L’initiation de Mourad V à la franc-maçonnerie par Cl. Scalieri : aux origines du mouvement libéral en Turquie

Abstract

This work examines and analyses the conditions of the initiation to
Freemasonry of the heir to the throne and later sultan Murad V by Cleanthis
Scalieri, a distinguished Greek from Constantinople. The study is based on the
archives of the Grand Orient of France, coupled with a few documents found
at the diplomatic archives of England and Greece. Reference is made to the
political implications of the initiation: the impact of Murad’s decision to apply
the liberal and progressive ideas of Freemasonry of that time and the role of
leading political personalities in Greece and Western Europe, especially in
France and Great Britain.