ムハンマド・クルド・アリーとオスマン帝国 -「転向」問題の背景-

抄録

In the last decade of the Ottoman Empire, Muhammad Kurd 'Ali (1876-1953), a leading intellectual in Modern Syria, was a well-known journalist. He campaigned against the Ottoman government in his Arabic periodical, al-Muqtabas, and in a daily paper of the same name. However, upon the outbreak of the First World War, he abandoned his cause and collaborated with the Ottoman government in the production of anti-Sharifian propaganda. This study examines the background to the tunabout in his thought, to which little attention has previously been paid, in light of his discourse and practice.
The attempt of Kurd 'Ali to criticize the policy of the Ottoman government through periodicals and daily papers and to support constitutionalism through activities in the Arab Revival Society (Jam'iya al-nahda al-'arabiya) deserves mention as part of the struggle to pluralize the centralized state of the Ottoman Empire and to form an autonomous space for critical discussion in Arabic within the public sphere. Although the Arab Revival Society changed its name to the Syria Revival Society (Jam'iya al-nahda al-suriya), a close relationship was maintained between having an Arabic-speaking public sphere and having a common identity as Syrians. Moreover, Kurd 'Ali's argument about Syrian autonomy led to an acceptance of the eventual strengthening of the Ottoman Empire through the rationale of providing for the defense of Syria and Syria's assumption of responsibility for public works in place of the Ottoman government.
Kurd 'Ali's wavering led in practice to a “politics of identity”, the stance of claiming identity and place in the social structure. But it brought about oppotunism through a narrowing of political concerns. This is borne out by the fact of his support for the first Arab Congress (1913) in Paris and his approach to the Ottoman government under the policy of appeasement after the Congress.
Kurd 'Ali's subjection to the existing order during an exceptional wartime situation was a means of survival, but the conflict between his wavering discourse and his acceptance of gradual reform in practice resulted in the loss of his political autonomy.