This article gives an overview of liberalism in Turkey. Liberalism was introduced in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

during the

Tanzimat The Tanzimat (; ota, تنظيمات, translit=Tanzimāt, lit=Reorganization, ''see'' nizām) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 187 ...

period of reformation.

History

On 30 May 1876,

Murad V Murad V ( ota, مراد خامس, translit=Murâd-ı ḫâmis; tr, V. Murad; 21 September 1840 – 29 August 1904) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire who reigned from 30 May to 31 August 1876. The son of Abdulmejid I, he supported the ...

became the Sultan when his uncle

Abdülaziz Abdulaziz ( ota, عبد العزيز, ʿAbdü'l-ʿAzîz; tr, Abdülaziz; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was overthrown in a government coup. He was a ...

was deposed. He was highly influenced by French culture and was a liberal. He reigned for 93 days before being deposed on the grounds that he was supposedly mentally ill on 31 August 1876; however his opponents may simply have used those grounds to stop his implementation of democratic reforms. As a result, he was unable to deliver the Constitution that his supporters had sought.Palmer, Alan. ''The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire'', 1992. Page 141–143.

Constitutional era

Constitutionalism was introduced in the Ottoman Empire by liberal intellectuals like Beşir Fuad, Hekim Ismail Pasha, and Ahmed Zühdü Pasha, who tried to modernize their society by promoting development, progress, and liberal values. Duzoglu mihran

Tanzimât

The Tanzimât, literally meaning ''reorganization'' of the

(see ''Nizam''), was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Although the motives for the implementation of Tanzimât were bureaucratic, it was impulsed by liberal ministers and intellectuals like Dimitrios Zambakos Pasha, Kabuli Mehmed Pasha, the secret society

Young Ottomans The Young Ottomans () were a secret society established in 1865 by a group of Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Turkish people, Turkish intellectuals who were dissatisfied with the Tanzimat reforms in the Ottoman Empire, which they believed did not go far ...

, and

Midhat Pasha Ahmed Şefik Midhat Pasha ( ota , احمد شفيق مدحت پاشا, 18 October 1822 – 26 April 1883) was an Ottoman democrat, kingmaker and one of the leading statesmen during the late Tanzimat period. He is most famous for leading the O ...

, who is also often considered one of the founders of the

Ottoman Parliament The General Assembly ( tr, Meclis-i Umumî (French romanization: "Medjliss Oumoumi" ) or ''Genel Parlamento''; french: Assemblée Générale) was the first attempt at representative democracy by the imperial government of the Ottoman Empire. Al ...

. Many changes were made to improve civil liberties, but many Muslims saw them as foreign influence on the world of Islam. That perception complicated reformist efforts made by the state. A policy called

Ottomanism Ottomanism or ''Osmanlılık'' (, tr, Osmanlıcılık) was a concept which developed prior to the 1876–1878 First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire. Its proponents believed that it could create the social cohesion needed to keep mille ...

was meant to unite all the different peoples living in Ottoman territories, "Muslim and non-Muslim, Turkish and Greek, Armenian and Jewish, Kurd and Arab". The policy officially began with the

Edict of Gülhane The Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif ("Supreme Edict of the Rosehouse"; french: Hatti-Chérif de Gulhané) or Tanzimât Fermânı ("Imperial Edict of Reorganization") was a proclamation by Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I in 1839 that launched the Tan ...

of 1839, declaring equality before the law for both Muslim and non-Muslim Ottomans. The Tanzimât reforms began under

Sultan Mahmud II Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...

. On November 3, 1839, Sultan Abdulmejid I issued a hatt-i sharif or imperial edict called the

or Tanzimât Fermânı. This was followed by several statutes enacting its policies. In the edict the Sultan stated that he wished ''"to bring the benefits of a good administration to the provinces of the Ottoman Empire through new institutions."'' Among the reforms were the abolition of slavery and slave trade;NTV Tarih
history magazine, issue of July 2011. ''"Sultan Abdülmecid: İlklerin Padişahı"'', pages 46-50. (Turkish) the decriminalization of homosexuality; the establishment of the Civil Service School, an institution of higher learning for civiliansCleveland & Bunton, ''A History of the Modern Middle East'', Chapter 5 pg.84 of 4th edition the Press and Journalism Regulation Code; and the

Nationality Law Nationality law is the law of a sovereign state, and of each of its jurisdictions, that defines the legal manner in which a national identity is acquired and how it may be lost. In international law, the legal means to acquire nationality and f ...

of 1869 creating a common Ottoman citizenship irrespective of religious or ethnic divisions; among others. Western educated economists like Ahmet Reşat Pasha advocated for

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic libera ...

Young Ottomans

The

were a secret society established in 1865 by a group of

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...

intellectuals who were dissatisfied with the

reforms in the

, which they believed did not go far enough, and wanted to end the autocracy in the empire. Young Ottomans sought to transform Ottoman society by preserving the empire and modernizing along the European tradition of adopting a constitutional government. Though the Young Ottomans were frequently in disagreement ideologically, they all agreed that the new constitutional government should continue to be somewhat rooted in

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

to emphasize "the continuing and essential validity of Islam as the basis of Ottoman political culture."Finkel 2006, p. 475. However, they sincreticize Islamic idealism with modern liberalism and parliamentary democracy, to them the European parliamentary liberalism was a model to follow, in accordance with the tenets of Islam and "attempted to reconcile Islamic concepts of government with the ideas of Montesquieu, Danton, Rousseau, and contemporary European Scholars and statesmen."

Namık Kemal Namık Kemal (21 December 1840 – 2 December 1888) was an Ottoman democrat, writer, intellectual, reformer, journalist, playwright, and political activist who was influential in the formation of the Young Ottomans and their struggle for go ...

, who was influential in the formation of the society, admired the constitution of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...

, he summed up the Young Ottomans' political ideals as "the sovereignty of the nation, the separation of powers, the responsibility of officials, personal freedom, equality, freedom of thought, freedom of press, freedom of association, enjoyment of property, sanctity of the home".Hanioğlu, M. Şükrü (2008). ''A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire'', Princeton University Press. . p. 104. The Young Ottomans believed that one of the principal reasons for the decline of the empire was abandoning Islamic principles in favor of imitating European modernity with unadvised compromises to both and they sought to unite the two in a way that they believed would best serve the interests of the state and its people. They sought to revitalize the empire by incorporating certain Europeans models of government, while still retaining the Islamic foundations the empire was founded on. Among the prominent members of this society were writers and publicists such as

İbrahim Şinasi İbrahim Şinasi (5 August 1826 – 13 September 1871) was a pioneering Ottoman intellectual, author, journalist, translator, playwright, and newspaper editor. He was the innovator of several fields: he wrote one of the earliest examples of an Ot ...

Ali Suavi Ali Suavi (8 December 1839 – 20 May 1878) was an Ottoman Turk political activist, journalist, educator, theologian and reformer. He was exiled to Kastamonu because of his writings against Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz. He is one of the first P ...

, Ziya Pasha, and

Agah Efendi Çapanzade or Çapanoğlu Agah Efendi (1832 – 1885) was an Ottoman civil servant, writer and newspaper editor who, along with his colleague İbrahim Şinasi, published '' Tercüman-ı Ahvâl'' ("Interpreter of Events"), the first private newsp ...

. In 1876, the Young Ottomans had their defining moment when Sultan Abdülhamid II reluctantly promulgated the

Ottoman constitution of 1876 The Constitution of the Ottoman Empire ( ota, قانون أساسي, Kānûn-ı Esâsî, lit= Basic law; french: Constitution ottomane), also known as the Constitution of 1876, was the first constitution of the Ottoman Empire. Written by members ...

( tr, Kanûn-u Esâsî), the first attempt at a constitution in the Ottoman Empire, ushering in the First Constitutional Era. Although this period was short lived, with Abdülhamid ultimately suspending the constitution and parliament in 1878 in favor of a return to absolute monarchy with himself in power,Finkel 2006, p. 489-490. the legacy and influence of the Young Ottomans continued to endure until the collapse of the empire. Several decades later, another group of reform-minded Ottomans, namely the Young Turks, repeated the Young Ottomans' efforts, leading to the

Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the Ottoman Consti ...

in 1908 and the beginning of the

Second Constitutional Era The Second Constitutional Era ( ota, ایكنجی مشروطیت دورى; tr, İkinci Meşrutiyet Devri) was the period of restored parliamentary rule in the Ottoman Empire between the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and the 1920 dissolution of the ...

Freedom and Accord Party

*1911: As a reaction to dictatorial tendencies, the liberal

Freedom and Accord Party The Freedom and Accord Party ( ota, حریت و ایتلاف فرقه‌سی, Hürriyet ve İtilaf Fırkası, script=Arab), also known as the Liberal Union or the Liberal Entente, was a liberal Ottoman political party active between 1911 and 1913, ...

(''Hürriyet ve İtilaf Fırkası'') is founded. *1913: The party is banned.

Ottoman Liberal People's Party / Freedom Party

*1918:

Fethi Okyar Ali Fethi Okyar (29 April 1880 – 7 May 1943) was a Turkish diplomat and politician, who also served as a military officer and diplomat during the last decade of the Ottoman Empire. He was also the second Prime Minister of Turkey (1924–1925) ...

founded in 1918 the

Ottoman Liberal People's Party Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to: Governments and dynasties * Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924 * Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...

(''Osmanlı Hürriyetperver Avam Fırkası''). *1920: The party disappeared. *1930: In an attempt to allow a legal opposition party, Atatürk encouraged Okyar to found the Freedom Party (''Hürriyet Fırkası''), also rendered as Liberal Republican Party (''Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası''). *1930: The party attracted huge number of dissident people of the Kemalist bureaucracy's harsh policies. The founder of the party, Okyar, dissolved his own party, fearing that it was becoming a rallying ground for counter-reformists against the secular republic.

Freedom Party

*1956: A liberal faction of the Democratic Party founded the Liberty Party (''Hürriyet Partisi''). *1958: The party merged into the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party i ...

New Turkey Party

*1961: A moderate faction of the former Democratic Party established after the ban of the latter party the New Turkey Party (''Yeni Türkiye Partisi''). *1973: After initial success the party became unsuccessful and is dissolved.

Liberal Democratic Party

*1994: Founded on July 26 as Liberal Party by former (''Demokrat Parti'') members and Besim Tibuk, the first president. *1996: The Liberal Party changed its name to Liberal Democratic Party. *2002: Tibuk resigns as president on November 25. *2005: Cem Toker gets elected as president on July 20. *2017: Toker resigns as president on January 29. Gültekin Tırpancı gets elected as president on the same day.

References

{{Liberalism in Europe

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

Political movements in Turkey