Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda medrese öğrencilerinin askere alınma meselesi

This study examines the issue of the military service of religious students in the Ottoman Empire. Students enrolled in medreses could gain exemption from service. In the first decades of the system, religious students had to pass an annual "conscription examination" before a commission of officials in order to receive their exemption. In 1892, Sultan Abdulhamid II suspended these examinations and granted all religious students indefinite exemption. On the surface, this measure was taken in response to the public resentment caused by an attempt by the authorities in Istanbul to deport religious students from the provinces. However, this thesis argues that the policy of exemption was part of the regime's strategy. It was meant to gain popular support in the face of growing opposition in the 1890s. The policy of indefinite exemption was reversed after the Young Turks rose to power with a vision of strict social control. This triggered much resentment and resistance among the religious students and were a major factor in their participation in an uprising in the imperial capital in April 1909, known as the 31 March Incident. This thesis argues that the suppression of the uprising gave the new regime the opportunity to solidify its strict control over society. As such, this is a study of the evolution of Ottoman state-society relations through the lens of the religious students' military service. However, it also shows that the Ottoman state was not monolithic. Instead, different branches of the state sought to pursue their own agenda.