402 NERMIN ABADAN-UNAT windung struktureller Arbeitsosighet in der Tlrkei, Institut FU: empirsche Sorioloie, Saarbrdcken, manuscript Ney, N.HL 1966 Experience with emigrants returning to the home country, OECD, Interational Management Seminar on Emigrant Workers returning to the Home Country, Athens, October 18-21, 1966 Sten, Hans 1968 “Auslindlsche Arbiter im Bei, KBto,p. 150. ‘Tuma, 0. 1965 Labour Force and Employment Problems in Turkey, Papers read at the RCD Colloquium on Common Problems of Esonomic Growth, Karachi 28-30 June 1965, pp. 113-124 Tuna, O., Ekin, N- and Yazgan T. 1966 ‘Turkije'den F. Almanya'ya ic alam ve meseleleri, (Flow of Manpower ‘rom Turkey to West Germany and Problems). Report 1 Istanbul 966, p 117: fand Report 2 Istanbul 1966, . 183, Tuna, 0Oktem, B. 1966. F. Almanya'da callin Tick ielerinin igedierisulorm taki, (Analysis of ‘nieces Comnitod by Turkien Workers in Wert Germany) 1st ‘Thomas, B ‘Trends in the International Migration of Skilled Manpower, Migration, Vol No 3, pp. 5-20, 1967 The Return Movement of Emigrant Workers: An Exploratory Analysis of Costs end Benois, in OECD, pp. 45-9. Onver, 6 1969 "Yur Digindak lyplerimis ve Ekonomik Sorunlan, (Our Workers Abroad and Issues) Ankara Dkisadi ve Tica! Himler Akademi Derg, Vol. 1, 1971 Iggi Dovizi ve Kalkinma, (Workers Remittances and Development) Ankara Test ve Tier! Hier akademis! Deri, Vel Il, No.1, pp 105-129. ‘Yubsel, Au Sat Ortak Pazarda emek piyasas ve calsanlar ast harcket serbesii, (The Free Flow of Labor Market ia the Common Market) Istaibul Ikisat Fakiltest Sosyel Sisase? Kon. 21, pp. 7-22 Zim, Sabahaddin Tgchna egtimes: ve ip piyasasinen tansimindeki rol, (Manpower Trends and Their Role in Organizing the Labor Market) Istanbul Iktvar Fakes! ‘Sosyel Siyaser Konf. 21, pp. 199-229. SUPER WESTERNIZATION IN URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. IN THE LAST QUARTER OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY SERIF MARDIN* Alttle used source for the study of Turkish modernization is that of the Ottoman novel. This genre which developed in the Otoman Empire beginning with the 1860's is a mine of information about conditions that existed in upper class circles in Istanbul at that tine, Such somes also provide an important record of the way in which Ottoman intellectuals approached the problem of social change. As has already ‘been pointed out by a student of Turkish literature, the great majority of the first Ottoman novels are “romans a these” taking up explicitly the problem raised by social and political change.? Historians of Turkish culture have also shown that two issues were underlined as most important by these authors; the problem of the place of women in society, and that of the Westernization of upper class men. That these two areas should have been selected does not Seem, in itself, to have been meaningful to analysts. Yet no doubt they were the most “paramount” with regard to Ottoman culture, the most sensitive with regard to the latent value structure. Publications taking up the theme of the emancipation of women at the level of the Ottoman elite appear fairly early in the modernization movement, Twenty years after the passing of the edict of reforms, the Tanzimat Rescript of 1839, the poet Ibrahim $inasi was already making fun of prearranged marriages in his $air Evlenmesi (see Dizdarogiu 1954: 30-33). ‘The first important Turkish modernist encyclopaedist and novelist, * Faculty of Political Scice, University of Ankara * A pioneer effort in studying the problem of Turkish women in Turkish literature i ‘Sénmez (1970: 17-47), On "romans these", see Boratay (1945: 130-132, esp. p. 143) ‘On men and women, Boratav (1945: 14-146) points out tha this also & fundamental theme of Western literature, but the difference consists in the fact that there are many other plots in Westen literature which come through very much emptied of content when they do appear in Turkish Iterature up tothe 1980s404 SERIF MARDIN Abmet Midhat Efendi (1844-1913), provides us with a general picture of the centrality that both questions had for an Ottoman man of letters with a serious interest in modernization. Insofar as the attitude towards women is concerned, Midhat's contribution is widely acknowledged. One author describes this concern as follows: Ina novel having the main theme of the equality of women in educa- tion, Midhat’s imagination transcends the boldest speculations per- missible in his time and predicts that the day will come when women will enter into every profession. Questions relating to the low status of women, their misfortunes and sufferings as the result of their not having rights equal to those of men, are recurrent themes. Midhat ‘went so far as to defend the rights of women who are forced by circumstances into prostitution; he severely criticized the belief in their sinfulness and the severity of their punishment. Our duty, he suid, is o try and save these women from degradation; this will be possible only if we cease treating women as commodities or as slaves, ‘and they become free to decide their own destinies. Therefore we must go to the help of the fallen and extend a hand to raise them up, rather than stigmatize them forever. Midhat dealt with the subject of womanhood in a number of his novels. The question of the emancipation of women was one of the theses that occupied him most. He criticized, for the first time, an aspect of Muslim marriage which, under modern conditions, came to be regarded as one of the most unfortunate issues of family life— the custom of marrying persons who not only had not cultivated love for each other, but also had never seen each other (Berkes 1964: 283-84. In his novel, Feldtun Bey ile Rakim (originally published in 1876 and since reprinted), Ahmet Midhat’s heroine Canin—a slave to start with—progressively learns to read and write in Turkish, then goes on to master French and the piano. It is quite obvious that the Girl with the Diploma, the title of one of his stories, represents an aspect of Midhat’s ideal of womanhood, ‘A similar concern for the social condition of women, associated with a critiqiie of the institution of slavery, is seen in another important 2 See the new edition: Ahmet Mithat [se] Efendi Fedtun ey ile Rikim Efendi (Gstanbul, nd, ed. by Sacit Erkan). Dates of Turkish novels of the era stied here are given as they appear in Kenan Akyde, “La Litérature Moderne de Turquie", in Philogiae Turcieae Fundamenio, Vo, Ik (Wiesbaden 1965), pp. 465634, URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 405 novel of the nineteenth century, Samipasazade Sezai's Sergiizest (1888). In this misty-eyed account of the adventures of a slave-gil, the effect aimed at was about the same as that of Uncle Tom's Cabin, the target being a domestic issue of the Ottoman Empire. The effect of the book con Turkish intellectuals was roughly comparable to that of H.B. Stowe's, with one additional quirk—the novel being withdrawn from circulation by Sultan Abdulhamid’s censorship (Boratav 1945: 149). This revulsion for the conditions of female slaves and for slave love appears even earlier in a novel of the Turkish poet and political eritic, Namk Kemal, entitled Jnvibah (1876). Here, the mother of the hero, ‘Ali Bey, tells him that she has found a female slave for him—educated in the European manner (a a franca)—to while away the time. Ali Bey's reaction is only that of disgust, because he isin love with someone else; but his dislike of the institution of female slavery is also clear (Kemal 1969: 6810, ‘Again, romantic love as the only type of love possible is the main theme of the Ottoman precursor of realism, Nabizide Nazim. In his Zehra (1894-95), the same exemplary theme of woman’s unhappiness, ‘caused by both a weak husband and the social circumstances which ccater to this weakness, appears.* Hiiseyin Rahmi (Girpinar]’s iffer (1898) is, once more, the story of a woman who occupies a central place in a family tragedy. Sefile (1885), the first serialized novel of the most important figure of the next generation, Halit Ziva [Usa- kigill, is about « young girl who has been wronged. In all of these works, a number of the themes that we have already seen expressed in Ahmet Midhat are taken up in the same sympathetic fashion. Such attitudes were paralleled by the gradual emancipation of upper class women in Ottoman society. The process may also be followed in the autobiography of the first important Ottoman novelist, Halide Edib [Adivar] (1967: passim). It is striking that her openness to the world lof Western ideas was the consequence of an upbringing which took place at the time of Sultan Abdulhamid II (1876-1909) and was not the result of Young Turk innovations. The first defense of the rights of women by an Ottoman appeared as early as 1891 (Fatma Aliye’s Nisvar-! Islam) (Berkes 1964: 287, note 30). This is more remarkable in that Fatma Aliye was the daughter of Cevdet Pasa, whose strictures regarding what he considered over-Westernization will be examined * See Mutluay (1970: 131-132); new edition (Anka 1960), by Asie Beig Seren406 SERIF MARDIN shortly. The rapidity of the emancipation in upper class families may be gauged by the date at which the first Ottoman emancipated femme fatale, who would have done honor to F. Scott Fitzgerald, is made to appear in Turkish society. This heroine, the central character of Yakub Kadri [Karaosmanoglu]'s Kiralk Konak (192), lives in the years imme- diately preceding World War I. All together, then, there isa remarkable unity in Ottoman upper class concern for the emancipation of women, ‘Though lenient towards the Westernization of women, Ahmet Midhat ‘was fierce on the subject of what he considered the over-Westernization ofthe elite men. Thus, the central theme of Feldtun Bey ile Rakira Efendi is the difference between two types of Westernization, one approved by ‘thé author, the other selected for ridicule. There is, first, Rakim Efendi, an orphan brought up by his black slave “mammy" who does cherwork to send him to school. Rakim Efendi is a humorless industrious prig who finishes his Ottoman education with honors, goes on to master French, and adds to this a knowledge of law, poetry and medicine. Through ‘consulting, translation and tutoring, all of his educational achievements are made to pay. The leitmotiv of his life is work and thrift. His values fare a successful blend of Western cultural baggage and the views of the Ottoman lower middle classes among whom he continues to live even after his successes. Felatun Bey is Rakim’s opposite. His Morocco bound books are marked “A.P.” because he prefers to use “Plato” rather than the Ottoman “Felétun™. Heir to a rich fortune, he spends his time frequenting fashionable spots in the European quarter of th: capital, gambling and womanizing. The superficiality of all his knowledge is repeatedly knocked into his head by his friend Rakim Efendi every time they meet. While Rakim Efendi’s success is only marred by the temporary infatuation of a British girl for him, in the end he achieves crowning success. Felatun Bey, ruined, is obliged to a:cept an administrative post on an island. Here for the first time, we encounter the rough sketch of a duality of types, one extreme of which finds its classical expression in Recaizade Ekrem’s (1846-1913) Araba Sevdas (1896). Bihruz Bey, the hero of this novel, is the archetypical Westernized fop.* The scene of the novel is set in the 1870's. In this work we begin to get, for the first time, an * Published in 1876, Se the new eition by Sacit Erkan (p. 2); but of Akyie 1965; 496, who gives the date 1875 * Reesizide Ekrem, Araba Sevdas: (ed. by Mustafa Nihat (Oz6n), Istenbul 1940) and the new edition by Fast Yenisey (etal, 1953) URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 407 inkling of the social strains that lurk behind the stereotype of over- Westernized Ottoman. Araba Sevdast satirizes the superficial veneer of Westernization which a new class has adopted in Turkey after the passing of the edict of reform of 1839. Tis class, that of the Tanzimat sgrandees, had liberated itself from the shackles of a slave bureaucracy and had taken into its own hands the reins of the modernization movement. To have one’s head securely fixed on one’s shoulders with no fears that an imperial order would make it roll, to have one’s property protected by the laws of the land, these were new features in the life of an Ottoman bureaucrat that followed upon the reforms of the Tanzimat, By the 1870’s, the inevitable had happened: the second generation of the new class succumbed to the softness and protectiveness of an urban life over which it ruled unchallenged. Centuries before, the Maghrebian historian Ibn Khaldun had identified urban settlement as f key one in the cyclical movement of dynasties: “wolves” from the desert overcome besotted denizens of the city only to be conquered by newer wolves.” Certainly, his insight is useful in explaining the softening up of a generation which began to think that Europe consisted of fine carriages and new table manners. I shall try to demonstrate later how the dynamics between persons on what I call the “periphery” and city dwellers do, in fact, illuminate some of the ins of the Bihruz Bey cliche, But, for the moment, we need more information about Bihruz Bey himself. In Recaizide’s novel, Bihruz Bey’s life is exemplified by sloth, super- ficiality and unintended, but always present, stupidity. Bihruz Bey is the son of a former governor, a man with sufficient influence to place his son in one of the bureaux of the government while still alive. The governor has left his son a comfortable income consisting mostly of real ‘estate, shops, and houses; enough to let Bihruz Bey and his mother live in the modern quarters of Istanbul, : The father seems to have been quite well versed in Ottoman literature. He has a large library which later becomes the source of Bihruz’s major misadventure, since the son cannot decipher the meaning of Ottoman poetry. One of the key points in the novel is the hilarious mistake he makes when he chooses a quotation praising dark features to be sent to the women he loves, a blonde, because he does not understand an expression in the couplet he has selected. Bihruz’s father had wanted 71 take this image from Emest Geliner, Saints of the Alas (London 1969: 6), 12 wel asthe conception of center-perphery which Tus later in this paper.408, SERIF MARDIN| him to learn Arabic and Persian as well as French, since tke latter was required in the better official posts. But Bihruz, whose father had never controlled his laziness, is culturally between two stools. He has not gone through the soul-searing Ottoman classical education, but neither does he know anything about Western humanities. Bihruz Bey's most striking attitude is his infatuation with the material aspects of Western civilization. He sacrifices his father’s fortune to his compulsion for lovely horse-drawn carriages. He has a home with a separate salle a manger, a professor of French, a Greek valet who is trained to announce that dinner is ready with “Monsieur est servi He dresses at the most expensive tailor in town; he goes to town only to buy suits and shirts or to have a haircut. These are the occasions when he also drops into his office. He has only contempt for old Turkish ways as “barbaric”. His comment on classical Turkish poetry is succinct: “Quelle bétixe, quel scandale que tout ga!” Meeting common folk dressed in baggy trousers, vests and veils, he cannot keep from musing, “qu’est-ce que cest que a? Est-ce que le carnaval est déja arrive?” For Bihruz Bey does not live in the “native” quarter of the capital. Hearing that a new park, on the model of European parks, is to be built in amlica and that this is about to be the most fashionable quarter of town, he moves there to a villa in the vicinity of the park. His life may be described as a preparation for promenades in the park. He also has definitely aristocratic pretensions. The following is what he thinks of the landeau and its charming occupants which, he is told, come from the neig- boring precinct of Kadik6y; He could not forall his good will associate the landeau with Kadikoy. For as a result of some unusual thoughts shaped by his commerce with alafranga gentlemen, he had divided the various quarters of the city into three classes: the first inhabited by the noblesse [in French in the text] that isto say by aristocratic or refined, civilisé beings like himself, the second inhabited by the bourgeois class, uncouth persons of middling status without as much knowledge of civilized thought, the third inhabited by crafts persons. In this classification he had placed Kadikéy, which of right should have been in the frst category, in the second (Ekrem 1940: 19). Binruz Bey intersperses his speech with French, as has become clear already. “Diable, par hasard seraije amoureux?” “Dommage voila une beauté mal placée”. “Quel esprit, quelle finesse”. This is immediately URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 409 reminiscent of Russian society, and Bihruz Bey has many traits which make him a Turkish Oblomov.* They both suffer from the same species of civilization disease: a lack of identity and of roots. Other parallels come to mind: the reactions of Turkish conservatives to Bihruz Bey remind one of the conflict between Westerhists and Slavophiles. What may be called the Bihruz Bey syndrome thus has a cross-cultural dimension. Its framework is set by the disintegration of traditional cultures. But, once these broad similarities are established, the differences are also striking. In Russia the dichotomy between “European” and “Old Russian” culture is much fainter than is the difference between “European and Old Turkish” culture in the Ottoman Empire. The ecological aspect of the cultural clash in the Ottoman Empire seems to have something to do with this difference. In Istanbul, cultures are geographically segregated. On one side there is Pera, a place full of Franks, Levantines, stone buildings, non-Islamic customs and sin, On the other hand, there are the Moslem quarters of the capital where the neighborhood is the locus of a tight community marked by a pervasive togetherness. This life has been described as follows: Religion rules over social life. Since the Sultan is the Caliph of all Moslems his name is used in the prayers read in all Islamic counties. Turban and flowing gown are the religious dress. In the religious seminaries the teachers, in the mosque, the mosque minister (imam), the muézzin who calls the faithful to prayer, the acolyte, at school the teacher and his aide represent in their dress religion and knowledge. Flowing robes are not only special to them. The students of religious seminaries, the mendicants, and the Doctors of Islamic law all wear these clothes. Even persons who have nothing to do with religion and Jearning can take up these clothes if they wish. Because they Yepresent religion and the dervish orders, the prestige of religious personnel in society is high. In the precinct there is a strict order established sui generis and based on tradition. The mosque minister is the leader whose word is * Oblomoy isa character created by the Russian novelist Goncharov in his novel by the same name. A recent work shows that Bihruz ie similar to Oblomey only in the dimension of “softnes”. Goncharov's conception of his central characte s much deeper, more suble and complex than that of Recsizide and less diretly connected with Westernizaton. See Ehre (1969: ISH, 172,410 SERIF MARDIN given the greatest weight. He is consulted for everything. It is he who Jeads prayers five times a day, who washes the dead, who stamps documents, who has a say in all the private and public matters of the precinct, who leads the posses organized to uncover illicit lovers. ‘The official in charge of the formal business of the precinct and the board of elders come after him. Everything is done by consulting with the imam and by doing as he thinks fit. When women are ini trouble itis to the imam that they go for advice. ‘The precinct guard looks after the accounts of the quarter. He ‘assumes special functions during marriages and burials. The water bearer, as a senior worker in the neighborhood, seconds him. in his task. ‘The precinct coffee house is a type of club where all the members of the neighborhood, young or old, gather. During the day it does not function much. After evening prayer inhabitants of the precinet arrive one or two at a time. The young play cards or backgammon, the elders get together to exchange the day's gossip. From time to time there is shadow play or storytellers tell tales. ‘The prestige gained by sheyhs and dervishes serves as a means of getting ahead in life. Many shrewd operators try to pass for sheyhs and dervishes and take advantage of gullible women .. Positive sciences are still belittled. Their place is taken by the “dark sciences”. To draw conclusions from the position of stars, to prepare astronomical tables, to call on genies and spirits, these have been made into professions. ‘The clock and the time that is used are the “call-to-prayer time”. This time is set according to the rise and setting of the sun In married life equality is not even mentioned. A man can marry four wives ifhe wants, he can buy a home for each, if he has money. ‘The rich have, in addition, concubines, or mistresses which they hide in separate houses. The rich select their wives from the relatively uneducated or the socially isolated so that they will acquissce to these conditions. ‘There is segregation of sexes in the family. The young woman not only does not meet the male friends of her husband but does not ‘even show her face. ‘The [lower] government employee or craftsman who leaves his house, returns toward the time of the evening prayer. He takes off his clothes, dons his night gown and slippers, dofis his fez or turban and puts on a cap. After having said his prayers he sits down to a meal with his family. The dining table is a largish tray placed in URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 41 the middle of the room. Everybody crouches on cushions spread around the tray and eats with his hands. To sit by a large table or on chairs, to use fork and knife are usqges that have barely been adopted by families with middle incomes (Levend 1965: 13-17) ‘Thus the compartmentalization of life in the Ottoman Empire on a “millet” basis sets the communitarian framework for the culture clash. ‘The Muslim inhabitants of old Istanbul, who live the life just described, suspect and fear the increasingly powerful Pera across the Golden Hon staring at them with the impudence of the successful This ubiquitous contrast between the old and the new in the form of a contrast between Moslem and European quarters of the capital can be traced in the musings of Sururi Efendi, a character who appears ina story by Ahmed Midhat Ffendi. The following are the thoughts that pass through Sururi’s mind while he is sipping his coffee at the Café Couronne in Pera Now, then, this is what I call life. For example imagine you want to drink coffee after dinner. What pleasure can you get from taking cup of coffee from the hands of a snuff-sniffing bor who provides service in our own old-fashioned coffee house. In a room so filled with tobacco smoke that it is like a chimney, a place lit by a blind oil lamp standing by the brazier used for coffee-cooking, and by a dirty filthy lamp hung on the ceiling where you drink your coffee to the sound of the racking coughs of the opium addicts Look around. This, to0, is a coffee house. On one side ten lovely German girls play music. An enormous saloon, lit by forty to fifty ‘gas lamps. The girl who serves you is a dear who can attract any ‘one's affection. Always at your service. If you ask for coffee you get the sugar separately, the coffee separately. The cup and the saucer are spotless. All on a tray, a bottle of water, a glass, in short, everything is appetizing and all this for sixty para (Mithat, “Bekéehk Sultanlik m1 Dedin”, as cited in Gz6n [n.d.: 232-33). A second difference between the basically similar alienation from traditional values in Russia and in the Ottoman Empire is the extent to which Bihruz Bey types reappear in Turkish literature as persons to be made fun of or despised. It could be said that they are the only really solid characters in all of nineteenth century and much of twentieth century Turkish literature. Over and over again the same figures,412 SERIF MARDIN whether comical or tragic, appear as traitors to their culture, whose example isto be shunned. Bihruz Bey thus has a number of brothers. One of the earliest is Ahmet Midhat Efendi’s Felatun Bey. A later Prototype is Satiroglu $éhret, here of Huseyin Rahmi [Girpmar]’s ‘novel Sik (1888, new ed, 1968). The same author's Sipsevd contains one of the most successful variations of the prototype. Another variation is Suphi in Nabizide Nazim's Zera, Somewhat later follows the figure of Bfruz Bey, dead earnest in his adoption of the latest intelectual fad, be it educational method or aristocratic elitism Primo, the Turkish boy, is @ tragic version of the same character in Omer Seyfettn's draft of a novel (see Alangu 1968: I86fD. Now, itis of course tue that there were many young Turks for whom Europeanization meant only aping social mannerisms of the West, and to that extent the caricature is justified. This, however, brings with it two new questions: the first one, was there in the Ottoman Empire an unusual incidence of such superficial aping, and the second, was the singling out for ridicule of the over-Westemized something taat had deep roots in Turkish culture? The frankly speculative reply we propose to the first question is alfirmative This is based on the hypothesis that the basic political structure of the empire was dichotomous. On the one hand, there was the ruling sroup for whom status, power and rae (herrschaft) were primary values. (On the other, there were those who were ruled. In this situation the forces ofthe market never attained the autonomy, legitimacy and power base that they had in Western Europe. There was thus an absence of what in the West would have been called “civil society”. Tam using this term here to mean the autonomy of urban power that came with the expansion of capitalism and the corporate structures that developed with it (Mardin 1969: 259-281). What did exist in the Ottoman Empire in the place of “civil society” seems to have been a communitarian structure whose bond was religious organization, and hovering about it “devlet” or devotion tothe Ottoman State ‘As Montesquieu observed so well, the absence of structures inter- vening between state and the individual was the core of “oriental despotism”. The situation in the Ottoman Empire was not as stark as Montesquieu described it, since the community structure may be described as a quasi-civil society and structure intervening between the individual and the state, and certainly it took upon itself much of the functions of civil society. But the fact thatthe individual was socialized URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 413 in the traditions of the community and the state—both authoritarian and tight and cozy in their comprehensiveness, without legitimate, inter- mediate, autonomous, power structures—made the impact of a civi- lization based on the autonomous structurgs of “civil society” shattering. This new element sheds light on the vulnerability of the young to boredom, superficiality and their interpretation of Western civilization to mean Parisian chic. If we look at the problem in the Russian context again, the fact that, the civilizational malaise was similar to that of the Ottoman Empire does not mean that the Russians also had the same dichotomy, but that they also in some ways lacked the background of “civil society”. In any case, the shock of “civil society” as gesellschaft was even felt in the West. One needs only to remember Polanyi’s (1957) Grear Transformation, Blake's “Dark Satanic Mills”, and the general “quest” for community in Western Europe.® But the point here is that cultural disorientation seems to have been more outstanding and pervasive in the Ottoman Empire as a result of penetration by Western culture. In answer to the second question: whether the singling out for ridicule ofthe over-Westernized had deep roots in Turkish culture, iis suggested that this, indeed, was so. ‘Turkish society had been experiencing a pervasive crisis for centuries. In particular, malpractices and oppression on the part of the ruling class which had been endemic in Ottoman history became less bearable during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries because of the corruption of some key institutions, such as that of the Doctors of Islamic Law and the ubiquity of Palace cliques. The revulsion against the ruling classes came after a time of great economic distress among the craft (esnaf) classes of Istanbul. It took the form of an outbreak against the attempts by the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim Pasa to introduce some forms of Western culiure in the Ottoman Empire (1730) ‘Thus, a folk theme emerged which was to have a stubborn life: newfangled Western ideas are of no benefit to the man in the street. This might be called the “objective” content of popular revulsion against Westernization. But another, different aspect of this revulsion was the inability to fathom what else Westernization would bring with itand how much it would attack the values of the Ottoman community. © Robert Nisbet's two works (1) Community and Power (New York 1961); this is a paperback edition of his earlier The Quest for Community (Oxford 1953), and (2) The Sociological Tradition (New York 1966), 9. 72.414 SERIF MARDIN ‘This fear of the cultural unknown is a feature of the reaction of both lower and upper class Ottoman conservatives. It also has an effect, which works in the same direction as modernist attitudes: for ‘modernizers the Bihruz Beys were also a total loss. First, because they were a social waste and second, because the types which had served as models for the Bihruz caricature were often unwelcome competitors in the race to show oneself as on the avantgarde of Western thought, ‘Thus the high incidence of Bihruz Bey types in nineteenth century Ottoman literature constitutes a subtle form of social control behind which stood many different strata of Ottoman society. This important consensual base segregated the more sophisticated Western-oriented analysts of Ottoman society who asked questions which were considered improper. The complaints ofa writer who started hhis career at the beginning of the twentieth century, Vakuh Kadei (Karaosmanoglu), are interesting in this regard. Yakub Kadri—as this paper will attempt to show—was brought to heel by the power of the consensual base and forged himself a place within it. But in the early years of the century he was still asking impertinent questions about Ottoman society (Aki 1960: 40-43). The sense of isolation that this induced is clearly outlined in his Diary of a Nonconformist (1913-14) This Nervous Person is quite close to me. He lives together with ‘me, in my house. Among the family his only name is “fop”. What is a “fop”? You know a person somewhat strange, somewhat flighty, 4 person who is not like anyone else is called a “fop”. All of the ‘meaning of this word is in its sound. Somewhat plebian but very clear ... (Yileel 1957: 133). Why Yakub Kadri has identified himself with the nonconformist ‘who was a variant of the Bihruz Bey type becomes evident in another piece of writing by the same author: he despises the traditional Ottoman “Little Tradition” and culture. In this stagnant air, none of the atoms which are moved by a musical sound, in these squares none of which are adorned by a figure, in these streets the dust and the mud of which we daily brave, in the faces of these people whose ears are deaf to any pleasantness, whose eyes are blind to any beauty, who squat at in coffee houses with their colored printed nightgowns a tube of a gramaphone which vomits belly-dance tunes, T seeds of their sickness (Yicel 1960: 90). URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 41s By sickness Yakub Kadri means here the lack of creativity of Turkish writers. In many other passages of his, Yakub Kadri tears down the narrow mindedness, authoritarian control and pleasure seeking of the ‘Ottoman masses and middle classes. One of his stories, for example, tells of a Turk who wears a hat as a gesture of defiance and is beaten up by local hoodlums. In Yakub Kadri’s stories it becomes clear that what in earlier works appears as a critique of over-Westernization at its deepest level is simply social control applied against those who transgress the norms of the community. This is somewhat different than identifying the culture clash as one between the religiously inclined and the secular as is often done in Turkey.!° Once this point has emerged, it is necessary to go deeper to explain the mechanism of control tis probably no coincidence that the creator of Felatun Bey, the first in our veries of Westernized fops, is Ahmed Midhat Riendi. The latter was a person of very modest craft origins whose pwn contact, with Western civilization has made him select Samuel Smile’s Seif Help as one of the products of the West most suitable for propagation (Midhat H. 1296: 187). In all his other writings emerge periodically the themes of thrift, abstemiousness, and hard work. To Ahmed Midhat Efendi there was something in the growth of the Tanzimat grandee class which was wrong. The values of the new class were values which he rejected. He, on the other hand, wanted, as he stated on one occasion, both to “enlighten the majority [ie. the Little Tradition] and to express their woes" (Yazgig 1950:24). To produce pure literature, he added, hhe would have considered equivalent to giving fruit to eat to the famished. By this he meant that ata time when illiteracy was widespread, art for art’s sake was a luxury. His own values were those of Ottoman craftsmen (the esnaf class): thrift, avoidance of conspicuous con- sumption, honesty. Almost the protestant ethic, but without any local possibilities for the development of capital. This Ahmed Midhat Efendi did not see, What is important is that Ahmed Midhat, who had one time joined the Tanzimat bandwagon as an offical,** did not, like many 10 This is the main theme of Berkes' The Development of Secularism Almet Midhat Efendi was apprenticed at an early 2g¢ and continued to work up to the age of twelve tying to learn what he could from a merchant close by. He ie mid to have gone to the primary school in Vidin after this apprenticeship, finally ‘completing the Ragdie (eight years school) of Nih in 1862. At that time he drew the ftention of the governor of Nish, Midhat Pasa, who encouraged him to study French find to jin the Governors office as &seretary upon his graduation with honors (1864), ‘This information i based on. the chronology given by Hakki Tenk Us in Bir ibllenin iibolans Abmed Midhat Anyone: (ed. by Hakks Tank Us, Istanbul 1955:416 SERIF MARDIN| of them, identify Europe with French can can. Very similar to Ahmed ‘Midhat's ideas is the communitarian puritanism of Ali Suavi (Mardin 1962:366f1). Ali Suavi originated in the same social milieu as Ahmed Midhat. He was an opposition firebrand who worked with the constitutionalist group called the Young Ottomans. The latter publicists, although not from the same popular origins as Ali Suavi, wo:ked the political equivalent of the Bihruz Bey theme in the 1860's. They accused the men of the Tanzimat of creating an aristocracy and of having forgotten the interests of the man in the street. We shall see that they were not the first group to use this approach. ‘The components of what I have called communitarian puritanism appear with greater clarity when we try to ask what it was that went so much against the grain of Ahmed Midhat's values. Some random phrases in Felt Bey ile Rakim Efendi allows us to pish our analysis further. One of the statements by Ahmed Midhat goes as follows: “... living a la franca (European style], that is to say living comfortably”."? Living a la Turca, then, means, in effect, to live uncomfortatly. This attitude toward consumption as a-specially heinous cultural crime is not an isolated instance. It appears in many traditional sources. For our purposes one of the most important forms it takes is the recounting by Cevdet Pasa, the Ottoman historian, of how Felétun Bey and his style of life appeared on the Ottoman scene in the first place. ‘Cevdet Pasa’s reaction to the bustle of commercial activity and the luxury-oriented life that followed the Crimean War in the Ottoman capital in effect, generalized Ahmed Midhat's judgment about comfort: according to Cevdet Pasa, the followers of the modernizing grand vizier Resid Pasa, having enriched themselves with the fat profits of their farming (asdr), opened up a new area in free spending (Cevdet 1953:20). This activated the market for consumption goods in Istanbul and made “merchants” rich. But the most invidious of the new 1415). There are slight iscrepencies between this information and thet provided by ‘hsan Sungu on pp. 29.30 ofthe same volume. Midhat Efendi remained in gevernment employment up to 1871; he accepted sate office a number of times therefter, but devoted himself primarily 10 journalism, "2 Ahmed Midhat, Fldtin Bey... p. 10 of the new ed. cited in footnote 2, ited by Gz6n. Tirkcede Roman. p. 266, reerring to the original edition. Mustafa Nihat Slates that Ahmed Midhats anti-Binrue stance is due to his idea thet Western Chiliztion could be adopted within a local frame ibid.) but what is important is ha his Tcl frame bears the sigs of Being the Tame ofthe es prog lases URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 417 developments was the flocking to Istanbul of Egyptian pasas of Turkish origin, Between 1857 and 1866, “Klondike on the Nile” was @ source of profits never before dreamed of (Landes 1958: 694). The Turco- Egyptian ruling class profited handsomely from this boom. Their attitudes were different from those of the Turks in the capital, not only in that they had more money to spend, but in that they felt no qualms about spending it. More extensively Europeanized than Istanbul Turks, they took luxurious living in their stride, As Cevdet Pasa recounts it: ‘At one time beys and pashas and ladies of the dynasty of Mehmet Aliescaped from Egypt and spilled into Istanbul. They brought much money, spent it lavishly and were a‘bad example to the bon vivants in the city. They blazed new trails of debauchery. In particular, Egyptian ladies were imitated by Istanbul ladies and especially by ladies of the palace in their partiality for Western dresses and other knick knacks. Most of the Egyptians bought houses and villas by the seashore at exorbitant prices. In this fashion real estate prices in the capital shot up extraordinarily and an artificial prosperity arose. But the balance of trade was upset permanently. Specie continuously flowed to Europe. But the employees were receiving their pay regularly and traders were earning much due to the briskness of their commerce and neither would think of the end of the affair. In particular, in summer, the Bosphorus and other places ‘of amusement would fill up with pleasure seekers and everyone would refrain from comments that would bring sorrow to memory or cast shadows on the mind (Cevdet 1953:20). The views expressed by Cevdét Pasa that spending has a deleterious effect on the economy as a whole—with its implied corollary, that a solid economy is based on thrift—is characteristic of the traditional view of economies as an unexpandable concern. Since, in fact, the Ottoman economy was growing at a very slow rate, the view might also have been partly justified. The attitude, however, was clearly anti- capitalistic in its emphasis of negative measures. This type of anti- capitalism is one of the dimensions of the anti-Bihruz stand. Ahmet Midhat Efendi points to another, related dimension of this attitude. ‘One of the contrasts that he highlights in the career of Felatun Bey has to do with his father’s transfer from a Turkish quarter to one bordering on Pera. With this transfer, says Ahmed Midhat Efendi, Felatun Bey's sister stopped needing to know the traditional Ottoman418 SERIF MARDIN female skills of embroidering and knitting (Midhat n.d.:17). Manu- factured objects for sale made these qualities redundant. She did not even have to comb her hair anymore, the task being taken up by her hairdresser. And yet the family is wealthy and it is this wealth which allows the family to move on to an area contiguous to the European section. What Ahmed Midhat criticizes is her change to an clafranga type of life and consumption characteristes of it. ‘The Turkish novelist, Halit Ziya [Usakligil], has given an instance of a similar reaction to Westernization in Izmir in the 1880's. In ¢ literary periodical which he published at the time, Halit Ziya included a series of translations called “The Dressing Table”. These articles were con- cerned with advice on cleanliness and grooming: what sponges to prefer, what combs would keep the hair healthy. The series resulted in a szuffaw which reverberated all through Izmir, and especially ariong his colleagues. Halit Ziya states that this reaction was to be expected at a time when “let alone dressing table, combs and brushes did not exist in houses” (Usakhigil 1969: 124-125) Abmed Midhat's objections to consumption seem strange in a country, the ruling elite of which has been rumored to have engaged in great feats of conspicuous consumption. But when one looks into Turkish history in some detail, conspicuous consumption seems to have been of ‘avery special kind. Conspicuous consumption among Ottoman grandees consists mostly of largesse, ie. generosity to employees, followers, slaves, retinue, domestic and armed guards. As a foreigner noticed in Turkey in the nineteenth century, it was the cauldrons of rice distributed to all that passed by that were distinctive of life of the “valley lords”, semi-feudal elements in the Empire.'® Beyond this, too many concubines could lead to the death of a Grand Vizier and too many jewels ‘quickly brought upon their possessor the wrath or jealousy of his senior colleague or of the community. This is exactly what hapened in the case of Nasuh Pasa, probably the wealthiest man in the history of the Ottoman Empire (Akalin 1955: 201-08) Moltke, who noticed that everyone—even children—wore jewels in families of officials, showed how this was not conspicuous consumpion but a form of insurance against misfortune of a type that occurred readily in an “oriental despotism” (von Moltke 1969: 47). "9 Slade (186732). Sabri. Dlgener, in his tusod! Inher Tarihimzin ANGE ve Zilniser Mester (1951-109) docs speak of consumption for "show" ut that this “show’'10 underline apolitical symbolism becomes clear a3 his thesis proceds, URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 419 Few persons in the Empire lived a luxurious life with impunity. ‘Wealth was often confiscated from government officials who got too rich. Brigands were plentiful and the community was omnipresent to denounce someone who looked too prosperous. The Ottoman style of the wealthy was a comfortable life with a large retinue for protection but no, or few, personal excesses. Officials who had the best opportunity to enrich themselves never had much cash because this reverted to the State at their death. They could buy houses and land, but used these ‘more as rentiers than as entrepreneurs (Gibb and Bowen 1957: 29) Conspicuous gift giving is seen throughout Ottoman history, and description of ducats, furs, and jewels on these occasions are, indeed, breathtaking, but on these occasions luxury objects serve to set boundaries to a ritual such as the nomination of a vizier, and the giving is, in reality, the closest equivalent to a bribe or an exchange of gifts which seems to proceed in circular fashion (von Hammer 1963: 52-58). When the Palace went too far—by popular standards—in enjoying itself, there was grumbling of a type reminiscent of Ahmed Midhat and, what is more, revolt (von Hammer 1963:73). Thus, wise Sultans, especially in the era of decline, tried to curb conspicuous consumption. ‘This usually meant curbing the lower classes since jewels and furs were symbols of status which the masses were not supposed to appropriate, but it also meant that a Sultan with a long memory put the same curbs on officials (von Hammer 1963: 52-53). It is not possible to attribute the growth in the expenses of the private purse of the Sultan between the 1830's and 1850's from one thousand to twenty thousand purses to the “spending tendency” of the Sulfans, which is suspect anyhow (Cevdet 1960:8). What is much more probable is that, by the standards of Western courts, the Ottoman court at the time of Mahmud II (1807- 1839) was abstemious, and that modernization and its consequent con- sumption patterns caused the increase. In the nineteenth century, the life of the rich Moslems who were not part of the can can groups was set in a similarly modest frame. In the 1870's, the father of Halit Ziya [Usakligi, 2 wealthy merchant ith a large mansion and staff in Istanbul, would walk a considerable distance to go to the theater. Halit Ziya adds: “Coaches were, at the time, a luxury object of which there were very few” (Usakligil 1969: 34). ‘The values which made the flouting of wealth a sin in Turkish com- munities have been well described by Yakub Kadri in his comments on the rise of a family of traders to wealth through speculation during the First World War!420 SERIF MARDIN ‘The Sungurlu Zade’s are a prestigious family in Ankara, This family, it is true, is not very old. It is not more than fifteen to twenty years since their name has been heard. In particular, the spread of their fame in the business world is much more recent. At the beginning of the Great War, one of the three trothers, Veysel Efendi, was employed by a merchant, the other, Omer Efendi, was a salesman of cloth in villages, the third, Hiseyin, was a tanner by the local stream. Since nobody knows anything about them in Ankara nobody remembers how they acquired wealth suddenly during the second year of the Great War ... The Sungurlu Zade’s ‘made no effort at all to acquire this sudden prestige in the business community. They engaged in no advertising. They retained their old life, their old standards and even their old clothes. Omer Efendi was still wearing his trousers with the frayed cuffs and knee patches. Veysel Efendi stil had his discolored uniform of a mendicant sheikh Tanner Hiiseyin still smelled of the tannery and showed with pride the yellow color of his hands as if they were colored by henna from Mecca, To go to the vineyards they had bought in Etlik and Kerigren and Gankaya they used one donkey in turn .., But what had created the prestige was this very way of acting (Karaosmanoflu 1934: 20-21) ‘There are two somewhat distinet, but yet correlated, roots of this behavior in Turkish history. At the earliest stage, going all the way to pre-Selcuk times, we see that important redistributive practices marked off Turks from their neighbors and even characterized their political theories.** After each conquest, from the earliest times, Turkish nomads had been faced by the decision of settling in cities, and chefs had indeed settled in the city, and each time this redistributive institution had been endangered. Settling in the cities meant the creation of a bureaucratic apparatus and a standing army. In every instance, the redistributive mechanism was replaced gradually by taxation, a form of reverse redistribution, About the same process occurred during the various stages of the settlement of the Ottoman Ghazi warriors. With time, the economy of spoils was greatly transformed. The leading warriors who saw the old economic ethos disappear deeply resented the establishmert of the new bureaucracy. The whole story of this suspicion and opposition to city slickers who drained income into the coffers of the state can be "= See Tnalek (1966: 269-271): also Inan (1968: 645-648). For redistebution in India sce Neale (1987: 218-236). URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 421 followed in the works of the earliest Ottoman chroniclers.!* Another related root, of popular frowning on conspicuous consumption, appeared in the economic practices and ideologies of the guilds. Some doubts have been cast recently on the closeness between Turkish craft guilds and dervish orders (see Baer 1970:48); but there is less doubt that the dervish orders affected the economic ideology of craft guilds. What the economic ethos of the dervish orders consisted of, on the other hand, is fairly well known, As Kissling (1956: 31-32) has commented: ‘The fundamentally altruistic tendencies characteristic of the dervish are certainly an ethical quality of outstanding value. This is evidenced in the form of renunciation of any personal advantage. The dervish is not allowed to possess anything but must practice charity, in abstracto, doubtless a highly ethical trait which in praxi can and did fast deteriorate into vice. For there is only one step from the principle of not being allowed any possessions to that of not allowing anyone else to own anything, and we may be justified in recognizing this as ‘one of the impulses to the social revolutionary tendencies of the dervish orders manifested in the course of the history of the Ottoman Empire. Closely related to this is the principle of renun- ciation of personal advancement which in praxi degenerated into preventing others from advancement. ‘The “popular” or dervish values described by Kissling had a great influence in Turkish history. In the early years of the Ottoman Empire, outbreaks against the central powers were partly a defense of these and other “popular” values against the elite. But there is also a continuity in the pitting of these values against the elite which brings them into modem times. The revolts that have been characterized as revolts against Westernization all bear this populistic stamp. Thus we find these traits in the Patrona Revolt (1930) (Aktepe 1958) and the Kabake: Revolt against the reforms of Sultan Selim IIT (1807) (Lewis 1968: 70). It is in the Patrona Revolt also that we encounter for the first time in a relatively modern context the anti-Bihruz stand directed against the Westernizing vizier Damat Ibrahim Pasa. The attitude is "2 For a description of “good” times, see Agtkpagacélu Tarihi (ed. by Ninel Atsz Istanbul 1970: 138-139); for'# proposal that broke the rules and was rejected, seo pp. 217-218; for reactions to 2 nom-diseibutive system, pp. 218-219: indeed it might be stated that jut asin China the style of life of the officials “was not conditioned economical), as is the situation in modern capitalist society. Instead, i wae regulated Tegally under sumptuary laws". Chis Tunge-te, "Chinese Clase Structure and Vis Ideology". in Chinese Thought and Istituvions (Chicago, 1957) p. 265 Se also Kaplan (1961: 28-29).a2 SERIF MARDIN| accompanied by a mention of the emancipation of women as having angered God, a theme which later becomes standard in popuistic out- breaks against Westernization. Despite the gradual disappearance of the redistributive features of old, the economic practices that marked it still permeated the economic ethos of the Empire. In this light, administration, for example, meant in part looking after a large retinue and spending the income received from the state on patronage, rather than on personal luxuries. The Sultan or his representative was still expected to be the source of redistributive gifts or prebends. Indeed the idea that income belonged to an office went well with the whole system. The second root of the suspicion against conspicuous consumption ‘was the political framework of wealth, the constant circulation and redistribution in new patterns, of the juiciest plums among the govern- mental elite. This pattern had evolved, later, in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. It meant that getting rich was a highly perilous game limited (0 the buregucracy as participants, It was not a game firmly legitimated in the eyes of the lower classes who rose up in arms when their interests suffered. But the “Great Game” was a means of legitimizing the whole enterprise in the eyes of the bureaucrats them- selves. The fundamental formula which enabled the “Great Game” to acquire partial legitimacy vis-i-vis the masses may be described as follows: a) Large consumption is a privilege of political positions and an attribute of power."* ») Persons who fill these positions should engage in consumption of this type for pre-determined ends having as a goal a form of redistr bution (Agahk vermekle olur) (Benedict 1974: 7). This is an ideat; it cannot be made to prevail always but these values fare an expectation of both the role of the ruler and the rele of the ruled-over. They therefore constitute a bridge between the Little and the Great Tradition—maybe one of the few such bridges that exist. When this political framework for the sharing and circulation of spoils disappeared and getting rich became the private undertaking of families who diverted resources from the total game into their own "© Digener (195: 116-117) has shown how. in an economy where polit functions were paramount and specie wus searee, 4 widely accepted ‘ea was tht “gold is power". The author also speaks of the politcal functions of gold ender these ‘Shroumstances(p. 119) [URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 423 personal holdings, protest arose, The change was abhorrent both to the masses and to those who could not profit from the advantages of the new status of private property: the members of the elite who had not been able to acquire a la franca wealth, the first modernist intellectuals. ‘The first generation of social mobilizers in Turkey seem to have been propelled by such a situation. The redistributive “ancient ideals" of the Turks thus acquired new luster. Bihruz Bey is the product of this double protest of the lower class and sub-groups of the ruling class. Conspicuous consumption is the symbolic occasion which pinpoints that the system has been subverted. By stepping outside these norms the heavy spenders of the Tanzimat alienated both the traditional upper and lower strata of their society. Thus the ease with which the Young Ottomans took up an anti-Bihruz stand. There is a cultural aspect to the changes that occurred in the economic system in the early stages of the development of the Empire, with the increasing importance of urban life, which we must now take up. As a result of the bureaucratization of the Ghazi thrust, two types of life developed, one clustered around the Sultan and the court, the other characteristic of the periphery.'? The term ‘periphery’ here is wide enough to include nomads, peasants, and even lower classes in the capital. The main distinction between these two groups was that one was made up of tax collectors and the other of tax payers. To this basically economic difference between the metropolis and the periphery corresponded well delineated cultures. On the one hand, there was the culture of the Palace and the ruling elite; on the other, that of the periphery, the masses. The culture of the Palace was limited to a relatively small number of military or bureaucratic officials. Senior religious officials were also part of this cluster although somewhat distinct from it. Both parts of the culture of the rulers were based on “Ottoman”, a language which made liberal use of Arabic and Persian. ‘The language of the periphery, on the other hand, was unadorned Turkish.!* Ottoman cultural structure was thus basically dichotomous, with a See “Ottoman Turkish Literatur 989 Sir Charles Eliot (1965: 104107), whom I use as a source because the author lived in Turkey at the times we are taking up, i. the end of the nineteenth century. For a general confirmation, s2e Levend (1968: 178). The disdain of the upper for the lower clases, as may be seen in the widely used characterization of Ottoman craft and trade clases ar “Esnafa Sik ve sar erail ve ezafili mis” (Craftsmen of the bazaar find other shameles and miserable persons); see Ulgener (1981: 151). + in Breylopedia of Islam, 1st ed. 42): 967,44 SERIF MARDIN| clear separation and only faint linkages. One of the linking institutions ‘was dervish cemters. Another was the fact that children of the upper classes seem to have begun their cultural life by reading materials such as romances, that were widespread as folk literature. These two cultures did clash, however, and what emerged from the encounter was that the masses realized that they were ruled by persons who looked askance at popular culture. This was true despite the not negligible umber of persons from modest origins who, at the inception of the Empire, were incorporated among the upper class. Ottoman society re- tained, into the nineteenth century, the lack of differentiation and diffuseness which made class boundaries softer than in the West. Social mobility did not result in a softening of the boundaries between the cultures, because the power game that was played by these two groups was of the “zero sum” type; one was either a member of the ruling group or a member of the led. Thar houndary was hard, indeed ‘The masses fought back against the contempt of the rulers by creating a caricature of the ruling elite. The latter were shown as pendarts who were trying to use the difference between the two cultures to cheat the lower classes. Such charlatans are exemplified in Turkish shadow plays by Hacivat, the main opponent of Karagéz, who represents the ‘man in the street. Hacivat, in fact, tries to use the prestige attached to obscure and convoluted language to pass himself off as a member of the ruling class. In this perspective, Bihruz Bey was only a new Hacivat, If comparisons are in order, again, the cultural cleavage here seems to hhave been greater than that between the “bourgeois” and the “gentil- homme”. For the bourgeois-gentilhomme, approbation of cultural symbols is marginal; for Hacwvat it is much more central. No doubt, the late introduction of printing in the Ottoman Empire and the concomitant restriction of communications have something to do with, the fact that this cleavage was more profound in the Empire in tae 17th century than in France. But this is really circular reasoning since the reason for which printing was introduced so late is due to the monopoly of media held by the ruling class. ‘That the attacks against Bihruz Bey aimed to use a populistic rea against Ottoman elite culture becomes even clearer when one remembers that Bihruz Bey is disgusted with the crudeness of popular culture. In this case, however, it is difficult to understand how Revaizide Ekrem, who is known for his literary preciosity, could have taken up the character of Bihruz with such gusto, An explanation begins to emerge when we remember that he was associated with the Young URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 425 Ottomans in his youth and that the latter, as alienated foes of the Tanzimat elite, had made fun ofthe same types in the 1860's (see Mardin 1962: 123; Tanpinar 1956: 469). The reason for the bitterness of the Young Ottomans is complex. First, they had been excluded from the spoils of the Tanzimat. As a sroup they had been Kept in the lower ranks of executive postions. Second, they were specialized communicators who had access to sources of knowledge which the Tanzimat ruling class was less familiar with ‘Third, they were eager social mobilizers, and they knew that this type of criticism would gather popular forces behind their social policies and their politcal banner. Mehmet Kaplan has shown how this activism was a feature of many Tanzimat writers (see Kaplan 1961:27). The Young Ottomans thus used the Bihruz type of criticism of Westerni- zation in their struggle against the upper bureaucracy. For Ahmed Midhat Efendi, the anti-Dihrur stance was siuch more spontaneous. His social origins imposed them on him. Even though a modemist, he was therefore opposed to what he considered excessive Westernization of statesmen who were ready to take up the values of the Western world together with technology and its material advantages. For Ahmed Midhat, technology could be adopted, some Western values such as hard work were also approved, but when it came to core values of Ottoman society, such as military valor and the uses of wealth, he backtracked. As he stated at a somewhat later date: “The real community is made up of those pure Turks... whose hands in peace- time are still on their scimitars. Not the readers of Buchner, not the slaves of [Paul] Bourget” (Oz6n 1964: 585). In effect, there was in the anti-Bihruz attitude a tri-partte alliance of persons of lower class origins who had climbed on the bandwagon of modernization, alienated members of the elite and—to the extent that their attention was drawn—lower classes, Because of the differing origins of these groups, the alliance was brittle. One has only to look at the politcal ideology of the Young ‘Ottomans and compare it with that of Ahmed Midhat and Ali Suavi to see the difference Namik Kemal and the core group of Young Ottomans may be said to have stood for liberal constitutionalism and representative democracy (see Mardin 1962: 283-336). Ali Suavi, who had direct links with the Young Ottomans, and Ahmed Midhat, who showed a much fainter pattern of association, were at one time on what appeared to be the same side of the political fence as the Young Ottomans. But it is no26 SERIF MARDIN coincidence that this lasted for neither Midhat nor Suavi. Ali Suavi adopted an ideal of a populist direct democracy under the acgis of a firm but paternal Sultan. Ahmed Midhat channeled his populism into Encyclopaedism and a Samuel Smiles ideology. He also became a supporter of Sultan Abdulhamid. Both protested that they had been ‘misled by the Young Ottomans.1? ‘The misunderstanding between Midhat and the Young Ottomans was cone ofthe first encounters on the politcal plane between the Great and Little Tradition. Throughout the later modernization movement, how- ever, these attempts t0 come to terms continued, often without much The differing modes in which the “Great” and “Little” Tradition interpenetrates under conditions of modernization are underscored by the varying degrees in which Namk Kemal, Ahmet Midhat and the Ottoman lower classes as a whole identified themselves with the communitarian ethos. First, there already existed the outline of a link between the Great and Little Tradition: the upper classes had a nodding acquaintance with lower class values. Inthe nineteenth century, in addition, the isolation and esotericism of upper class culture became irrelevant, Tt now became important to mobilize a large public for survival. An amusing illustration of this process of relegation of traditional ideals into the background and of their replacement by new ideals—here the spread of popular education—is provided by an experience undergone by Ahmed Midhat Efendi. In Baghdad, on the staff of the governor, then Midhat Pasa, in 1869, Ahmed Midhat Efendi met Osman Hamdi Bey, the future founder of the Ottoman School of Fine Arts. Proud of his achievements as a member of the Ottoman literati, he showed him his classical poetry. “Etre poste”, exclaimed Osman Hamdi Bey who had just returned from France, “c'est mettre un nom de plus a la suite de tous ces noms dimbéciles "© See his protestaton in his Afonfa (Istanbul 1293: 1876), 77. This date is given by Oxbn (aed. 202) For Stbei East Siyavuysl's statement that there vas no intellectual Siar between Mihutand the Young Ottomans, sce Subri Esat Siyavusi, “Ahmed MMighat Efendi. Zam Anviklopedsi I 188. Nevertheless, itis quite clear from Thsan Sungu's biographical article in. Ahmed Midhar Amyoru= (pp. 40-4?) that he was primarily interested in social mobiaution through the improvement of the educational stem and the simplification of language and that at some points he was not so far fay fom the ideas of the Young Ottomans (bid. p. 22). Ali Suavi is sted to have been uncompromising opposed to the policies of Midhat Pasa whose ideas were close to those ofthe Young Ottomans, see Clciin Vassil, San alisse Midhar Facha Grand Vir (Past 1905). pp 132-133. It is interesting to note that Ali Suavi was killed in 8 popular outbreak to reestablish Sultan Murad V. URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 27 figurant dans le Tezkere-i Chuara [Ottoman Anthologies]”.2° Where- upon Midhat Efendi realized that there was more to life than the study of literature and began digging into the sources that made him the sreat eneyclopaedist and popularizer he was to become.?? The irrelevance of earlier values appears even when they seem to have been used by mobilizers. Namuk Kemal’s political theories centered around Islamic Law, a traditional feature, But this was an attempt to find the equivalent that would be firmly grounded in some belief that was generalized among the Ottomans. For Ahmed Midhat Efendi, who had suffered from poverty into his adolescent years, it was easier to adopt and overwork the Bihruz Bey theme and to stress its economic aspects. However deep, behind the adoption of his stance stood the support that he obtained from his own folk background. In short, there was both a qualitative difference between Ahmed Midhat's working of the Bihruz Bey theme and the Young Ottomans’ scoffing at dandies and a difference in the extent of the involvement. For Namik Kemal it was instrumental, but Ahmed Midhat Efendi felt it in hhis bones. In addition, for Namk Kemal, Bihruz Bey types were only obnoxious because their mannerisms were obstacles to mobilization. (There are a number of his writings in which he shows a liking fora la franca comforts which came close to those of Bilruz Bey.) For Ahmed Michat, the specific form of the outrage—the denial of the economic ethos—was more important. If Cevdet Pasa was tethered to the traditional society by links at the top, Ahmed Midhat was bound to it by ties at the bottom. Even with ongoing modernization, however, the masses.had a chance of expressing the values oftheir “Little” tradition only under conditions of stress and disorganization. The mobilizer had a much greater opportunity of stamping his attitude into the symbolic system. This advantage of the mobilizers is connected with the slow but gradual emergence during the nineteenth century of the “intelligentsia” from their cocoon of Ottoman literati? Here, as members of the intelli- gentsia, Midhat and Kemal’s attitudes converged. If being “free-floating” * is the primary characteristic of the intél- ligentsia, then the intelligentsia emerged very late in the Ottoman 2 See HIT. Us, Ahmed Midna’ Ano 2 Bid, p37 2 For the diference beeween intelligentsia and literati, see Redfield and Singer (0954: 60:6 See Mannheim (1936: 137), using terminology developed by Alfred Weber. p.%.28 SERIF MARDIN Empire. Up to the nineteenth century it was part of the governmental machine. The alienation of the Young Ottomans was the first sign of a group with the pretensions of autonomy, which could earn part of its living—and for some, most of it—from journalism. What made for the unity of the mobilizers and linked Ahmed Midhat to Namk Kemal, among others, was this quality of semi-autonomous intel- ligentsia. This autonomy was to develop very slowly thereafter since the larger part of the intelligentsia was still dependent upon government ‘employment into the carly decades of the twentieth century, but the autonomy of the journalist took shape fairly early in the process. Itis common membership in the intelligentsia which led persons with real differences of outlook, such as Ahmed Midhat and Namk Xemal, to think for some time that they supported the same cause. Four different variables came into play in forming the group. First, the common quality of its members as mobilizers; second, the fact that its members believed that they were appealing to a general public— even though in fact such a public might not have existed; third, their earlier aspiration to become literati under the traditional system; and fourth, the universalistic content of their intellectual frame of reference, 1 believe this last feature can best be exemplified in a motto used by their leader, Sinasi, “To have humanity for nation and the earth for Fatherland”. The Young Ottomans were much more parochiel than ‘Simasi, as I have shown elsewhere (Mardin 1962: 274-75) but this Parochialism was part of the necessities imposed upon an active mobilizer. It was this role which obliged Namik Kemal and his friends, ‘as well as Ahmed Midhat, to come into contact with themes that could appeal to the masses, If the Young Ottomans were able to see into the mechanism of the Little culture and try to use it for their own purposes, it was tecause the ideals of this tradition were not unknown to them. The connecting link was that of popular literature, taking as subject traditional heroes or romances. Many Turkish men of letters during the nineteenth century describe how they read these sources as the first materials when they began reading for pleasure.** The same products of Turkish folk 2 Thus the Turkish journalist Huseyin Cait Yagi (1874-1957) state: ‘The feats of coursge of the prophet [sic- Caliph All, the stories of Battal Gazi fa Moslem fighter for the fait), the edventures of Kara Davut (an Ottoman pire), the lofty conduct of the poet Nesimi... the soaring felings that all these supematur seat, beautiful things inspired were well a accord with the unfettered life I led In the Rumctian milieu reminiscent as it was of the Middle Ages (Yalgin 1938: 6) "The values of thrift snd reciprocity which were the themes of eon literature do URBAN LIFE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE a9 literature constituted the staple diet of artisans, craftsmen and small traders. For a few, these were overlaid with mystical teaching. But for the most of them this was the extent of their cultural baggage. In the elite, then, culture seems to have consisted of two layers: a childhood layer where the very same values that were fixed on lower class adults were given a place—this is primarily true for the themes of bravery—and an adult layer of themes clustered around the reason of state. It may be said, then, that the upper classes were not ignorant of, even though they were aloof from, the culture of the masses. ‘The nineteenth century was marked in its first stages by attempts of such persons as Ahmed Midhat Efendi to bring about a fusion of these two streams. Boratav (1945: 138) has described how his work constitutes a bridge between the two cultures. Later, however, with the disappearance of the autodidact from the scene, and the growth of Western-inspired ‘educational institutions, the gap once more widened between the Lite and the Great traditions. It is the universalistic framework of the new intelligentsia which set the frame both of their interest in Bihruz Bey types and of their concern with the emancipation of women. In both cases, “progress” was being held up. By Bihruz Beys because of their superficiality, by the lack of education of women because this was an outrage to the conception of an autonomous human being. At this point, however, the attitude of the mobilizers was at odds with popular values. With regard to the emancipation of women, the alliance with popular forces which pre- vailed on the subject of Bihruz-like conduct vanished To recapitulate, then, Ottoman society was built around military valor and an economic system, the redistributive pattern of which had only changed with strong protests from the lower classes. In the nineteenth century, traditionalist and relatively deprived bureaucrats singled out Western consumption patterns as alien to the system. The not seem to have been similarly transmitted. Nevertheles, Resat Nuri Guatekin has ‘made the point that in the years preceding the establishment of the Turkish Republic images inthe style of ignorant folk poets such as “The stornich has no window tha fone should see what it has eaten" were held to embody deep trthe”. adding, “This Jove of poverty went as far as to inspire such sayings as “May God not take tan way from the religion of the poor’. In short, these verses, proverbs, prayers stood ‘ut, fone may use the expression a the ideology of a long past” (Gntekin 1996-48), ‘The prevalence of similar values in the Western Middle Ages has been commented upon by lan Watt, The Ruse of the Nove! (Landon 1963: 95) See also Sevket Sureyya Aydemi, Suyu Arayan Adom (1967: 25). Abmed Bedevi Kuran, Harbiye Mekrebinde Murriser Micodlsi (Istanbul n.d. 2). 1 take these two works as 8 contas, since One of the writers was the son of @ gardener and the other the son of a notable but both ead the same stories.