A critical approach toward Cevdet Pasha's understanding of reform: grandviziers, sultans, and society in the context of tezakir and maruzat

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2311610_(Table of contents)

This thesis aims to reassess the reliability of Ahmed Cevdet Pasha’s Tezakir and Maruzat as the substantial primary sources of the Tanzimat period and go beyond the understanding of the ‘incontestability’ of Cevdet Pasha’s writings. Being originally from the ilmiye class, Cevdet Pasha was one of the most prominent statesmen of the Tanzimat era and actively involved in the implementation of numerous reforms. Therefore, while his accounts are dealt with, it is important to figure out the expectations, purposes, and perspectives that formed the basis of Cevdet's narration in order to evaluate to what extent Cevdet’s accounts are objective and reliable. In this study, first, Cevdet’s subjective attitude toward the five grand viziers —Reşid, Fuad, Âli, Mahmud Nedim, and Midhat Pashas— of the era is examined. Second, Cevdet’s notion of the sultanate is considered and his attitude toward the two sultans of the Tanzimat era—Abdülmecid and Abdülaziz— and their reigns is analyzed. Third, Cevdet’s state-centered view while describing and interpreting the oppositional movements of the people of different strata and diverse regions of the empire is illustrated. Fourth, Cevdet's manner toward İstanbul society, in which he spent most of his life, and societies of Bosnia and the Çukurova region, to where he was sent as a state official are considered. Lastly, the Ottoman political thought is briefly mentioned in order to understand the roots of Cevdet’s traditional and conservative outlook on rulership