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Zionists and the Ottoman Foreign Ministry during the Reign of Abdulhamid II (1876-1909)
Author(s): Blent Kemal ke
Source: Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Fall 1980), pp. 364-374
Published by: Pluto Journals
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41857551 .
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Zionists
and the Ottoman
Foreign
Ministry
during the Reign of Abdulhamid
II (1876-1909)
Blent Kemal ke
By the late 1800s, Palestine had become the focus of the European
Zionists who were offeringto deliver their followers to the Promised
Land. Palestine, however, was neitherempty nor free of an existing
sovereignty.It was part of the Asiatic provinces of the OttomanEmpire,
inhabitedby the Arab subjects of the Sultan. Having elevated the Zionist
movement from a disunited collection of philanthropicsocieties to an
actor in internationalrelations, Dr. Theodore Herzl admitted that the
"decision is in the sole hands of His Majesty the Sultan."1 In orderto win
AbdulhamidII to his plan of establishinga home forthe Jewsin Palestine,
he made five journeys to Constantinople between 1896 and 1902.
During his stay at the Ottomancapital, he was summonedto the Porte as
well as to the Palace, negotiated"fromPower to Power," as he described
it, with various dignitariesof the State, includingthe Grand Vezir, and
was even granted an audience with Abdulhamid II.
Herzl was soon to discover thatthe Sultan of Turkey was vehemently
against the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine.2 At a time when the
Macedonian uprisingsin the West and the Armenianrevolts in Anatolia
were threateningthe territorialintegrityof the Ottoman Empire, the
TurkishGovernmenthad no desire to nurtureanothernationalityproblem
withinits domains. Thus, the Ottomanstook the Zionist movementseriously fromits inceptionand devised theirpolicies to deal withit accordingly. It was Abdulhamid II himselfwho laid the cornerstone of the
Ottoman reaction toward the Zionists. He was determinedthatthe Turkish Government should prevent Jewish immigrationand settlementin
Palestine to the best of its efforts.3The Sultan, in turn,asked the Cabinet
to carefully discuss the entire question at its meetings and work out
detailed policies to cope withthe Zionist phenomenonboth at home and
BlentKemalkeis LecturerinInternational
ofPoliticalScience,
Politics, Institute
of Istanbul.
University
1. R. Patai(ed.), TheCompleteDiariesofTheodorHerzl(London,1960),iii,p.
909.
l. Diaries, i, p. 5 lis.
3. A. Osmanoglu,Babam Abdlhamid(Istanbul,1960),p. 46.
364 ASQ Volume 2 Number 4
365
I
of Jewishaffairswiththe congreWhen Zionism came to the forefront
Basle
of
First
at
in
the Ottomanrepresentatives
the
1897,
Congress
gation
abroad did not lose any time in feedingthe capital detailed information
concerningthe developmentof the entireZionist movement. While the
detailed reportsand newspaper cuttingswere readilydispatched to Con4. TahsinPaa, Abdiilhamid
ve YildizHatiratari(Istanbul,1931),pp. 7-9.
London(laterto be citedas PRO), ForeignOfficeFiles
5. PublicRecordOffice,
(laterto be citedas FO), 78/5479,no. 71, Dicksonto Bunsen,Jerusalem,29
27 January
1901.
December1900;no. 34,O'ConortoLansdowne,Constantinople,
6. ForeignRelationsof theUnitedStates (laterto be citedas FRUS), (1886),
5 January1886;FRUS (1893),end. to
no. 445,Cox to Bayard,Constantinople,
no. 3, Mavroyenito Gresham,22 November1893,Therapia.
7. FRUS (1898),no. 78, Angelito Sherman,Constantinople,
5 January1898;
25 April
FRUS (1906),no. 1370,Jayto theSecretaryof State,Constantinople,
no. 35,Dicksonto Clare-Ford,
30 December
Jerusalem,
1906;PRO, FO, 195/1765,
1892.
366
367
of Zionism as theyperceived them,the membersof the Turkishdiplomatic corps were also enthusiasticin advising the Turkish Governmenton
ways to cope withthis movement,which, accordingto them,threatened
the territorialintegrityand political sovereigntyof Turkey. On 31 November 1903 the Turkishambassador in Berlin urged the Porte to elaborate the existingspecial regulationsprohibitingthe Zionists fromacquiring land in Palestine and preventingthe colonization of the country,
activities which, according to him, aimed at the establishment of an
independentState withinthe domains of the Ottoman Empire.15
As earlyas 1898, Ali FerruhBey wrotea letterto the Sultan- a copy of
whichhe also sent to the ForeignMinistryat the Porte16- suggestingthat
the "time has come forthe Governmentof His Imperial Majesty to take
certainmeasures to repairthe faultwhich theirancestors had committed
by allowing the non-Moslem communitiesto settle in Palestine. As the
journey of the German Emperorto Jerusalemclearly showed, Catholics,
Protestants,Orthodox and Jews prepare the ground for the Powers to
enhance their respective spheres of political and religious ambitions
(withinthe Ottomanlands)."17 Ali FerruhBey, whose fatherhad been the
governorof Jerusalem,furtherinformedthe Sultan that on a recent visit
to Palestinehe had seen theway the Zionistswere plunderingtherichesof
the country,to the detrimentof the local Muslim population. In order to
rectifythisstate of affairs,he suggestedthatthe Governmentfacilitatethe
immigrationof Muslim communitiesinto Palestine to leave fewer places
forthe Jews to settle. AbdulhamidII musthave shared Ali Ferruh Bey's
anxiety,for he declared: "We must forgetthe idea of allowing Jewish
into Palestine. Otherwise,as theywould in due course musimmigration
ter all the power in theirhands whereverthey settle, we would sign the
death warrant of our religious brothers."18On another occasion, AbdulhamidII said, "we could onlyopen our bordersto those who belong to
the same nationalityand religionas we do. We should tryto buttressthe
Turkishelement in our body politic."19 When Muslim Turkishrefugees,
in the face of growing repression in the Balkans and Russia, fled to
Turkey,Abdulhamid II settledthem in the valley of Hauran, Palestine.
the Turkishpolicies, the Foreign MinisWhen it came to implementing
A. Tewfikto TewfikPasha, Berlin,31 Novem15. OFM, 332/17,no. 3309/178,
ber 1903.
Ali FerruhBey to the Palace, Washington,
27
16. YPA, C 11/48-49/54/136,
April1898.
no. 9550/63,
AliFerruhBeyto TewfikPasha,Washington,
29
17. OFM, 332/17,
April1898.
18. Abdiilhamid,
op. cit., p. 76.
19: Ibid., p. 68.
368
trywas asked to persuade the Powers not to lend any assistance toward
Zionism. Since Germany was the European Power most sympathetic
toward Turkey,the Ottoman Governmentthoughtthatit should firstwin
the supportof the Kaiser forits anti-Zionist policies. It is curious thatof
all the Powers, Germanywas the countrymostfavorablydisposed toward
4
the Zionist movement. The Kaiser had admittedthat the 'fundamental
idea of Zionism has always interested[me] and even aroused [my] sympathy."20In September, 1898 Count Evlenburg,the Germanambassador
in Vienna, wroteto Herzl that44His Majesty has declared himselfreadyto
intervenewiththe Sultan and preparedto undertakethe protectionof the
Jews in the Orient."21 When the German Emperor attemptedto discuss
4
the matter with the Sultan and told him that the Zionists were 4 not
dangerous to Turkey, but everywherethe Jews are a nuisance of whom
one should like to be rid," Abdulhamid II was reportedto have replied
that he was quite satisfiedwith his Jewishsubjects.22TewfikPasha, the
Turkish foreignminister,told Wilhelm II on his tour of Jerusalemthat
44the Sultan would have
nothingto do with Zionism and an independent
Jewish Kingdom."23 As a result, WilhelmII, anxious not to arouse the
suspicion of his host over such a project, lost all his enthusiasm for
Zionism. Biilow was extremelypleased to see this change in the Kaiser
and furtherconvinced him that since Zionism was a serious threatto
Turkishsovereignty,Germany's supportof Herzl' s plans was incompatiof the
ble with the traditionalGerman policy of maintainingthe integrity
line
of
the
same
used
Turkish
authorities
Ottoman Empire.24
argument
with the Powers which had a vested interestin the preservationof Tur44
key, namely, that they should renounce the idea of introducingthe
Jewishpeople into the internationalcommunityas a state, because this
project, by creating a state withina state at the center of the Ottoman
Empire, would assure the ruinof Turkey."25 Turkishpropaganda in this
connection was so powerful that the Allegemeine Zeitung wrote on
11 August 1900: 44Liveand let live; this is the policy of the Great Powers
not only towards the Jews, but also towards the Turks."26
It appears that Germany played a pivotal role in the shaping of other
and Zionism1897-1918(Oxford,1977),p.
20. I. Friedman,Germany
, Turkey
65.
21. Ibid., p. 68.
22. Diaries, iii, p. 770.
23. Friedman,op. cit., p. 79.
24. Biilow,Memoirs(London, 1931),ii, p. 250.
A. Tewfikto TewfikPasha,Berlin,17 August
25. OFM, 332/17,no. 1683/136,
1900.
26. Ibid.
369
370
Ottoman ForeignMinistry
371
372
373
374