Senate of the Ottoman Empire

Senate of the Ottoman Empire
The Senate of the Ottoman Empire (or ; ; lit. "Assembly of Notables") was the upper house of the parliament of the Ottoman Empire, the General Assembly. Its members were appointed notables in the Ottoman government who, along with the elected lower house Chamber of Deputies, made up the General Assembly. It was created in its first incarnation according to the Ottoman constitution of 1876, which sought to reform the Ottoman Empire into a constitutional monarchy.
Members of the Senate were selected by the Sultan and their numbers were limited to one-third (1/3) of the membership of the representative Chamber of Deputies. Members and the president of the Senate were designated to be reliable and reputable leaders of the country, required to be at least 40 years old. Furthermore, according to the 62nd clause of the 1876 constitution, government ministers, provincial governors, military commanders, kazaskers, ambassadors, Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, rabbis, and army and navy feriks, if they met certain conditions, could also become Senate members through their offices.
Members of both houses, along with the government ministers led by the grand vizier (the de facto prime minister of the Ottoman Empire), met together once a year to discuss and compile a list of things for the sultan to enact in the following year, and to review his actions taken in the previous year. The same day, Senators would swear oaths to stay loyal to the constitution, the sultan, the nation, and their duties.
Bills and budgets passed by the Chamber of Deputies went to the Senate, where they were scrutinized in matters of religion, morality, economics, social issues, and military, and modified as necessary or sent back to the Chamber. The Senate also had the power to create original legislation itself.
First Constitutional Era (1876–1878)
The first Senate met on Monday, March 19, 1877. At the time that served as the Senate president, there were 27 members.
When sultan Abdul Hamid II dissolved the parliament on February 13, 1878, the Senate ceased meeting, but its members continued to be paid government salaries and their status as military and political leaders remained unchanged.
Second Constitutional Era (1908–1920)
After the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Era, amendments were made to the 1876 constitution. According to these amendments, the Senate began to assemble every year at the beginning of November, convene at the pleasure of the sultan, and disassemble after four months. The Senate usually convened after the Chamber of Deputies. In extraordinary conditions, at the sultan's request, or after a written appeal signed by the majority of the Chamber of Deputies, the entire parliament could convene earlier in a joint session of the Senate and the Chamber and extend the session.
On December 17, 1908, the Senate reconvened for the first time in over 30 years, several of its members changing over time until its end at the end of World War I in 1920, when the Allied occupation of Constantinople forced the de jure closure of the parliament on March 16, 1920. The de facto closure came on April 11, when the sultan, under pressure from the invading Allies, officially proclaimed the parliament dissolved.
The successor to the Ottoman Senate, the Senate of the Republic was established after the proclamation of the Turkish Republic.
Members
First Constitutional Era (1876–1878)
Abdul Hamid II – Monarch
– President
Ahmed Arifi Pasha – Vice President
– Sultan's messenger
Mehmed Namık Pasha – Field Marshal
– Minister of the Navy
Abdurrahman Sami Pasha
– governor of Hejaz
Dervish Pasha – governor of Ankara
Moralı İbrahim Pasha – Minister of the Navy
Ahmed Celal Pasha
– Minister of Medical Education
– Fatwa consultant (Fetva emini)
Hacı Tahir Efendi – Minister of Civil Service Education
M. Arif Efendi – former member in the Council of State
Rıza Efendi – former judge in the Court of Cassation
Bağdatlı Emin Efendi – member of the Council of State
Yorgaki Efendi – member of the Council of State
Daviçon Efendi – member of the Council of State
– Ministry of Medical Education
M. Emin Bey – former Chief Clerk of the Palace Registrar
Düzoğlu Mihran Bey – member of the Council of State
Aristarki Logofet Bey – member of the Council of State
Damat Mahmud İbrahim Pasha
Kostaki Musurus Pasha – ambassador to Britain
A. Hilmi Efendi – President of the Department of Appeals
Kostaki Antopulos Pasha – judge in the Court of Cassation
Abdülkerim Nadir Pasha
Mehmed Sadık Pasha
Ibrahim Edhem Pasha
Second Constitutional Era (1908–1920)
This incarnation of the Senate included two living members from the original 1877 Senate, for a total of 32 forming members. Although its charter called for it to have one-third the number of members of the Chamber of Deputies, i.e. over 90 members, it never reached that amount at one time. In 1909, it had 44 members; in 1910, it had 48 members; in 1911, it had 58 members; and in 1914, it had 48 members.
Mehmed V – Monarch
Ali Rıza Pasha – President
Ahmet Tevfik Pasha
Hasan Fehmi Pasha
Mustafa Zihni Pasha
Mehmed Tevfik Pasha
Mısırlı Mehmed Ali Fazıl Paşa
Ohannes Pasha
General Arif Hikmet Pasha
Gabriel Noradunkyan
Ali Rıza Efendi
Saib Molla Bey, until 1910
– Artillery, General
General Muhiddin Pasha
General Süleyman Pasha
General Mehmed Pasha
Lieutenant general Şevket Pasha, until 1911
Şerif Ali Haydar Bey
Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem
Abdurrahman Efendi
Nasuhi Bey
Faik Bey
Halim Bey
Dimitraki Mavrokordato
Aleksandros Mavroyeni – former governor of Samos, diplomat
Georgiadis Efendi
Mustafa Nuri Bey
Sami Pasha al-Farouqi
Bohor Efendi
Azaryan Efendi
Mısırlı Halil Hamada Pasha
Metropolit Avxentios
Nicolae Constantin Batzaria
– Seyyid Abdulkadir son of Sheikh Ubeydullah
Ahmed Muhtar Pasha – Field Marshal
Mehmed Said Pasha
Aristarki Logofet Bey
Fethi Franko Bey
Abraham Pasha
Aram Efendi
Mehmet Cemaleddin Efendi – Shaykh al-Islām
Mehmed Ferid Pasha – Grand Vizier
Damat Ferid Pasha
Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha – Grand Vizier
Deli Fuad Pasha
Şerif Nasser Bey
Reshid Akif Pasha
Salih Hulusi Pasha
Mehmed Rauf Pasha
Davud Molko Efendi
Suleyman al-Boustani
Zareh Dilber Efendi
Ziyaeddin Efendi
Mustafa Nail Bey
Şerif Cafer Efendi - President of the Department of Appeals
Stefanidis Vasileios
Ahmet Rıza
Mizancı Murat
Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı
Şükrü Pasha
Mahmud Shevket Pasha - General
See also
Parliament of the Ottoman Empire, the parliament as a whole
Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire, the lower house of the parliament
Senate of Turkey, the upper house of the Turkish parliament between 1961 and 1980
Ottoman constitution of 1876
First Constitutional Era
Second Constitutional Era
References
Notes
Government of the Ottoman Empire
1876 establishments in the Ottoman Empire
Defunct upper houses