Introduction to the Relationship of the Ottoman Empire with Ceylon Island
Ekrem SaltıkSri Lanka, an island country which has been known as Serendib and Ceylon in the past and which was named the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in the 20th century, has been one of the most important actors of international trade along the busy maritime routes of West Asia, China and the Far East throughout history. Relations between Sri Lanka and the Ottoman State, which has a deep-rooted history and an interesting network of relationships that are important in terms of Ottoman history as well as world history, date back to the last quarter of the 19th century in general, however, the history of some of the Muslims on the island has been enriched by a much older collective socio-cultural path. Political and economic processes on this small island country have been the basis for the relations of the Ottoman Empire with the region in the last quarter of the 19th century and the new appointments that Abdulhamid II would make to Ceylon Island, which had already been contacted in the context of consulship, would consist of choices that could penetrate the sociocultural hierarchy of the region. The local activities of the consuls contributed to the affinity of Ceylon Muslims for the Ottoman State in the second half of the 19th century, when the expectations of South Asian Muslims regarding the Ottoman State peaked. In fact, it can be argued that the affinity of Moor Muslims, one of the most populous minorities of modern Sri Lanka, that is still ongoing for the Ottoman State, has been fostered by the works carried out during this period. This article focuses on a different geographical section of the policies of the Ottoman State regarding South Asian Muslims in the Indian ocean, especially in the context of the Pan-Islamist character of the policy of Abdulhamid II in the region. In this context it will deal with the relations between Sri Lanka [Ceylon] and the Ottoman State, which constitute a geographical area that has not undergone an in-depth examination to date. The consulship processes and subsequent political careers of the individuals and families that the Ottoman State had appointed as representatives specific to Ceylon, will be discussed in the context of the affinity and friendship for Turks that is older than the Ottoman State.
Osmanlı Devleti’nin Seylan Adası ile İlişkilerine Methal
Ekrem SaltıkGeçmişte Serendib ve Seylan gibi farklı isimlerle anılan ve 20. yüzyılda Sri Lanka Demokratik Sosyalist Cumhuriyeti adını alan bir ada ülkesi olan Sri Lanka, tarih boyunca Batı Asya, Çin ve Uzakdoğu güzergâhındaki işlek deniz yollarında gerçekleştirilen uluslararası ticaretin önemli aktörlerinden biri olmuştur. Sosyoekonomik açıdan dünya tarihi kadar Osmanlı tarihi açısından da önemli olan köklü bir geçmiş ve ilginç bir ilişkiler ağına sahip olan Sri Lanka ile Osmanlı Devleti arasındaki ilişkiler, genel hatlarıyla 19. yüzyılın son çeyreğine tarihlendirilen ama adadaki Müslümanların bir kısmı açısından geçmişi çok daha eskilere uzanan kolektif bir sosyo-kültürel izlekten beslenmektedir. Bu küçük ada ülkesindeki siyasi ve ekonomik süreçler, Osmanlı Devleti’nin 19. yüzyılın son çeyreğinde bölgeyle kurduğu ilişkilerin de zemini olmuş, II. Abdülhamid’in kendinden önce zaten şehbenderlik bağlamında temasa geçilmiş olan Seylan Adası’na yapacağı yeni atamalarda, bölgenin sosyo-kültürel hiyerarşisine nüfuz edebilecek seçimler yapılmıştır. Söz konusu şehbenderlerin yereldeki çalışmaları, Güney Asya Müslümanlarının Osmanlı Devleti ile ilgili beklentilerinin doruğa ulaştığı 19. yüzyılın ikinci yarısı itibariyle Seylan Müslümanlarının da Osmanlı Devleti’ne dair bir sempati duymasında katkı sağlayıcı olmuştur. Nitekim modern Sri Lanka’nın en kalabalık azınlıklardan biri olan Moor Müslümanlarının Osmanlı Devleti’ne karşı hâlen dâhi sürmekte olan sempatisinin bu dönemdeki çalışmalardan da beslendiğini söylemek mümkündür. Bu zeminde Osmanlı Devleti’nin Güney Asya Müslümanlarıyla ilgili politikalarının, Hint okyanusundaki farklı bir coğrafi kesitine yoğunlaşacak olan bu makale, özellikle II. Abdülhamid’in bölgeyle ilgili siyasetinin panislâmist karakteri bağlamında şimdiye kadar derinlemesine ele alınmamış bir coğrafi parçasını oluşturan Sri Lanka [Seylan] ile Osmanlı Devleti arasındaki ilişkileri ele alacaktır. Osmanlı Devleti’nin Seylan özelinde şehbender atayarak temsilcilik verdiği kişi ve ailelerin şehbenderlik süreçleri ve sonrasındaki siyasi kariyerleri, geçmişi Osmanlı Devleti’nin de öncesine uzanan “Türk sempatisi” ve ünsiyeti bağlamında ele alınacaktır.
Ceylon, which is very close to India, took the name Sri Lanka during the period when the Sinhala-Tamil tension in the country turned into armed clashes and has been one of the major actors of international trade along the busy maritime routes in Western Asia, China and the Far East throughout history. Ceylon, also referred to as the "Teardrop of India" due to its geographical shape and location, owes the other analogy of the "Pearl of the Indian Ocean", to the potential of gemstones hosted by 25% of its total land. Ceylon, whose capital is Colombo, has a profound past and interesting network of relationships that is important in terms of world and Ottoman history in its historical and geographical depths. Political and economic processes in this small island country have been the basis for the relations of the Ottoman Empire with the region in the last quarter of the 19th century and the new appointments that Abdulhamid II would make to Ceylon Island, which had already been contacted in the context of "consulship" were choices that could permeate the socio-cultural hierarchy of the region. On this basis, it is possible to refer to an affinity for the Ottoman State in the history of Muslims, one of the most populous minorities of modern Sri Lanka. The Ottoman Empire tried to functionalize this "sympathy", which was fed by the local people and the ruling elites with different motives, through the shahbenders appointed to the island in the second half of the 19th century, when the South Asian Muslims' expectations about the Ottoman Empire reached their peak. The Ottoman consuls in question were selected from people who belonged to an “elite” family, who had established a bond of friendship with Anatolia and the Turks in a past that was likely to be instrumental and - an “invented” memory that also needs to be analyzed. When they are considered together with their genealogy, the fact that Moor Muslims had been in contact with the Ottoman State on various occasions towards the last quarter of the 19th century, which indicates that they were the descendants of a legendary Turkish sultan - and which must be analyzed with another study - is actually an indication of their "deep" affinity and loyalty towards the Ottoman State. On this basis, it is probably no coincidence that the leading names of the Moor tribes represented by various mukhtars were appointed by Abdulhamid II as Ottoman representatives to the island. Abdulhamid II, who also sought wealth and nobility as well as Islamic sensibilities in consul selection, preferred people who belonged to Moor families with a noble genealogy – whether true or false or even whether he was aware or not of its existence – as representatives of the Ottoman State to Ceylon. The protectionist and Pan-Islamist character of the relations established with the Muslims of South Asia by Abdulhamid II who was on the Ottoman throne during the years when these individuals from wealthy and elite families were consuls ensured that the Ottoman consuls who were sent to the region acted on the basis of friendship with regard to the Turks and the Ottoman Empire – specific to Ceylon - in every stage of socio-cultural life. The Pan-Islamist propaganda particularly in South and South East Asia, which can be interpreted as the "engineering consent" of the Ottoman consuls, who also operated on the grounds of the aforementioned friendship without needing much motivation, created its own "myth" as a symbol of fragility and symbolic persona that need to be considered together with the political balances in the world during the reign of Abdulhamid II. This myth is reflected between the lines of various archival documents related to the region, such as "submissive" and actually "unsettled" qualifications ‘voiced’ as "the caliph of the earth", "the sultan of believers", and indeed rendering the "asylum" of Abdulhamid II's Pan-Islamist politics unrealizable by shifting it from the basis that had to be created by ultimately taking into account the cyclical realities. Consequently, the Pan-Islamic potential, which has a deep socio-cultural infrastructure, an extensive geographical range, and above all a widespread social consent, could not be transformed into a sustainable and rational project, economically and politically. Moreover, during this period, many local names and families operating on behalf of the Ottoman State in South Asia turned the collective memory of the society they were members of into a “functional” tool, as stated above, by transforming the friendship they established with the Turks into political and economic “unearned income”. Ultimately, the reality of the persuasion, trust and loyalty processes of the elite, who are in a position to ‘negotiate’ to a certain extent, and the local people of administrations in Muslim geographies that were “exposed” to administrations that could not be steered with the participation of the public and the colonial administrations comprised of these peoples and representing them or states in the same cultural geography are independent of one another. When it comes to generating projects with socioeconomic sustainability, it seems that the instrumental friendship and memories of the local elites have chosen to save the future, not the past when they were shaping the fate of the local millions in the context of a different future that has them convinced and in another political context they trust. Although it can’t be generalized, the existence of examples that can be described as "post-nobility" on the islands in South Asia, where there are many post-Ottoman political and bureaucratic career stories that are fostered by Ottomanism, suggests that perhaps the "emotional" relations that the Ottoman State established with the region in the context of Pan-Islamist policies in the beginning is built on fragile "wishes" and the existing or subsequently generated ‘strategic agendas’ of local elites rather than realizable plans. The Muslim minority that included the best jewelry masters on the island, has concentrated on the dynamics of "faith" to repel the repression of the colonial pressure it has been exposed to for the past few centuries, and embraced a "devised" memory that has been shaped from this dynamic.
