The Ottoman Crisis in Western Anatolia: Turkey’s Belle Epoque and the Transition to a Modern Nation State

336 Pages·2016·9.39 MB·English

by  Emre Erol

Emre Erol is Lecturer at Leiden University. An expert on the Eastern
Mediterraneanandearlytwentieth-centuryTurkey,hisresearchinterestsliein
the personal histories of the Young Turks, migration, nationalisms, port-
towns andport-cities and theeffects ofcapitalism. He has published articles
and book chapters on the history of forced migration in Western Anatolia
before World War I and has published on contemporary developments in
Turkey in both English and Turkish. He completed his PhD at Leiden
University andhis MA and undergraduate studies at Sabanci University.
‘Erol’sbookisanexemplarystudyofthemajor developmentsoftheperiod
(imperialism, economic incorporation, nationalism and war) seen through
the prism of a meticulous microhistory of an Ottoman port town.’
Erik J. Zu¨rcher, Professor of Turkish Studies, Leiden University
‘A most welcome contribution to the field, this study explores the
complexities behind the pogrom-like violence against the Greek-Orthodox
inhabitantsinanAegeancoastaltownontheeveofWorldWarI.Theevent
isrightlyviewedinthecontextofthetransitionfromempiretonationstate.
On the basis of an impressive amount of source material, Emre Erol has
succeeded in providing a fresh insight into the manifold dynamics that
affected and shaped socio-political life during the Young Turk era.’
Fikret Adanır, Professor Emeritus of History, Sabancı University
‘LateOttomanhistoryhasbecomeaminefieldofcontroversyanddistortion.
Yet scholars like Emre Erol bring an enviable integrity to uncovering the
dark spots of the declining empire. In an exemplary exploration of Young
TurkpolicyandthefateoftheGreeksofWesternAnatolia,Erolpeelsaway
the layers of misinformation to find a tragic story of how reformers turned
into the gravediggers of what they had hoped to preserve.’
Ronald Grigor Suny, author of “They Can Live in the Desert
But Nowhere Else”: A History of the Armenian Genocide
THE OTTOMAN CRISIS
IN WESTERN
ANATOLIA
´
Turkey’s Belle Epoque and the Transition to a
Modern Nation State
E E
MRE ROL
Publishedin2016by
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CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xv
A Note on Place Names xvii
Introduction 1
1. Incorporation into Capitalism: From a Commercial
Hub to a Boomtown 21
2. Ottoman Modernization and its Consequences 63
3. Bourgeoisie Cosmopolitanism or Nationalisms? 96
4. The Seeds of Turmoil and Transition 110
5. June 1914: The Spring of Organized Chaos 163
6. Extended Warfare and the End of the Belle E´poque 194
Epilogue: A Ghost Town 230
Appendix 245
Notes 255
Bibliography 299
Index 311

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
Figure 0.1. Modern-day Fo(cid:1)ca and other districts of the province
of Izmir. 2
Figure 1.1. Well-known map (Kitab-ı Bahriye) created by
Piri Reis in 1525. Source: The Walters Art Museum
Digital Publication, www.thewalters.org. 26
Figure 1.2. Economic weights of occupations in Eski Fo(cid:1)ca
register (1844–6). (Fo(cid:1)cateyn Kazası Temettuat Defteri, BOA,
Register Number: 1939.) 37
Figure 1.3. Percentages of people registered for different occupations
in Eski Fo(cid:1)ca (1844–6). (Fo(cid:1)cateyn Kazası Temettuat Defteri, BOA,
Register Number: 1939.) 39
Figure 1.4. Yeni Fo(cid:1)ca, with windmills on the shore.
Source: Yiakoumis et al., Phoc´ee, 168. 48
Figure 1.5. Two of the four salt depots in Eski Fo(cid:1)ca, 1913.
Source: Yiakoumis et al., Phoc´ee, 6. 49
Figure 1.6. A close-up of a salt depot in Eski Fo(cid:1)ca. Author’s
collection, Eski Fo(cid:1)ca, 1960s. 50
Figure 1.7. C¸amaltı Salt Pools. Source: Google Earth, 2013. 51