The 1912 Ottoman coup d'état (17 July 1912) was a coup by military memorandum in the Ottoman Empire against the Committee of Union and Progress by a group of military officers calling themselves the Saviour Officers (Ottoman Turkish: Halâskâr Zâbitân) during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.^[1]

In late 1911 anti-CUP opposition consolidated into the Freedom and Accord Party. Following the CUP's election victory in the 1912 election, widely deemed fraudulent, Freedom and Accord members recruited army officers serving in Albania to their cause in protest. They organized themselves into the Saviour Officers which are often referred to as the military wing of the Freedom and Accord Party.

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[edit]

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 Abdul Hamid 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[edit]

Discord in the CUP[edit]

A group of officers led by CUP member and hero of the revolution Mehmed Sadık would separate from the CUP, after 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.^[2]

Discord in government[edit]

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 failing to stop Italian occupation of the area, the CUP blocked the motion, increasing partisanship. A meeting in October by all of the parliament's major politicians: Krikor Zohrab, Cavid, Talat, Halil Menteşe, Hakkı, Vartkes Serengülian, and Karekin Pastermadjian was held, the agenda being the CUP's lack of commitment to constitutional government and a potential way to resolve differences between the CUP and opposition. The CUP rejected the proposals from Zohrab, increasing polarization.^[3]

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. The Unionists 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. At that moment, the Freedom and Accord Party was ascendant in the chamber.

Said Pasha, at this point a reluctant Unionist partisan, attempted to get parliamentary approval for a constitutional amendment which would return to the Sultan the power of parliamentary dissolution, but when Freedom and Accord blocked this proposal, he resigned. Mehmed V reappointed him Grand Vizier though, despite disapproval from the Freedom and Accord 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 Freedom and Accord. On 18 January, 1912 the Article 7 of the constitution was employed; the Senate voted to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies and Mehmed V obliged.^[4]

In April 1912, elections were held for a new session of parliament. However the 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. This time, Freedom and Accord was pushing for the Chamber's dissolution.

Coup[edit]

By June, Colonel Sadık and staff major Gelibolulu Kemal (later surnamed Şenkil) would form the Saviour Officers (Halâskâr Zâbitân) clique, and requested President of the Ottoman Assembly Halil Bey to disband the CUP dominated parliament.^[5][1]

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 Saviour 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 Saviour Officers, leaving the CUP isolated, starting a wave of resignations from Said Pasha's cabinet.^[6] On 16 June, 1912 after the Unionist dominated parliament voted Said Pasha their confidence, he resigned anyway.^[4]

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.^[4] Muhtar Pasha's government, known as the "Great Cabinet", were prestigious statesmen, and they easily received the vote of confidence.^[7] 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. This was again done through the Senate, which voted to dissolve the Chamber and Mehmed V subsequently enacted their vote.^[8]

Aftermath[edit]

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 Freedom and Accord government of Kâmil Pasha to resign at gunpoint. The leaders of the Saviour Officers escaped to Egypt and Albania.^[1] CUP governments continued up to the end of the First World War.

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

• 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