Unfulfilled promises: Ottomanism, the 1908 revolution and Baghdadi Jews

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 influenced Baghdadi-Jewish political identity in late Ottoman Iraq. The main argument put forth is that Baghdadi-Jews' positive attitudes towards the British conquerors in 1917, whose victory marked the end of Ottoman rule over Baghdad, can be attributed to unmet political expectations dating back to the 1908 revolution and not to the economic motives of the relatively tiny business elite. Jewish cooperation with the British caused resentment among non-Jews, especially Sunni Muslims, leading to an eventual deterioration of Muslim-Jewish relations in Iraq as the Arab-Zionist conflict played out in Palestine. Thus, the ideas and events that immediately followed the Young Turk Revolution profoundly affected the Jewish community well into the 1940s and, one could argue, continue to haunt the community's now displaced, aging members.