Is Recep Tayyip Erdogan Trying To Resurrect the Ottoman Empire?
BY Merve Sebnem Oruç
FEB
24, 2021
As
I discussed in my previous column, the accusations claiming President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan is trying to resurrect the Ottoman Empire – statements that have
become routine among Western political analysts regarding discussions about
Turkey’s foreign policy –no longer carry the same weight as criticism.
Erdogan
and his supporters do not feel inclined to counter these arguments and are in
fact undisturbed by the allegations of "neo-Ottomanism."
On
the contrary, these charges have made Erdogan more popular in the eyes of a lot
of Turkish people, who want to make peace with their historical roots,
including their Ottoman heritage. Almost every single link to the country's
past was cut after the collapse of the empire and the foundation of the new
Turkish state in line with the strict principles of the establishment, such as
hardline laicism and Turkish nationalism.
The
ink of the Treaty of Lausanne was still wet when the members of the Osmanoglu
family that ruled the Ottoman Empire for six centuries, the predecessor of the
Turkish republic, were deported from the country's lands in 1924.
Twelve
sovereign states of contemporary Europe, including the U.K., Denmark, Sweden,
Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, preserved their royal families due to their
system of “constitutional monarchy,” giving the kings and queens a symbolic
“head of state” status while in modern Turkey, the Ottoman royal family was
declared a traitor of the new Turkish nation.
The
Ottoman dynasty
None
of the dynasties of European empires were treated in such a manner. I am not
saying that the new Turkish state should have been a monarchy instead of a
republic, but the decedents of Osman, the founder of the Ottoman Empire,
could have stayed in the country and lived as citizens instead of being sent
into exile as personae non-gratae.
Sadly,
most of them fell into destitution; some were even forced to work in manual
labor to survive. Although they were allowed back into Turkey in 1974, only
some of them returned out of fear of how they would be treated.
Those
who came back were not given Turkish citizenship immediately and were followed
by intelligence for a while.
Today,
they feel safe and secure in their homeland, leaving behind the bitter stories
of the past. No one can deny that they have always been respectful about the
Turkish republic’s laws and that they live modestly.
The
historians say that the Kemalist elite of the new republic erased
Ottoman history and effectively silenced the Ottoman historiography, almost
rewriting it, particularly the last centuries of the empire.
According
to them, the new nation had to be the exact opposite of the multiethnic Ottoman
Empire home to many religions, so the latter had to be discredited.
Over
the decades, Turkish society has been inundated with stereotyped and unverified
perceptions of their ancestors.
However,
since the Turkish republic is a young state, many people who listened to
stories of the past from their parents and grandparents have had not embraced
the imposed perspective.
Historical
background
While
the history of the Turks goes back to around 2000 B.C. when they first lived in
Central Asia before spreading, they started to settle in Anatolia in the early
11th century.
The
Anatolian Seljuk state was founded in 1080 and was the first Turkish state on
these lands but declined with the Mongol invasion of Anatolia.
The
Ottoman era, which descended from the legendary Oghuz Khan, was founded
by Osman in 1299 and lasted for 623 years until the end of World War I.
After
the Turkish War of Independence between 1919 and 1923, Turks founded the
successor state: the Republic of Turkey.
Erdogan's
agenda
Unlike
most of his predecessors, Erdogan did not ignore the legacy left by the Seljuks
and the Ottomans and regarded the Turkish republic as a continuation of the
empires.
As
he started to break the taboos, showing that he does not want the nation’s
history forgotten in the dusty pages of hidden history books, long-standing
political controversies have come to the light inside Turkey.
In
fact, it is ridiculous to deny the legacy of the Seljuks and Ottomans
given that Turkey to this day is an open-air museum of their histories.
Without
a doubt, from their architecture to traditions, Ottoman culture has always been
alive among the people, no matter what the founding elite and their ideological
followers argue.
Erdogan
presides over a country at the epicenter of the regional tensions and
global rivalries, and the president is increasingly attacked by anti-Erdogan
circles because of Turkey’s regional policies, specifically after the start of
the Arab Spring, accusing him of aspiring to assert the claims of the Ottoman
Empire. Erdogan said: “The Republic of Turkey, just like our previous states
that are a continuation of one another, is also a continuation of the Ottomans.
Of course, the borders have changed. Forms of government have changed ... But
the essence is the same, the soul is the same, even many institutions are the
same.”
The
way he embraces the soul and the essence of the past – a not too distant past –
touches the hearts of not only the Turks for who their history is a point of
pride, but also many people who live on the lands which were once ruled by the
Ottomans, too.
Even
regional states such as Saudi Arabia and Iran criticize Erdogan using the “neo-Ottomanism”
argument. The criticism is sometimes made directly by politicians, sometimes
using the media, but many polls reveal that Erdogan has quite a lot of admirers
in the region.
The
increasing popularity of Turkish TV dramas, movies, books and articles about
the history of the Ottomans is clear evidence that Erdogan admirers view the
Ottoman Empire favorably, ignoring propaganda efforts depicting the Ottoman era
as a dark age.
So,
it would not be wrong to say that the allegations of “neo-Ottomanism” are part
of a smear campaign against Erdogan that has boomeranged back on the accusers.
Today,
the Ottoman era has become a popular subject as a result of the failure of the
anti-Erdogan campaign.
Meanwhile,
with Erdogan being accused of aspiring to become a “modern-day sultan,” a
depiction used to elicit fear of the president, people are now asking which of
the empire’s 39 sultans Erdogan most resembles. They now examine Erdogan's
characteristics and try to draw parallels between the president and sultans.
The
comparisons started with Selim I (Yavuz Sultan Selim), widely known as
"Selim the Grim" in the West.
Selim was a conqueror without a
doubt. Selim I dramatically expanded the geographical presence of the
Ottoman Empire from the Middle East to the Balkans.
During
his era, the Ottoman Empire grew by 70%. Following his conquests of Egypt,
Syria and some parts of Persia, he was viewed as one of the most significant
sultans of the empire, conquering the Muslims’ holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
After
that, he earned the title of the "caliph," which means the leader of
the Muslim world, paving the way for his successors to hold this pivotal title
until the caliphate was abolished in 1924 by a decree, as part of founder
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s strategy to replace the Ottoman Empire with the Turkish
republic.
Despite
only reigning for eight years between 1512 and 1520, Islam became central to
Ottoman life, which is why the sultan is disliked by Westerners and detested by
certain leaders in the Middle East due to his conquests.
Due
to his Middle East policy that contradicted Turkey's NATO allies after the
start of the Syrian crisis, Erdogan was portrayed as Selim I and accused of
wanting to be a conqueror.
The
Iranian and Syrian regimes particularly focused on the resemblance given Selim
I's conquests in Syria and Iraq.
The
sectarian violence in Syria and Iraq, which was actually fueled by Shiite and
Alawite vengeful rulers, was a chance to portray Erdogan as a Selim I figure
and push the argument that the Turkish leader wants to invade Syria.
The
Abdulhamid II comparisons
The
other sultan mostly compared to Erdogan is, of course, Abdulhamid II.
Abdulhamid II, who ruled the Ottoman Empire between 1876 and 1909, has always
been a point of controversy between Turkish conservative Muslims and
ultra-laicist republicans.
While
the conservatives see him as the last defender of the Ottoman Empire and Muslim
world who was unfairly deposed by the "Young Turks," members of a
movement that worked to replace the Ottoman Empire’s absolute monarchy with a
constitutional government, the latter group views him as an autocrat.
To
be honest, there are a lot of conspiracy theories about Sultan Abdulhamid II,
who was also called “the Red Sultan,” portraying him as an evil ruler.
Whether
you consider him a despot or a sultan carrying out his duties, it is clear that
he was actually an enlightened leader who tried to modernize the empire during
hard times.
The
conservatives in Turkey believe that Abdulhamid II was the victim of a plot
staged by the newly founded Zionist movement with the help of Britain since he
refused to sell the Palestinian lands.
They
literally offered to pay off all of the Ottoman Empire's foreign debts in
exchange for relinquishing Palestinian lands where the Zionists started the
Jewish settlement and were planning to found a Jewish state.
Due
to his determined stance against Israel’s illegal settlements and annexation of
Palestinian lands, despite being under immense pressure and being made the
subject of defamatory campaigns, Erdogan's admirers liken him to Abdulhamid II,
who is considered a champion of the Muslim world, although he was overthrown in
the end and imprisoned until his death.
However,
unlike Abdulhamid II, Erdogan has survived a number of plots to overthrow him,
including a bloody coup attempt.
This
is why I think Erdogan most resembles is another candidate: Mahmud II, who was
known for his fight with the Janissaries, an elite infantry unit that
threatened the state at the time.
In
my next column, I will make a detailed comparison between Sultan Mahmud II and
Erdogan.
Original
headline: 'Neo-Ottomanism' and Erdogan: Comparisons, facts
Source:
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