Meyer, James H. Turks Across Empires: Marketing Muslim Identity in the Russian-Ottoman Borderlands, 1856–1914 (review)

Abstract

SEER, 96, 2, APRIL 2018 366 29, 922–29); the lifelong correspondence of the Kant disciple K. J. Salemann with his Jena university teacher the distinguished philosopher and Illuminist K. L. Reinhold (pp. 703–17); the 1817 Reval customs scandal, which led to the financial collapse and exile of wealthy merchant and Freemason D. Rodde (pp. 912–22). The account of the emancipation ends with the troubles of the distinguished Jacob Georg von Berg, former Freemason, elected Head (Ritterschaftshauptmann) and Councillor (Landrat) of the province’s nobility, who in pursuit of the noble interest borrowed a large sum with which to bribe state officials, something he could not admit to publicly and so opened himself to accusations of malfeasance and exclusion from the knightly corporation (pp. 866–92). These episodes and pen portraits hold the attention despite the weight of detail: Wistinghausen writes very well. He also succeeds in balancing the local with the Imperial focus, Reval with Petersburg and Moscow. Nevertheless, the picture is not entirely complete. Some areas receive less emphasis than others — whether the poorly-explained Andrew lodges, or the role of the Credit Bank in the Estland emancipation negotiations. How did the Baltic German lodges of other towns compare with those described here? And the emphasis on external detail distracts from inner life and values: would these men have acted as they did had they not been Masons (a question noticed but not explored on p. 419), and what was it about Freemasonry that held them loyal to it, often for a lifetime? But these are questions for further enquiry or another day; they scarcely detract from these three volumes, magnificently researched and most handsomely produced, which also read as a labour of love and a tribute to the Wistinghausen family’s native land. Ludlow Roger Bartlett Meyer, James H. Turks Across Empires: Marketing Muslim Identity in the Russian-Ottoman Borderlands, 1856–1914. Oxford Studies in Modern European History. Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 2014. xii + 211 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. £60.00: $99.00. James H. Meyer’s Turks Across Empires stars three famous figures — Yusuf Akcura, Ismail Gasprinskii and Ahmet Agaoglu — whose lives shared a similar trajectory. All three were well-educated Muslims from the Russian Empire who traversed Russian-Ottoman borders. All three spent time in France; aligned themselves — for a while, at least — with pan-Turkism; and wrote for the Istanbul-based journal, Turk Yurdu (‘Turkic Homeland’). And REVIEWS 367 all three have been marginalized in the historical memory of modern Turkey, lacking the fame of Ottoman-born counterparts like Ziya Gökalp. Meyer refers to these three figures as ‘pan-Turkists’ for short, but he shows that their ideologies and identities shifted to suit their circumstances. This observation sets up the book’s most provocative, controversial argument: ‘As was the case in Russia’, Meyer writes, ‘pan-Turkism in Istanbul was about much more than identity. More than anything else, the scene was about pursuing connections and seeking one’s fortune, making the most out of one’s options during a time of opportunity and risk’ (p. 170). To some, Meyer’s conclusion may seem cynical to the point of damning. After all, if you really believe that an author is motivated ‘more than anything else’ by networking and fortune-seeking, you are probably not eager to read their work, much less understand its subtleties. This helps explain why Meyer spends little time analysing the writings of his prolific protagonists. (This will surely be a relief for some. I suspect Gasprinskii’s modern-day readers can be separated into two categories: those who find his work boring, and liars.) Nevertheless, readers unfamiliar with these figures’ writings may find themselves wondering how original and important they were, and for whom. Such readers may also feel exasperated when, regarding the periodical Tercuman, Gasprinskii’s best-known creation, Meyer is compelled to ask: ‘Did anyone read these newspapers?’ (p. 89). Meyer’s verdict on pan-Turkists’ motives also explains another of the book’s surprising features: even though it has the word ‘identity’ in the subtitle, it is largely dismissive of that subject. For Meyer, works on pan-Turkist ‘identity formation...