Master Thesis Defense: Merve Uçar Nurcan
Ottoman Response to the Mehdiyya of the Sudan
Merve Uçar Nurcan
History, M.Sc. Thesis, 2015
Thesis Jury
Hakan Erdem(Thesis Supervisor),Akşin Somel, Talha Çiçek, Selim Karakışla(Substitute Member)
Date &Time: May,12th, 2015 – 14:00
Place: FASS 2080
Abstract
The aim of the thesis is two-fold. The first one is to draw a comprehensive
picture of the Mahdi revolt from an Ottoman point of view and the second one is to
analyze the Ottoman perception of its distant periphery in the light of Ottoman
colonialism/ orientalism debates. Sudanese Mahdi revolt that was broken out in 1881
is the basic concern of the thesis due to the fact that the Mahdi revolution enables to
discover the regional insurgency opposed to British imperialism and Egyptian
maladministration in the Sudan. Although there are numerous studies regarding the
British and Egyptian policy on the Sudan, the Ottoman perception of the Sudanese
Mahdi had been largely ignored and studies remained limited in the literature. For this
reason, this study also aims to fill the gap and add a contribution to the Ottoman-
African relations from an Ottoman point of view.
There are three decisive features of Abdülhamid’s policy of Sudanese Mahdi
revolt: prevent spreading of revolution, non- intervention and legalism. The reasons of
Abdülhamid’s indecisive attitudes could be explained in three certain points. First,
military and economic resources of the empire were inadequate to afford a campaign
for such a distant place. Second, minor local conflicts could become an excuse for
imperialist powers to intervene in the regions. Last, spreading of any clash to the
Hejaz area could give irreparable damage to the prestige of the Sultan. For these
reasons, Abdülhamid II did not show a hostile attitude towards the local Muslim
rulers or mutineers despite serious pressures and threats come from European powers.