Two Images of the Young Turk Revolution: Public Reaction in Beirut and Damascus to the Revolutionary Events of 1908 in the Ottoman Empir

Abstract

In this study, the author examines the reaction of the provincial society to the events of the first stage of the Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire in 1908 on the example of two large centers of the Syrian provinces of the Ottoman Empire – Beirut and Damascus. The Young Turks' restriction of the power of Sultan-Caliph Abdul-Hamid II caused an ambiguous, sometimes diametrically opposed reaction in the Arab periphery of the Ottoman Empire, the analysis of which is necessary to understand the mechanisms of further relations between the provincial elites and the imperial center. On the basis of consular reports and testimonies of a number of eyewitnesses of the events, two images of the Young Turks and their actions in 1908 are shown through the eyes of the Beirut and Damascus public. While in seaside Beirut, which served as the main “sea gate” of Ottoman Syria, liberal sentiments among local intellectuals and merchant families (both Muslims and Christians) served as a breeding ground for a positive and even enthusiastic perception of the revolution, in a more traditional and conservative Damascus the restoration of the constitution and the limitation of the Sultan's power was perceived with a wary negative. The destruction of the “patron-client” relationship that connected the large landowners and Muslim religious figures of Damascus with the Sultan's court gave rise to protest moods among the townspeople, which, in turn, led to mass riots in Damascus in the fall of 1908. The conducted research refutes the widespread thesis about the unambiguously positive perception of the Young Turk Revolution in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire.