Chamber of Deputies مجلس مبعوثان Meclis-i Mebusan | |
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Founded | 23 December 1876[1] 23 July 1908[1] |
| Disbanded | 14 February 1878[1] 11 April 1920[1] |
| Preceded by | Divan-ı Hümayun |
| Succeeded by | Grand National Assembly |
| Seats | 275 |
| Elections | |
| Electoral college | |
First election | 1877 |
Last election | 1919 |
| Meeting place | |
| Dolmabahçe Palace (1876-1878) Darülfünûn building (1876-1878, 1908) Çırağan Palace (1909) Cemile Sultan Palace (1910-1920) | |
| State organisation of the Ottoman Empire |
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| Classic period |
| Constitutional period |
TheChamber of Deputies (Ottoman Turkish:مجلس مبعوثانMeclis-i meb'ūs̱ān;[2]Turkish:Meclis-i Mebusân orMebuslar Meclisi) of theOttoman Empire was the lower house of theGeneral Assembly, the Ottoman Parliament.[3] Unlike the upper house, theSenate, the members of the Chamber of Deputieswere elected by the general Ottoman populace, although suffrage was limited to men of a certain financial standing, among other restrictions that varied over the Chamber's lifetime.[4]
In theFirst Constitutional Era, which only lasted for two years from 1876 to 1878, the initial selection of Deputies was made by the directly elected Administrative Councils in the provinces, who acted as an electoral college for Deputies and also as local governments.The first Chamber met on 19 March 1877.[3] Its main power during this period was its right to vote on annual budgets submitted by theCouncil of Ministers.[4] All members of the parliament, including those in the Chamber, had a right to free expression and were immune from arrest and criminal prosecution during their term, unless their chamber voted to waive this right for a member.[4]
After the establishment of the whole parliament,General Assembly (Turkish:Meclis-i Umumî), in the provinces, the members selected the deputies from within the General Assembly to form the Chamber of Deputies (Turkish:Meclis-i Mebusan) in the capital,Constantinople. The Chamber of Deputies had 130 members and reflected the distribution of themillets in the empire.[3] After thefirst elections, a sort of trial to populate the Chamber for the first time, there were 71Muslim millet representatives, 44Christians millet representatives, and 4Jewish millet representatives.[5] After thesecond elections, there were 69 Muslim representatives and 46 representatives of other millets (Jews,Greeks, Armenians, etc.).
The actions of the Chamber were subject to a veto by the upper house, theSenate (whose members were selected by the Sultan), thus limiting the Chamber's power during this period.[6] No true system of checks and balances between the houses of parliament or the Sultan's office existed during this period.[4]The second session of the Chamber lasted from 13 December 1877 to 14 February 1878, when SultanAbdul Hamid II dismissed General Assembly and the1876 constitution, restoring hisdespotism.[3] The sultan, known to be paranoid of limitations on his personal power,[7] had become increasingly alarmed of the open criticisms leveled by the members of the parliament at the military policies and inefficiencies of his reign.[4]
TheSecond Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire began shortly after Abdul Hamid II was forced to restore the constitutional monarchy after the 1908Young Turk Revolution. The longer lasting period also saw the establishment ofmany political groups and parties.Ahmet Rıza became the first President of the Chamber in 1908. Following the 31 March Incident in 1909 an amendment to the original 1876 constitution resulted in the Chamber gaining more true political power at the expense of the non-democratically elected Senate and the Sultan.[6] Aseries of elections during this period resulted in the gradual ascendance of theCommittee of Union and Progress's (CUP) domination in politics. The second largest party was theLiberty Party (1908 - 1910) and theFreedom and Accord Party (1911 - 1920) (Turkish:Hürriyet ve İtilâf) both parties led byMehmed Sabahaddin.
The second constitutional era came to ade facto end after the1912 elections (known as theSopalı Seçimler, "Election of Clubs"), which the CUP was widely understood to have rigged in its favor.[4] After the1913 Ottoman coup d'état the following year and the seizure of power by the CUP triumvirate known as theThree Pashas, the Chamber of Deputies, along with the Sultan and the Senate, ceased to exercise any meaningful political power over the government.[4]
The era formally ended afterWorld War I during theOccupation of Constantinople. The last meeting on 18 March 1920 produced a letter of protest to the Allies, and a black cloth covered the pulpit of the parliament as reminder of its absent members.On April 11, 1920, the Assembly was dissolved by the Sultan under pressure from the occupying forces. Some deputies were arrested. Many of the deputies who were not arrested went to Anatolia and joined the new assembly in Ankara. The assembly in Ankara declared at its first opening meeting that it was the continuation of the assembly in Istanbul.
The leaders of the revolution,Ahmed Niyazi Bey andEnver Pasha, were mentioned in the March of the Deputies (Turkish:Meclis-i Mebusan Marşı), the anthem of the restored Chamber of Deputies (see audio at top right at 01:20); the fourth line was sung "Long live Niyazi, long live Enver!" (Turkish:"Yaşasın Niyazi, yaşasın Enver!").
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Reign ofAbdul Hamid II | ||
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| Major events | _p259_Sultan_Abdul_Hamid_II.jpg) | |
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