ABSTRACT
This chapter provides historical framing for Ottoman imperial citizenship that emerged in the years between the 1908 revolution and the First World War. After the long 19th century of uneven reforms, increasing territorial contraction, and imperial crisis, the 1908 Ottoman revolution marked an important turning point for Ottoman subjects-cum-citizens who engaged in visible and widespread public political participation across the empire. In the days and months after the revolution, ordinary Ottomans debated the meaning of “liberty,” “equality,” “fraternity,” “justice,” “public good,” and other political concepts on the streets and on the pages of the newspapers. More importantly, Ottomans quickly participated in various practices of imperial citizenship, including voting in parliamentary and local elections, serving in local councils, carrying out a commercial boycott of a rival empire, and serving in the imperial military. At the same time, unresolved tensions surrounding ethnic and religious diversity crippled this otherwise optimistic moment and derailed the Ottoman imperial citizenship project. Finally, subsequent war and dismemberment of the empire resulted in millions of experienced imperial citizens left without a state.
