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Aşiret Mektebi: Abdülhamid II's School for Tribes (1892–1907)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2009

Eugene L. Rogan
Eugene L. Rogan
Affiliation:
Fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford OX2 6JF, U.K.
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Extract

By order of Sultan Abdülhamid II (r. 1876–1909) a new school was opened in Istanbul in October 1892 to provide an Ottoman education for the sons of leading tribal notables. The Aşiret Mekteb-i Hümayun, or Imperial School for Tribes, was a five-year boarding school that admitted boys between twelve and sixteen years old. The school has been rightly interpreted as part of a broader policy pursued by Abdülhamid II of integrating the Arab provinces more closely to the Imperial center. However, the school, which reached beyond the Arab provinces to recruit eastern Anatolian Kurds, was essentially an experiment in social engineering which sought to foster an allegiance to the Ottoman state within one of the most alienated segments of its society: the empire's tribes. On the precedent of urban notables whose sons were educated in Istanbul, obtained government offices, and became Ottoman loyalists, Abdülhamid II and his advisers aimed to create a similar body of intermediaries between the state and its tribes. The experiment ran for fifteen years before the Aşiret Mektebi was closed in 1907; yet in that time the school sent waves of graduates on to higher education in special sections of the civil and military academies and thence to government office in the provinces. In all, the tribal education system represents one of the more ambitious Ottoman initiatives to integrate its tribal communities into the political life of the state.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , February 1996 , pp. 83 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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References

NOTES

Author's note: My research in the Prime Ministry Archives in Istanbul was made possible by the generous support of both the Skilliter Library Fund, Newnham College, Cambridge, and the Hayter Travel Fund, the Oriental Institute, Oxford.

1 Akarli, Engin D., “ʿAbdülḥamīd II's Attempt to Integrate Arabs into the Ottoman System,” in Palestine in the Late Ottoman Period: Political, Social and Economic Transformation, ed. Kushner, David (leiden and Jerusalem: E. J. Brill and Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1986), 80Google Scholar.

2 Cf. Hourani, Albert, “Ottoman Reform and the Politics of Notables,” in The Beginnings of Modernization in the Middle East: The Nineteenth Century, ed. Polk, W. R. and Chambers, R. L. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968), 41–68Google Scholar; Khoury, Philip S., Urban Notables and Arab Nationalism: The Politics of Damascus, 1860–1920 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 50–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Shaw, Stanford J. and Shaw, Ezel Rural, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, vol. II (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 191Google Scholar.

4 Orhonlu, Cengiz, Osmanh İmparatorluǧunda Aşiretlerin İskâm (Sedentarization of Tribes in the Ottoman Empire) (Istanbul: Eren, 1987)Google Scholar examines tribal settlement policy in Syria and Anatolia, 1691–96. In the 18th century the Ottomans sought to revitalize abandoned lands by forced resettlement of peasants and, to enhance their security, forced neighboring tribes to settle or face deportation. The policy produced mixed results: some tribes assimilated to sedentary life, others took flight at the first opportunity; cf. Halaçoǧlu, Yusuf, XVIII. Yüzyilda Osmanh imparatorluǧu'nun İskân Siyaseti ve Aşiretlerin Yerleştirilmesi (Ottoman Sedentarization Policy and Tribal Settlement in the 18th Century) (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, 1991)Google Scholar.

5 Tercümân-i Hakîkat 6 Temmuz 1306 (18 07 1890)Google Scholar, cited in Ergin, Osman, Türkiye Maarif Tarihi, 6 vols. (Istanbul: Eser, 1977), 3–4:1180–82Google Scholar.

6 Archives Diplomatiques de Nantes. Constantinople: Correspondence avec les Échelles; Damas: Guillois to Cambon, 7 01 1893Google Scholar.

7 All petitions were addressed to ʿAbdullah Pasha al Saʿud at the Şûra-yi Devlet, who presented them in a cover letter to the sultan for approval before the appropriate permits were issued for the applicants to proceed to Istanbul: Başbakanlik (Prime Minister's) Archives, Istanbul (hereafter BBA), Yildiz Palace collection (files prefixed Y.) Y.Mtv 51/82, 52/47, and 52/80 (Shaykh ʿAbdullah Saʿdūn, Najd); Y.Mtv 52/90 (Shaykh Mawdūd, Mūṣul), all dating to summer 1891. In May 1892 a total of twelve petitions were received, eight from the Druze, three from different branches of the Transjordanian Bam Sakhr tribe, and one from the shaykh mashāyikh of the Wuld ʿAli tribe; Y.Mtv 63/7.

8 See, for example, Ergin, , Maarif Tarihi, 3–4:1182Google Scholar.

10 The first nizamname of twelve articles, drafted in 07 1892Google Scholar, is in BBA, I.Mec.Vâlâ 5641 and was gazetted in the administrative yearbook of the Ministry of Education; cf. Salname-i Nezaret-i Maarif-i Umumiye, lst ed. (Istanbul, 1316 [1899]), 293–95Google Scholar. A second, more elaborate nizamname of seventy-four articles was prepared in 01 1893Google Scholar; cf. BBA, Y.Mtv 73/99.

11 BBA, Y-A.Hus 274â72, 8 Mayis 1309 (20 05 1893)Google Scholar. School and residence alike were plagued by damp, forcing the authorities to seek out more salubrious accommodation. Although several documents proposed provisional alternatives, it would appear that the school remained in the Esma Sultan Sarayi: cf. BBA, Y.Mtv 71/111, 24 Teşrin-i sani 1308 (6 12 1892)Google Scholar; Y-A.Hus 274/72, 8 Mayis 1309 (20 05 1893)Google Scholar; Y-A.Hus 275/97, 29 Mayis 1309 (10 06 1893)Google Scholar; Y-A.Hus 281/80, 25 Eylül 1309 (7 10 1893)Google Scholar.

12 Ergin cites archival sources for the admission of eighteen Albanians to Aşiret Mektebi in 1902 and an article with a photograph in the newspaper Malûmat on foreign students from Java who attended the school: Maarif Tarihi, 3–4:1186Google Scholar.

13 BBA, I.Mec.Vâlâ 5641; Salname (1316), 294–95Google Scholar.

14 BBA, Y.Mtv 69/88, 2 Eylül 1308 (18 09 1892)Google Scholar.

15 Examples of this narrative may be found from Baghdad (BBA, Y.Mtv 67/90), Zor (BBA, Y.Mtv 67/90), and Maʿmuretülʿaziz (BBA, Y.Mtv 68/41).

16 BBA, Y.Mtv 67/90, report of the minister of foreign affairs, 7 Eylül 1308 (20 September 1892).

17 For the relative size and power of tribes, cf. Oppenheim, Max Freiherr von, Die Beduinen, 4 vols. (Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, 1939, 1943; Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1952, 1967)Google Scholar. Oppenheim has been consulted throughout to confirm Arab tribal names mentioned in this essay.

18 BBA, Y.Mtv 67/90, 28 Temmuz 1308 (9 August 1892).

19 For correspondence exchanged between the Prime Ministry and the governor in Hicaz between 2 10 and 9 November 1892Google Scholar, see BBA, Y-A.Hus 265/76; Y-A.Hus 265/94; Y-A.Hus 265/99; Y-A.Hus 266/111.

20 BBA, Y.Mtv 102/88, 2 Aǧustos 1310 (14 August 1894); Maarif Salnamesi 1319:149–50Google Scholar and 1321: 153–54. Only five Ministry of Education salnames are known to have been published, in 1316,1317,1318,1319, and 1321.

21 The text of the speech is preserved in BBA, Y-A.Hus 265/20.

22 The albums were presented to demonstrate the progress achieved by the empire under Abdülhamid II and “the advancement of learning and education. … ” Gavin, Carney E. S., ed., “Imperial Self-Portrait: The Ottoman Empire as Revealed in the Sultan Abdul Hamid IPs Photographic Albums,” Journal of Turkish Studies 12 (1988): 6Google Scholar; portraits of Mektebi, Aşiret students, plates 107–13Google Scholar. Given the date of the photographs, the portraits are almost certainly of boys from the entering class of 1892–93.

23 On the seven-year distribution of coursework in the rüşdiye and iʿdadiye schools, see Maarif Salnamesi 1316:191Google Scholar.

24 BBA, Y.Mtv 102/88, 2 Agustos 1310 (14 August 1894).

25 A schedule of exams, held 3–28 Haziran 1311 (June–July 1895) and listing examiners is given in BBA, Y.Mtv 122–11, 1 Haziran 1311 (13 June 1895).

26 BBA, Y.Mtv 73–99, Nizamname art. 10Google Scholar.

27 Ibid., art. 11.

28 Ibid., art. 12.

29 Ibid., art. 20.

30 Ibid., art. 23.

31 BBA, Y.Mtv 71/111, 24 Teşrin-i sani 1308 (8 December 1892).

32 Musil, Alois, Palmyrena: A Topographical Itinerary (New York: American Geographical Society, 1928), 53Google Scholar.

33 BBA, Y.Mtv 77/19, 12 Nisan 1309 (24 April 1893).

34 Ibid., 73/99, Nizamname art. 12Google Scholar.

35 Ibid., 69/88, 6 Teşrin-i evvel 1308 (18 October 1892).

36 Ibid., 77/19, 12 Nisan 1309 (24 April 1893).

37 Ibid., 79/182, 26 Haziran 1309 (8 July 1893).

38 Ibid., 93/35, 2 Nisan 1310 (14 April 1894).

39 Ibid., 76/88, 21 Ramazan 1310 (8 April 1893).

40 Ibid., 114/80, 26 Kanun-i sani 1310 (7 February 1895).

41 İrade of 19 Eylül 1312, summarized in reports preserved in BBA, Y.Mtv 165/90, 8 Aǧustos 1313 (20 August 1897); Y.Mtv 167/189 9 Eylül 1313 (21 September 1897).

42 BBA, Y.Mtv 165/90, 8 Agustos 1313 (20 August 1897).

43 Servet-i Fünun, eighth year, no. 380Google Scholar, 11 Haziran 1314 (23 June 1898), 244. Twelve of the thirteen students were certainly from the first cohort: 36, 37, 48, 49, 51 (the one Mülkiye graduate pictured), 53, 54, 55, 59, 60, 61, 79. The thirteenth was another member of the Karabalh tribe from Harput in Maʿmuretülʿaziz Vilayeti named Sabri, possibly a mistranscription for 52 (Table 1).

44 BBA, Y-A.Res 112/59, 22 Safer 1319 (10 June 1901).

45 Ibid., Y.Mtv 161/95, 16 Haziran 1313 (28 June 1897), in which the Harbiye's director reported that twenty-seven cadets of the Aşiret Sinifi would be taken out on maneuvers.

46 The cavalry officers were 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 22, 23, 24, 33, 35, 36, 42, 43, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 59, 60, 61, 66, 76, 79, and the Syrian student without a registration number (**); the infantry officers were 30, 37, 41, 55, 56, 65 (Table 1): BBA, Y.Mtv 173/135, 18 Şubat 1313 (2 March 1898).

47 Oppenheim, Die Beduinen, 1:219Google Scholar.

48 Délégation Générale de la France Combattante au Levant, Inspection des Mouvances Bedouines de l'État de Syrie, Les Tribus nomades de I'état de Syrie (Damascus, 1943), 153–54Google Scholar; Ninth Army, Handbook of the Nomad, Semi-Nomad, Semi-Sedentary and Sedentary Tribes of Syria (n.p., 1942), 33–34Google Scholar.I thank Norman Lewis for bringing these sources to my attention.

49 Musil, Palmyrena, 54Google Scholar.

50 Les Tribus nomades de l'état de Syrie, 93Google Scholar.

51 Batatu, Hanna, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1978), 180–81, 188–92, 358–59Google Scholar.

52 General Staff, British Forces in Iraq, “History of the Muntafiq Confederation and the Sa'dūn Family,” in Military Report on Iraq (Area 6) Lower Euphrates (Calcutta: Government Printing Office, 1923), 9–12Google Scholar.

53 Çankaya, Mücellitoǧlu Ali, Yeni Mülkiye Tarihi ve Mülkiyeliler (A New History of the Mülkiye Academy and Its Graduates) (Ankara: Mars Matbaasi, 1968–1969), 1:290.Google ScholarI thank Carter Findley for bringing this source to my attention.

54 See, for example, BBA, Y.Mtv 165/90 and Y.Mtv 167/189, both of which reiterate the sultan's orders that students complete their study of administrative sciences in the Mülkiye within one year.

55 Çankaya, , Yeni Mülkiye Tarihi, 1:290Google Scholar.

56 BBA, Y.Mtv 165/90; Y.Mtv 173/135; Maarif Salnamesi 1317, 582–83Google Scholar.

57 BBA, Y-A.Res 134/17, tezkere of the prime minister dated 14 Teşrin-i evvel 1320 (27 10 1904)Google Scholar; report of the interior minister dated 12 Mart 1321 (25 March 1905); mazbata of the Meclis-i Mahsus of 30 Teşrin-i sani 1321 (13 12 1905)Google Scholar. Y-A.Res 136/65, tezkere of the prime minister dated 19 Nisan 1322 (2 05 1906)Google Scholar.

58 Maarif Salnamesi 1317, 582–83Google Scholar.

59 A11 of the career profiles which follow are found in Çankaya, , Yeni Mülkiye Tarihi, 3:753–56Google Scholar.

60 Ergin, Türkiye Maarif Tarihi, 3–4:1188Google Scholar.

61 Kodaman, Bayram, Abdülhamid Devri Eǧitim Sistemi (The Education System of the Hamidian Period) (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, 1988, 1991), 164Google Scholar. The distribution of rüşdiye schools in the Arab provinces at the end of the Hamidian period included seventeen schools in Haleb, three in Suriye, eleven in Beyrut, two in Kudus, seven in Basra, three in Baghdad, three in Mosul, two in Hicaz, and one in Bingazi. The number of iʿdadiye schools for the same year included three in Haleb, two in Suriye, five in Beyrut, one in Kudus, one in Baghdad, one in Mosul, one in Trablusgarp, one in Hicaz, and two in Yemen. Ibid., 103, 128–29.

62 A biography of Faʾiz al-Ghusayn based on interviews is given in Mūsā, Sulaymān, Wujūh wa malāmiḥ: ṣūra shakhṣiyya li-baʿḍ rijāl al-siyāsa waʾl-qalam (Prominent Personalities: Personal Portraits of Some Men of Politics and of the Pen) (Amman: Ministry of Culture, 1980), 85–100Google Scholar.I thank Tariq Tell for bringing this source to my attention.

63 Ibid., 87–89.

64 Faʾiz al-Ghusayn is listed among pre-1914 “overt nationalists” in Dawn's, C. Ernest discussion of “The Rise of Arabism in Syria,” in which Arabism as a politics of the disappointed was first discussed: From Ottomanism to Arabism: Essays on the Origins of Arab Nationalism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973), 148–79.Google Scholar.