Istanbul Guide

194

train, the famous Orient Express, connected İstanbul and the French capital in 1883. The city’s decline reflected that of the sultanate. The concept of de mocracy, imported from the West, took off in the 19th century and the sultans were forced to make concessions towards it. In 1876 Sultan Ab dül Hamid II allowed the creation of an Ottoman constitution and the first-ever Ottoman parliament. However, these concessions didn’t last long, with the sultan disabling the constitution in 1876 and suspend ing the parliament in 1878. A group of educated Turks took exception to this and established the Committee for Union and Progress (CUP), better known as the Young Turks, to fight for the reformation of the Ottoman sultanate and the introduction of democratic reform. In 1908 they forced the sultan to abdicate, reinstated the constitution and as sumed governance of the empire. One of the factors leading to the the Young Turks’ decision to ally themselves with the Central Powers in WWI was their fear that the Al lies (particularly Russia) coveted İstanbul. Unfortunately, the alliance led to their political demise when the Central Powers were defeated. The Young Turk leaders resigned, fled İstanbul and went into exile, leaving the city to be occupied by British, French and Italian troops placed there in accordance with the Armistice of Mudros, which ended Ottoman participation in the war. The city was returned to Ottoman rule under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which defined the borders of the modern Turkish state. The post-WWI campaign by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) for independ ence and the reinstatement of Turkish territory in the Balkans was directed from Ankara. After the Republic was founded in 1923, the new government was set up in that city. Robbed of its status as the cap ital of a vast empire, İstanbul lost much of its wealth and atmosphere. The city’s streets and neighbourhoods decayed, its infrastructure was neither maintained nor improved and little economic development occurred there for the next half-century. The Recent Past The weak economic position of İstanbul was reflected in the rest of the country, and this – along with some anger about Turkey’s strengthening alliance with the USA – led to growing dissatisfaction with a succes sion of governments. There were military coups in 1960 and 1971, and the late 1960s and 1970s were characterised by left-wing activism and political violence. This reached a shocking crescendo on 1 May (May Day) 1977, when there was a flare-up between rival political factions at

History The Recent Past

Great Reads

Byzantium (Judith Herrin; 2007) Constantinople (Philip Mansel; 1995) Inside the Seraglio (John Freely; 1999) A Short History of Byzantium (John Julian Norwich; 1997)

1914 The government allies itself with the Central Powers and joins WWI; the Bosphorus and Dardenelles are closed to shipping, leading to the Allies’ decision to attack Gallipoli.

1915 Many prominent members of the city’s 164,000-strong Armenian population have their property confiscated and are deported from the city.

1922 The Turkish Grand National Assembly abolishes the Ottoman sultanate; the last sultan, Mehmet VI, leaves the country on a British warship.

1923 The Grand National Assembly relocates the nation’s capital from İstanbul to Ankara; shortly afterwards, it proclaims the Turkish Republic.