YÜZÜNCÜ YILINDA MEŞRUTİYET’İN İLANI VE GAYRİMÜSLİM CEMAATLER
THE DECLARATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY IN ITS 100TH ANNIVERSARY AND NON-MUSLIM COMMUNITIES

Summary/Abstract: Most of non-Muslim communities worked in cooperation with the Committee of Union and Progress in the process of declaration of the Second Constitutional Monarchy, The declaration of the Constitutional Monarchy was celebrated with great joy which had not been not throughout the Ottoman history by that time and it was observed that almost every non-Muslim communities participated in the celebration. However, the Bulgarian declaration of independence and the annexation of Bosnia Herzegovina by the Austrian-Hungary Empire and Crete by Greece respectively, spoiled this cozy atmosphere and consecutive land losses showed that the expected miracle was a difficult task in respect of the empire’s future and the union of components and caused a big disappointment. The passing the law of compulsory military service for non-Muslims, elections after the entry into force and the Adana events conveyed that the realization of “union of components” with the Constitutional Monarchy was too difficult. In this context, compulsory military service functioned like a litmus paper and revealed the fact that the loyalty of non-Muslims to the Ottoman Empire was too weak and they never felt a belonging.

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