Ahmed Rüstem Bey and the End of an Era
2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 48; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/00263206.2012.703616
ISSN1743-7881
Autores Tópico(s)American Constitutional Law and Politics
ResumoAbstract Ahmed Rüstem Bey was accredited as Ottoman Ambassador to the United States of America at a critical juncture before the First World War. The Ottoman Empire had weakened as a result of revolts by many minorities agitating for self-determination and a series of military conflicts culminating in the Balkan Wars. Ahmed Rüstem Bey, though born in Turkey of non-Turkish parentage, was a dyed-in-the-wool Ottoman who felt deeply attached to his country. As Ambassador his stay in the US was short and controversial. Information on Ahmed Rüstem's life and career needs augmentation, and the present article represents an initial attempt to portray this unconventional diplomat. Notes It gives me much pleasure to thank Dr Fran Caplan, Dean, University Libraries, and Bruce Johnston, Librarian, both of Robert Morris University, Moon Township, Pennsylvania for their ceaseless efforts on my behalf in obtaining and verifying from microfilm the original texts of the US newspaper items referred to in this article. William Stewart of Pennsylvania was appointed US consul in Izmir [then also referred to as Smyrna] in 1802, but it appears that the Porte did not give official agreement to this position and it was never formalized. David Porter [1780–1843] spent his early life in the Navy. He took part in several battles and, in 1803, his ship, the Philadelphia, was captured off the coast of Tripoli [then a vassal state acknowledging the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire]. Porter was kept a prisoner until peace was declared in 1805. He became a captain in 1812 and, after seafaring expeditions in Chile, the West Indies and Mexico, was appointed American chargé d'affaires in Istanbul in 1831. In 1839, he was promoted to the rank of minister. He served in Istanbul until his death in 1843. Ships have been named after him and one of his sons, David Dixon Porter, rose to the rank of admiral in the US Navy. Commemorated in the Official Hymn of the US Marine Corps. Chartered in 1812, this was the first American Christian organization for missionary work overseas and remained the premier such body until it was merged with other such societies in 1961. It is estimated that over 5000 missionaries were sent for educational, social and medical duties to various parts of the world through the efforts of the Board. A Scottish family of Catholics, the Blacks emigrated to France after the fall of the Stuarts, modifying their surname to Blacque, from where one branch under Alexandre Blacque [1792–1836] moved to Turkey. It would appear that Edouard Blacque [1824–95] was a son of Alexandre. Edouard Blacque, known in Turkish as Blak Bey or Black Bey [or even Bulak Bey], had an illustrious career in Istanbul. Apart from representing the Ottoman Empire in the diplomatic service in Paris, Naples and elsewhere, he served as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Washington, DC between 1866 and 1873. Furthermore, he was mayor of districts of Istanbul for many years. See Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, ‘Monarchs and Presidents in Islam’, National Review, 21 Nov. 1986 and also under the website http://www.levantineheritage.com/testi58.htm (accessed 29 June 2012), where a detailed account of the Blacque family is given. Here it should be added that the word ‘Bey’ after the name [though still used] was a title of respect for men in Ottoman times. John George Alexander Leishman [1857–1924] was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he worked for Andrew Carnegie, eventually becoming President of Carnegie Steel Company. He was appointed US Ambassador to Switzerland in 1897 and then went to Turkey as Minister in 1900, becoming Ambassador Extraordinary in 1906. After 1909 he served as US Ambassador to Italy and Germany. Hüseyin Kâzım Bey [1860–1920] served as Ottoman Ambassador to Romania before being sent to the US where he was Ambassador between August 1908 and April 1910. Subsequently he was posted as Ambassador to Italy. See Sinan Kuneralp, Son Dönem Osmanlı Erkân ve Ricali (1839–1922) Prosopografik Rehber. [Ottoman Statesmen and Officials of the Last Period (1839–1922) A Prosopographic Guide], (Istanbul: Isis, 2003). Attributed to Sir Henry Wotton [1568–1639], who was England's Ambassador to Venice and, later, Provost of Eton College. Part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, the island [now part of Greece] is called Mytilene or Lesbos. Also spelled Bilinski, Bilinsky, Belinsky, Biliński, Bieliński or Blinski. In his earlier years he was known as Alfred Bielinski. He took up the name Ahmed Rüstem after officially becoming a Muslim in May 1914 (see note 18). In articles published by Ahmed Rüstem Bey he occasionally gives his full name as Ahmed Rüstem de Bilinski. In the present article, he will be referred to generally as Ahmed Rüstem – with or without the Ottoman title of Bey. Seweryn Bielinski [1815–1895] rose to become Major-General in the Ottoman Armed Forces. The name is often quoted as Sadettin Nihâd, but Kantarcı shows that Sadettin is likely to be a misreading of the prefıx ‘Saadetlû’ applied to high officials. See Şenol Kantarcı, Osmanlı' da Onurlu bir Diplomat ve Milli Mücadele'nin Önemli Siması Ahmed Rüstem Bey (Alfred Bielinski – Alfred Rüstem Bey) [Ahmed Rüstem Bey: An Honourable Ottoman Diplomat and an Important Figure in the National Struggle (Alfred Bielinski – Alfred Rüstem Bey)] (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, 2009), pp.38–9. This book will henceforth be referred to in the article as Kantarcı, Ahmed Rüstem Bey The Polish Embassy in Ankara has a link on its website that lists short biographies [in Turkish] of 115 Poles who served in the Ottoman Army in the nineteenth century, including Seweryn Bielinski (Nihad Paşa) and his son, named as Bielinski, Alfred (Rüstem Bey). See www.ankara.polemb.net/index.php?document=115 (accessed 29 June 2012). Bernard Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968), p.345. Fanny Janet Sandison, Lady Blunt, My Reminiscences (London: John Murray, 1918). Currently, the full text of the book is available as an eBook on the Internet. Fanny Janet Sandison [1839–1926] was married to Sir John Elijah Blunt [1832?–1916], British Consul in Salonica for many years before the couple finally settled in Malta. Mine Erol, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun Amerika Büyükelçisi A. Rüstem Bey [A. Rüstem Bey – The Ottoman Empire's Ambassador to America] (Ankara: Bilgi Basımevi, 1973). The book will henceforth be referred to as Erol, Ahmed Rüstem Bey. Kantarcı, Ahmed Rüstem Bey. Mine Erol, Birinci Dünya Savaşı Arifesinde Amerika'nın Türkiye'ye Karşı Tutumu [America's Attitude to Turkey on the Eve of the First World War] (Ankara: Bilgi Basımevi, 1976). However, it appears that the official, or rather public, acceptance of Islam by Rüstem Bey took place sometime in May 1914, as is evidenced from a news item in the New York Times of 23 May 1914 given below [without any spelling corrections]: RUSTEM BEY CONVERTEDFormer Turkish Attaché at Washington Abjures ChristianitySpecial Cable to the New York TimesCONSTANTINOPLE, May 22. – Rustem Bay, Turkish Ambassador to Washington, who is of aristocratic Polish Catholic origin, has just embraced Mohammedanism, taking the name of Achmet.The Sultan, in recognition of his conversion, gave him a jeweled watch.Rustem Bey leaves Constantinople tomorrow. Kantarcı, Ahmed Rüstem Bey, pp.41–2. Erol's book on Ahmed Rüstem Bey mentions [p.8] that he was sent to America in October 1886 and stayed there as Chargé d'Affaires until March 1887. It has been suggested [or assumed] that his complaints on the matter to his superiors were ignored. Ahmed Tevfik Pasha [1845–1936] was Ottoman Foreign Minister between 1899 and 1909, and also served as the last Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. He took the surname Okday when the Surname Law was passed in the Republic of Turkey in 1934. Costaki Anthopoulos [Kostaki Antopulo in Turkish] was a Pasha of Greek origin who was a professor and was later appointed Governor General of the island of Crete. He served as Ottoman Ambassador in London between 1895 and his death in 1902. Details are to be found in Kantarcı, Ahmed Rüstem Bey, pp.43–5, where the main body of Rüstem Bey's letter is also quoted. The text of the item from the New York Times is as follows: Alfred Rustem Bey, who was First Secretary of the Turkish Legation at Washington in 1899, and later Chargé d'Affaires in the absence of Minister Ali Ferrouh Bey, has, according to a dispatch from Constantinople, been summoned to that city to stand trial on the charge of treason in writing revolutionary articles for The Daily Mail of London, in which city he now resides. He said today:‘I have heard of the treason charges. They are the result of a long-standing controversy between the Government and myself. I have long urged the Government to abandon the suicidal course it is now pursuing. Disaster must follow the Sultan's policy. When Chargé d'Affaires at Washington, I had no superior between myself and Constantinople, and I used the opportunity to remonstrate with the Porte, first mildly and then in vigorous terms. I had personal wrongs also for which I could get no redress. Treason in Turkey consists of opposition to the Sultan's disastrous policy. Consequently, I am charged with treason.‘As I have not the slightest intention of returning to Constantinople, the order for my arrest is a matter of indifference to me. I am not identified with the Young Turk Party, but I am full of sympathy with them or any programme for real Turkish reform.’ In a letter from the Lansing papers quoted by Erol, Secretary of State Robert Lansing suggests [without evidence] that during his journalistic activities in Cairo Ahmed Rüstem Bey was financially supported by the Germans through Count von Bernstorff who was then based in Cairo. Refer to Erol, Ahmed Rüstem Bey, pp.44–5. Count von Bernstorff was German Ambassador to the US over the period 1908–17. This reinstatement came about after the Sultan Abdülhamîd had been forced to leave the Ottoman throne on 27 April 1909. Naum Pasha [1846–1911] was a prominent Catholic from a family based in Aleppo. He studied in Istanbul and joined the Turkish Foreign Service. In 1892 he was elevated to the rank of Vizier [Pasha] and appointed Governor-General of the Lebanon for a period of ten years. He later became Ottoman Ambassador to France, and died in Paris in 1911. Erol, Ahmed Rüstem Bey, p.15. The New York Times of 23 June 1914 published a news item which began thus: Washington, June 22. – No sooner had Rustem Bey, the new Turkish ambassador, presented his credentials this afternoon to President Wilson than, asking a moment's conversation, he made strong representations against the sale by the United States to Greece of the two old American battleships, Mississippi and Idaho. To his surprise, he was told by the President that he had assurances from the Greek Legation that the battleships were wanted for peaceful purposes … The Vickers shipyard in Barrow-on-Furness and the Armstrong shipyard on the Tyne originally had an order for the construction and equipment of a warship each for Ottoman Turkey. The Rio de Janeiro, laid down for Brazil at the Armstrong shipyard, was purchased by the Ottomans and re-named Sultan Osman I. The Vickers shipyard worked to produce the Reşadiye. The Turks raised the costs for these ships by public subscription and the money was paid to Britain. The confiscation of the ships [technically in peace time] by Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, had an effect in tilting Ottoman Turkey further towards the Axis powers. The Sultan Osman I was given the name HMS Agincourt and the Reşadiye was given the name HMS Erin. The Vickers and Armstrong shipyards came under the same management in 1927. Henry Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau's Story (New York: Cosimo, 2010), pp.35–9. The news item states, inter alia: The Grand Vizier informed the American Government that the waters of the Dardanelles had been mined and that it would be unsafe for a vessel as large as the North Carolina to go through the Straits. He declared also that it might establish a precedent for the passage of other foreignwarships and suggested that the American naval yacht Scorpion, on duty constantly in Turkish waters, with other light vessels that serve foreign missions, be sent to sea to meet the North Carolina. For information on the life and works of the Grand Vizier, refer to S. Tanvir Wasti, ‘Said Halim Pasha – Philosopher Prince’, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.44, No.1 (2008), pp.85–104. The Capitulations were extra-territorial judicial, commercial and, initially, even religious privileges of various degrees of importance, granted by the Ottoman Empire to France and then to other European states beginning in the sixteenth century. As no words or punctuation in this quotation from the Evening Star have been altered, this word has not been corrected to read ‘pogroms’. The small last paragraph of Ahmed Rüstem Bey's statement as given in the Washington Evening Star of 8 Sept. 1914 was not directly related to his subject, and hence it will be quoted here: The new British move against Turkey is clumsy. It will not cause the United states to modify its attitude. But it has called forth the following telegram from New York to the Turkish embassy.If Turkey goes to war against England, the Hindoos and Mussulmans in India and elsewhere will support her in every way. Thousands of volunteers ready.(Signed) BHAYANKARGadar National Volunteers57 East 200th Street.It may be pointed out here that the volunteers belonged to the Gadar [properly Ghadr, meaning Revolt] Movement, one of several overseas movements aimed at freeing India from British rule.There is much information available on the Ghadr Movement [also referred to as Ghadr Party or even Ghadr Conspiracy]. See the endnotes to S.T. Wasti, ‘The Political Aspirations ofIndian Muslims and the Ottoman Nexus’, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.42, No.5 (2006), pp.709–22. The item begins as follows: Washington, Sept. 11 – The Administration's impatience with A. Rustem Bey, the Turkish ambassador, was shown today, when Secretary Bryan, by direction of President Wilson, sent for the Turkish Envoy and asked him to discontinue his comments in newspapers on subjects of domestic concern to the United States. Afterward Secretary Bryan had an interview with the President, but it is not known that this had more than an incidental reference to the alleged indiscretions of Rustem Bey.The President and other officers of the Administration are understood to have been greatly displeased with statements made by the ambassador in a prepared interview which he furnishedto The Associated Press on Monday night, and which was printed in newspapers on Tuesday. Some of the available correspondence has been appended (with text in English) by Mine Erol to her book (see Erol, Ahmed Rüstem Bey, pp.56–66). The text of a letter by Robert Lansing to Secretary of State Bryan is given in Erol, Ahmed Rüstem Bey, pp.60–1 in which the last paragraph reads as follows: ‘I do not think that it would comport with the dignity of this Government, after the public utterances of the Ambassador and his statement, which aggravates the situation, to permit him to represent Turkey at this capital. His usefulness here has ended, and he (is) unquestionably persona non grata’. See Erol, Ahmed Rüstem Bey, pp.41–2. Erol suggests that Ahmed Rüstem may have sensed some general danger or some harm coming to him from enemies. In the event, he finished his journey safely and returned to Istanbul. This is the only evidence available that Ahmed Rüstem Bey was married. According to Kantarcı, Ahmed Rüstem Bey, p.93, research conducted by him in the files of the Retirement Fund Office revealed no information about any descendants of Rüstem Bey. The Ansonia, once a hotel, is still a famous building on Broadway in New York. The incidents surrounding Rüstem Bey in the US were referred to in the American press from time to time after his departure. Thus, on page 8 of the Evening Ledger, Philadelphia, dated Tuesday, 13 Oct. 1914, is a short poem which is facetiously titled ‘Au Reservoir’ and goes as follows: Rustem BeyHe had his say.He's gone awaySo ends this layOf Rustem Bey.In the journal called The Crisis (which was founded by W.E.B. Du Bois in 1910 and is the official magazine of the NAACP) dated Dec. 1914, under the chapter titled Opinion, the following item is to be found:W. Steward, in the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph voices the colored Americans' quiet chuckle over the incident of the Turkish ambassador:Ah, Rustem Bey! Ah, Rustem Bey!You touched our cancer spot, they say;And shamed us till we could not pray,O Rustem Bey! O Rustem Bey!Go! Rustem Bey! Go! Rustem Bey!May peace attend you on your way,*****************************We trust you may return some day,A. Rustem Bey! A. Rustem Bey!The Daily Post and Record of Rochester, Minnesota, in its issue of 13 Oct. 1915, under an itemtitled The Armenian Massacres, also refers unfavourably to the incident of ‘one A. Rustem Bey’. Ahmed Muhtar [1870–1934], became a Member of the Turkish Parliament after the establishment of the Republic in 1923. He briefly worked as Acting Foreign Minister, and was appointed Ambassador to the US in 1927, where he served for over six years. Work needs to be done even to compile a reliable list of the writings of Ahmed Rüstem Bey. In chronological order, the following may be given (bibliographical details are insufficient in some cases as it has not been possible to locate the writings themselves, but only references to them): A. Rustem Bey de Bilinski, ‘The Turkish Revolution’, The Nineteenth Century and After, Vol.64 (1908), p.354; Ahmed Rustem Bey, La guerre mondiale et la question Turco-Arménienne [The World War and the Turco-Armenian Question] (Bern: Staempfli, 1918). This book has been translated into Turkish as well as English. The English translation entitled The World War and the Turco-Armenian Question is by Stephen Cambron and is available on the Internet as an e-book; Ahmed Rustem Bey, Le crise proche-orientale et la question des détroits de Constantinople [The Near Eastern Crisis and the Question of the Straits of Constantinople] (Rome: publisher unknown, 1922); Ahmed Rustem Bey, ‘La Paix d'Orient et l'accord franco-turc’ [Peace in the East and the Franco-Turkish Accord], L'Orient et Occident (1922); A. Rustem Bey, ‘The Future of the Oecumenical Patriarchate’, Foreign Affairs, Vol.3, No.4 (1925), pp.604–10; A. Rustem Bey, ‘Turkey Taking Her Place among Modern Nations’, Current History, Vol.25 (1927), p.670; Ahmed Rüstem Bey, ‘Die Zukunft der Türkei’, Zeitschrift für Politik, Vol.20 (April 1930). In a letter dated 24 Feb. 1934 sent to the Interior Minister, Şükrü Kaya, Ahmed Rüstem Bey also refers to a work he has completed, called La Turquie devant le tribunal mondial – son passé, son présent, son avenir. This is untraceable. Some information on the duels (with a Greek major and a Greek diplomat) is given in Kantarcı, Ahmed Rüstem Bey, pp.83–4. These severe terms were later incorporated into the Treaty of Sèvres signed by the defeated Ottoman Empire on 10 Aug. 1920. Mustafa Kemal Pasha [1881–1938], who took the surname Atatürk when the Surname Law waspassed in Turkey in 1934, was a distinguished general on several fronts during the First WorldWar, including Gallipoli. Sent as an Inspector-General from Istanbul after the war, he landedin Samsun on the Black Sea coast on 19 May 1919 and began efforts to co-ordinate armed Turkish resistance to rescue Turkey from the conditions brought about by the Ottoman defeat. In thishe was successful in spite of all odds, and he later became the first President of the Republic of Turkey. Hüseyin Rauf Orbay [1881–1964] was a Turkish naval officer and (later) diplomat and statesman. During the First World War he achieved fame as the captain of the cruiser Hamidiye for daring naval exploits. He participated in the Erzurum and Sivas Congresses as a delegate and joined the Turkish resistance. After 1923 he became the first Prime Minister of the new Republic of Turkey. Later, during the Second World War, he was the Turkish Ambassador in London. James Guthrie Harbord [1866–1947] retired as Lieutenant General in the US Army. He had an illustrious army career before moving into the private sector. He was sent by President Wilson in 1919 as the leader of a delegation which sought to investigate the conditions of minorities in the area of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War, including an assessment of the feasibility of implementing the Balfour Declaration. Mazhar Müfit Kansu, Erzurum'dan Ölümüne Kadar Atatürk'le Beraber [With Ataturk from Erzurum till his death] (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1988), Vol.II, p.490. This parliament was called Osmanlı Meclis-i Mebusân or Ottoman Assembly of Deputies. Called Misâk-ı Millî in Turkish, the National Pact was a six-point declaration laying down the acceptable geographical borders and political conditions of the post-war Turkish state. Kara Vasıf [1872–1931] was an army officer who participated in the Sivas Congress and was elected asone of the Delegation of Representatives. He was exiled to Malta along with many other prominentTurks in 1920 but was released in 1921. Later, he was also a member of the Turkish parliamentfor a term until 1923. He was one of those taken into custody in 1926 in connection with an attempt on the life of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, but was acquitted. He died in an accident in Istanbul in 1931. Ali Fuat Cebesoy [1882–1968] was a celebrated general in the Turkish War of Independence; he was a lifelong bachelor. He also served as a member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, and has written several books, including his memoirs. Adnan Adıvar [1882–1955], Turkish politician, writer and parliamentarian, who was a medical doctor by profession. He was the second husband of Halide Edib. Halide Edib [1884–1964] was, according to her obituary in The Times of London in 1964, a ‘Turkish Writer and Woman of Action’. She was a brilliant speaker, wrote novels and memoirs, became a parliamentarian and also Professor of English Literature. Mazhar Müfit Kansu, Erzurum'dan Ölümüne Kadar, 2 vols. Mazhar Müfit's account mentions how Ahmed Rüstem later in the evening requested him to convey (as his second) a duelling challenge to the Pasha. When Mazhar Müfit informed Mustafa Kemal Pasha of Ahmed Rüstem's reaction, the Pasha laughed off the challenge and suggested broomsticks as the chosen weapon. Full details of this matter are given in Kansu, Vol.II, pp.507–11. It is mentioned that some years later, on learning that Ahmed Rüstem Bey was in financial difficulties, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, now President of the Republic of Turkey, approved a monthly pension for Ahmed Rüstem who had taken up residence in Europe. See also Erol, Ahmed Rüstem Bey, pp.50–2. Quoted from Rüstem Bey's article in Current History by Samuel Haig Jameson, ‘Social Mutation in Turkey’, Social Forces, Vol.14, No.4 (1936), pp.482–96 (see note 44). The other two were the poet Abdülhak Hâmid and Abdurrahman Şeref Bey. E. Açıkses and O.K. Gül, ‘Osmanlı Toplumunda Aidiyetlik Duygusuna Bir Örnek: Ahmet Rüstem (Alfred Bilinski) Bey’ [An Example of the Feeling of Belonging to the Ottoman Community: Ahmet Rüstem (Alfred Bilinski) Bey], Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi [Firat University Journal of Social Science], Vol.19, No.1 (2009), pp.169–84. The information related to the death of Rustem Bey is to be found at: spiderbites.nytimes.com/pay_1934/articles_1934_09_00001.html (accessed 29 June 2012).
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