Ottoman Empire and Turkish Modernization

Panel #1: Ottoman Empire and Turkish Modernization ● Ottoman Naval History 1453-1921 (Joel Torres-Moran) ○ “The Galley Age” was the height of the Ottoman Naval Period ■ The Battle of Le panto of the Holy League (1571) ○ “The Age of Sail” when during the first half of the 18th century ■ the Russians became the Ottoman’s main rival ■ Ottoman’s naval power began to fall ● Modernization in Turkey (Madelyn Estes) ○ Tazimat reforms for a modernization of the Ottoman Empire ■ Substantial amount of reform was based form the French example ○ Mustafa Kamal Auturk, first president of the Republic of Turkey ○ Architecture Modernization: ■ Great Mosque and Hospital of Divrigi in Sivas ■ Edirn Selimye Mosque and its social complex ○ Impact of the industrial revolution and the sewing machines ● Foundation of the Communist Party of Turkey (Becca) ○ Towards the end of WWI the Ottoman Empire fell, obvs. ■ Anti-tsarists sentiments in Russia ■ Two Mustafas: ● Mustafa Subjii ○ Turkish nationalist ○ Communist ○ Communist Party of Turkey TKP ● Mustafa Kemel (Auturuk) ○ Turkish nationalist ○ Republication ○ Turkish Communist Party TCP (puppet party) ○ Black Sea Murder ■ Kemel and Subhi had previously exchanged letters; they agreed that they shared the same aim of national independence ■ The group of Subhi, his wife, and 13 other communist were refused entry in To Ankara, prior to Subhi’s assassination ■ Subject to deportation ○ Questions: ■ Was the Ottoman’s Empire demise synonymous with its lack of modernization or was it unique? Panel #2: Decline of the Ottoman Empire ● Young Turk Revolution and the Downfall of the Ottoman Empire (Seth Dalton) ○ 1908-1922 ○ The Ottoman Empire before the Young Turks: ■ Bad leadership from previous Sultans had put the Ottoman Empire in a bad situation ■ Citizens wanted more representation in government ○ Goals of the Young Turks: ■ Increase in democracy ■ Restore the Constitution of 1876 to strain the Sultan’s power ○ Where the Young Turks went wrong: ■ “Turkification” policies ● Conversion to Islam ● Speaking Turkish ■ Entering WWI on the side of the Central Powers ● German railroad from Baghdad to Istanbul ● Turkey sided with Germany for this project and the economic incentives ■ Armenian genocide ● Comparing/Contrasting Reasons for the Decline of the Ottoman Empire (Susie Weaver) ○ Initial signs of decline: ■ Accession of Selim II in 1566 ■ Defeat of the Ottoman Navy at Lepatno in 1571 ○ Military reasons: ■ One army ■ Janissaries ■ Failure to keep up with new technology and practices ○ Economic reasons: ■ Failure to keep up ● Printing press ○ (290 year delay in it’s use) ■ Over taxing peasants ● Ciflik system ■ Alternate sea routes and trade that came with the New World ● Flooding of cheap Bolivian silver which inflated the price of Turkish silver ■ Monetary inflation ○ Bureaucratic Reasons ■ Imperial household ■ Turks turned to Islam ■ Selim I, Mehmed II, and Suleyman the Magnificent ● Armenian Genocide and the Balkan Rebellions of 1912-13 (Chloe Lovitt) ○ Constantinople Agreement (basically Skyes Picot 2.0) ● The Father of the Turks, Kemel’s rise to leadership (Kael Telander) ○ Born in present day Greece (Ottoman Territory ) in 1881 ○ Actually involved in the Young Turk revolution and CUPS during 1908 revolution ○ Served in the Italian Turkish war and the Balkan Wars ○ WWI, served in Gallipoli, victorious ○ Auturk’s six arrows ○ Presidency: ■ Removed political/religious structures that harbored corruption ■ Westernization ■ Representative democracy ■ Emphasis of Higher Education ○ Question: ■ You mentioned Auturk’s initially secular upbringing which later led him to be more religious, what (if any) substantial impacts do you think this had on his later moves as Turkey’s president to be more secular? Panel 3: Human Rights Violations/ Rise of Terrorism ● Saddam Hussein the Balance Between Saudi Arabia and Iran (Jacob Burnett) ○ Saudi Arabia → oil tycoon ■ Oil expeditions in the mid twentieth century, substantial amounts found on the Saudi eastern coast ○ Iran → area of contention, especially during the Cold War ■ Khomeini took power ■ Hassan Rouhani today ○ Iraq ■ Saddam Hussein took power, starting a war against Iran, and later moved into Kuwait ■ Tried to solidify himself as a political powerhouse in the region, and succeeded ○ Saudi Arabia and Iran’s “Cold War” ● The UN and Human Rights Violations in Syria (Sanford Day) ○ Syrian Civil War ○ Bashar Al Assad’s violations with gas attacks ○ Decimation of agricultural sects and an increase in food insecurity ● The Ba’athist Party: Rise, Spread, and Legacy (Brandon Bryngleson) ○ Founded in Syria in 1943 ■ Founding principles of Arab Nationalism and pan-Arabist Especially formulated for younger Syrian activists ○ Established a constitution in 1947 ■ Arab nationalism and hatred for the West ■ Spent the next ten years striving for power ○ Israeli War and Independence and Egyptian Support (Spread of their party) ■ Syrian spearheading of offensive movements ■ Ba’athist respect increases Nasir ■ Gained allyship with Egypt and President Nair ■ Unification and power grads through the end of the 1950s and 1960s ○ Legacy of the Party: ■ Political: ● Normalized authoritarianism ● Normalized Islamic secularism ■ Societal: ● Pan-Arabism ● Anti-West Sentiments ○ Question: What is the future of the Arab Socialist Bath Party, and although it was never a “big governmental function”, how do the party’s ideals still impact Middle Eastern politics today? (example?) ● Yazidi Genocide and Sex Trafficking in the Middle East (Emma Forunato) ○ Fundamentally different from the Islamic faith, which caught the attention of ISIS ○ Wide displacement of over 300,000 when ISIS came to their religious capital (2014) ○ Only 3,200 families have returned to their homeland since. ○ Blind-eye of many to the Yazidi genocide until the results were found ■ How could the US (or other regional powers) have mitigated the Yazidi genocide/sex trafficking while it was happening? ● Media attention and transparency would have helped… ○ The US Justice for the Yazidi genocide in 2017 to promote their recovery and aid the population Panel 4: Modern Day Issues/ Terrorism cont. ● The 1979 Seizure of Mecca (Scott Rogaczewski) ○ Key Players: ■ King Khaled and other Saudi Royalty ● Seen as “Western Lovers” ● Promoted fundamental Islam but were not adhering to its tenets ● Seen in publications gambling and drinking ■ Juhayman al-Utabyi ● Fundamentalist extremist ● Ruling class was corrupt and hypocritical ● Prophesized he had found the “Mahdi” ○ Equivalent to the second coming ○ Seizure of Mecca: ■ November 20, 1979 ● Call to prayer sounded ● 200 militants grab hidden weapons and quickly gained control ○ Weapons were forbidden in Mecca ○ Only guards had weapons, wooden clubs ● Initially released foreign speaking pilgrims ● Stationed guards to keep law enforcement away ○ Control: ■ Saudi government initially denied any events ● All quick attempts at gaining control were fought off ● Needed approval from religious scholars to use weapons in Mecca to take control ■ Many countries offered support ● After the Iranian revolution, Saudi Arabia was the best ally to Western powers ● CIA and British SAS both called in to help ○ CIA initially failed and SAS later helped ○ No foreigners were allowed to come into Mecca, CIA was forced to work outside without any support, only two surviving blueprints of Mecca, the CIA barely was able to get the intel ○ Aftermath: ■ 127 dead and 451 wounded from the Saudi Military ■ 117 of the militants dead ■ 26 civilian deaths ■ Saudi Arabia lost face in many nations in the Middle East ● Began to distance itself from the Western world ● Returned to stricken religious rules ■ Militants’ religious fanaticism inspired what would become Al-Qaeda ■ United States began a policy of protecting its interests in the Middle East ● Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda (Ashlee Lawson) ○ The Muslim Brotherhood: ■ Organization spanning across Middle Eastern states ● No longer really active in Egypt, but numerous branches across the region ■ Sunni Islamist group founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna in Egypt ■ Goals: ● The unification of Islamic states and countries in order to liberate them from foreign influence ■ Values/Methodology: ● Political reform and Democratic action ● Achieve goals in a relatively peaceful way ■ Mohamed Morsi was elected in 2012 in Egypt’s first democratic election ○ Al-Qaeda ■ Founded by Osama Bin Laden in 1988 ■ Sunni-Islamist organization that’s members contain a network of Salafist jihadists and Islamic extremists Panel #5 : Terrorism/Social Issues/Sunni-Shia Conflict (I’m moderating discussions) ● Sunni/Shia Modern Day Arguments (Ashley) ○ While the Sunni and Shia had agreed with one another at pint in time with the death of the prophet Muhammad that significantly changed/ ○ Both the Sunni and Shia have virtually the same beliefs the start of their arguments mainly come from who should succeed Muhamad. ● Transgender Law in Iran (Misha) ○ Strange flip in Iran, transgender people are accepted more widely than LGBTQIA+ ○ In some cases even, Iran is forcing LGBTQIA+ to transition in order to be “homosexual” ○ Question: Why (culturally/Islamically) are transitioned individuals, deemed more legally acceptable instead of LGBTQIA+ populations? ■ Legally, they are acceptable of transitioned/transgender people but culturally not really ■ Trans Iranians have their own conceptions of gender ■ Being transfer is treated as a mental disorder (GID) ○ Leads to LGBTQIA+ populations in Iran being closeted or leaving the country ● Failure of the Iranian Reform Movement 1997-2005 (Kyle Sorrel) ○ Unwavering US support for Reza Shaw because of the Cold War mentality of working against communists ○ Revolution 1979: ■ Mass protest of students and radicals force the Shah to leave Iran, Khomeini returns from exile ■ Hostage crisis, beginning of rivalry with the US ■ Theoretical republic declared, political liberties restricted once more ○ Underlying causes for reform: ■ Growing middle class/ mobilization of student groups ■ Liberalization of Shia clerical though ■ Reactionary feeling among common Iranians to stabilize and consolidate the revolution ○ Electoral Success: ■ 1997 victory of Khatani with overwhelming democratic public support ■ Social liberalization and expansion of local democratic institutions followed ● Antiquities Trade in Terror Groups: ISIS (Jackson) ○ Looting of antiquities after the Tahir Square protests in the Egyptian Ciaro Museum ○ Malawi Museum in the southern Nile River city of Minya ○ Question: I know they are trying to protect/find those who raided, but are there legal repercussions for those who bought these objects off of the black market from ISIS and other terrorist orgs? ○ Illegal (non-sanctioned) excavations throughout Egypt to sell artifacts Panel #6: ● The Lebanon Crisis of 1958 and US Intervention (Katy Caffrey) ○ Rise of tension in Lebanon: ■ President Camille Chamoun intended to run for president for another term ● Protests and demonstrations becoming increasingly violent ■ Violation of National Pact of Lebanon ● Rising tensions between Christians and Arabs ○ Eisenhower Doctrine: ■ Any Middle Eastern country was able to request American economic assistance or aid from US military forces if they were being threatened by armed aggression ■ No mention of any sort of personal interest, but there definitely was in slowing the spread of communism and the influence of the USSR in the Middle East ○ UAR (alliance between Egypt and Syria backed by USSR) ■ Under President Gamal Abdel Nasser ■ President Chamoun thought it was a threat, many of his protests were supporters of the UAR ○ Operation Blue Bat ■ July 14, 1958 ■ The US occupied and secured Beirut by gaining access and securing the international airport, as well as the port ■ Protests ceased three months following American intervention, when President Chamoun had finished his final term as president ○ Lebanese feelings on US involvement ■ Considered it to be a stepping stone for the US to begin to imperialize in the Middle East ● Ashes of the Cedar Revolution (Brandon Muller) ○ Peaceful protests, no strong themes of violence ■ Advocating for the removal of Syrian influence on Lebanese conflict ○ Issues of Syrian influence and occupation of Lebanon that is still ongoing to a degree ○ Removes military occupation from Lebanon, but still impacts politically ○ The president of the country is traditionally a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim. ○ October Revolution in Lebanon