[CALL FOR KHIVA BY "THE TURBANED REVOLUTIONARY"] Hive fi Muharrem 1290: Rusyanin Asya-yi Vustada terakkisi.; Hive Hanligi.

ALI SUAVI, (1839-1878).

Victor Goupy Printing House., Paris, [AH 1290] = 1873.

In contemporary bdg. with marbled paper. 16mo. (15,5 x 10 cm). In Ottoman script. 135 p., 1 folded huge map. Two parts are completed, all together. First and Only Edition. Extremely rare. TBTK 3957.; Only two copies in German institutions in OCLC: 165523964. One in London: OCLC 452164694.; 1030749971, 86127369.; 13045273. Ali Suavi [Sarikli ihtilâlci i.e. 'Turbaned revolutionary'] was an Ottoman political activist, educator, theologian, and reformer. He taught at an elementary school in Bursa, preached at the Sehzade Mosque in Constantinople (now Istanbul), wrote for Filip (Philip) Efendi's newspaper Muhbir, and worked in different positions at offices in Simav, Plovdiv, and Sofia. He was a member of the Young Ottomans and editor of its official journal. He was exiled to Kastamonu because of his writings against Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz. Originally trained in religious sciences, Suavi was an Islamic radical who was placed in charge of the first Young Ottoman publication to appear in Europe, Muhbir. The newspaper eventually became an embarrassment to the Young Ottomans, and soon thereafter, fellow Young Ottomans Namık Kemal and Ziya Pasha requested that Suavi remove the Young Ottoman association with the publication. Suavi drifted around to various cities and grew bitter against the Young Ottomans, eventually leading him to begin publishing a periodical that lambasted both the republican Young Ottomans and the monarchist Ottoman Sultan's government alike as enemies of the people. In 1867 he settled in Paris, to escape prosecution, and stayed there until 1876. Despite his opposition to the contemporary Sultan's government, Suavi's writings showed great respect to the institution of the Sultan, which in his belief would best be filled, for the common good of the people, by an enlightened absolutist. After the conservative Abdul Hamid II became sultan, Suavi attempted a coup in 1878 in an attempt to end the increasing authoritarianism and reinstall Murad V, who had been sympathetic to liberal ideals. The coup failed and Ali Suavi was killed in the attempt. (Wikipedia). Ali Suâvi, in this work, which was written while Russia was preparing to capture Khiva, a Muslim Turkish khanate in Central Asia, criticizes the Ottoman Empire's failure to establish good relations with this Turkish khanate throughout history and invites the empire to intervene in this issue. In the Russo-Khivan War of 1873, Russia conquered the Khanate of Khiva, and it became a Russian protectorate. Twice before, Russia had failed to subjugate Khiva. In 1717, Prince Bekovitch-Cherkassky marched from the Caspian and fought the Khivan army. The Khivans lulled him by diplomacy, then slaughtered his entire army, leaving almost no survivors. In the Khivan campaign of 1839, Count Perovsky marched south from Orenburg. The unusually cold winter killed most of the Russian camels, forcing them to turn back. By 1868, the Russian conquest of Turkestan had captured Tashkent and Samarkand and gained control over the Khanates of Kokand in the eastern mountains and Bukhara along the Oxus River. This left a roughly triangular area east of the Caspian, south of the Oxus (Amu Darya), and north of the Persian border. The Khanate of Khiva was at the north end of this triangle. In 1869, Fyodor Radetsky founded Krasnovodsk, which later became the headquarters of the Trans-Caspian Military District and the start of the Trans-Caspian Railway. In March 1870, the decision was made to attack Khiva. Because Khiva was an oasis surrounded by several hundred miles of desert, this desert had to be mapped and waterholes found before armies could move. Mikhail Skobelev mapped a route from Krasnovodsk to the edge of the oasis, and Colonel Vasily Markozov later explored the area more thoroughly. Nikolai Lomakin explored the Mangyshlak Peninsula. In September 1872, Colonel Markozov started from Krasnovodsk and Chikishlyar; he planned to make a dash to Khiva but was called back by the Viceroy of the Cau...