Osman Reborn; The Survival of Ottoman Democracy [An Ottoman TL set in the 1900s]

[haider najib]

@Sārthākā apologies wasn't trying to be rude.

The thing with russia is theres alot of support for pan-slavism its the current trend. Russia hand may be forced to support serbia.

Also isn't osman faud meant to become sultan at some point, so some ottomans need to die for that.

Been playing alot of verdun. So what is arms of the ottoman military will they look to the us for arms? Bren gun, shotguns etc?

 

[Gokbay]

Also isn't osman faud meant to become sultan at some point, so some ottomans need to die for that.

He became the head of the House of Osman in exile OTL without any assasinations. So yeah some Ottomans do need to die for it to happen, in the same way that Liz 2 needs to die for Charles to be King.

 

[Gman]

Yay the timeline is back. I look forward to future posts with keen interest.

 

[Sarthak]

Chapter 12: The end of 1913

***

“Long Live the Sultan! Long Live the Sovereign of the Albanians!” – Shout of the Albanians during the Assassination attempt.

“Sultan Mehmed V, despite his promiscuous behavior with the women, especially with women of his own harem, with whom he beget many children who became famous princes and princesses in their own rights, the sultan of the empire was very much a beloved character. He was much more open than his predecessor Abdul Hamid II with the people, and thankfully perfectly fine with being the typical constitutional monarch. His personal support for the democratic process and the autonomies of Armenia and Albania also made him a particularly likeable character to many of the Ottoman minorities. It helped that the man knew how to speak Turkish, Arabic, Greek and rudimentary Albanian, which he made him a sultan of the people so to speak.

Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire. ​

With the implementation of the Albanian autonomy in the Ottoman Empire, the creation of the post of ‘Premier of Albania’ was also established within the Albanian ministry of the Ottoman Empire. The first premier of Albania was none other than Hassan Prishtina himself who was elected by the Albanian Vilayets to become their premier. The inauguration ceremony was dated to be on October 11, 1913. However due to some transportation issues near Salonika, where a recent storm had disrupted the local transportation system, the date was pushed one day behind to October 12, 1913 when the Sultan reached Tirana amidst a massive Albanian presence.

The Sultan made his way to Tirana Square where he spoke out in favor of the reforms and made a small speech calling about the brave histories of the Albanians. He throughout his speech pointed out that Albanians had made a disproportionate amount of contribution to the Ottoman Empire for their small size, as the empire had multiple Albanian Grand Viziers throughout its history and called on the Albanians to have a more prosperous future as a part of an autonomous Albania within the Ottoman Empire.

He was met with polite applause from the Albanian audience, and Hassan Prishtina was called to the podium so that the Sultan could confer to him the title of ‘Premier of Albanians’ when the Sultan’s bodyguards shoved both the Sultan and Prishtina out of the podium and the podium exploded in a bomb blast, killing 2 of the bodyguards, and two governmental officials who were unfortunate to be on the podium. The Sultan and Prishtina were injured from their fall from the stage and podium, however they were alive and the wounds they had taken were relatively minor and could be treated within hours. From the other side of the massive audience, the military guard present in the area to protect the Sultan declared a lockdown and that no one was going to leave without inspection from the military, to find the would be assassin.

Gunshots rang out in the panic as the Albanians tried to figure out what was going on. Finally the Ottoman guards captured one Ljuba Cupa and three other Serbians amidst the crowd who were all found with weapons and all the items needed to make a makeshift bomb. Cupa tried to run away by threatening to shoot the innocent bystanders, however this only served to enrage the Albanian audience, as the Albanians started to shout ‘long live the sultan’ and tried to menace the assassins. Ironically amidst this uproar, the Ottoman gendarmerie had to protect the assassins from the enraged population, and the four would be assassins were extracted to Tirana Prison.

Ljuba Cupa, the would be assassin. ​

A small makeshift stage was then made using wooden slabs and the Sultan shakily conferred the title of Albanian Premier to an equally shaken Hassan Prishtina. Nonetheless, the Sultan ordered the festivities to go on ahead, stating that he would not let petty terrorists strike at their psyche and the festival went on. In Tirana Prison, the Ottoman police force managed to torture the assassins, primarily Ljuba Cupa enough to find out that they were from a Serbian secret society called Black Hand that wished to bring all Serbians under the rule of the Serbian Kingdom. When asked whether or not the Serbian government had aided or funded the group, Ljuba managed to speak out that while sympathizers were present, the Black Hand had no official backing from the Serbian government. In the future it was found that this fact was a lie, however for the moment the Ottoman government was thankful, for it stopped any notion of war with Serbia.

The aftereffects of the failed assassination were far reaching in the Ottoman Empire and beyond. The assassins were tried before the Ottoman Supreme Court where they were sentenced for multiple counts of murder, including the monarch of the empire, as well as the murder of the four people who had died during the assassination attempt. Many in the international community also spoke out against the assassination attempt. King George V called it a disgrace, Kaiser Wilhelm II called the assassination attempt an anarchist and ultra-nationalist cell, Emperor Franz Joseph I called the assassination attempt an attempt in ludicrously and all of the other monarchs of Europe followed suit. The Presidents of France and the USA also showed their personal sympathies by sending letters of congratulations for surviving the assassination attempt. Sultan Mehmed V personally gave the families of the two dead bodyguards a life’s worth of pension in gratitude for them having saved his life.

​

Domestically, Ali Kemal was hit by the negative effects of the attempt, as opposition members called out that it was his duty to protect the Sultan. Kemal managed to quieten the opposition by a little bit when he proposed a police and internal security reform which would strengthen the internal security of the empire. Nevertheless, the assassination attempt at Sultan Mehmed V would have unseen consequences in the future, all of which would be extremely interesting.” Mehmed V: Constitutional Monarch of the Ottoman Empire, The Beloved.

“Immediately after the assassination attempt at Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire, tensions between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia skyrocketed. It didn’t help that unlike other monarchs of Europe, King Peter I of Serbia had extended no such wishes of goodness or happiness to the Sultan, and this was considered to be a massive diplomatic slight to the Ottoman Empire. So much so that the population of the Ottoman Empire started to rally on the streets demanding war with Serbia. The Albanians were the most fierce proponents of war with the Serbian Kingdom and the Arabs were also rallying for war, calling the attempt to kill the Caliph a sacrilege. The Turkish population of course was outraged by the attempt to kill their monarch and the people openly rioted asking their government to start war.

King Peter I of Serbia​

Of course the government knew something that the population did not. War with Serbia, meant war with the Bulgarian Tsardom and the Russian Tsardom. Something the government wished to avoid at all costs. Grand Vizier Ali Kemal wrote a letter to Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pasic demanding that the Serbian government do something about the Black Hand. At first Pasic was inclined to do nothing. He was a member of the People’s Radical Party, whose main goal was the idea of a ‘Yugoslavia’ or a nation of south slavs. Denigrating an attempt to restore Serbian territory would have made him look like a hypocrite in front of his own party and the Serbian parliament.

However soon diplomatic pressure mounted. Russia did not wish for war with the Ottoman Empire, believing that such a war would be taken advantage off by the Germans and Austrians and pressured Serbia to make lip promises to the Ottoman Empire. Bulgaria who had not sufficiently mobilized its troops would be in danger of being invaded completely by the Ottoman Armies in the Balkans and pressured Serbia as well. Austria-Hungary which had its own fair share of Serbian terrorism problems in Vojvodina and Bosnia too started to pressure the Serbian government to at least make some lip promises to stop the Black Hand Society.

Serbian PM Nikola Pasic. ​

On October 28th, Nikola Pasic wrote a letter back to Constantinople in which he agreed to have the Black Hand Society operating within Serbian territory squashed contained. However nonetheless, he did not allow Ottoman supervisors to take part in this ‘squashing’. Even though this letter helped to diffuse tensions in the regions, the pre-1913 relation between Constantinople and Belgrade would never be the same. The Ottoman Empire may not want war, however it would not be pushed around by small arrogant powers like that of Serbia. It immediately placed massive tariffs on Serbian goods in Ottoman territory and embargoed certain goods from entering the Serbian country. This would become one of the major reasons why the Balkan War would start a few years down the line.” Reasons of the Balkan War, History Textbook, class 12, Kingdom of Romania, circa 2008.

“Senatorial Reform in the Ottoman Senate had been a hot topic for Ottoman politics ever since the Second Constitutional Era had started. With only 48 members, it was deemed inadequate and having no proper party political spheres in the Senate made it a tad undemocratic. As such, the idea of Senatorial reforms in the Ottoman Empire had been floating for far too long by this point to ignore.

Ibrahim Temo, the leader of the Ottoman Democratic Party raised the notion of senatorial reform on October 27th, 1913 and called for the expansion of electoral districts, the creation of a proper senatorial elections in the country and the expansion of party politics into the Senate as well, to create a more democratic sphere in the country. The frozen attitude of the Senate during the assassination attempt at Sultan Mehmed V also made the need for senatorial reform all the more wanting in the Ottoman Empire.

Ali Kemal and the Liberal Union were all for senatorial reform. The Committee of Union and Progress were less so, as they had a lot of influential men and people in the Ottoman Senate who could be removed from the reform, nonetheless, even the most diehard of CUP supporters acknowledged that they needed reform in the senate.

In the senate itself, the people were divided on the issue. People who benefitted from the current senate were opposed to any reform and the people who did not supported the reform. The Senate could not decide whether or not it wished to be reformed, and multiple votes held on the issue simply brought in inconclusive results, making the process of reform all the more frustrating for the empire.

Finally on November 8th, the issue was taken to the Ottoman Supreme Court in Izmir where the Supreme court was asked to deliver the final say on whether or not Senatorial reforms were needed in the Ottoman Empire. The Supreme court heard both sides of the arguments and on the next day declared that senatorial reform was needed in the Ottoman Empire, and Bill #1675 drafted by Ali Kemal and Ibrahim Temo for the reformation of the Ottoman Senate would be adopted by the Ottoman State. The Bill was brought before Sultan Mehmed V on November the 11th, who gave the bill imperial assent thus making it law.

The 1913 Ottoman Senatorial Reform included the following points:

• The enlargement of the Ottoman Senate from 48 seats to 100 seats.
• The creation of exactly 100 electoral districts in the Ottoman Empire on the basis of population for the seats of the Senate.
• Senatorial Elections for the Ottoman Empire to take place every two years.
• Party threshold in the Senate to be lower than in the Chamber of Deputies. Party threshold for the Senate would be 1% instead of the Chamber’s 5%.
• The first Senatorial Election of the Ottoman Empire would be scheduled for December 22-24, 1913 in the Ottoman Empire.

The 1913 Senatorial Reform still exists in the Ottoman Empire till this day, with some amendments along the way to amend the reform to modern needs of the empire.” Ottoman High Laws: A History. Penguin Publishing, 1988.

“Italian politics in the wake of the Italo-Ottoman War became ever the more fractious. The Liberal Union now led by Sidney Sonnino did the best they could to appeal to the moderates of the Italian nation and committed themselves to the economy of the nation, using bondage firms, and investment schemes before the 1913 general elections to gain an advantage. And to an extent this did lead to a small lead for the Liberals in the Italian General Election, as the economy started to recover, many of the Italian electorate were eager to vote for a moderate government.

However the Italian Radical Party led by Ettore Sachi was not sitting about twiddling its thumbs. Due to the fallout of the splitting of the Italian Socialist Party into the Italian Socialist Party and the Italian Reformist Socialist Party, many disillusioned young socialists joined up with the Italian Radical Party, chief among them was the group of socialists led by young Benito Mussolini who joined the Italian Radical Party as well.

Ettore Sacchi​

Nonetheless, Ettore Sachi was an enigma in the Italian Radical Party. He was accused of being a radical in the public and was accused of being a moderate by his own party. Unlike many in the party who called for an Italian republic, Sachi was unwilling to endorse republicanism unless a referendum was held on the issue in the entire country, which the rest of the radicals were unwilling to do, fearing that the monarchy would be retained through referendum, which would give it a democratic advantage.

Sachi was also however willing to ally with the Italian Reformist Socialist Party and managed to make a strong opposition force against the Liberal Union in the Italian Parliament, and though the Italian Socialist Party remained a powerful force, it had no allies and found itself increasingly isolated from the rest of the Italian parties.

Sidney Sonnino​

It was amidst this fractious political nature that the 1913 Italian General Elections were held in October, 1913. The Liberal Union lost a good amount of seats, however managed to retain 255 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, forming the largest party out of the 508 seat chamber. The Italian Radical Party soon followed with 62 seats. The Italian Socialist Party followed with 52 seats and the Italian Reformist Socialist Party followed with 34 seats as well. The Italian Republican Party also won around 8 seats and together with the Italian Reformist Socialist Party and the Radical Party formed the opposition to the Liberal Union which once again formed government with a coalition of the Liberals, Constitutional Democratic Party, Catholic Electoral Union, Conservative Catholic Party and the Democratic Party. Giolitti resigned from the premiership of Italy as he had promised and Sidney Sonnino became the next Prime Minister of Italy.” A History of Italian Politics.

“The idea of a jewish homeland for Jews had been a topic of heated debate ever since Zionism as an ideology was revived by 19th century Jews. Many called out for an invasion of Palestine to settle it. Some called for settling down in the Sinai, in Uganda, in Alaska and in Guyana as alternative solutions. All of these proposals had their fair share of supporters and dissidents. However with the opening of the Ottoman empire to Jewish migration on a wider scale, the scope of the Jewish homeland question started to become even all the more complicated. With many Jews from anti-semitic countries like Russia, France and Italy migrating to the Ottoman Empire, the normal base of the Zionist organizations were starting to revert to the Ottoman Empire. This meant that the Ottomans now held an advantage with negotiations with Zionist organizations, and almost every person which had advocated for an invasion of Palestine were quiet by the time the 1913 Zionist Congress started.

The 1913 Zionist Congress tried to ascertain new manners in which they could settle and where. The United States had shown little enthusiasm for a Jewish settlement in the Territory of Alaska, and frankly speaking very few Jews were willing to settle down in an icy freezing desert. It was in the 1913 congress that a new proposal was raised. The people in the congress pointed out that the Ottoman Empire giving shelter to Jewish minorities was now a fact that the Congress could not change, however it was something that the Congress could take advantage off, in their opinion. A plan to settle down in the Sinai Peninsula had been in the works ever since the British had raised the idea of it in 1905, however by this point the Zionists were taking the question seriously and petitioned the British government to start conducting trials in the Sinai region to see whether or not the land could be created into a new jewish homeland. The Egyptian government led by Sultan Abbas II was eager to allow Jewish settlement, as it would allow investment and economic growth, but only if the Jewish agreed to become Egyptian citizens, highly autonomous Egyptian citizens with a province that would likely become Jewish majority, but still subservient under the Egyptian government. The Jewish Congress agreed on the condition that Jewish rights of religion and living were secured. When this was accepted by Cairo, observation trials began in earnest in the Sinai region as Zionist, British and Egyptian architects started to work together to figure out how to make a jewish homeland in the Sinai.

The Sinai Peninsula, the Chosen Homeland of the Zionists. ​

This plan was accepted by the Ottoman Empire as well, however the empire rose the question of the local Arabic population living in the Sinai, and asked the Zionist Congress to respect the rights of the Arabic population in the Sinai. The Zionists had no intentions of doing as such, however they paid lip service to the Sublime Porte and agreed to protect the rights of the Arabic population of the Sinai as well. When they backtracked on their promise to protect the rights of the Arabic population, it would start the Sinai Crisis in the late 1930s and early 1940s.” A History of Zionist Sinai, Osprey Publishing, 2003.

“The first Ottoman Senatorial Elections took place on 22 December, 1913 to 24 December, 1913. The Senatorial Elections had a lower threshold for parties, and as such more parties were believed to be able to get seats in the senate than in the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies. Since the day the Senatorial Reform of 1913 was ratified and given imperial assent by Sultan Mehmed V, the parties of the empire began a massive electoral campaign to win the majority of the seats in the Senate.

the ottoman population lining up to vote. ​

The Liberal Union led by Ali Kemal did the best they could, appealing to the moderates and the liberals of the Ottoman Empire, pointing toward the flourishing Ottoman economy as their main standing point for the elections. They also pointed out that it was under their government that the economy was doing so good, and that It was because of them that the democratic processes in the empire were not only being strengthened but expanded. They also appealed to the minorities by pointing at their minority appeasement policy’s, mainly the creation of the Armenian Vilayet.

The CUP led by moderate Huseyin Hilmi Pasha focused on the rural population of the Ottoman empire, and the more conservative class, by promising to overturn the ongoing secularization of the empire, and making Islam first among equals once again. They also appealed to their conservative tendencies, though they remained true to their ideals of Ottomanization and under the moderate leadership of Huseyin Hilmi Pasha, who was himself an Ottoman Muslim Greek, forced the party to drop Turkification which would bolster the party.

The Democratic Party led by Ibrahim Temo was strongest in the ideal that it had been the one to draw up the 1913 Senatorial Reform and used this slight increase in prestige to garner votes. Its main stronghold was in Albania and the Aegean Coastline where the Aegean greeks favored the Democratic Party.

The Socialist Party led by Huseyin Hilmi however surprised all by the amount of popularity they gained, as they campaigned for the elections. As industrialization continued in the empire however, it should have been expected that leftist ideals would become more appealing to the people, and the party garnered a good amount of successes. The suburbs of Constantinople and the major city electoral suburbs of Izmir, Salonika and Baghdad, all of whom experienced rapid industrialization became socialist strongholds. As the Ottoman socialists were pro-monarchists and pro-religious, many conservative leftists also were comfortable in voting for them.

The Armenekan Party led by Mekertich Portukailan was the regional autonomist Armenian party and they ran on a platform of retaining the new privileges of the Armenian population and managed to gain a stronghold in the Armenian Vilayet. The Social Democrats led by Gevorg Gaharadijan did not win a stronghold anywhere in the empire, however did win some constituencies, enough to gain a few seats as well.

The Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization, which was led by Rafiq Bey Al-Azm, managed to win a few seats and votes from the Arabic population as their decentralization and federalist policies were pretty popular in the deep conservative Arabic population of the empire. Poale Zion, the Jewish party of the empire became strengthened by the Jewish immigration to the Ottoman Empire, and expanded from its base in Salonika, and managed to win a small stronghold in the minority electoral districts in Palestine as well.

​

The end result was that in the elections, the Liberal Union won 29 seats, The CUP won 23 seats, the Democratic Party won 17 seats, the Socialist Party won 12 seats, the Armenakan Party won 6 seats, The Social Democrats and the OPAD won 5 seats each and Poale Zion won 2 seats in the Senate. 1 independent from Angora managed to win his way to the senate as well. In the senate, the Liberal Union and the Democratic Party alongside the Armenakan Party managed to retain their coalition and remained the majority government, holding 51 seats. The Socialist Party and the CUP formed opposition having a total of 35 seats. The rest formed a third block in the Senate.” A History of the Ottoman Senate: University of Angora, 1998.

***

 

[Sarthak]

thoughts? ottoman democracy is being strengthened and tensions start anew with Serbia. Any predictions?

 

[Alpha-King98760]

I sure hope Zionist Sinai doesn’t fall into sectarian conflict. Though if it does, Egyptian and British forces would probably come in and quash it.

 

[Gokbay]

The Egyptian government led by Sultan Abbas II

He would have to be Khedive instead of Sultan at the time, thought this could have been a case of the narration being from the future.


Also nice to see that the Romanian Monarchy seems to survive to present day.

 

[Sarthak]

Will settlement of Sinai lead to decreasing of Jewish emigration to Ottoman Empire ?

slightly yes

 

[Sarthak]

I sure hope Zionist Sinai doesn’t fall into sectarian conflict. Though if it does, Egyptian and British forces would probably come in and quash it.

plus ottoman forces as well.

 

[Sarthak]

He would have to be Khedive instead of Sultan at the time, thought this could have been a case of the narration being from the future.

yes it is a future perspective

Also nice to see that the Romanian Monarchy seems to survive to present day.

it does, though with some hurdles

 

[Sarthak]

so 1913 has come to an end. Any predictions for 1914? A lot of things are going after all. Italian radicalism, Serbian irredentism, worldwide arms race, Ottoman industrialization, irish home rule, and the sinai jewish homeland. Any predictions?

 

[EmperorBuaya]

so 1913 has come to an end. Any predictions for 1914? A lot of things are going after all. Italian radicalism, Serbian irredentism, worldwide arms race, Ottoman industrialization, irish home rule, and the sinai jewish homeland. Any predictions?

Well, things seems to go well for the Ottomans, save for 1913 dramas. If I have to drop in my opinion, the beginnings of World War 1 as of result.

I'm betting Pro-Turkification extremists/Turanists will do something stupid to ruin Ottoman democratization and all the hard work the reformists have done. What of Three Pashas in this TL?

 

[Vinization]

Mehmed survived, yay!

so 1913 has come to an end. Any predictions for 1914? A lot of things are going after all. Italian radicalism, Serbian irredentism, worldwide arms race, Ottoman industrialization, irish home rule, and the sinai jewish homeland. Any predictions?

The Black Hand, enraged by the attitude of Serbia's allies, does something extremely stupid.

 

[Goingidle]

Mehmed survived, yay!

The Black Hand, enraged by the attitude of Serbia's allies, does something extremely stupid.

I suppose they are not stupid enough to try their assassinations in Bulgaria, Russia, or even Serbia, but if they do that'll be funny.

Is there any simpathy among the Serbs in Ottoman Balkans for the Black Hand?

 

[Vinization]

I suppose they are not stupid enough to try their assassinations in Bulgaria, Russia, or even Serbia, but if they do that'll be funny.

Is there any simpathy among the Serbs in Ottoman Balkans for the Black Hand?

They could try to get rid of this or that moderate politician, perhaps.

 

[Gokbay]

suppose they are not stupid enough to try their assassinations in Bulgaria, Russia, or even Serbia, but if they do that'll be funny.

Didn't they already kill the Serbian Royal Family, replacing it with a new one?

 

[Goingidle]

Didn't they already kill the Serbian Royal Family, replacing it with a new one?

Oh yeah, the May Coup. I forget about that one.
Though, I mean it like they assassinate the current prime minister or something

 

[Sarthak]

Well, things seems to go well for the Ottomans, save for 1913 dramas. If I have to drop in my opinion, the beginnings of World War 1 as of result.

I'm betting Pro-Turkification extremists/Turanists will do something stupid to ruin Ottoman democratization and all the hard work the reformists have done. What of Three Pashas in this TL?

The Three Pashas will make an appearance. They do have some roles ittl.

 

[Sarthak]

Mehmed survived, yay!

indeed!

The Black Hand, enraged by the attitude of Serbia's allies, does something extremely stupid.

predictable on their part isn't it.....

 

[Sarthak]

I suppose they are not stupid enough to try their assassinations in Bulgaria, Russia, or even Serbia, but if they do that'll be funny.

Is there any simpathy among the Serbs in Ottoman Balkans for the Black Hand?

I would say the Serbs are half and half in the OE right now.