International Recognition and Islamic Alliance: The Young Turks’ Gambit to Secure the Borders of Libya, 1909–12

As a result of the European “Scramble for Africa” the Ottoman Empire became concerned about its African territory. Despite the fact that the Ottoman state exercised only nominal sovereignty in its African domains from the 17^th century onwards, the loss of Algiers (1830) and Tunis (1881) was a blow to Ottoman prestige. Therefore, the remaining territory in Africa, Tripoltania (Trablusgarp), Cyrenaica (Bingazi), and the Fezzan (Fizan) collectively known in western sources as Libya, became a strategic concern for the Empire. To be sure, Libya was low on the priorities list, the territory had only recently been reoccupied in 1835 and it was often an economic liability that was most frequently used as a place of exile for obstreperous officials. Despite this, successive Ottoman governments sought to defend this territory through diplomatic and military means. Libya, a non-contiguous island of Ottoman territory surrounded by European colonies and protectorates, was also an area where these new centralization policies were carried out.

These centralization policies built upon the activities of Abdulhamid II (1877-1908), the Young Turks (1908-1918) attempted secure control of Libya by securing recognition through international agreements and treaties as well as by allying with the Muslim revivalist order the Sanusiyya. In doing so the Young Turks gained recognition of Ottoman sovereignty in Libya with Tripoli Convention of 1910 and also sought to extend their influence in the hinterland of Libya i.e. Chad and Niger. The moves by the CUP in this hinterland region were a form of defensive imperialism, but they can also be viewed as a form of peripheral incorporation. Seeking recognition of Ottoman sovereignty by treaty and the peripheral incorporation process was being pursued in other parts of the Ottoman Empire at the same time that it was being pursued in Libya.