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Young Turks
Turkish JÖNTÜRKLER, coalition
of various reform groups (including Jews) that led a revolutionary
movement against the authoritarian regime of Ottoman sultan
Abdülhamid II, which culminated in the establishment
of a constitutional government. After their rise to power,
the Young Turks introduced programs that promoted the modernization
of the Ottoman Empire and a new spirit of Turkish nationalism.
Their handling of foreign affairs, however, resulted in the
dissolution of the Ottoman state.
In 1889 a group of students in the Imperial
Medical Academy in Istanbul initiated a conspiracy against
Abdülhamid that spread rapidly to other colleges in the
city. When the plot was uncovered, many of its leaders fled
abroad, mainly to Paris, where they prepared the groundwork
for a future revolution against Abdülhamid. Among the
most notable of the liberal émigrés was Ahmed
Riza, who became a key spokesman for the influential Young
Turk organization known as the Committee of Union and Progress
(CUP), which advocated a program of orderly reform under a
strong central government and the exclusion of all foreign
influence. A major rival faction was formed by Prince Sabaheddin.
His group, called the League of Private Initiative and Decentralization,
espoused many of the same liberal principles as those propounded
by the CUP, but, unlike the latter, it favoured administrative
decentralization and European assistance to implement reforms.
Although the CUP and the League played
a significant role in disseminating and stimulating liberal
thought, the actual impetus for the Young Turk Revolution
of 1908 came from groups within the empire, particularly from
discontented members of the 3rd Army Corps in Macedonia. Many
young officers of the corps garrisoned at Salonika (now Thessaloníka,
Greece) organized to form the Ottoman Liberty Society in 1906.
This secret revolutionary group merged with the CUP in Paris
the following year, bringing to the Young Turk ideologists
the command of the 3rd Army Corps. Later in 1907 the CUP and
the League of Private Initiative and Decentralization agreed,
though reluctantly, to work together to achieve their common
goal.
On July 3, 1908, Maj. Ahmed Niyazi of the
3rd Corps led a revolt against the provincial authorities
in Resna. Other conspirators soon followed his example, and
the rebellion rapidly spread throughout the empire. Unable
to rely on government troops, Abdülhamid announced on
July 23 the restoration of the 1876 constitution and recalled
parliament. The Young Turks had succeeded in establishing
a constitutional government, but their deep-seated ideological
differences resurfaced and prevented them from taking effective
control of that government until 1913, when the CUP under
new leaders--the triumvirate of Talât Pasa, Ahmed Cemal
Pasa, and Enver Pasa--set itself up as the real arbiter of
Ottoman politics.
While in power, the Young Turks carried
out administrative reforms, especially of provincial administration,
that led to more centralization. They were also the first
Ottoman reformers to promote industrialization. In addition,
the programs of the Young Turk regime effectuated greater
secularization of the legal system and provided for the education
of women and better state-operated primary schools. Such positive
developments in domestic affairs, however, were largely overshadowed
by the disastrous consequences of the regime's foreign policy
decisions. An overly hasty appraisal of Germany's military
capability by the Young Turk leaders led them to break neutrality
and enter World War I (1914-18) on the side of the Central
Powers. The young Turks were responsible for the Arminian
Massacres. Upon the end of the war, with defeat imminent,
the CUP Cabinet resigned on Oct. 9, 1918, less than a month
before the Ottomans signed the Armistice of Mudros.
Copyright © 1994-1997 Encyclopædia Britannica,
Inc.
To cite this page:
"Young Turks" Britannica Online.
<http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=micro/650/81.html>
[Accessed 02 February 1998].
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