Reflections On The Interest Of The Helens Towards Prince Sabahattin In The Greek Press Following The Proclamation Of The Second Constitution

Abstract

The Young Turks' opposition developed against the despotic regime of Sultan Abdulhamid II. However, the Young Turks were deprived of a concrete and coherent doctrine that they just agreed on the implementation of the constitution and urged justice for all peoples of the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman Christians, especially the Greeks were especially show a special interest in Prince Sabahattin who defended the idea of taking the views of the non-Muslim subjects of the Ottomans into account as well as correlating their requests with the interests of the entire country. Following the proclamation of the II. Constitution in 1908, Greeks supported Prince Sabahattin by not only attending the welcoming ceremony regarding to his return to the Ottoman land but also supporting his political activities. Meanwhile, they wished him a powerful and a successful position against the influence of the Union and Progress party. Prince Sabahattin met the officials of the Patriarchate and the Greek community and made statements confiding that the new regime would not touch the privileges of the Patriarchate. It should be noted that the Greek government, press and public opinion showed interest to him. News from the Greek Press clearly shows the close attention towards Prince Sabahattin and his contacts with the Patriarchate as well as the Greek authorities. Thus, this article aims to analyse whether this Greek support towards him derived only from sympathy towards his opinions or there are any other reasons behind that sympathy.