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Tanzimat
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The Tanzimat (Ottoman Turkish: ???????), meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The Tanzimat reform era was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire, to secure its territorial integrity against nationalist movements and aggressive powers. The reforms encouraged Ottomanism among the diverse ethnic groups of the Empire, attempting to stem the tide of nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire.
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The Tanzimat (Ottoman Turkish: ???????), meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The Tanzimat reform era was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire, to secure its territorial integrity against nationalist movements and aggressive powers. The reforms encouraged Ottomanism among the diverse ethnic groups of the Empire, attempting to stem the tide of nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire. The reforms attempted to integrate non-Muslims and non-Turks more thoroughly into Ottoman society by enhancing their civil liberties and granting them equality throughout the Empire.
Origins
Tanzimat emerged from the minds of reformist sultans like Mahmud II and Abdülmecid I as well as prominent reformers who were European educated bureaucrats, such as Âli Pasha, Fuad Pasha, Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, and Midhat Pasha. They recognized that the old religious and military institutions no longer met the needs of the empire in the modern world. Most of the symbolic changes, such as uniforms, were aimed at changing the mindset of imperial administrators. Many of the reforms were attempts to adopt successful European practices. Changes included universal conscription; educational, institutional and legal reforms; and systematic attempts at eliminating corruption. Tanzimat included the policy of “Ottomanism,” which was meant to unite all of the different peoples living in Ottoman territories, “Muslim and non-Muslim, Turkish and Greek, Armenian and Jewish, Kurd and Arab” This policy officially began with the Imperial Rescript of the Rose Chamber of 1839, declaring equality before the law for both Muslim and non-Muslim Ottomans.
Goals
The ambitious project was launched to combat the slow decline of the empire that had seen its borders shrink, and was growing weaker in comparison to the European powers. By getting rid of the millet system, the Ottoman Empire hoped to be able to control all of its citizens. They thought that the Great Powers would accept this as long as reforms were ongoing, leaving them to act as enforcers of these goals.
Reforms
It began under Sultan Mahmud II. On November 3, 1839, Sultan Abdülmecid issued an organic statute for the general government of the empire named the Hatt-i Serif of Gülhane (the imperial garden where it was first proclaimed). It is also called the Tanzimat Fermani. In this very important document, the Sultan stated that he wished "to bring the benefits of a good administration to the provinces of the Ottoman Empire through new institutions", and that these institutions would principally refer to:
- guarantees to ensure the Ottoman subjects perfect security for their lives, honour, and property
- introduction of the first Ottoman paper banknotes (1840)
- reorganization of the army and a regular method of recruiting, levying the army, and fixing the duration of military service (1843–44)
- adoption of an Ottoman national anthem and Ottoman national flag (1844)
- reorganization of the finance system according to the French model
- reorganization of the Civil and Criminal Code according to the French model
- establishment of the Meclis-i Maarif-i Umumiye (1845), the prototype of the First Ottoman Parliament (1876)
- institution of a council of public instruction (1846)
- establishment of the first modern universities and academies (1848)
- abolition of the capitation tax on non-Muslims, with a regular method of establishing and collecting taxes (1856)
- non-Muslims were allowed to become soldiers (1856)
- various provisions for the better administration of the public service and advancement of commerce
- The establishment of railroads
- Replacement of guilds with factories
- the first Stock Exchange in Istanbul was established (1866)
The edict was followed up with the Hatt-i Hümayun of 1856 which promised full legal equality for citizens of all religions, and the Nationality Law of 1869 that created a common Ottoman citizenship irrespective of religious or ethnic divisions.
Effects
Overall-
Tanzimat reforms had far reaching effects. Those educated in the schools established during the Tanzimat period included Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and other progressive leaders and thinkers of the Republic of Turkey and of many other former Ottoman states in the Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa. The system was ultimately undone by negotiations with the Great Powers following the Crimean War. As part of the Charter of 1856, European powers demanded a much stronger sovereignty for ethnic communities within the empire, differing from the Ottomans who envisioned equality meaning identical treatment under the law for all citizens. This served to strengthen the Christan middle class, increasing their economic and political power. Muslims, on the other hand, received none of these benefits and were ultimately left worse off by the reforms. This led to a radicalization of the population with anti-Western sentiment, evidenced by the rise of groups like the Young Ottomans.
The reforms peaked in 1876 with the implementation of an Ottoman constitution checking the autocratic powers of the Sultan. The details of this period are covered under the First Constitutional Era. While the new Sultan Abdülhamid II signed the first constitution, he quickly turned against it.
State institutions were reorganized; laws were updated according to the needs of the changing world; modern education, clothing, architecture, arts, and lifestyle were encouraged.
Religious Freedom-The Reform Edict of 1856 was intended to carry out the promises of the tanzimat. The Edict is very specific about the status of non-Muslims, making it possible “to see it as the outcome of a period of religious restlessness that followed the Edict of 1839.” Officially, part of Tanzimat was to make the state intolerable to forced conversion to Islam, and the execution of apostates from Islam was made illegal. Despite the official position of the state in the midst of Tanzimat reforms, this toleration of non-Muslims seems to have been seriously curtailed, at least until the Reform Edict of 1856. De facto, there was constant pressure on non-Muslims to convert to Islam, and the danger for apostates of execution remained real. Thus, Tanzimat, at least at first, failed to actively promote freedom to practice one’s religion without harassment. In fact, for the “Ottoman ruling elite, ‘freedom of religion’ meant ‘freedom to defend their religion.’”
Lebanon-Tanzimat reforms intended to return to the tradition of equality for all subjects before the law. However, the Sublime Porte assumed that the underlying hierarchical social order would remain unchanged. Instead, the upheavals of reform would allow for different understandings of the Tanzimat’s intentions. The elites in Mount Lebanon, in fact, interpreted the Tanzimat far differently from one another. As a result, “European and Ottoman officials engaged in a contest to win the loyalty of the local inhabitants-the French by claiming to protect the Maronites, the British, the Druze, and the Ottomans by proclaiming the sultan’s benevolence toward all his religiously equal subjects.”
Palestine-
Land reforms, and especially the change in land ownership structure via the Ottoman Land Law of 1858, allowed Russian Jews to buy land in Palestine, thus enabling them to immigrate there under the first Aliya. In order to boost its tax base, the Ottomans required Arabs in Palestine, as elsewhere, to register their lands for the first time. Since many fellahin wished to avoid paying taxes to the ailing regime, and furthermore were unable to write, many a local mukhtar were able to collectively register village lands under their own name. Thus, they were able to later claim ownership and to sell the local peasants' lands out from under their feet to the new Jewish immigrants, as they themselves relocated permanently to Syria or Turkey.
Armenia-
The Armenian National Constitution (Turkish: "Nizâmnâme-i Millet-i Ermeniyân") of 1863 was approved by the Ottoman government. The "Code of Regulations" consisted of 150 articles which were drafted by the Armenian intelligentsia and defined the powers of the Armenian Patriarch (position in the Ottoman Millet System) and the newly formed "Armenian National Assembly".
Literature
- Edward Shepherd Creasy, History of Ottoman Turks; From the beginning of their empire to the present time, London, Richard Bentley (1854); (1878).
- LAFI (Nora), . Genčse des institutions municipales ŕ Tripoli de Barbarie (1795–1911), Paris: L'Harmattan, (2002).
- LAFI (Nora), Municipalités méditerranéennes. Les réformes municipales ottomanes au miroir d'une histoire comparée, Berlin: K. Schwarz, (2005).
Further reading
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