59
the two groups were established after the arrival of
influential people who were conservative merchants such as
Dowlatabadi.
In parallel with the Young Turks movement in
Istanbul in June-July 1908, Iranian community’s activities
gained momentum.
133
Mobilization of the community was
caused by arrival of Iranian constitutionalists in Istanbul and
resistance in Tabriz was getting stronger rather than by the
process which led to the declaration
of the first constitutional
era of the Ottoman Empire. In the previous periods, Iranians
in different parts of Europe joined groups that gathered on
the basis of Islamic unity. From this point on,
Encümen-i
Uhuvvet-i İslâm which was founded by intellectuals and
students influenced by ideas of al-Afghānī carried out its
activities since 1897.
134
A Young Turk in Paris named
Ahmad Riza attended its meetings from time to time. Many
Iranian intellectuals such as Amin al-Mulk, Ebu’l Hasan
Pirniya, Mirza Mohammad Khan Kazvini, Ali Akhbar
Dihoda were actively involved in this organization and some
of the joined the Iranian constitutional movement. Dihoda
refers to the charter of
Encümen-e Civan-e İraniyan which
was founded in Yverdon/Switzerland as the charter that was
inherited from the Young Turks in this area
135
. Another
organization was
Komite-yi İran and its members included a
classical Ottoman literature specialist E. J. W. Gibb (d.
1901), distinguished orientalist author and Iranian literature
specialist Edvard G. Browne, his student and a government
official who served in the British embassy in Istanbul for
about twenty years and was on duty during the Treaty of
Lausanne Andrew Ryan, which operated for many years in
133
For more information on the era 1908-1912, see Metin,
op.cit, pp. 231-
237.
134
In a correspondence by Bahaeddin Sakir, a member of the Committee
of Union and Progress dated 21st August 1907 and registry numbered
341, it is seen that committee members attended committe of “uhuvvet-î
İslâm” works in Paris upon approval by the French government. It is
stated that the foundation goal of Uhuvvet-î İslâm committee was to
facilitate the communication and cooperation between the Muslim
students coming from Iran, China, India and Russia. For this topic, see
Filiz Cengiz,
Dr. Nazım ve Bahaeddin Şakir’in Kaleminden İttihat ve
Terakki Cemiyeti (1906-1907), İstanbul: Istanbul University Institute of
Ataturk’s Principles and Histrory of Revolution Master’s Degree (not
published), 1997, pp. 240- 241.
135
Cemşid Behnam, in Dihoda,
Berlinha: Endişmendan-e İrani der
Berlin, 1915-1930, Tahran, 1379, p. 146.