Partners of the Empire: The Crisis of the Ottoman Order in the Age of Revolutions by Ali Yaycioglu

Author:Ali Yaycioglu
Language: eng
Format: azw3, pdf
Tags: Turkey & Ottoman Empire, Modern, General, Middle East, 18th Century, History
ISBN: 9780804796125
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2016-05-02T21:00:00+00:00

Map 4a. War and the 1807 revolution. The author and Philip Schwartzberg / Meridian Mapping.

In May 1808, Behiç went to Istanbul to meet Mustafa IV’s associates to discuss the conditions for allowing Bayraktar into Istanbul for a military intervention against the janissaries. When associates of Mustafa’s expressed an interest in Selim’s execution, Behiç convinced them that it was not the right time for this, because Napoleon would object. As a result, Mustafa’s associates agreed to support the coup by Bayraktar clandestinely, but not to harm Selim. Mustafa IV appointed Behiç as financial director of the imperial army and sent him back to Edirne.161 The second leg of the conspiracy was in Edirne. The plan was to persuade the grand vizier to lead the imperial army to Istanbul. In early July, Bayraktar, with his close associate Ahmed of Ruse, unexpectedly came to Edirne with five or six thousand cavalrymen to visit the imperial army.162 On the way, several other provincial notables, such as the intendant of Skopje, the ayan of Hasköy, the intendant of Drama, the intendant of Plovdiv, the ayan of Pazarcık, the ayan of Shumen, and the çorbacı (Bulgarian notable) of Pravişte, joined Bayraktar’s forces. Tayyar, who had been dismissed from his office of deputy grand vizier, met Bayraktar on his way, but he did not join him.163 In mid July, Bayraktar arrived in Edirne with considerable forces, which were not expected by the grand vizier.164 This visit was also a demonstration of force to the grand vizier, who had invited the rival notables of Bayraktar to Silistra for a possible alliance. It was not clear whether Bayraktar disclosed the real plan to the grand vizier. According to Asım, he did not. Bayraktar, Behiç, and Refik persuaded the grand vizier to take the army back to Istanbul. According to the protocol of the meeting, Bayraktar gave a long speech and complained of high prices in Edirne, which made provisioning difficult.165 The best option was to move the army to Istanbul. Bayraktar added that he would join them so that he could kiss the sultan’s feet.166

The Friends of Ruse’s Coup (July 1808)

A couple of days before the imperial army moved on Istanbul, Bayraktar asked Ketencioğlu Ali, ayan of Pınar Hisar, a small town in eastern Thrace, to go to the citadel in the village of Rumeli Feneri and kill Kabakçıoğlu Mustafa, the leader of the May revolution, so as to nip any resistance to the planned coup in the bud. On July 15, before the yamaḳs and janissaries in Istanbul heard about the assassination of Kabakçıoğlu, the imperial army started to move, arriving four days later at Davud Pasha, the military camp in front of the walls of Istanbul. According to Arif Efendi, Mustafa IV’s privy secretary (sırr-kātibi), no one in the palace expected this move: “His Majesty, the grandees and the ulema, the notables and the commoners, everybody asked the same question, ‘What is going on, what might be the reasons behind the coming of the army?’ Misleading news was circulating.

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