Nationalism movements in the Ottoman State: Mosul, Baghdad And Basra examples 1908 - 1918

The Ottoman State is a state consisting of many ethnic groups. Therefore, in the 19th century, it has faced the pressure of nationalist movements. In this process, many nations declared their independence on the basis of language, race, culture, national and geographical boundaries. The cycle of nationalist demands developed until the beginning of the twentieth century and the 1908 Constitution. Many countries declared their independence from the Ottoman Empire and they left the Ottoman Empire geography. Following the events and changes in the Constitution of 1908 and the outbreak of the First World War, the Arabs, to a large extent, has begun the independence and separation movements from the Ottoman Empire. Although the majority of the Mosul Province was Kurdish, they did not make any demands for independence during this period when other nationalist movements called for independence and separation. On the contrary, due to their cultural differences with Arabs, their support and loyalty to the Ottoman Empire increased, not to the Arabs. However, after World War I, the British occupied the Iraqi state and Mosul province was included in the Iraqi geography. Within the framework of these issues, the purpose of this study is to discover and reveal the factors affecting nationalist thought in Iraqi provinces. And it aims to open the issues that led to reconciliation and rebellion in the Ottoman Empire and the different aspects of these issues to discussion. It is trying to understand whether the nationalist groups that rebelled and their return to the Ottoman Empire were due to political, religious or just national reasons or not. This study has been put forward to investigate the dimensions of nationalist thought, to review the events and activities of these three Iraqi provinces, the situation and demands of their people. Keywords: Ottoman State, Nationalism Movements, Iraq, Mosul, Baghdad and Basra provinces