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Midhat Cemal Kuntay
THE TÜRBANED REVOLUTIONARY ALİ STJAVİ i 10 12 12 12 A COMPETITION
Abdurrahman Sami P., when ini ster of Education, under Sultan Abdul-Aziz, opened a competition ^n order to select teachers for the rüşdjye (secondary) schools. Among the comptitors was a boy- wearing a turban. He was small for his age. His incipient beard and moustache ware always to remain scanty. His name was Ali Suatri.
Suavl was classed first in the competition. The Minister had been present at the examination, and remarked the turbaned boy.
When the examination was over he talked to him and marvelled at his knowledge. He took him under his special protection. However those
who considered his physical aspect, and shabby attire with a ridiculously large turban, did not think him fit to be a teacher in a seco dary
school. Sait P. disregarded public ooinion. A vezir, possessor of 200,000 lirasj* and of a kiosk and konak each surrounded wwith vast grounds, he had not disdained to treat as a friend a happy-vo-lucky scholar sucl/as the Persian Safa Hoca and to be photographed in his company. He appointed the boy head teacher in the secondary school in Bursa.
Public opinion did not appreciate the nomination. A teacher to them meant a middle-aged, respectable man. Suavi was dismissed
O at the earliest opportunity,
.x'fct dhaxxshm! nxSanat xibcx at t axx ât xk t a r a.
He was homeless and penniless.
Abdurrahman Sami P. off red him a shelter. In the selamlık department of his konak at Taskassab and kiosk at Büyük Çamlıca were rooms reserved to destitute scholars.'"'
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VLw-A HOMELESS MVLw-AN
4
Suavi had no house, no furniture, no clothing, no money, no relations.
iven after he married he lived the life of a bachelor.
Unlike the the turbaned dependents such as private teachers, librarians, and imams in other konaks, Suavi Hoca was treated like
Hasan, Baqi, and Necib (afterwards Damad Necib P,, vtoo married A sister of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II).
When Suavl was appointed teacher in the secondary school in Filibe (philipoopoli) Sami P. was no longer Minister of Education, but the appointment was probably due to his influence. Suavi departed
from the konak for his new destination.
After Sat P . ’s death Suavi found a shelter in Subhl P . ’s konak. He obtained from Subhi P. to have soa of the war refugees from Filibe
sheltered in his kiosk at Çamlıca. The kio3k already sheltered^95
refugees, but on Suavi's intercession room was found for more .
When Suavi was in London he married a pretty English <lrl
andreturned to Istanbul with her and they lived in a house at
Binblrdlrek with a view on the sea. For the first t.iaeln his life Suavi had a home of his own, but it hel a reminiscence of Sami ?•’■ house because the drawing-room »was furnished with an Empire set lent'by Hasan 3., who had inherited it from his father. V/hen Suavi was appointed director of the Imperial School (Galata Saray) he
settled th r with his wife and returned the set of furniture to
Ha san B
3
The second house rented by Suavi was the Direkli Yalı at Semsipaşa, Üsküdar ^ a n d he lived there until he was appointed director of
Galata Saray. His lodging in the school with his wife gave cause r
to misunderstanding and calumny ^ . i
Nowhere did Suavi find the atmosphere of comfort and friend!**»«« he had enjoyed in the konaks and kiosks of Sami P. and Subhi P.
Neither in the office of the Muhbir, which he published in London, nor in the house at Binbirdirek or in the Direkli Yalı at Üsküdar was he so happy. His closest friends were Baqi Bey, and Ilecib Bey, a secretary in the Ottoan Embassy in Paris.
Baqi B. was a froe-thitiker, perhaps the first in the Islamic
Orient in the l$tV' century, although many atheists have been seen.
He loved Suavi because Suavi, In that softa's cloak which he detested, shared the same viewsf Perhaps Baqi B, thought that Suavi could
find in his Oriental culture sources of energy to vanquish those
who use religion f^r a commerce of falsehood. He even held him superior to /bdulhaq Hfimid, as intim ted by the latter in a letter written
to Plrizade İbrahim B. * when a secretary in he Embassy in Paris,
«I &m nownot corresponding but warring with Baqi B. is commander
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17 I hope that he will not Imitate the Serbians by proclaiming himself
victorious when vanquished .
.ecib P . ’s friendship, unlike that of Baql B., was quite desintereî ted. It was one of the very rare joys in Suavl’s life. Letters exchangee between them prove how false were the anonymous accusations published
after the Çıragan Affair. One was that -uavl was solicitous and^-"-funnel
importunate Letters written by Necib B. from Pari s - w w i t hat
Suavl was a sober and respectable man. When Suavi was himself in aris he invited Necib 3, to dinner and once offered to lend him money. In a letter dated Şevval 5 1292 Necib B. wrote from Paris
to his elder brother Halim B.,
"Our brother Hasan Bey Efendi lately wrote to Suavi Efendi a letter which he did not send hy my humble intermediary. Suavi Efendi read to me only part of it and did not show me the rest. From this I infer that a proposal ws made about me in obedience to your wl sh
I am too proud to apjly for oney to that efendi even if I w»ee in straight circumstances. I would not act so disrenutably. I only regret that if anything wixtkxtxktndxw like that was written it will lower me in his esteeem and I shall not be able to look him
18 in the face. This is a very serious blow to me, as my brothers should
know. Sod Is witness that until now I have not seoken a word about money to Suavi Efendi and, ixte»p®:j so God help me, never will, although since I am here Suavl Efendi assured me by word of mouth and by letter that he was ready to help me in any way. I told him that I am quite comfortable and that, thanks to my father, I want
4. nothing."
In another letter from Paris Necib Bey wrote,
"Po not think 100 francs too much for my teacher. He is to come for one hour every day. He 1s a friend öf Suavi Efendi, and a really efficient teacher. At the end of two months’ time fromnow he will
stay two hou^s every day for the same salary. Our Bulgarian gave three losson3 a week for 130 rancs. We shouod be thankful that a man of letters, a poet, facile in speech, accepts 100 francs for
two hours’ lessons every day. I owe this to Suavi Efendi’s kindness. Really I can never forget the friendship and help he showed me.
V/e meet constantly. He had invited me to dinner this evening, and I have just come back. No one in the Embassy knoeythat we meet,
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19 friends in the world, one is Kâmil Efendi \ and the other Suavi
Efendi. If Suavi Efendi were not here I would be reduced to the company p
of my colleagues. 11 Ramazan 92."
Suavi would not submit to the general rules and collective
opinions which govern society. He was an incorrigible rebel, a proud indivualist who detached himself from the crowd. Yet, besides Sami P.'s family he found another valuable friend, Said P. of Egin, Grand-Marshal in the Court of Abdul-Hamid II.
That was a strange court. You could meet there men of such opposed mettle as Fehim P. and Gazi Osman P. That is how a straightforward
and highly educated man like Said P. of Elgin could be employed there. Although of pure Turkish blood he wasjsurnaad "the English Said Paşa" because he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. Suavi,
who married an English girl, who learned the English language, and appreciated the policy of the British Government, was inclined to admire a man educated in Great-Britain. They became friends. It is through Said P.'s recommendation that Suavi became director of Galata Saray. When he returned from Europe it is through Said P.'s recommenda tion that he was for a while privy couselor to Abdul-Hamid II.
To be a friend of Suavi cost a high price. Three of his friends were punished, including two of SamiP.'s sons. Following the Çıragan Affair Baqi B.was banished to Kastamnnu because he aras an intimate friend of Suavi. Necib. B., who was engaged to marry the Sultan's
sister, was forced to put off hi s '^Sa i d P. of Elgin was
dismissed from the Palace and aopointed governor of Ankara.
It is reported, but without proof, that when Suavi ceased publishing the newspaper Muhbir in London, and began to publish two reviews,
Ulum Gazetesi in Paris, and Muvaqqten Ulum Müşterilerine in Lion, he received financial aid from the Minister of War, Hüseyin Avni P.
allowed the, marriage to take place and conferred on Necib B
(^b^Baqi B. was appointed Chief Secretary in the Province of Kastamonu.
“ — ■ ' ' — When
Suavi*s papers were examined one letter proved that Necib B. had no part whatever in that tragic conspiracy. The Sultan was very pleased. He
l/the rank of vezir which gave him the title of Paşa. See Alâeddin Gövsa, Türk Meşhurları, p.280.
FOOTNOTES
PAGE 1, ,
1. The date of his entering the competition has not "been determined.
We know only that Sami P. was Minister of Education from 127^ to 1278. Suavi, in a letter published in the newspaper yakit (No.393* November 10 1291/22 November 1876/Zilqade 5 1293), wrote, I was
born in Istanbul, but from the age of fifteen I have been traveling...ff
As his first appointment was to Bursa it is possible that he entered
the competition in 1273* .
2. Abdurrahman Adil, Hadi sata. Huquqlye. Iqdam Printintoff ice 1922,
p • 14 3 •
\
xgxxaxanxKatgaxxx One of Sami P.'s protegds whose society he enjoyed was the Persian Safa Hoca. One year he did not folow the Paşa to
his summer residence at Çamlıca, Put remained fcn the konak at Taşkassab, Sami P. asked him to comeand see him ât Çamlıca, and promised that
he would assure the means of conveyance. Her sent his carriara and pair by the ferry-boat boat from Üsküar to Istanbul. Safa Hoca, unaware
of the existence of a private carriage, landed at the station of
Üsküdar, and rode one of the horseb used in the vegetable garden
of Çamlıca. The above anecdote was related to me by Kenapir zade Nuri Bey, a member of the Society of New Ottomans.
4. Even when he was director of the Imperial School (Galata Saray) Suavi dressed shabbily. Abdurrahman Şeref B, writes, "His speech^ and aspect were wretched. He b'Sght ready-made clothes which were too big for him, and excited derision as he waddled clumsily about the school.".Tarih musahabeleri. Imperial Printing-Office 1339,
pp.181 and 207. > & ~
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.
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FOOTNOTES
PAGE 2
1.1 owe +his information to Subhi P,*s daughter, wife of Yusuf Zıya P.
2* I owe this in ormation to Ayşe Hanım and to Abdulhaq Hamid^a After Suavi*s death his widow married an Armenian and they lived in Paris. See Abdurrahman Adil.Uadi sati huoualve. p.168.
3. I owe this information to Vahhab Kocamemi, nephew and
son-in-law of Hasan Bey.
4* Hadlsati Iluauaive. p.169.
5. See Abdurrahman Şeref, Tarih Musahabeleri. p.287<
6. Baqi Bey's dislike of softas reached a degree which annoved hi Brothers. Bellowing an article entitled teşrif (Education) Keolb P.
wrote to their elder brother Halim B.,
"Baqi Bey has given a new pfoof pf folly by publishing that article, most unsatisfactory to all of us,On education, which has
offended all the class of ulema and aroused them against him. That selfish action of his has been detrimental to all of us. In order to prevent him from committing such follies in the future I agreed with our brother Hasan Bey Efendi that we write a letter to reprimand him. I am sending the newspaprs conta^n^ng the answers varitten by the ulema,"/fBîtober 2% 97, Your servant, Ahmed Hecib."
In another letter written by Necib P. to Halim B. is the following postscript,
The hocas have intensified their campaign against Baqi Bey, and petitlResented?to the Throne through the şeyhülislam for his punishment. We
are endeavoring to prevent their action by inducing him to apologize. Some hocas came to the Tconak and promised, out of respect for our
. ___j. - ________ __ o o +4 r \ r \ V> £\ n J
borne nocas Lctmc — — jr- ---- *
father's memory,under such a condition to suppress an action. Baqi Bey
n o w understands that the result of his action is serious. He accepted
the condition and went to-day to Fatih to write an aP ° ^ w° e r‘1
wl8h-FOOTNOTES
PAGE
r $ * •Pfrizade ibrahim Beytiwas a cousin of Abdulhaq Hamid. He was
Minister of Justice after the proclamation of the Constitution in
1908
,
•"PA4j®^3
1* ektublar, Ahdulhaq Hâmld. Külliyatı Asar. Library Asarı Müfide, vol.I-II, p.248.
2. See below chapter entitled Çır - gan Vaqasi, pp.160-163.
3, Unpublished autograph letter communicated by rahhab Kocamemi.
PAGE 4
1 .Kâmil Gfendiwws one of the students sent by Tesid P. to study
in iurope. Hewws known as Kâfili the Kurd” . His younrer brother Abdullah
P, was known! n the district of Aksaray in Istanbul as a member of
the "Gang of Twelve". Kâmil Tf, was appointed director of some provin- cial custom-houses. When he came to Istanbul he stayed in Sami P . ’s konak, and for a while he taught French to Sami P . ’s sons, Hasan and Halim. Saihi$P. thought it stransrewto learn rench from a Kurd". Thereupon his sons engaged a French teacher.
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