was Kemankeş Efendi, SultanSelim III'sSır Kâtibi (Secret Secretary);[5] His father was a Turkishkadı that served inEgypt.[6] Ahmet's father was nicknamedİngiliz ("Englishman") because of his command of the English language and admiration ofBritain. His mother,Fräulein Turban, was born inMunich but of Hungarian origin. She moved to Vienna, where she metİngiliz while he was on a diplomatic mission, and converted to Islam to marry him, taking the name Naile SabıkaHanım.[7][8] Among Ahmet's siblings, his youngest sister wasSelma Rıza, who became the first female Turkish journalist.[9]
Under his mother's influence he was raised with a Western education with private tutors. Having contracted asthma he was interested in poetry in his childhood and composed several poems in the family farm inVaniköy. During this period he was interested in hunting and gardening, and even wrote the first book on hunting in Turkey.[9]
Ahmet Rıza received a Western style education, having attended the BeylerbeyiRüşdiye, thereafter the Mahrec-i Aklâm and then the Mekteb-i Sultânî (modernGalatasaray High School). After graduation, he began a career in civil service by working at theSublime Porte's Translation Office. With the dissolution of theOttoman Parliament, Ahmet joined his father to his exile toIlgın,Konya. While accompanying his father to his exile, he saw the poor conditions of the peasants. The journey made Rıza concerned of their well-being and he wished to introduce them to modern cultivation methods, which led him to study agriculture in France.[8] In 1884 he graduated fromGrignon University with a degree in agricultural engineering. While in Paris he discovered thepositivist ideas ofAuguste Comte andJean-François Robinet.[9]
He returned to the Ottoman Empire when he heard of the death of his father right before he was to take his final exams.[9] He tried to use his education to establish an enterprise using the latest agricultural techniques, but he wasn't successful. He applied for a civil service position at theMinistry of Agriculture, but his efforts were unsuccessful. Rıza was appointed as a principal and chemistry teacher at a school inBursa, and soon became director of education of the city.[8][clarification needed] But being pessimistic about significant reform he decided to go back to France to begin an opposition movement.[6][9]
In 1889 Rıza moved toParis where he found an apartment on Rue Monge in the5th arrondissement, arriving to participate in the exhibition organized for the centenary of theFrench Revolution.[6] Rıza initially maintained a quiet life making a living as a translator in the French judicial system. AtSorbonne University, he attendedPierre Laffitte's lectures onpositivism and natural history. This wasn't the first time he encountered positivism, he had earlier readJean-François Eugène Robinet’s biography ofAuguste Comte. He was influenced by Laffitte's thoughts about Islam and Eastern civilization in particular.[10] Laffitte believed that Islam was the most advanced religion, so it was easy for Muslims to embrace positivism. Ahmet Rıza became one of the most active members of theSociété Positiviste, and served as a Muslim or Ottoman representative in conferences meant to spread positivism internationally, or to create a "United States of Europe".[9]
During his first years in Paris, he attempted to respond to various newspapers and magazines which were writing unfavorably about the Ottoman Empire.[11][8] In 1891, the Ottoman government ordered Rıza to return to the empire due to the "liberal" language he used in a conference about Ottoman women, but he did not comply. He wrote a letter to theMinistry of Post and Telegraphs in Istanbul, stating that he was not a member of a secret society and that when it was necessary to defend the interests and rights of the country and nation, he could do so through articles he published in Parisian newspapers.[9][8]
Though patriotic of his country, Rıza attempted to find out why the Ottoman Empire was so backward compared to the progress made by the rest of Europe and determined the antidote was education and positive sciences. In 1893, Ahmed Rıza sent multiple petitions to SultanAbdul Hamid II where he outlined the benefits of a constitutional regime and its sacredness according to the Islamic principle ofconsultation. This being part of a larger suggested reform package, he initially received interest from the Sultan. But discouraged after no response to his sixth petition, he began publishing his reform proposals in the French newsletterLa Jeune Turquie edited byKhalil Ghanim, in the form of a pamphlet under the nameLâyiha ve Mektub (Petition and Letter) in London. The Hamidian regime attempted to intimidate Rıza with censorship, bribes, offers of amnesty, and threats to friends and family, but he stubbornly persevered until the regime's collapse in 1908.[9]
Rıza started corresponding with the members of theCommittee of Ottoman Union in 1892. It is thought that he made suggestions to the first draft program of the society.[8] When the leading members of Ottoman Union were arrested and released a short time later that year, many of them fled to Paris. In 1894, theseémigrés, especiallyDoctor Mehmet Nazım, suggested that he join the society, Rıza accepted but suggested that the name of the society be changed. His suggestion was that the society should be called Order and Progress (Nizam ve Terakki), Comte's positivist motto; The society compromised by adopting the name "Union and Progress" instead.[8]
This made him leader of the Paris branch of theCommittee of Union and Progress, a group that was centered around the newspaperMeşveret, a journal that he started publishing with Ghanim.[8] There he tried to synthesize positivist doctrine within the Ottoman-Islamic philosophic tradition. Rıza also published a series of articles advocating for constitutionalism for the Ottoman Empire, which he justified through the Islamic principle ofconsultation.[12] Ahmed Rıza, his Parisian circle, andMeşveret became synonymous with the CUP and theYoung Turks movement. He also contributed forAli Şefkati [tr]'sİstikbal during this time.
Rıza was horrified by theHamidian massacres, which he blamed on the sultan and condemned as contrary to "the traditions of Islam and the precepts of theQuran".[13] During theGreco-Turkish War, Ahmed Rıza was expelled from the CUP after he refused to pull an article he published inMeşveret in support of theCretan Rebellion.
Throughout his exile he was constantly approached by Ottoman agents with generous offers of amnesty for his defection, which he always refused. However, Ahmed Rıza's stubborn secularism and internationalist positivism caused a rift with conservative Young Turks which united aroundMizancı Murat. The basis for this conflict may have been Rıza's attempt to merge the CUP with the Positivist Committee of Paris. Most frustrating of all for the Unionists was Rıza staunch opposition to revolution, instead believing in achieving progress throughpolitical evolution. In a congress held in December 1896, Murad Bey was elected as the head of the CUP, replacing Ahmed Rıza.[8] As a result of pressure fromYıldız Palace, the French government banned theMeşveret on April 11, 1896. Rıza took his newspaper to Switzerland in May, before settling in Belgium in September 1897. Rıza had to relocate again when the Belgian government bannedMeşveret and deported him in 1898, an action condemned by theBelgian Parliament. Ahmed Rıza gave up publishing the paper in Turkish, instead continuing its existence in French. He was accused of atheism by conservative Young Turks and supporters of Abdul Hamid II. By 1899, the Ottoman government clamped opposition even tighter. More Unionists were arrested in Istanbul and Mizancı Murad and his friends returned to Istanbul for amnesty and dissolved the CUP. What consoled Rıza during this time was that the Young Turks that remained in Europe began to gather around him again and he reconciled with theGeneva Young Turks. His sisterSelma also joined him in Paris, making her the first female member of the society.[9]
At the end of 1899, the Young Turk movement was revived with the defections ofIsmail Qemali, and the Sultan's brother in law and nephews:Damat Mahmut Pasha,Prince Sabahattin, and Lütfullah. However these new defectors had different ideas for the future of the Ottoman Empire. At the invitation of Prince Sabahattin and his brother, the First Congress of Ottoman Opposition was convened in Paris in February 1902. At the congress, two groups emerged which were divided on the question of inviting foreign intervention to assist in overthrowing the regime: the "interventionists", consisting of Prince Sabahattin and the Armenian delegates, and the "non-interventionists", who were supporters of Ahmed Rıza, who remained in the minority. Rıza was also opposed to any autonomous status for theArmenian-populated eastern provinces. After the congress, Rıza and his supporters founded theCommittee of Progress and Union, while Prince Sabahattin founded the Ottoman Freedom-Lover's Committee. The CPU soon established the magazineŞûrâ-yı Ümmet, essentially a continuation ofMeşveret, based in Cairo, which Rıza contributed to.[9]
In 1905Şehzade Yusuf İzzeddin's private physicianDoctor Bahaeddin Şakir defected to the Young Turks and reorganized the CPU to be a more revolutionary organization. Rıza's role was diminished. The CPU was strengthened with a new circle of sympathizers inside the Ottoman Empire which organized around theOttoman Freedom Society. Founded by a group of officers and civil servants fromSalonica in 1906, the group included men likeMehmed Talât,İsmâil Enver,Mehmed Cavid,Ahmed Cemâl and others, and the group merged with the CPU in 1907. That year, a Second Congress of Ottoman Opposition was held on 29 December, wherePrince Sabahattin's supporters and the ArmenianDashnaks participated. At the congress, supporters of revolution managed to sway Rıza, and the delegates pledged to insight a revolution by all means necessary. However Rıza ruled out the use of terrorism, as it could invite foreign intervention, and the participation of Armenians in a revolution against Abdul Hamid II.[14] In Paris, he played no significant role in the events of theYoung Turk Revolution.[9]
After the declaration of theConstitution, Rıza returned to Istanbul on September 25, 1908, where he was welcomed with the "Father of Liberty" (ebü-l ahrar orhürriyetçilerin babası). He held an audience with the sultan on 16 October 1908, and traveled to Europe to meet with liberal pressure groups to support Turkey in theBosnian crisis. Having nominally lead the CUP for so long, the organization as it now existed in the Ottoman Empire was very different. This created tension between the Old Unionists and those now running the party: Talât, Enver, Şakir, and Cavid.[11]
Ahmed Rıza was inducted into theCUP's Central Committee and after beingelected to theChamber of Deputies as an MP from Istanbul and he was unanimously elected as the President of the Chamber. He was criticized by conservatives for his values. Due to his alleged atheism he was top of the hit list of Islamist rioters during the31 March Incident. On the first day of the events,Minister of Justice Mustafa Nazım Pasha was mistaken for the president and lynched. Rıza resigned upon the request of the Grand Vizier in the atmosphere of rebellion and escaped from the parliament as rebels stormed the building while in session. He hid under German protection in aBaghdad Railway Company building in the city.[15] Rıza returned to his job when theAction Army arrived inAyastefanos to restore order. He was re-elected as the parliament's president in late 1910. That year he nominated the CUP as an organization deserving of theNobel Peace Prize for its efforts in advocating for peace in the Ottoman Empire.[16]
However, Rıza became increasingly disillusioned with the CUP for their assassinations of journalists such asHasan Fehmi andAhmet Samim and increasing authoritarianism. He resigned from the CUP's Central Committee in 1910, and gave up his parliamentary presidency in 1911.[11] He did not run for reelection with the dissolution of the parliament in January 1912, and was appointed as a Senator byMehmed V on 18 April 1912. During this period, he harshly criticized the Unionists. After the1913 coup by the CUP, he completely fell out with the Unionists.[9]
During theBalkan Wars he went to Paris to curry diplomatic goodwill for Turkey among the Europeans.
In 1915, Rıza was one of the onlyOttoman politicians who condemned theArmenian genocide. About alaw toconfiscate Armenian property, he stated in parliament: "It is also not legal to classify the goods mentioned by the law as abandoned goods because the Armenian owners of these goods did not abandon them willingly, they were exiled, expelled forcefully." Noting that such confiscation was contrary to theOttoman Constitution, he added: "Strong-arm me, expel me from my village, then sell my property: this is never lawful. No Ottoman conscience or law can ever accept this."[17][18] His distaste for the Unionists was such that when he selected to join the Supply Commission in 1918, he resigned at its first meeting.[9]
As an educator, he enacted the inauguration of the second high school for girls in Turkey, theKandilli High School for Girls in 1916 in Istanbul (it was intended to be the first, but the outbreak of World War I delayed the execution of the project).[19]
During thearmistice period, SultanMehmed VI Vahdettin appointed Ahmed Rıza as president of the Ottoman Senate, during which he informed the American diplomats of theOttoman government's opposition to aLeague of Nation's mandate. He initially threw his hat in with the Sultan. He heavily criticized theAhmed İzzet Pasha government as a Unionist rearguard, especially due to the participation of Cavid, Mustafa Hayri, andAli Fethi in the cabinet. He would assist Mehmed VI in his quest to purge the Unionists by amending the constitution to give his sovereign the power to change and dismiss ministers. However he would eventually disagree with Mehmed VI's decision to dissolve theChamber of Deputies. Ahmed Rıza was instrumental in establishingwar crimes tribunals to try Ottoman war criminals. He became a probable candidate for Grand Vizier and it was rumored he could form a government withMustafa Kemal Pasha, and even met with Fethi Bey to potentially revive the CUP as the government turned dovish to theAllied powersoccupying Istanbul. He was outmaneuvered byDamat Ferid Pasha, who was first appointed Grand Vizier on 4 March 1919.[9]
One initiative of Ahmed Rıza to facilitate an agreeable peace treaty was the Vahdet-i Milliye Cemiyeti (National Unity Society), an apolitical association of prominent bureaucrats which corresponded with Allied leaders. The society sent a delegation to Mehmed VI's first Sultanic Council under Rıza's leadership. Eventually, Rıza began to trustMustafa Kemal (Atatürk) Pasha's and the promise of a national resistance movement. After receiving a letter from Kemal, Rıza decided to go to Paris again to lobby for a lighter peace treaty for Turkey. Arriving 19 September 1919, he started a campaign of speeches, interviews, lectures, publishing pamphlets and articles. He corresponded with prominent figures withDavid Lloyd George,Leon Bourgeois, andLord Curzon, and personally met withPaul Deschanel,Raymond Poincaré,Clemenceau, andGeorges Leygues. He also spoke to the newspapersL'Oeuvre and Temps. He was instrumental in the negotiations between France and theGrand National Assembly government which led to the end of theFranco-Turkish War.[9]
It is not known how well Rıza understood the Turkish Nationalist Movement.Hüseyin Cahid titled one of his letters, "A Unionist who completely failed to understand theNational Forces and remained the farthest from it: Ahmed Rıza Bey."[9]
He returned to theTurkish Republic in 1926. Retiring from public life in his Vaniköy farm, Ahmed Rıza wrote his memoirs and a history of the CUP. They were published more than 50 years after his death in 1988 under the titleMeclis-i Mebusan ve Ayan Reisi Ahmet Rıza Bey’in Anıları ("The Memoirs of Ahmet Rıza, the President of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate"). He spent his final years in poverty, selling his library, along with his political documents, to theTurkish Historical Society. He died on 26 February 1930 in Şişli Etfal Hospital in Istanbul, where he was taken after an accidental fall and breaking his hip bone. He is buried in Kandilli Cemetery.[9]
He was awarded theOrder of Karađorđe's Star.[20]
Ahmed Rıza's memoirs were published inCumhuriyet by Haluk Y. Şehsuvaroğlu in 1950, and his correspondences inAkşam. He contributed to the following publications:İstikbal,Islâhat,Osmanlı,Meşveret andMechvéret Supplément Français,Şûrâ-yı Ümmet (1902–1908),La Jeune Turquie,La Revue Occidentale (1896–1908), andPositivist Review (1900–1908).
He published the memorandums he sent to Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)