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Deliberation and Autocratic Mentality in State Society: A Reading in İzzet Pacha al-Abed’s Diaries

HISDEMAB seminar with Mehmet Osmanli

There have always been different points of view about the nature of Sultan Abdülamid II's handling of the issue of constitutional rule, but these points of view agree that he suspended the constitution for three long decades, and the argument always put forward by him was that "the people are not prepared for such a constitutional process." But doesn't the democratic experience come with experience? There is no doubt that presenting criticism of such a situation falls between two complex cases, the first being anachronism, and the second being far from opinions that are closer to his ruling circle.

In this discussion, I seek to present Sultan Abdülhamid II's personal views on the issues of authoritarianism (Mutlakiyet?) in government and the centralization of decision-making, as well as the autocratic nature he envisioned for governance. This will be through dialogues that took place between him and his Kâtib-ı Sâni (second secretary) in the ruling Yıldız Palace, Arap İzzat Holo Pacha. But as an "ego documents", how can it be dealt with despite the many “caveats”? What is the degree of credibility of the secretary in his diaries when he presents this view about this issue?

How did the Sultan see his constitutional functions? And his relationship to the Vükelâ (ministers)? And the nature of the secretary's criticism of him when he goes “home and is alone”? There is no doubt that a source close to the sultan who presented and criticized his views would constitute a new kind of understanding of that era. Either he confirms the research findings of different researchers, denies them, or even adjusts their destination. The view of the rest of the bureaucracy of the system of government and its relation to the Meşrutiyet (constitutional) of governance cannot be overlooked, and it is not only possible to rely on this source for sure as well, but it is a prelude to reconsidering the constitutional issue and its relationship with the ruler and the ruling regime, of course.

It must be emphasized that Izzet Holo Pacha’s diaries was recently discovered (in 2010), and then was printed (as a scanned version of the Ottoman Turkish, not a translation into modern Turkish) in 2019, so it may contain information that may be considered new, and therefore the importance of talking about this subject comes.

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This event is part of the lecture series:
Lecture series in the academic year 2022/23
The Historicity of Democracy Seminar

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