First Constitutional Era in the context of "Namık Kemal"

The Tanzimat (Ottoman Turkish: تنظيمات, Turkish: Tanzimât, lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha, and Fuad Pasha, under Sultans Abdul Mejid and Abdul Aziz, the reforms sought to reverse the empire's decline by modernizing legal, military, and administrative systems while promoting Ottomanism (equality for all subjects). Though secular courts, modern education, and infrastructure like railways, were introduced, the reforms faced resistance from conservative clerics, exacerbated ethnic tensions in the Balkans, and saddled the empire with crippling foreign debt. The Tanzimat’s legacy remains contested: some historians credit it with establishing a powerful national government, while others argue it accelerated imperial fragmentation.

Different functions of government received reform, were completely reorganized, or started from scratch. Among institutions that received significant attention throughout this period included legislative functions, trade policy, secularization and codification of the legal system, crackdowns on the slave trade, education, property law, law enforcement, and the military. Ottoman statesmen also worked with reformers of the many confessional communities of the empire, millets, to codify — and in some cases democratize — their confessional governments.

The Ottoman dynasty (Turkish: Osmanlı Hanedanı) consisted of the members of the imperial House of Osman (Ottoman Turkish: خاندان آل عثمان, romanized: Ḫānedān-ı Āl-i ʿOsmān), also known as the Ottomans (Turkish: Osmanlılar). According to Ottoman tradition, the family originated from the Kayı tribe branch of the Oghuz Turks, under the leadership of Osman I in northwestern Anatolia in the district of Bilecik, Söğüt. The Ottoman dynasty, named after Osman I, ruled the Ottoman Empire from c. 1299 to 1922.

During much of the Empire's history, the sultan was the absolute regent, head of state, and head of government, though much of the power often shifted to other officials such as the Grand Vizier. During the First (1876–78) and Second Constitutional Eras (1908–20) of the late Empire, a shift to a constitutional monarchy was enacted, with the Grand Vizier taking on a prime ministerial role as head of government and heading an elected General Assembly.

Ottomanism or Osmanlılık (Ottoman Turkish: عثمانلولق, Turkish: Osmanlıcılık. French: Ottomanisme) was a concept which developed prior to the 1876–1878 First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire. Its proponents believed that it could create the Unity of the Peoples, İttihad-ı Anasır, needed to keep religion-based millets from tearing the empire apart.
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Starting in the 19th century the Ottoman Empire's governing structure slowly transitioned and standardized itself into a Western style system of government, sometimes known as the Imperial Government. Mahmud II (r. 1808–1839) initiated this process following the disbandment and massacre of the Janissary corps, at this point a conservative bureaucratic elite, in the Auspicious Incident. A long period of reform known as the Tanzimat period started, which yielded much needed reform to the government and social contract with the multicultural citizens of the empire.

In the height of the Tanzimat period in 1876, Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909) turned the Empire into a constitutional monarchy by promulgating the Empire's first Constitution, which established the short First Constitutional Era and also featured elections for a parliament. Defeat in the 1877–1878 War with Russia and dissatisfaction with Abdul Hamid lead to the "temporary" suspension of the constitution and the parliament, resulting in a modern despotism/autocracy of Abdul Hamid, during which internal reform continued. The Young Turk Revolution in 1908 started the longer lasting Second Constitutional Era and forced Abdul Hamid to reinstate the constitution, recall the parliament, and hold elections again which this time which featured political parties. However, by 1913 the Ottoman Empire was a dictatorship of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), led by the Three Pashas (Talat Pasha, Enver Pasha, and Cemal Pasha). This dictatorship capitalized on the developed bureaucracy created through a century of reform and centralization by undertaking genocide against Christian minorities. The CUP also undertook many reforms relating to social structure, religion, and education, which would be continued and more far reaching under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's regime. The Union and Progress dictatorship lasted until the end of World War I, which lead to the Empire's collapse and subsequent abolition by Turkish nationalist forces led by Atatürk.

The Constitution of the Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Turkish: قانون أساسي, romanized: Kānûn-ı Esâsî, lit. 'Basic law'; French: Constitution ottomane) was in effect from 1876 to 1878 in a period known as the First Constitutional Era, and from 1908 to 1922 in the Second Constitutional Era. The first and only constitution of the Ottoman Empire, it was written by members of the Young Ottomans, particularly Midhat Pasha, during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909). After Abdul Hamid's political downfall in the 31 March Incident, the Constitution was amended to transfer more power from the sultan and the appointed Senate to the popularly-elected lower house: the Chamber of Deputies.

In the course of their studies in Europe, some members of the new Ottoman elite concluded that the secret of Europe's success rested not only with its technical achievements but also with its political organizations. Moreover, the process of reform itself had imbued a small segment of the elite with the belief that constitutional government would be a desirable check on autocracy and provide it with a better opportunity to influence policy. Sultan Abdulaziz's chaotic rule led to his deposition in 1876 and, after a few troubled months, to the proclamation of an Ottoman constitution that the new sultan, Abdul Hamid II, pledged to uphold.

During the late Ottoman Empire, some elements of government were democratized. Seven general elections were held for the Chamber of Deputies, the popularly elected lower house of the General Assembly, the Ottoman parliament, two in the First Constitutional Era (1877–1878), and five in the Second Constitutional Era (1908–1920). The Chamber of Deputies used Ottoman electoral law. Local elections were held for provincial (Vilayet) assemblies, though they quickly fell out of fashion. In addition, Armenian, Protestant, and Jewish millets had their own assemblies: an Armenian National Assembly, a Protestant General Assembly, and a Jewish General Assembly, which held millet wide elections, with varying degrees of suffrage granted to laity outside Istanbul.

Before the Tanzimat, villages had long elected mukhtars, and for minorities: local ethnarchs, or kocabaşı.

Ahmed Şefik Midhat Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: احمد شفيق مدحت پاشا, romanized: Aḥmed Şefīḳ Midḥat Pāşā; 1822 – 26 April 1883) was an Ottoman politician, reformist, and statesman. He was the author of the Constitution of the Ottoman Empire.

Midhat was born in Istanbul and educated from a private medrese. In July 1872, he was appointed grand vizier by Abdulaziz (r. 1861–1876), though was removed in August. During the First Constitutional Era, in 1876, he co-founded the Ottoman Parliament. Midhat was noted as a kingmaker and leading Ottoman democrat. He was part of a governing elite which recognized the crisis the Empire was in and considered reform to be a dire need. Midhat was reportedly killed in al-Ta'if.