General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire

General Assembly Meclis-i Umumi
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Senate Chamber of Deputies
History
Founded	23 November 1876 23 July 1908
Disbanded	13 February 1878 5 April 1920
Preceded by	Divan-ı Hümayun
Succeeded by	Grand National Assembly
Structure
Meeting place
Dolmabahçe Palace, Constantinople

The General Assembly^[1] (Turkish: Meclis-i Umumî or Genel Parlamento) of the Ottoman Empire was the first attempt at representative democracy at the imperial level in the Ottoman Empire. Also known as the Ottoman Parliament, it was composed of two houses, an upper house (Senate, Meclis-i Âyân), and a lower house (Chamber of Deputies, Meclis-i Mebusân).^[2] It was first constituted in 1876, and initially lasted until 1878, when the general assembly was dissolved by Abdul Hamid II. It was revived in the Second Constitutional Era with substantial reforms and participation by political parties, and lasted through the Allied occupation of Constantinople until 1922, when the empire was dissolved.

The successor to the general assembly, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, was formed by many members of the former Ottoman legislature.

See also

• Senate of the Ottoman Empire, the upper house
• Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire, the lower house
• History of the Ottoman Empire
• Ottoman constitution of 1876
• First Constitutional Era
• Second Constitutional Era
• Grand National Assembly of Turkey
• The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors

References

1. Article. 42 of the Constitution
2. Rainer Grote; Tilmann Röder (16 February 2012). Constitutionalism in Islamic Countries: Between Upheaval and Continuity. Oxford University Press. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-19-975988-0.