1912 Ottoman coup d'état

The 1912 Ottoman coup d'état (17 July 1912) was a coup by military memorandum in the Ottoman Empire against a fraudulently elected Union and Progress government by a group of military officers calling themselves the Saviour Officers (Ottoman Turkish: Halâskâr Zâbitân) during the dissolution era of the Ottoman Empire.

Evvel Nail Efendi, member of the Savior Officers and organizer of the coup

The Saviour Officers are often referred to as the military wing of the Freedom and Accord Party, the main opposition party after the 1912 election, which was notorious for electioneering and voter fraud by the CUP. Freedom and Accord members recruited army officers to their cause in protest. The coup was one of the central events of the politically volatile 1912–13 years, which saw political instability due to the power struggle between the CUP and Freedom and Accord, as well as the newly sparked Balkan Wars.

Background

See also: Second Constitutional Era

The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) was a revolutionary group that instigated the Young Turk Revolution and the Second Constitutional Era. The revolution resulted in the Sultan Abdulhamid II announcing the restoration of the Ottoman Constitution on 24 July 1908 and an election to elect a new parliament. The 1908 election put the CUP firmly in the legislature, while the main opposition was the Liberty Party. The 31 March Incident (13 April 1909) was an attempt to dismantle the Second Constitutional Monarchy and to restore the Sultan-Caliph Abdul Hamid II his powers. The countercoup was put down by a constitutionalist force which marched on the capital: the Action Army (Hareket Ordusu), and Abdul Hamid II was deposed for his half-brother Mehmed V. While the CUP was back in power and purged reactionaries from government, it was not fully in control, and elements in the country became alarmed at the manner in which the CUP was becoming increasingly authoritarian. In government with the CUP was the War Minister Mahmud Shevket Pasha, a confederate with the CUP during the 31 March Incident by organizing the Action Army, but now skeptical of the party's intentions.

Lead up

On 30 September, 1911, the pro-CUP İbrahim Hakkı Pasha resigned as Grand Vizier following the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War. When Tripolitanian MPs proposed to put him on trial for letting Italian occupation on the area happen, the CUP blocked the motion, increasing partisanship. A meeting in October by all of the parliament's major politicians thwarted cooperation between the CUP and opposition, thus increasing polarization. A group of officers led by CUP member Mehmed Sadık would separate from the CUP, accusing central committee members Mehmed Talat, Mehmed Cavid, and Hüseyin Cahid of being seduced by Zionism and Freemasonry. Cavid would subsequently resign his post as minister of finance.

In November 1911, the opposition consolidated into the Freedom and Accord Party, with Sadık as the party's vice president and Damat Ferid Pasha as president. They immediately called for the Mehmed V to dissolve parliament and call an election, but constitutional amendments after the 31 March Incident for Article 35 meant the Chamber of Deputies held that prerogative, no longer the Sultan. Said Pasha attempted to get parliamentary approval for a constitutional amendment which would return to the Sultan the power of parliamentary dissolution, but when the opposition blocked this proposal, he resigned. Mehmed V reappointed him Grand Vizier though, despite disapproval from the Freedom and Accord Party and the President of the Senate: Ahmed Muhtar Pasha. Said Pasha again introduced the amendment to Article 35 to the Chamber of Deputies, and it was again blocked by the opposition. On 18 January, 1912 the Chamber of Deputies voted to approve the dissolution of itself, and Mehmed V obliged.

In April 1912, elections were held for a new session of parliament. However the governing CUP employed electoral fraud and violence at a massive scale, winning all but 15 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, to the point that it was known as the "election of clubs". The election results immediately caused an uproar against the CUP. Moreover, because of the war in Libya and the start of Albanian revolt, CUP lost its former support and prestige.

Talat, who was suspicious of Shevket, urged for his resignation which offended parts of the army. That summer, another Albanian revolt broke out, this time with support of Albanian officers in the army.

Coup

Selahaddin Bey, son of Liberal Union leader Kâmil Pasha and a member of the Savior Officers

By June, Colonel Sadık and staff major Gelibolulu Kemal (later surnamed Şenkil) would form the Savior Officers (Halâskâr Zâbitân) clique, and requested President of the Ottoman Assembly Halil Bey to disband the CUP dominated parliament.

During this time, the units sent to Albania to put down the revolt joined the rebels and took to the mountains, much like the Unionists themselves did in 1908. These officers being affiliated with the Savior Officers, they delivered a memorandum that the new parliament should be dissolved and an impartial government under Kâmil Pasha be promulgated. Shevket immediately resigned from his ministry in support of the Savior Officers, leaving the CUP isolated, and starting a wave of resignations from Said Pasha's cabinet. On 16 June, 1912 after the Unionist dominated parliament voted Said Pasha their confidence, he resigned anyway.

On July 19, Mehmed V announced to the army that a new impartial and technocratic government would be formed and that he would facilitate negotiations for the selection of premier. Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha, a war hero, was finally selected, with the hope that he would establish order in the army. Muhtar Pasha's government, known as the "Great Cabinet", were prestigious statesmen, and they easily received the vote of confidence. The CUP, notwithstanding its majority in the parliament, lost its executive power. Although Ahmed Muhtar Pasha and his cabinet were non-partisan, the Saviour Officers pressured Ahmed Muhtar Pasha's government to dissolve the parliament, losing the CUP its last stronghold, on August 4.

Aftermath

Beginning in the summer of 1912, Ottoman Empire was governed by Saviour-backed governments. However, in October, the Balkan Wars began, and the Ottoman Empire was defeated on all fronts. The defeat was largely attributed to partisanship and lack of discipline within the military. This defeat gave the CUP the chance to regain strength. In January 1913, the leadership of the CUP staged a coup, forcing the Saviour-backed Freedom and Accord government of Kâmil Pasha to resign at gunpoint. The leaders of the Saviour Officers escaped to Egypt and Albania. CUP governments continued up to the end of the First World War.

Sources

• Kieser, Hans-Lukas (2018). Talaat Pasha: Father of Modern Turkey, Architect of Genocide. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15762-7. (Google Books)
• Shaw, Stanford; Shaw, Ezel (27 May 1977), History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, vol. II, Cambridge University Press (published 1975), ISBN 0-521-29166-6