Tanzimat
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Image:The sultan (1973) original caricature c1879 - Sultan reforms were only on the form not on the economy.png The Tanzimat was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that lasted from 1839 to 1876. The term means 'reorganization' in Ottoman Turkish.
Tanzimat emerged from the mind of prominent reformers who were European educated bureaucrats. They were Ali Pasha, Fuat Pasha, Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, and Midhat Pasha. They recognized that restoration of old religious and military institutions would no longer match the needs of the world. Most of the symbolic changes, such as uniforms, were aimed at changing the mindset of the administrators of the empire. And also many of the reforms were attempts to graft successful European practices onto the empire. The reforms included universal conscription, educational reform, and the elimination of corruption.
The ambitious project was launched to try and combat the slow decline of the empire that had seen its borders shrink and a growing weakness when compared to the European powers. It began under Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid I. On the 3rd November, 1839, Sultan Abdul Mejid issued an organic statute for the general government of the Empire named the Hatt-i Sharif, of Gulhane (the imperial place where it was first proclaimed), and sometimes called the Tanzimat Fermani.
In this very important document’ the Sultan stated that he designed “to attempt by new institutions to obtain for the provinces composing the Ottoman Empire the benefits of a good administration, and. that these institutions would principally refer to these topics
- The guarantees which will insure our subjects perfect security for their lives, their honor, and their property.
- A regular method of establishing and collecting the taxes.
- An equally regular method of recruiting, levying the army, and fixing duration of the service.
The edict was followed up with the Hatt-i Hümayan of 1856 which promised full equality of religion, and the Nationality Law of 1869 that created a common Ottoman citizenship irrespective of religious or ethnic divides.
In 1856 a second decree was issued expanding the scope of reforms by guaranteeing equality for all male citizens irrespective of religion. The reforms peaked in 1876 with the implementation of an Ottoman constitution checking the autocratic powers of the Sultan. While the new Sultan Abdul Hamid II signed it he quickly turned against it. Despite this backlash the Tanzimat would have wide reaching effects.
Image:The sultan (1973) original caricature c1879 - british government forcing the sultan for reforms.png The Young Turks and the later leaders of Republic of Turkey were educated in the schools established during the Tanzimat. The change in land ownership structure, which was part of the Tanzimat, allowed Russian Jews to buy land in Palestine, thus enabling them to immigrate there, beginning the first Aliya and signaling the beginning of Zionism.
Reference
- Incorporates text from History of Ottoman Turks (1878)
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