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Index

Armenia

The Urartu Civilisation

Victory for Independence

Artashisian Dynasty on the Armenian Throne

Armenia caught between Rome and the Arsacids

The Acceptance of Christianity

Defending Christianity

Armenia Under the Bagratouni Dynasty

Cilicia - the New Armenia

Armenia Under Turanian Rule

The Renaissance or the Resurrection of Armenia

The Eastern Question

Russia in the Caucasus

The Armenian Question

Battle on Two Fronts

Tsarist Russia Against the Armenians

The Revolution of the Young Turks and the Armenian People on the Eve of World War I

The First World War

The Resurrection of Armenia

Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

- Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

Eastern Armenia

Western Armenia

"The Fateful Years" (1914-1917)

"Hopes and Emotions" (March-October, 1917)

The Bolshevik Revolution and Armenia

Transcaucasia Adrift (November, 1917

Dilemmas (March-April, 1918)

War and Independence (April-May, 1918)

The Republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia

The Suppliants (June-October, 1918)

In conclusion

Soviet Armenia

The Second Independent Republic of Armenia

Epilogue

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Attempts at reform in the Ottoman Empire

The European major powers, especially those who, like England, defended the political and geographical entity of the Ottoman Empire, came to realise that the only way to prevent the disintegration of the empire was to implement reforms.

From the beginning of the 19th century onwards, the Turks began modernizing the military and administrative institutions in an attempt to strengthen the country. Sultan Mehmet II (whose mother, Aime Dubac de Rivery, was a Frenchwoman whom the pirates had abducted from Martinique and sold to the harem of the Ottoman sultan), was truly a great regent, and implemented various reforms, including the dissolution of the janissaries and the creation of an organised and modern army based on the European model.

However, since reforms within the government would have affected an alteration of the external shape of the empire, the European major powers insisted that reforms be implemented for improving the living situation of the Christian population, who were under the constant oppression of the government.

Under continual pressure from the European major powers, Sultan Abdul Mejid, successor to Mehmet II, with the help of his reform-minded vizier, Reshid Pasha, promulgated the "Hatti Sherif" order in 1839, according to which the inhabitants of the empire, regardless of ethnic origin or religion, were ensured security of their lives and properties. 47

"Hatti Sherif", as Albert Vandal points out, was not a constructive law, but simply an symbolic gesture resulting in no positive change, and in fact possibly exacting more damage. Under the name of the declaration, the government strengthened its position through centralisation, decreasing the number of self-ruling provinces in the empire. Some of these, of course, were safe havens for oppressed peoples, away from the harassment of the central government. Therefore, the government used ‘Hatti Sherif' to extend its blanket of oppression over the entire empire, worsening rather than improving the situation of the masses. 48

The one visible change which the order "Hatti Sherif" did bring about was the creation of a more modern army and reorganisation of the government administration. 49

As a result of the Crimea war, the Sultan, pressured by France and England, was forced to promulgate a new reform order. For "these two states, who had rescued the Ottomans at Sevastopol, did not wish to rescue it in the prevailing circumstances". 50

The new order, known as "Hatti Homayoun", was promulgated on February 18, 1856, again a step forward only on paper. The order contained promises about freedom to all the subjects in the empire and equality for all before the law. According to the order, personal taxes were to be abolished, local councils were to be created and the Christian population would be given the right to take up any profession and be able to hold any office available to a Muslim.