Abstract
The chapter examines the legal-administrative reform through which the Ottoman Empire responded to the challenges of accommodating ethno-religious diversity in the age of modernization. It traces the Reform Edict of 1856 (Islahat Fermanı), which is considered to be one of the constitutive documents of the late Ottoman state, and shows how the question of the status of non-Muslims lay at the heart of the drive for modernization in the middle of the nineteenth century. Not only was the edict almost entirely about Christian and other non-Muslim subjects of the empire, but it also concerned specific administrative details of the non-Muslim population, such as the composition of communal councils and the construction of church buildings. The chapter further carries out an investigation of the Greek General regulations (Genikoi Kanonismoi) of 1862, which was a part and a result of the Reform Edict of 1856, to demonstrate the attention on reform of Christian communal structures. By focusing on these two documents and the practical developments leading to their promulgation, this examination delineates the ways in which policies of centralization, standardization, and secularization impacted legal-administrative reform. In understanding demands for institutional change, the examination delves into the dynamics concerning the Ottoman state, Ottoman Greek communities and leadership, and the British government, to lay out the formulation of reform in the late Ottoman Empire.
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Notes
- 1.
Some of the chapters in this collected volume are reprints of earlier works.
- 2.
- 3.
While scholarship recognizes the non-Muslim connection of the Islahat edict , the nature, the details, and the inclusivity and exclusivity of this connection are often not pursued thoroughly. For a contemporary account that outlines the non-Muslim exclusivity of the edict, and the historical tracts of the official historian and statesman of the empire, see Cevdet Paşa 1986, 66, 71.
- 4.
As for the administrative nature of the Islahat edict , see Engelhardt 1976 [1882–1884] who recognizes how reform in the administration was seen as a move towards a more equalitarian status for non-Muslims, 92.
- 5.
Official Ottoman documents referred to the edict as “auspicious administrative reform and privileges of non-Muslims” (Islahât-ı hayriyye-i mülkiye ve imtiyazât-ı tebaa-i gayrimüslime), Devlet Arşivleri Başkanlığı Osmanlı Arşivi (BOA), A.MKT.UM 228/16, 1272 B 2 (9 March 1856).
- 6.
Among the Great Powers , the focus will be on Britain as the strongest and the most active ally of the Ottoman Empire in the mid-nineteenth century.
- 7.
- 8.
“… patriklerin el-hâletü hâzihi cârî olan usûl-ı intihâbiyeleri ıslah olunduktan sonra patriklik berât-ı âlîsinin ahkâmına tatbîken kayd-ı hayât ile nasb ve tayîn olunmaları usûlünün tamâmen ve sahihen icrâ ve bâb-ı âlîmiz ile cemâât-ı muhtelifenin rüesây-ı rûhâniyesi beyninde karârgîr olacak bir sûrete tatbîkan patrik ve metropolid ve murahhasa ve piskopos ve hahamların hîn-i nasbında usûl-i tahlîfiyenin îfâ kılınması ve her ne sûret ve nâm ile olur ise olsun râhiplere verilmekte olan cevâiz ve avâidât cümleten men olunarak yerine patriklere ve cemâât başılarına vâridât-ı muayyene tahsîs ve ruhbân-ı sâirenin rütbe ve mansıblarının ehemmiyetlerine ve bundan sonra verilecek karâra göre kendilerine ber vech-i hakkâniyet maâşlar tayîn olunup …”, İ.MMS, 6/245, 1272 C 29 (7 March 1856), line nos. 8–10.
- 9.
Within the confines of this chapter, I lay out some of the fundamental steps in the historical development of lay and ecclesiastical circles as the two main administrative and social groups. The relationship between them were in fact multi-layered which resulted in many cross alliances (including Ottoman state leaders and European consular representation) on political, institutional, and individual levels, Ozil 2001, Ch. 3; Stamatopoulos 2003, and, for specific examples, see The National Archives (TNA), FO 352/43 A (1), from Etienne Pisani to Stratford Canning, 23 February 1856; Cevdet Paşa 1986, 82–83.
- 10.
In the last decades of the Ottoman Empire, the construction and reconstruction of communal buildings would be closely monitored by the Ministry of Justice and Religious Denominations (Adliye ve Mezahib Nezareti). Detailed information about communal buildings and their construction and rebuilding can be found in the BOA, İ.AZN catalogues.
- 11.
“Announcement regarding the establishment of an ecclesiastical and communal commission” [Eidopoiesis peri systaseos epitropis ekklesiastikis kai pneumatikis] 1836; “Code of the central ecclesiastical commission” [Kanonismos tis kentrikis ekklesiastikis epitropis] 1868; “Code of the patriarchal central educational commission” [Kanonismos tis patriarchikis kentrikis ekpaideutikis epitropis] 1873, in Ziogou-Karastergiou 1998, 48–58, 97–106, 118–130, respectively.
- 12.
The Patriarchal Circular (1845) and the Code for Primary and Boys’ Secondary schools (1846) [Kanonismos ton allilodidaktikon kai ellinikon scholeion]; the Patriarchal Circular (1851) and the Regulations for Girls’ Secondary Schools (1851) [Diorganismos ton ellinikon parthenagogeion] (1851), in Ziogou-Karastergiou 1998, 59–65, 428–441, 66–68, 442–457, respectively.
- 13.
“Genikoi Kanonismoi peri dieuthetiseos ton ekklisiastikon kai ethnikon pragmaton ton ypo ton Oikoumenikon Thronon diatelounton Orth. Xristianon yphkoon tis A. M. tou Soultanou” [General Regulations on the administration of the ecclesiastical and ethnic/communal matters of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Orthodox Christian subjects of the Sultan] Istanbul , 1862.
- 14.
This article primarily focuses on the finished document as it existed at this time and does not delve into the power struggles among the Greek Orthodox circles which played into the text of the document.
- 15.
The second point was about the freedom of navigation on the Danube and the third point about the neutralization of the Black Sea.
- 16.
FO 424/315, Eastern Papers, Part VIII: Correspondence respecting the rights and privileges of the Latin and Greek Churches in Turkey , November 1855–March 1856, pp. 1–2. It was also connected to the broader question of administrative reform, FO 424/9, Correspondence respecting Christian privileges in Turkey , 1851–1856, from Stratford Canning to Earl of Clarendon, 9 January 1856, p. 135.
- 17.
FO 352/44, from Stratford Canning to Earl of Clarendon, 28 January 1856; FO 424/9, from Earl of Clarendon to S. Canning, 24 January 1856, p. 137.
- 18.
FO 424/9, from Stratford Canning to Earl of Clarendon, 9 January 1856, p. 135.
- 19.
FO 424/9, from Earl of Clarendon to Stratford Canning, 24 January 1856, p. 137.
- 20.
Cevdet Paşa 1986, 73–74; FO 424/9, from Stratford Canning to Earl of Clarendon, 9 January 1856, p. 136.
- 21.
FO 352/43 B (5), from Stratford Canning to Earl of Clarendon, 15 January 1856.
- 22.
BOA, HR.ŞFR 24/20 (2), 18 February 1856.
- 23.
FO 352/55A (1), from Stratford Canning to Earl of Clarendon, 25 January 1856.
- 24.
FO 352/43 A (1), from Etienne Pisani to Stratford Canning, 3 February 1856.
- 25.
“… memâlik-i mahrûsemde bulunan her dîn ve mezhebin âyîni ber-vech-i serbestî icrâ olunduğundan tebaa-i şâhânemden hiç bir kimesne bulunduğu dînin âyînini icrâdan men olunmaması ve bundan dolayı cevr ü ezâ görmemesi ve tebdîl-i din ve mezheb etmek üzere kimse icbâr olunmaması …”, İ.MMS, 6/245, 1272 C 29 (7 March 1856), line no. 15.
- 26.
FO 352/55A (1), from Stratford Canning to Earl of Clarendon, 6 February 1856.
- 27.
FO 352/43B (5), from Stratford Canning to Etienne Pisani, 6 February 1856.
- 28.
FO 424/9, from Stratford Canning to Earl Clarendon , 9 January 1856, pp. 135–36; from Earl of Clarendon to Stratford Canning, 4 February 1856, p. 150.
- 29.
FO 352/44, from Stratford Canning to Earl of Clarendon, 15 January 1856.
- 30.
FO 352/44, from Stratford Canning to Earl of Clarendon, 2 March 1856.
- 31.
BOA, HSD.AFT 2/691272 B 1 (8 March 1856).
- 32.
FO 352/43 A (1), 3, 10–11, 16, 22 March 1856.
- 33.
FO 352/43B (5) 1856, Stratford Canning, n.d.
- 34.
FO 352/43B (5) 1856, Stratford Canning, n.d.
- 35.
Stratford Canning , 1st Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe was a hugely influential figure in Britain’s relationship with the Ottoman government. In some situations, he acted more assertively and more radically than the British Foreign Office policy called for, Richmond 2014.
- 36.
FO 424/9, from Stratford Canning to Earl of Clarendon, 9 January 1856, p. 136.
- 37.
At the beginning of the negotiations, a draft prepared by the Ottoman government with regard to existing communal administrative privileges showed the exclusive position of the clergy in administrative affairs.
- 38.
FO 424/9, from Stratford Canning to Earl of Clarendon, 16 January 1856, pp. 142–143.
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Ozil, A. (2021). Ottoman Reform, Non-Muslim Subjects, and Constitutive Legislation: The Reform Edict of 1856 and the Greek General Regulations of 1862. In: Chovanec, J., Heilo, O. (eds) Narrated Empires. Modernity, Memory and Identity in South-East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55199-5_8
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