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Articles by Uğur Zekeriya Peçe

New Perspectives on Turkey, 2024

Focusing on the long aftermath of the July Revolution of 1908 in the Ottoman Empire, this article... more Focusing on the long aftermath of the July Revolution of 1908 in the Ottoman Empire, this article examines the intellectual and popular climate of protest in the context of a crisis of sovereignty over Crete. Keeping the geographical focus on İstanbul and on the regions receiving tens of thousands of civilians displaced from this Mediterranean island around the turn of the twentieth century, I discuss how multiple segments of a refugee population animated a mass protest movement. Pursuing a multi-class perspective, the article demonstrates how the mobilization of the displaced rested on the actions of mutually reinforcing social clusters: an upper-class cohort of Cretans based in İstanbul and more numerous but equally vocal underprivileged groups from the provinces. Approaching displacement as a condition that generates not only victimhood but also impetus for collective action, I argue that the displaced Cretans became the leading agents of mass politics in the post-revolutionary Empire.

International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2020

With the reinstatement of the parliament in 1908, the Ottoman state faced new challenges connecte... more With the reinstatement of the parliament in 1908, the Ottoman state faced new challenges connected to citizenship. As a policy to finally make citizens equal in rights as well as duties, military conscription figured prominently in this new context. For the first time in Ottoman history, the empire's non-Muslims began to be drafted en masse. This article explores meanings of imperial citizenship and equality through the lens of debates over the conscription of Greek Ottomans, the largest non-Muslim population of the Ottoman Empire. In contrast to the widespread suggestion of the Turkish nationalist historiography on these matters, Greek Ottomans and other non-Muslim populations enthusiastically supported the military service in principle. But amidst this general agreement was a tremendous array of views on what conscription ought to look like in practice. The issue came to center on whether Greek Ottomans should have separate battalions in the army. All units would eventually come to be religiously integrated, but the conscription debates in the Ottoman parliament as well as in the Turkish and Greek language press reveal some of the crucial fissures of an empire as various actors were attempting to navigate between a unified citizenship and a diverse population.

Middle Eastern Studies, 2018

Book Reviews by Uğur Zekeriya Peçe

Journal of World History , 2020

Translations by Uğur Zekeriya Peçe

London Review of Books, 2021

Teaching Documents by Uğur Zekeriya Peçe

This course explores one of the longest lasting empires in world history with particular attentio... more This course explores one of the longest lasting empires in world history with particular attention to how transregional movements, developments, networks, and ideas shaped the regions, communities, and individuals under its rule and influence. By approaching Ottoman history as a dynamic story of interactions and exchanges, we will cover various topics such as constitutionalism, revolution, imperialism, capitalism, citizenship, violence, and mobility. The readings for this seminar reflect state of the art in Ottoman studies and are meant to familiarize you with the field. In addition to studying some of the major themes in Ottoman history, through our discussions of historiography, we will also reflect on the scholarship about the Ottoman Empire in relationship to other fields of the discipline, especially world history. Course etiquette Please arrive on time, prepared to be fully present in class. Unexcused absences will be reflected in your participation grade for the course. If your e-mail to me requires a response, you will have it within twenty-four hours, except on weekends. I do not want you to hesitate at all to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns related to the course or anything that you think might affect your success in it. Mobile phones must be switched off while in class. Ideally, you should obtain paper copies of the readings. If this is not possible, you will also find them electronically on CourseSite or through the library. If you go the second route, please use your laptop/tablet exclusively for course readings. Grading Active class participation (30%): This is a discussion intensive seminar, so please come to class having carefully read the assigned text(s) for the day. Productive and engaged participation involves regular comments, critique, and questions that indicate that you have closely read the course material and deeply thought about the methodology, arguments, narratives, and silences in it. Leading Class (10%): Depending on the number of students enrolled, everyone will lead class at least once. They will present the assigned readings focusing on their arguments, narrative structure, historical evidence, and contributions to the field of history (maximum 25 minutes). The presenter will conclude their overview by posing four discussion questions for the class to consider. These will help set off our

Conference Presentations by Uğur Zekeriya Peçe

Workshop on Caricatures as a Sphere of Communication in the Late- and Post-Ottoman Context, 2024

Books by Uğur Zekeriya Peçe

Island and Empire: How Civil War in Crete Mobilized the Ottoman World, 2024

In the 1890s, conflict erupted on the Ottoman island of Crete. At the heart of the Crete Question... more In the 1890s, conflict erupted on the Ottoman island of Crete. At the heart of the Crete Question, as it came to be known around the world, were clashing claims of sovereignty between Greece and the Ottoman Empire. The island was of tremendous geostrategic value, boasting one of the deepest natural harbors in the Mediterranean, and the conflict quickly gained international dimensions with an unprecedented collective military intervention by six European powers. Island and Empire shows how events in Crete ultimately transformed the Middle East.

Uğur Zekeriya Peçe narrates a connected history of international intervention, mass displacement, and popular mobilization. The conflict drove a wedge between the island's Muslims and Christians, quickly acquiring a character of civil war. Civil war in turn unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe with the displacement of more than seventy thousand Muslims from Crete. In years following, many of those refugees took to the streets across the Ottoman world, driving the largest organized modern protest the empire had ever seen. Exploring both the emergence and legacies of violence, Island and Empire demonstrates how Cretan refugees became the engine of protest across the empire from Salonica to Libya, sending ripples farther afield beyond imperial borders. This history that begins within an island becomes a story about the end of an empire.

New Perspectives on Turkey, 2024

Focusing on the long aftermath of the July Revolution of 1908 in the Ottoman Empire, this article... more Focusing on the long aftermath of the July Revolution of 1908 in the Ottoman Empire, this article examines the intellectual and popular climate of protest in the context of a crisis of sovereignty over Crete. Keeping the geographical focus on İstanbul and on the regions receiving tens of thousands of civilians displaced from this Mediterranean island around the turn of the twentieth century, I discuss how multiple segments of a refugee population animated a mass protest movement. Pursuing a multi-class perspective, the article demonstrates how the mobilization of the displaced rested on the actions of mutually reinforcing social clusters: an upper-class cohort of Cretans based in İstanbul and more numerous but equally vocal underprivileged groups from the provinces. Approaching displacement as a condition that generates not only victimhood but also impetus for collective action, I argue that the displaced Cretans became the leading agents of mass politics in the post-revolutionary Empire.

International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2020

With the reinstatement of the parliament in 1908, the Ottoman state faced new challenges connecte... more With the reinstatement of the parliament in 1908, the Ottoman state faced new challenges connected to citizenship. As a policy to finally make citizens equal in rights as well as duties, military conscription figured prominently in this new context. For the first time in Ottoman history, the empire's non-Muslims began to be drafted en masse. This article explores meanings of imperial citizenship and equality through the lens of debates over the conscription of Greek Ottomans, the largest non-Muslim population of the Ottoman Empire. In contrast to the widespread suggestion of the Turkish nationalist historiography on these matters, Greek Ottomans and other non-Muslim populations enthusiastically supported the military service in principle. But amidst this general agreement was a tremendous array of views on what conscription ought to look like in practice. The issue came to center on whether Greek Ottomans should have separate battalions in the army. All units would eventually come to be religiously integrated, but the conscription debates in the Ottoman parliament as well as in the Turkish and Greek language press reveal some of the crucial fissures of an empire as various actors were attempting to navigate between a unified citizenship and a diverse population.

Middle Eastern Studies, 2018

Journal of World History , 2020

London Review of Books, 2021

This course explores one of the longest lasting empires in world history with particular attentio... more This course explores one of the longest lasting empires in world history with particular attention to how transregional movements, developments, networks, and ideas shaped the regions, communities, and individuals under its rule and influence. By approaching Ottoman history as a dynamic story of interactions and exchanges, we will cover various topics such as constitutionalism, revolution, imperialism, capitalism, citizenship, violence, and mobility. The readings for this seminar reflect state of the art in Ottoman studies and are meant to familiarize you with the field. In addition to studying some of the major themes in Ottoman history, through our discussions of historiography, we will also reflect on the scholarship about the Ottoman Empire in relationship to other fields of the discipline, especially world history. Course etiquette Please arrive on time, prepared to be fully present in class. Unexcused absences will be reflected in your participation grade for the course. If your e-mail to me requires a response, you will have it within twenty-four hours, except on weekends. I do not want you to hesitate at all to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns related to the course or anything that you think might affect your success in it. Mobile phones must be switched off while in class. Ideally, you should obtain paper copies of the readings. If this is not possible, you will also find them electronically on CourseSite or through the library. If you go the second route, please use your laptop/tablet exclusively for course readings. Grading Active class participation (30%): This is a discussion intensive seminar, so please come to class having carefully read the assigned text(s) for the day. Productive and engaged participation involves regular comments, critique, and questions that indicate that you have closely read the course material and deeply thought about the methodology, arguments, narratives, and silences in it. Leading Class (10%): Depending on the number of students enrolled, everyone will lead class at least once. They will present the assigned readings focusing on their arguments, narrative structure, historical evidence, and contributions to the field of history (maximum 25 minutes). The presenter will conclude their overview by posing four discussion questions for the class to consider. These will help set off our

Workshop on Caricatures as a Sphere of Communication in the Late- and Post-Ottoman Context, 2024

Island and Empire: How Civil War in Crete Mobilized the Ottoman World, 2024

In the 1890s, conflict erupted on the Ottoman island of Crete. At the heart of the Crete Question... more In the 1890s, conflict erupted on the Ottoman island of Crete. At the heart of the Crete Question, as it came to be known around the world, were clashing claims of sovereignty between Greece and the Ottoman Empire. The island was of tremendous geostrategic value, boasting one of the deepest natural harbors in the Mediterranean, and the conflict quickly gained international dimensions with an unprecedented collective military intervention by six European powers. Island and Empire shows how events in Crete ultimately transformed the Middle East.

Uğur Zekeriya Peçe narrates a connected history of international intervention, mass displacement, and popular mobilization. The conflict drove a wedge between the island's Muslims and Christians, quickly acquiring a character of civil war. Civil war in turn unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe with the displacement of more than seventy thousand Muslims from Crete. In years following, many of those refugees took to the streets across the Ottoman world, driving the largest organized modern protest the empire had ever seen. Exploring both the emergence and legacies of violence, Island and Empire demonstrates how Cretan refugees became the engine of protest across the empire from Salonica to Libya, sending ripples farther afield beyond imperial borders. This history that begins within an island becomes a story about the end of an empire.