FORMATION OF MODERN TURKEY-I

(UNI 201-I)

İSTANBUL ŞEHİR UNIVERSITY

FALL 2019
Instructor: Kasım Kopuz
Code: UNI 201
Office: ACAD07 #7007
Office Hours: TT, 15:00-17:00 P.M
E-mail: kasimkopuz@sehir.edu.tr
Phone: Internal, x9856

Teaching Assistant (TA): Amine Rumeysa Keleş. E-mail: aminekeles2019@std.sehir.edu.tr

COURSE TIME & PLACE:

Course Lectures: Tue, 13:00-14:00 P.M. & Thu, 12:00 - 14:00 P.M

Classroom: ACAD02, #2301

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

OVERVIEW
After a general introduction to the historiography, methodologies and thematic issues of the
course we will discuss the changes in Ottoman social formation, starting from late 18th century
and concentrate on 19th century. We will look at Ottoman reforms as social, cultural and
political process, rather than looking at them as political interruptions or top down impositions.
Building on the changes and reforms of the 19th century we will discuss the formation of
modern Turkey within the context of local and international political, economic, social and
cultural systemic changes as a transition from an empire to a nation state.

FORMAT AND PREREQUISITES

Formation of Modern Turkey (FOMT-I) is a survey course in a lecture format. There will be
lectures, presentations, audiovisuals, and discussions. Each student is responsible to complete
all the required readings before class and attend the classes. The students are expected to ask
intelligent questions and participate in class discussions. Besides the needs to be open minded,
have curiosity for issues and conceptual analysis related to formation of the Modern Turkey
you are expected to be ready to engage with challenging questions.

READING MATERIALS

MAIN TEXTBOOK: Erick J. Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History, 3rd edtn. (I. B. Tauris, 2004);
(hereafter will be referred as Turkey).

RECOMMENDED READINGS:
-Donald Quataert, The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922 2nd edtn. (Cambridge, 2005); (hereafter to
be referred as Ottoman).

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-Carter Vaughn Findley, Turkey, Islam, Nationalism and Modernity: A History, 1789-2007
(Yale Unv. Press, 2011); (hereafter to be referred as A History).
-M. Şükrü Hanioglu, A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire (Princeton, 2008); (hereafter
to be referred as Late Ottoman).

Selected CHAPTERS from following books:

-Rifa’at Ali Abou-El-Haj, Formation of the Modern State (Albany, SUNY, 2005)
-Karen Barkey, The Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective
(Cambridge, 2008)
-M. Sukru Hanioglu, Ataturk: An Intellectual Biography (Princeton University, 2013)
-Andrew Mango, Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey (Overlook TP,
London, 2002)
-Hasan Kayali, Arabs and Young Turks: Ottomanism, Arabism, and Islamism in the Ottoman
Empire, 1908-1918, (California, 1997)
-Fatma M. Gocek, Rise of Bourgeoisie, Demise of Empire: Ottoman Westernization and Social
Change, (Oxford University Press, 1996)
-Halil İnalcık and Donald Quataert, An Economic and Social History of the
Ottoman, (Cambridge, 1997)
-Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire: 1875-1914 (Vintage, 1989)

REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING POLICY

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS:

*Attendance is mandatory, therefore will be spot checked. According to University by-laws,

80% of total course attendance is minimum requirement to pass the course.

*Students should keep up with all the assigned readings. Tests will be short paragraph I.D.
questions and essay writings.

*Academic honesty will be strictly enforced.

*Courteous behavior in class is expected both to the instructor and to fellow students (e.g. no
cellphone reading/texting, no newspapers/magazines in class during the lecture session!).

*Be sensitive and respectful to opinions of your fellow classmates and the others.

GRADES:
Grades will be distributed as follow: Attendance and participation: %15; Term paper of
1800 words (about seven pages) book review: %10; Mid-term: %35; and Final: % 40.

ABOUT MAKE-UP EXAMS:

MADDE 25 – (1) Herhangi bir sınava giremeyen veya bir ölçme-değerlendirme çalışmasına
katılamayan öğrenci, öncelikle ilgili öğretim elemanını bilgilendirir, sınava girememe yahut
çalışmaya katılamama gerekçesini/mazeretini bildiren bir dilekçeyi sınav tarihini izleyen üç gün
içerisinde ilgili dekanlığa/müdürlüğe iletir. Sağlıkla ilgili mazereti varsa ilgili
dekanlığın/müdürlüğün onayladığı sağlık raporunu, başka bir özrü varsa bunu kanıtlayan
belgeyi dilekçesine eklemek zorundadır.

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(2) Mazeretleri ilgili dekanlık/müdürlük tarafından kabul edilen öğrenciler için belirlenen ve
ilan edilen tarihte mazeret sınavı yapılır. Mazereti kabul edilmeyen veya mazeret sınavına
girmeyen öğrencinin notu sıfır olarak alınır.

English:

(1) A student unable to take an exam or participate to an evaluation and assessment notifies
the related faculty member first and then, within three days after the exam, submits a written
request to the related Dean’s Office/Directorate presenting his/her excuse for missing the exam
or the study. If the student has an excuse relating medical reasons, he or she is required to
include a medical report approved by the related Dean’s Office/Directorate or a document
verifying the excuse for other reasons must be included. (2) Students whose excuses have been
accepted by the related Dean’s Office/Directorate are given make-up exams on the announced
dates. Students whose excuses are not accepted or who do not take the make-up exam receive
an F grade.

ANY CHANGE/s IN THE SYLLABUS WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN CLASS.

SCHEDULE 0F CLASSES AND READING ASSIGNMENTS:

NOTE: Required readings are marked with one asterisk, and the optional readings with two
asterisks.

1st week: Overview of the course and approaches to Ottoman and Turkey’s history:
An overview of the course; introduction to the course contents, reading
materials, evaluation criteria, methodologies and approaches to the late Ottoman
Empire and early formation of modern Turkey. Brief introductions to Main
concepts of the course materials. Why study Ottoman History? How the
historians of Ottoman Empire approach their subject?

Begin reading:
*Erick J. Zürcher, “Introduction: Periodization, Theory and Methodology” in
Turkey, p. 1-6.
*Donald Quataert, “Why study Ottoman history?” in The Ottoman, p. 1-11

**Jane Hathaway, “Problems of Periodization in Ottoman History: The

Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Centuries,” Turkish Studies Association
Bulletin, vol. 20, no. 2 (Fall 1996): 25-31.
**Rifa’at Ali Abou-El-Haj, “Theorizing in Historical Writing
Beyond the Nation-State: Ottoman Society in the Middle Period,” p.1-18

2nd week: To note for focus: 2nd - 8th weeks, the topics will be discussed around such concepts:
sultanate, timar, feudalism, malikane, ulama, great tradition, adab, empire, Franch Revolution,
nation-state, nationalism, centralization, bureaucratization, modernization, westernization.
islamization, ottomanism, progressivism, world (as a) system.

Main topic for 2nd week: Ottoman Empire before the Age of Reforms: Transition vs. decline
debate, Sultan Selim III and the “New Order,” the issue
of Centralization.

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 *Zürcher, Eric, Turkey p.9-49
* Abou-El-Haj, Rifa’at Ali, Formation of the Modern State (Albany, SUNY,
2005), p. 61-72
* Findley, Carter Vaughn, “The Return Toward Centralization” in A History, p.
23-75

** Barkey, Karen The Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative

Perspective (Cambridge, 2008), p. 197-217.

3rd week: Ottoman Empire in the Age of Reforms:

The Tanzimat (Reform edict of Gülhane 1839 and Imperial Reform edict of
1856), The Provincial Administration, Judicial Procedure and secular laws,
Economic incorporation, cultural changes, Egyptian crisis, internal unrest, inter-
communal conflicts, The Crimean War, Eastern Questions.

*Hanioğlu, Şükrü M., (2008) “The Tanzimat Era,” in A Brief History of the Late
Ottoman Empire, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, pp. 103-108
*Quataert, The Ottoman, p. 54-72
* Findley, Carter V. (2008) “The Tanzimat” in Cambridge History of Turkey
vol. 4, Reşat Kasaba (ed.), New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 11-37.
*Zürcher, Eric, p. 50-70

4rd week: Ottoman Accommodation of the Modern World, the Intellectual Movements and
the Opposition:
New directions in Ottoman “modernizations”, Intellectual trends and
Movements, Mentality of the Tanzimat, “Ottomanism” of New Ottomans,
Pan-Islamism, and Pan-Turkism, Growing impact of Nationalism (idea of
fatherland), Impact of Inter-imperialist struggles, continues inter-communal
conflicts.

*Zürcher, p. 71-90

**Findley, p.106-132

5th week: Ottoman Accommodation of the Modern State System and struggles for
Constitutional Monarchy-I:
1st era of Constitutional Monarchy and the period of 2nd Abulhamid,
Elements of continuity and change in Ottoman reforms, is there a unique
“Hamidian” era?, shifts in international crisis.

*Zürcher, p. 71-90

**Findley, p. 133-191
**Quataert, p. 83-85

6th week: Ottoman Accommodation of the Modern State System and struggles for
Constitutional Monarchy-II:
2nd era of Constitutional Monarchy,

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 Emergence of the Young Turks, a comparative look at “Ottomanism,”
“Arabism” and “Islamism”, intellectual trends, political parties and elections, 31
March Incident, The Teshkilat-i Mahsusa (secret service), still an “Eastern
Question”?, international hot spots (Balkan and Trablusgarb (Italo-Turkish)
wars).

*Zürcher, p. 93-114

**Findley, p.192-206
**M. Sukru Hanioglu, A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire (Princeton,
2008), p. 142-177
**Hasan Kayali, Arabs and Young Turks:Ottomanism, Arabism, and Islamism in
the Ottoman Empire, 1908-1918, (California, 1997), p. 1-17.

7th week: Ottoman Accommodation of Modern Social System and Societal Reforms:
19th century Ottoman Society and Culture, Maktab and Madrasa (bifurcation in
secondary education), Girls’ School, Imperial Orchestra, literature, sufi orders,
non-Muslim minorities, Rise of the Bourgeoisie, continuities and change in 19th
Century Ottoman society and culture,

*Zürcher, p.62-70
*Quataert, 142-173

**Fatma Müge Göçek, Rise of Bourgeoisie, Demise of Empire: Ottoman

Westernization and Social Change, (Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 20-44,
53-70, 87-117.

Mid-Term: TBA

8th week: Ottoman Accommodation of Modern Economic System and Economic Reforms:
Population censuses, industries, finance, establishment of banks, railroads,
trade agreements, local economy, Ottoman middle class, workers and strikers,

*Quataert, p. 111-141
*Zürcher, p. 42-49, 59-61, 63-66, 71-72, 84-85, 123-127, 195-200.

**Halil İnalcık and Donald Quataert, “Overview of Nineteenth Century” in An

Economic and Social History of the Ottoman, (Cambridge, 1997) p. 759-776.

9th week: End of the Age of Empire and the First Major Crisis of Modern World:
World War I and the Empires, political, economic and social issues in Ottoman
Empire during the WWI, Armenian migration

*Zürcher, p. 106-132

**Carter Findley and John Rothney, Twentieth Century World,

(Wadswoth, 2006) p.53-76
**Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire: 1875-1914 (Vintage, 1989) p. 276-302
**Hanioglu, p. 177-202

10th week: From Empire to Nation States System: Towards formation of Turkey as a nation
state I:
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 The Armistice of Moudros, the Amasya Circular, Erzurum Congress, Sivas
Congress, National Pact,

*Zürcher, p. 133-152

**Findley, p. 205-246.

11th week: From Empire to Nation States System: Towards formation of Turkey as a nation
state II:
Establishment of the National Parliament (TBMM, The Grand National
Assembly of Turkey), Treaty of Sèvres, The Constitution of 1921, Armistice of
Mudanya

*Zürcher, p. 152-165

**Findley, p. 205-246.
**Quataert, p. 195-201

12th week: Global Westphalian System and Modern Turkey-I:

New international system (Westphalia) and Turkey
Towards construction of national economy, The Izmir Economic Congress,
Lausanne Peace Conference, Declaration of the Republic, 1924 Constitutions,
Abolition of Khilafah, Rebellion of Shaikh Said, Takrir-i Sukun, abolishment of
oppositions, İzmir Conspiracy

*Zürcher, p. 167-175
*Findley, 247-270

13th week: Global Westphalian System and Modern Turkey-II:

Turkey within the international context of the two WWs, rise of totalitarian
regimes in Europe, Kemalism, One Party System, early Republican reforms,
experience of Free Republican Party, Turk Ocaklari, Halk Evleri, Köy
Enstitüleri. Journal of Kadro

*Zürcher, p. 175-179
*Findley, 271-285, 303-304.

14th week: Atatürk and the Republic:

Atatürk’s Reforms, Nationalism, Republicanism, Statism, Secularism,
Populism, Sovereignty, Revolutionism, “The Speech” (Nutuk).

*Zürcher, p.179-184
*M. Sukru Hanioglu, Ataturk: An Intellectual Biography (Princeton University,
2013) p.1-8, 160-199

**Findley, p.248-263
**Andrew Mango, Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey
(Overlook TP, London, 2002) p. 139-171.

15th Week: Review

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Final: TBA