Shattered Dreams of Revolution: Der Matossian Lecture at NAASR

The National Assembly focused on the formation of a commission to investigate Ormanian’s alleged abuses, the situation in the Armenian-populated eastern provinces, and the question of Jerusalem. The Assembly wanted to end provincial oppressions, institute constitutional reforms, and provide aid to famine victims.

The Armenian political parties began to openly organize and operate in the Empire. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, in alliance with the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), was opposed frequently by the Social Democratic Hnchagian Party, the Armenian Constitutional Democratic Party and the Reformed Hnchagian Party.

Unlike the Armenian community, the Jews of the Ottoman Empire had greater difficulty in taking advantage of the 1908 revolution to institute progressive millet reforms. However, the grand rabbi was eventually changed. Zionist representatives from abroad began to propagandize and work actively, but came into conflict with the new grand rabbi.

In the Arab provinces, the reaction to the 1908 revolution varied depending on region. Local notables, government officials and religious leaders often felt threatened, while new Arab political movements were born. Der Matossian analyzed in particular the situation in Damascus, Beirut and Mount Lebanon. If in Damascus the CUP was not fully successful in taking power from the notables and Muslim religious leadership, in Beirut the CUP became the most powerful political authority. In Mount Lebanon, a complex struggle between the laity, Maronite clergy and notables led to some reforms.

Der Matossian, in conclusion, contended that the Young Turk revolution, which intended to create secular Ottoman citizens, in fact strengthened ethno-religious political centers among the three peoples studied. The Chief Rabbinate remained the Jewish center of power. The Armenian National Assembly became more important than the Armenian patriarch, though Armenian political parties also gained in influence. In the Arab provinces, it was hard to fully remove ensconced supporters of the ancient regime

In the long run, the non-dominant ethnic groups of the Empire were fated to be disappointed with the CUP, and were too weak to pressure the latter to carry out the reforms they themselves desired. Once disillusioned, they turned to international intervention as an alternative and soon enough the Ottoman Empire “fell victim to the rise of nation-states.”