[TURKEY / ACCOUNT OF THE EVENTS IN THE 31 MARCH UPRISING IN ISTANBUL] Autograph letter signed from Constantinople, providing a vivid and newsworthy account of Ottoman political life just three days after the 31 March Incident, an uprising in April 1909...

GILLAIT-SMITH, BERNARD [JOSEPH LEO] (Romany scholar and linguist) (1883-1973).

Club de Constantinople, Pera [Ottoman Empire], 30 April 1909.

COMPLETE TITLE:  [TURKEY / ACCOUNT OF THE EVENTS IN THE 31 MARCH UPRISING IN ISTANBUL] Autograph letter signed from Constantinople, providing a vivid and newsworthy account of Ottoman political life just three days after the 31 March Incident, an uprising in April 1909 during the first year of the Young Turk Revolution, including references to the hanging of the 'chief eunuch', 'the new Selamlik' [i.e., the portion of an Ottoman palace or house reserved for men] and 'prisoner soldiers' at the Seraskerat [i.e., Ottoman Ministry of War].

Original ALS in full and as 'BGS' in black ink on paper. “Club de Constantinople, Pera” embossing on the upper right corner. Open size: 20x25 cm. Almost 70 lines in English. The recipient is not named, and the salutation is in Romany. Aged and worn with closed tears along fold lines.

A rare and historically significant letter providing a vivid and newsworthy glimpse into Ottoman political life just three days after the 31 March Incident, an uprising in April 1909 during the first year of the Young Turk Revolution, at the heart of Constantinople, particularly around the palace. It includes a detailed account of a day in a Turkish bath (hammam), the arrest and execution of Kurds, and reference to an unsuccessful attempt at a massacre of Christians. The letter also describes the writer’s attendance at the Selamlik ceremony with the new Sultan Mehmed V Resad at Hagia Sophia, rumours surrounding the deposed Sultan Abdulhamid II, and the execution of his chief eunuch in the city. Additionally, it recounts the dramatic scene of a military band marching from Bâb-i Âli (The Sublime Porte) towards Galata Bridge with great noise and a gathered crowd, where the chief eunuch’s execution took place.

The letter begins: 'I am about to feast the eve of tomorrow which is the eve of the next day by imbibing a large quantity of Whisky and Soda, first to see how much will be required to produce the desired effect. I am also streaming with a cold in the head due to a hammam last night. The Kurdish youth has left for his country: - many Kurds have been arrested & shot since you left. A rumour which it is impossible to confirm & which sounds to me stupid will have it that a massacre of Christians was imminent & would have taken place if the troops had not entered last Saturday when they did.' He continues – with reference to Sir H. C. A. Eyres, Consul-General at Constantinople, 1905-14 – by describing how he has that day 'asked Eyres's permission and got it and went to the new Selamlik with the “Good Reshad”, Mehmet V as Sultan. It was held at Aya Sofia. I drove up to the Square with Edmonds & made my way to a back entrance of the Mosque facing the Sea and there I saw Mrs: Eyres & daughter & a Kavass in a carriage in splendid view of the Gate where he, He, was to pass. I left Edmonds who would not follow & got through the crowd to the carriage. I was disappointed in the Selamlik. It was crowded & too big, & disorderly & bourgeois, so different to the one you saw in the pretty little mosque on the hill.' He suggests that it may improve 'when the regiments are organized […] but as they will not keep so many soldiers in Constantinople it will never again be what it was.' There has been 'no news yet worth recording of Adbul Hamid. The head eunuch was hung (hanged) on the New Bridge yesterday morning they say.' He 'walked back through narrow streets headed by a band playing one Turkish Air [i.e., Maqam] after another, the first the one you know, passed the Sublime Porte & down the Rue de la S. Porte & down to the New Bridge: most <dispiriting?>!' He is regularly studying Romanian 'in bed - keeps me from wasting too much time on it'. He concludes: 'I don't think we have heard the last of the old man yet. What will Anatolia do? And Arabia?' Postscript signed 'BGS': 'Yesterday I went up to the Seraskerat & saw the prisoner soldiers begging for bread through the grills, bars I mean. I avoided the Bazaar & the Spaniard, so as not to have to tell you what he might say!'.

Bernard Gilliat-Smith’s career is described by him in “Who Was Who”: “Levant Consular Service; served at Constantinople, Sofia, Beirut, Varna, Foreign Office (London), Tabriz, Copenhagen, Sarajevo, Leningrad, Bucharest, New Orleans, Smyrna; retired, 1943”. Online sources say: “British diplomat, linguist, botanist, naturalist and botanical collector”. At the time Gilliat-Smith was in the consular service in Istanbul.

THE 31 MARCH INCIDENT:

The 31 March incident (31 Mart Vakasi) was an uprising in the Ottoman Empire in April 1909, during the Second Constitutional Era. The incident broke out during the night of 30-31 Mart 1325 in Rumi calendar (GC 12-13 April 1909), thus named after 31 March where March is the equivalent to Rumi month Mart. Occurring soon after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, in which the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) had successfully restored the Constitution and ended the absolute rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876-1909), it is sometimes referred to as an attempted countercoup or counterrevolution. It consisted of a general uprising against the CUP within Istanbul, largely led by reactionary groups, particularly Islamists opposed to the secularising influence of the CUP and supporters of absolutism, although liberal opponents of the CUP within the Liberty Party also played a lesser role. Eleven days later the uprising was suppressed and the former government restored when elements of the Ottoman Army sympathetic to the CUP formed an impromptu military force known as the Action Army (Hareket Ordusu). Upon entering Istanbul on 24 April Sultan Abdul Hamid II, accused by the CUP of complicity in the uprising, was deposed and the Ottoman National Assembly elevated his half-brother, Mehmed V, to the throne. Mahmud Shevket Pasha, the military general who had organised and led the Action Army, became the most influential figure in the restored constitutional system until his assassination in 1913.

Early on the morning of 24 April the Action Army began to occupy Istanbul, with the operation directed by Ali Pasha Kolonja. There was little meaningful resistance, with the exception of Taşkışla and Taksim barracks; by four o'clock of the afternoon the remaining rebels surrendered.

The failure of the countercoup allowed the Committee of Union and Progress to regain power and form a new government. As a result of this incident, the position of the Grand Vizier changed, with Ahmet Tevfik Pasha assuming the role. The constitution was restored for the third time (after earlier attempts in 1876 and 1908), and both parliamentary chambers convened to depose Abdul Hamid II.

Four CUP members composed of one Armenian, one Jew and two Muslim Albanians went to inform the sultan of his dethronement, with Essad Pasha Toptani being the main messenger saying, "the nation has deposed you". Some Muslims expressed dismay that non-Muslims had informed the sultan of his deposition. Abdul Hamid was replaced by his younger brother, who took the name Mehmed V. The sultan directed his anger toward Essad Toptani, whom he considered a traitor due to his family's ties to royal patronage, such as his gains in privileges and key positions in the Ottoman government. Albanians involved in the counterrevolutionary movement were executed such as Halil Bey from Krajë which caused indignation among the conservative Muslims of Shkodër.

Impact on international relations: While Germany was perturbed with the deposition of their ally Abdul Hamid, the CUP eventually proved just as willing to stoke pan-Islamism. With military reforms bearing fruit in the army, German arms dealers reassessed the situation. Through the Turkologist Ernst Jäckh, financing for the Berlin-Baghdad railway resumed, and a large loan was procured for further modernization projects for arms and barracks. Kaiser Wilhelm II ultimately did not mind the fall of his friend Abdul Hamid and the entrenchment of the Young Turks.