Tanzimat is the name of modernizing reforms in the Ottoman Sultanate from 1839 to 1876, when the first Ottoman constitution was adopted. The basic principles of the reform were set out in Hatt-i-Sharif, issued by Sultan Abdul-Majid on the 3 of November in 1839 while his accession to the throne.
Unlike previous reforms, the main place in the Tanzimat occupied not military but socio-economic issues. The initiative belonged to the group formed by the bureaucracy, headed by Mustafa Reşid Pasha, who became the author of Hatt-i-Sharif.
For several years he was ambassador in England and France, and then was appointed as a Minister for Foreign Affairs. Under his leadership, was developed a plan of new reforms designed to strengthen the central power.
These reforms were also needed to prevent the development of the national liberation movement on the Balkans and to weaken the dependence of the Sultanate from European powers through the adaptation of the existing system to the standards of Western life.
The need for reform has been called by a recess of crisis of the Ottoman sultanate at the beginning of the XIX century due to the growth of internal contradictions and sharpening of the struggle for domination of the European powers on the Balkans and the Middle East.
The economic and political decline of the country, the defeat in the wars, separatism at the peripheries, the discontent of the masses by increased tax burden and outdated feudal system gave rise of the Ottoman`s ruling circles for the desire to reform.
However, the ruling circles would carry out reforms, which, without affecting the foundations of the feudal system, could save the empire from the imminent threat of decay and death.
Attempts of the Sultan Selim III (1789-1807) and then Grand Vizier Mustafa Pasha Bayraktar (1808), to carry out such reforms have failed. Reforms of Mahmud II (including the destruction in 1826 of Janissary troops) contributed to streamline of the public administration.
They were accompanied by increasing personal power of the Sultan, but didn`t contribute to the progress of the Turkish society. At the same time the general crisis of the empire continued.
And the most striking manifestation of this crisis for the state was failed by the Sultanate wars in the 1820-1830-ies, in which it lost the territories of modern Greece, the Balkans, and with great difficulty suppressed the unrest in Egypt and Kurdistan. ( Halil Inalcik, 2013)
Data conversion is conventionally divided into two periods: • The first period - from 1839 to 1853, i.e. before the beginning of the Crimean War.• Second period -. From 1856 to 1876, i.e. the c end of the war before the adoption of the Constitution in 1876. (BBC, 2009)
Work on the preparation of the reform decree was initiated during the life of Mahmud II. At the end of 1839 the young Sultan Abdul-Majid published the famous Hatt-i-Sharif, i.e. the highest decree.
Hatt-i-Sharif proclaimed the three main goals of reform: ensuring safety of life, honor and property of all citizens of the empire, regardless of religious affiliation; proper distribution and collection of taxes; streamlining and reducing the conscription of military service.
Sultan also took the oath of allegiance to the Hatt-i-Sharif. However, during the implementation of the ideas of the sultan's decree of 1839 Mustafa Reshid Pasha encountered with fierce resistance from opponents of reform, especially from the officials.
Active opposition of the reactionaries led to the fact that the Tanzimat Reforms were inconsistent. Much attention initiators of the Act paid for implementation its provisions on privacy, property and honor of all the citizens.
Also, in the framework of the Tanzimat reforms was carried out the military reform. The country introduced universal military service for Muslims and non-Muslims. The term of military service was reduced from 15 to 5-7 years, and later to 4 years.
There was continued opening of secular schools that was started earlier - primary, secondary and tertiary. The Ministry of Education was created to guide the secular schools. There were near 660 thousand of students in the mid-60s in the secular primary schools.
All the schools attached to mosques were retained and half of the educational time in the secular primary schools was devoted to religion. Actual control of the schools still had the clergy.
In order to strengthen the Empire in the second half of the XIX century the Turkish government made concessions in relation to the national movements. There were given equal rights to 40% of non-Muslim: the Armenians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Romanians, and Serbs. As a result of this policy, all the nations subordinate to the Sultan were called the Ottomans and they all have the equal rights.
In 1856, Abdul-Majid issued a manifesto in which for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire was proclaimed the equality of all citizens, the equality of rights of Muslims and non-Muslims before the law. The state legalized the right to existence of non-Muslim religious communities. The higher education system has moved from a Muslim religious movement into a secular direction. Christians were allowed to serve in public offices.
Tanzimat Reforms 1839-1870 were aimed at updating the state. Owing to the charges in the country there were taken measures to disposal from foreign dependence, removing the country from the crisis, the weakening of the national movements. Reformism, transferring the right of private ownership of land opened up opportunities for the development of industry and trade.
It was especially of great benefit for the citizens. Urban residents of the Ottoman Empire were mostly non-Muslim peoples - Greeks, Armenians and Jews. Most Turks lived in rural areas, so as a result of the reform the taxes were increased. The introduction of private ownership of land has deprived the peasants the right of land inheritance, because now the land belonged to sipahi. The new owner could expel from the land settled on it peasants.
Before the Tanzimat Reforms, the non-Muslim peoples paid more taxes and were not admitted to the public service. Adjustment of the rights of non-Muslims and the Turks caused dissatisfaction among the last, as they believed that it had violated their centuries-old traditions.
The group of people who welcomed the reforms concerned traders, industrialists, people who received a European education, servants and the military. There was organized a secret society called "Young Ottomans" in 1865. Their leader was a young, but already well-known writer Namık Kemal. This liberal society dethroned Sultan Abdul Aziz in 1876, and then Sultan Abdul Hamid II came to power, which in December 1876 approved a two-chamber parliament and declared the basic rights, duties and freedoms of citizens.
The Constitution of the Ottoman Empire was adopted in 1876. The Constitution proclaimed Turkish as a state language, Islam – as the state religion. Sultan Abdul Hamid II realized that the strict observance of the constitutional rights bound his hands and feet, so he decided to use the results of the Russo-Turkish war 1877-1878. The Sultan used the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in this war to suppress the movement "New Ottoman" and to cancel the Constitution. In January 1878 he dissolved the Parliament and announced his sole reign. The Constitution has continued to exist formally, but in reality none of its articles was performed. The establishment of equality between Muslims and non-Muslims remained a fiction. Activities of the «New Ottomans», seeking to build a new empire, were fruitless. (The Ottomans, n.a.) The external debt of the country grew very quickly. In October 1875 the Ottoman government was forced to announce his inability to repay domestic debt in the required sizes.
The consequence of administrative reforms was a marked increase in the civil bureaucracy. It had a wide influence on the course of reforms. The old military-feudal bureaucracy hindered reforms. Disappointment of Ottoman government in the early 50-ies for results of the reforms was connected with the looming inflation, chronic shortages in fiscal affairs, economic depression. This impelled many dignitaries to speak for the abandonment of further reforms. The lack of strict accountability in the finances, maintaining almost unchanged principles of tax policy of the medieval state, negligence and abuse prevented streamlining in the financial area. Due to the fact that the collection of taxes is not only preserved but even increased abuse of government officials, the general public was also dissatisfied with the reforms, identifying them with abuse. In the 40-50-ies there were frequent rebellions broke out in various parts of the Ottoman Empire. They continued in the 60-70-ies.
Tanzimat reforms were ideologically incompatible with Sharia law. The consequence of Muslim fanaticism was explosions in the 40s of the nineteenth century, accompanied by the killing of Christians. All this prevented the development of capitalism and the local bourgeoisie, which could lead the implementation of reforms. Fighting of bourgeois institutions with feudal traditions under the Ottoman Empire took many decades.
References
BBC (09 April, 2009). Ottoman Empire (1301-1922). Retrieved May 05, 2016 from: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/ottomanempire_1.shtml>
Halil Inalcik (2013). The Ottoman Empire: 1300–1600 Retrieved May 05, 2016
The Ottomans (n.a.). History. Retrieved May 05, 2016 from: <http://www.theottomans.org/english/history/history1600.asp>
