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A Jewish “Liberal” in Istanbul: Vladimir Jabotinsky, the Young Turks and the Zionist Press Network, 1908–1911

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Jews, Liberalism, Antisemitism

Part of the book series: Palgrave Critical Studies of Antisemitism and Racism ((PCSAR))

Abstract

In the aftermath of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, a French language journal called Le Jeune Turc (LJT) began publication in Istanbul. Funded by the World Zionist Organisation (WZO) which had in view the creation of a Jewish colony in Ottoman Palestine, its founder the young and self-acclaimed liberal Vladimir Jabotinsky published side by side with Turkish liberal nationalist writers that aligned with the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) in Istanbul. The LJT question that is considered in this chapter is how a journal could be an organ of the Zionists and the nationalist pro-CUP men at one and the same time. How did this marriage come into existence? And how did Zionist ideology and the Turkish nationalist liberalism tally with each other?

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The two short studies on the journal are; Orhan Koloğlu, “Celal Nuri’nin Jeune Turc Gazetesi ve Siyonist Bağı” (Celal Nuri’s Newspaper Jeune Turc and its Zionist Links), Toplumsal Tarih, (Dec., 1992), 46–48; Gershon Lewental, ‘Le Jeune Turc,’ in Stillman, ed., Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, 220–1.

  2. 2.

    Although there is already substantial literature on the Zionist activity in the late Ottoman Empire, no in-depth study has been made to this date specifically on LJT, which was the principal organ of the Zionists in Istanbul in the Second Constitutional era. On the history of Zionism in the Ottoman Empire, see, Benbassa, “Zionism in the Ottoman Empire,” 127–40; Campos, Ottoman Brothers, especially 201–18; Ben-Bassat & Ginio eds., Late Ottoman Palestine; Öke, “The Ottoman Empire, Zionism, and the Question of Palestine,” 329–41; Öke, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu, Siyonizm ve Filistin Sorunu (1880–1914); Cohen, Becoming Ottomans, Chapter 4.

  3. 3.

    Campos, Ottoman Brothers, especially chapter 6.

  4. 4.

    Jabotinsky, Povest’ Moih Dnej, Jerusalem: Biblioteka-Aliya, 1985, accessed February 10, 2017, http://readli.net/chitat-online/?b=51283&pg=28, 26.

  5. 5.

    Ibid.

  6. 6.

    V. Jabotinsky, “Novaya Turciya i Nashy Perspektivy” (New Turkey and Our Prospects), Rassvyet, 18 January, 1909.

  7. 7.

    V. Jabotinsky, “Novaya Turciya i Nashy Perspektivy” (New Turkey and Our Prospects), Rassvyet, 25 January, 1909.

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    Ibid.

  10. 10.

    V. Jabotinsky, “Novaya Turciya i Nashy Perspektivy” (New Turkey and Our Prospects), Rassvyet, 22 February, 1909.

  11. 11.

    V. Jabotinsky, “Novaya Turciya i Nashy Perspektivy” (New Turkey and Our Prospects), Rassvyet, 8 March, 1909.

  12. 12.

    Jabotinsky, Moih Dnej, 36.

  13. 13.

    Der Matossian, Shattering Dreams, 84.

  14. 14.

    Esther Benbassa,“Zionism in the Ottoman Empire,” 127.

  15. 15.

    Ibid., 128. Campos, Ottoman Brothers, 205.

  16. 16.

    Friedman, Turkey, Germany and Zionism, Chapter 8.

  17. 17.

    Wolffsohn to Jacobson, 31 August 1908, 15 September 1908, C.Z.A. Z2/7; cf. Friedman, Turkey, Germany and Zionism, 140–1.

  18. 18.

    Friedman, Germany, Turkey and Zionism, 142; Jacobson to Wolffsohn, 1 January 1909, CZA Z 2/7, cf. Matossian, Shattering Dreams, 85.

  19. 19.

    Memo, 3 February 1910, Archives of the Jabotinsky Institute, A 1–4/4.

  20. 20.

    Matossian, Shattering Dreams, 85.

  21. 21.

    Wolffsohn to Mazliah and Russo, 24 January 1909, CZA Z2/7, cf. Matossian, Shattering Dreams, 85.

  22. 22.

    Wolffsohn to Mazliah and Russo, 24 January 1909, CZA Z2/7, cf. Campos, Ottoman Brothers, 205.

  23. 23.

    Rassvyet, 18 January 1909, cf. Schechtman, Rebel and Statesman, 158; Campos, 205.

  24. 24.

    La Epoka, 8 January, 1909, cf. Matossian, Shattering Dreams, 209.

  25. 25.

    Sami Levy, “Le Sionisme: Une Satisfaction Personelle” (Zionism: A Personal Satisfaction), La Journal de Salonique, 7 March, 1909.

  26. 26.

    “A Turkish Deputy on Zionism,” The Times, 12 March 1909.

  27. 27.

    Der Matossian, Shattering Dreams, 85.

  28. 28.

    Jacobson to Wolffsohn, 8 December 1908, cf. Schechtman, 154.

  29. 29.

    Benbassa, “Presse d’Istanbul et de Salonique,” 339; see also Jacobson to Wolffsohn, 21 October 1908, C.Z.A. Z 2/7, cf. Friedman, Turkey, Germany, and Zionism, 141.

  30. 30.

    David Wolffsohn, memo, 18 August 1909, A.J.I. A 1–4/3. Wolffsohn was convinced, on the basis of his investigations and discussions with the local elites, that it was not possible to gain concessions directly from the Turks.

  31. 31.

    Ibid.

  32. 32.

    Ottoman intelligence closely monitored the actions of the Russian committee as well as the committee from Cologne when they arrived in the empire, and regarded them as a potential threat to order in the empire. Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivleri (BOA hereafter), DH.MUİ 27–1/66/2, 19 October 1909 and 13 November 1909.

  33. 33.

    “Protokoll der Schluss-Sitzung über die Regierung der Presse in Konstantinopel” (Minutes of the closing session on the government of the press in Constantinople), 2 August 1909, A.J.I. A 1–4/3.

  34. 34.

    Türesay, “Antisionisme et antisémitisme,” 147–178. An annual fee of 23,000 francs was to be paid for these journals.

  35. 35.

    For this purpose, a subsidy of 600 francs was secured for Ha-Mevasser (The Herald). In a similar vein, the Judeo-Spanish newspaper El Tiempo (The Times) was involved in the network at a rate of 2400 francs a year, along with Levy’s Journal de Salonique (The Journal of Salonica), which was allocated a subvention of 2000 francs a year, and Lucien Sciuto’s L’Aurore (The Dawn), which received an annual subvention of 3000 francs mainly to strive against the Alliance Israelite Universelle and win over educated Jewish readers. Lewenthal, ‘Lucian Scuito,’ in The Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, IV, 275.

  36. 36.

    Schechtman, 154.

  37. 37.

    Jabotinsky, Povest’ Moih Dnei, 36.

  38. 38.

    David Wolffsohn, memo, 18 August 1909, A.J.I. A 1–4/3.

  39. 39.

    Türesay, “Antisionisme et antisémitisme,” 159.

  40. 40.

    Ibid., 159.

  41. 41.

    Koloğlu, 47; Benbassa, “Presse,” 343.

  42. 42.

    Jacobson to E.A.C., 8 June 1911, C.Z.A. Z 2/12, cf. Friedman, Turkey, Germany and Zionism, 149.

  43. 43.

    Between November 1909 and June 1910, its circulation increased from five thousand to thirteen thousand copies, and in October 1910 to a staggering fifteen thousand. Moreover, from November 1909 to April 1910, the number of its subscribers went up from 1272 to 2115; see, Lewenthal, “Lucian Scuito,” 220; Benbassa, “Presse,” 343–344; Schechtman, Rebel and Statesman, 165.

  44. 44.

    Jacobson and Jabotinsky to Wolffsohn, 4 January 1910, A.J.I. A 1–4/4.

  45. 45.

    Jacob Landau, “Ottoman Turkey,” in Spector Simon, Laskier, Reguer, eds., The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa, 287.

  46. 46.

    Speech at Ball of Association of Youth from Ortakoy, 1910, A.J.I. A 1–8/33 Catalogue.

  47. 47.

    Schechtman, Rebel and Statesman, 157.

  48. 48.

    Ibid., 156, 160. The copies of the founding years, 1909–1910, of Le Jeune Turc are not readily available in most Ottoman/Zionist archives and collections unlike a large majority of other contemporary journals. A few copies on 1911, and plenty on 1912–15 can be found at Islamic Studies Library (ISAM) in Istanbul, and at European universities including Leuven and Marburg as well as in Jerusalem at the Central Zionist Archives.

  49. 49.

    Koloğlu, 47.

  50. 50.

    V. Jabotinsky to Nahum O. Sokolow, 18 January 1910, A.J.I. 1–2/2 no. 56.

  51. 51.

    V. Jabotinsky, “Sionizm i Turciya” (Zionism and Turkey), Odesskie Novosti, 4 November 1909.

  52. 52.

    Koloğlu, Celal Nuri’nin Jeune Turc 47.

  53. 53.

    Benbassa, “Presse,” 346.

  54. 54.

    Ortaylı, “Ottomanism and Zionism During the Second Constitutional Period, 1908–1915,” in Levy, ed., The Jews of the Ottoman Empire, 532.

  55. 55.

    Duncan Bell, “Empire and Imperialism,” in Claeys and Jones, eds., The Cambridge History of Nineteenth Century Political Thought.

  56. 56.

    Ozavci, Intellectual Origins of the Republic.

  57. 57.

    Ortaylı, “Otomanism,” 532; for Aghayeff’s role as a mediator between the Zionists and the CUP also see, Mandel, The Arabs and Zionism, 118, 120, 146, 148, 163.

  58. 58.

    Landau, “The ‘Young Turks’ and Zionism: Some Comments,” in Landau Jews, Arabs, Turks, 202–3.

  59. 59.

    Fitzmaurice to Tyrell, 27 June 1909, The National Archives, Kew, FO 800/79.

  60. 60.

    Lowther to Hardinge, 29 May 1910, cf. Kedourie, “Young Turks, Free Masons and Jews,” 89–104.

  61. 61.

    Edib, Memoirs of Halide Edib, 278; Ünal, “Britain and Ottoman Domestic Politics,” 11.

  62. 62.

    Türesay, “Antisionisme et antisémitisme,“162.

  63. 63.

    M. Kohen, “Ebuzziya Tevfik Bey’e,” (To Ebuzziya Tevfik Bey), Yeni Tasvir-i Efkar, 4 November 1909, cf. Türesay, “Antisionisme et antisémitisme,” 163.

  64. 64.

    A. Aghayeff, “Korol’ Petr v Konstantinopole. Bolgaro-tureckii pogranichnyi incident. Greko-armianskie patriarhaty i novobrantsy. Sionizm v Turcii. Polozhenie kabineta” (King Peter in Constantinople. The Bulgarian-Turkish border incident. The Greek-Armenian Patriarchy and New Recruits. Zionism in Turkey. The Provision of the Cabinet), Kaspii 76 (4 Apri, 1910): 3.

  65. 65.

    A. Aghayeff, ‘Novyi skandal v parlamente; pereselentsy mohadzhiry; pereselentsy evrei; Dozi i Abdullha Dzhevdet” (The New Scandal in the Parliament. Migrant mohadjir; Migrant Jews; Dozi and Abdullah Cevdet) Kaspii 117 (26 May 1910): 3.

  66. 66.

    BOA DH.MKT. 2885/44, Ministry of Interior Report, 27 July 1909.

  67. 67.

    Landau, “The ‘Young Turks’ and Zionism,” 175.

  68. 68.

    Hayek, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor, 16.

  69. 69.

    Schechtman, Rebel and Statesman, 158.

  70. 70.

    Schechtman, Rebel and Statesman, 159.

  71. 71.

    V. Jabotinsky to Nahum O. Sokolow, 18 January 1910, A.J.I. A 1–2/2 no. 56; V. Jabotinsky, “Pisma iz Konstantinopolya” (Letters from Constantinople), Odesskie Novosti, (November, 1909).

  72. 72.

    Jacobson and Jabotinsky to Wolffsohn, 4 January 1910, A.J.I. A 1–4/4.

  73. 73.

    Wolffsohn to Jacobson, 8 January 1910, A.J.I. A 1–4/4.

  74. 74.

    Schechtman, Rebel and Statesman, 160.

  75. 75.

    Böhm, Die Zionistische Bewegung (The Zionist Movement) Vol. I, 394; cf. Schechtman, Rebel and Statesman, 162.

  76. 76.

    V. Jabotinsky to Nahum O. Sokolow, 18 January 1910, A.J.I. A 1–2/2 no. 56.

  77. 77.

    Press Committee to Cologne, undated, A.J.I. A 1–4/4.

  78. 78.

    V. Jabotinsky to Nahum O. Sokolow, 18 January 1910, A.J.I. A 1–2/2 no. 56; quote cited from Schechtman, Rebel and Statesman, 162.

  79. 79.

    A.J.I. A 1–4/4.

  80. 80.

    Jabotinsky to Wolffsohn, 29 January 1910, cf. Schechtman, 162–163. Scuito was the editor of L’Aurore. As we learn from Jabotinsky’s letter dated 15 February 1910 and addressed to Wolffsohn, he would express at the press committee meeting at Istanbul how Kann’s book jeopardised his situation as an Ottoman Jew: “Gentlemen, you can at any moment pack your bags and leave; but I have to remain in Turkey and I don’t want to become compromised in the eyes of my government.” Schechtman, Rebel and Statesman, 167.

  81. 81.

    Schechtman, Rebel and Statesman, 164.

  82. 82.

    Ibid., 167–8.

  83. 83.

    Memo, 3 February 1910, A.J.I. A 1–4/4.

  84. 84.

    Landau, “The ‘Young Turks1 and Zionism,” 203.

  85. 85.

    Türesay, “Antisionism,” 167–70.

  86. 86.

    Talbot, “Jews, be Ottomans,” 387.

  87. 87.

    Meclisi Mebusan Zabit Ceridesi (Ottoman Parliamentary Proceedings) (MMZC), 1:3:3, 331–333.

  88. 88.

    MMZC 1:6:3:99, 16 May 1911, 554; cf. Zeynep Uçak, “Emanuel Karasu 2,” Shalom, 4 May, 2016.

  89. 89.

    Ahmed Aghayeff, “Pisma Iz Turcii: Debaty Po Povodu Bjudzheta, Inostrannye Intrigi, Vozbuzhdenie k Antisemitizmu” (Letters from Turkey: The Debate over the Budget, Foreign Intrigues, The Stirring for Antisemitism), Kaspii, 11 March, 1911: 3.

  90. 90.

    Hüseyin Cahid, “Siyonizm” (Zionism), Tanin, 4 March, 1911.

  91. 91.

    Mehmed Cavid Bey, Diary entry for 23 April, 1911, Tanin 12 October 1943, no. 47; Aghayeff, “Vozbuzhdenie k Antisemitizmu.” (The Stirring for Antisemitism) Kaspii, 11 March, 1911: 3.

  92. 92.

    (author N.A.) “The Young Turks and Zionism,” The Times, 14 April 1911. This article in The Times came out soon after Celal Nuri suggested the settlement of Jews in Mesopotamia, which was in line with the policies of the Unionists. According to Koloğlu, since the German Anatolian Railway Company was constructing the Baghdad railway at the time, there was belief in London that the settlement plan was a German-Zionist scheme. Koloğlu, Celal Nuri’nin Jeune Turc, 47.

  93. 93.

    (author N.A.). “The Young Turks and Zionism,” The Times, 10 May, 1911.

  94. 94.

    (author N.A.). “Zionism and Turkey,” The Times, 9 May 1911.

  95. 95.

    Kemal, Tarih-i istikbal Münasebetiyle Celal Nuri Bey, 11–13.

  96. 96.

    LJT, 14 September 1913.

  97. 97.

    BOA İ.MMS. 163/1331, 6 April 1913.

  98. 98.

    But this rapprochement came to an end, during the war, when Hochberg was arrested by Ottoman authorities for being involved in Zionist activities. BOA.HR.SYS. 23/2267.

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  1. History of International Relations, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Ozan Ozavci

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  2. Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy

    Simon Levis Sullam

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Ozavci, O. (2020). A Jewish “Liberal” in Istanbul: Vladimir Jabotinsky, the Young Turks and the Zionist Press Network, 1908–1911. In: Green, A., Levis Sullam, S. (eds) Jews, Liberalism, Antisemitism. Palgrave Critical Studies of Antisemitism and Racism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48240-4_12

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