Young Turks

views updated

YOUNG TURKS

Between 1828 and 1867, the phrase Young Turk was used to denote those Ottoman intellectuals and statesmen advocating liberal reforms and a constitutional regime for the Ottoman Empire. Specifically, when a number of leading Ottoman intellectuals fled the Ottoman capital to organize an opposition movement in Paris financed by the Egyptian prince Mustafa Fâz?l (1829–1875) the European press called them Young Turks. Turkish historiography labels this group the Young Ottomans. Later on, British and French diplomatic correspondence used the terms Young Turk and The Young Turkey Party to refer to those statesmen who supported the movement for a constitution.

Following the end of the short-lived constitutional regime in 1878, both Ottomans and Europeans referred in general to the opponents of the regime of Sultan Abdülhamid II (r. 1876–1909) as the Young Turks. It was the Ottoman Freemasons who, in 1893, first formally named their political branch The Committee of Young Turkey at Constantinople. Then, in 1895, the main opposition group, the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress, advertized its French journal as "Organe de la Jeune Turquie."

From this point on, the phrase Young Turk was used among Ottoman subjects (of all religions) to denote opposition organizations dominated by Muslim dissidents.

young turk movement: ideas and policies

The Young Turk movement took place in Europe and British-ruled Egypt between 1878 and 1908. Members of this movement founded a host of political parties, committees, and leagues to topple the absolutist regime of Abdülhamid II and replace it with a constitutional monarchy. Although their European contemporaries and many scholars commonly labeled the Young Turks liberals and constitutionalists, these traits were promoted by a small minority in the movement. Members of the major Young Turk organizations did not adopt liberal ideas and viewed constitutionalism merely as a device to stave off great-power intervention in the Ottoman Empire.

The initial activities of the Young Turks did not go further than the publication of a few journals. In 1889, the major Young Turk organization was established in the Royal Medical Academy, which originally called itself the Ottoman Union Committee. After protracted negotiations between the original founders and Ahmed R?za (1859–1930), who led the Young Turk movement intermittently between 1895 and 1908, the name was changed to the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress. This new title reflected the staunch positivism of Ahmed R?za, who had unsuccessfully proposed naming the group "Order and Progress," after the famous aphorism of philosopher Auguste Comte (1798–1857). This committee, which remained the most important Young Turk organization until the end of the movement, was a loose umbrella organization until 1902. While some branches supported the gradual reform program of the positivists, others advocated revolution; still others were dominated by the ulema, the Muslim learned establishment.

In 1902, a schism developed in Paris at the First Congress of Ottoman Opposition Parties. The majority party, led by the sultan's brother-in-law Mahmud Celâleddin Pasha and his two sons Sabahaddin and Lûtfullah Beys, allied itself with Armenian and Albanian committees. They promoted the idea of a coup with British assistance. This willingness to work with foreign powers sparked the opposition of the minority party, under the leadership of Ahmed R?za. It adopted a Turkist policy, demanding a leadership role for Turks, and categorically rejecting any foreign intervention in Ottoman politics. The majority party reorganized itself in 1905 under Sabahaddin Bey's leadership; in that year Sabahaddin Bey also founded the League of Private Initiative and Decentralization, and he worked toward creating a mutual understanding with the non-Muslim organizations. Also in 1905, the minority party, under the leadership of Bahaeddin S?akir, reorganized itself under the new name, the Ottoman Committee of Progress and Union. In 1907 this new organization merged with the Ottoman Freedom Society, which had been established by army officers and bureaucrats in Salonica in 1906. From this point on, the Young Turk movement spread deeply among the Ottoman officer corps in European Turkey. In July 1908, the Ottoman Committee of Progress and Union carried out the Constitutional Revolution, which marked both the end of Abdul-Hamid II's regime and the Young Turk movement. Some European historians call the new administration "the Young Turk government." This usage is misleading, because actually both regime and opposition after 1908 came from former Young Turks.

Because all members of organizations dominated by the Muslim opponents of the sultan and their sympathizers in the empire were called Young Turks, this phrase does not necessarily refer to individuals who shared similar ideas. For instance, ulema and ardent positivists worked together in various Young Turk organizations as members. In the early stages of the movement, many Young Turks, including the original founders of the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress, were adherents of mid-nineteenth-century German materialism and admirers of Ludwig Büchner (1824–1899). Social Darwinism also deeply influenced many Young Turks. Positivism, too, was advanced by various Young Turk leaders, and the French organ of the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress used the positivist calendar for a while. Interestingly, French social scientist Gustave Le Bon (1841–1931) and his theories on crowd psychology made a strong impact on almost all members of the movement. Le Bon's ideas shaped the elitism promoted by the Young Turks. For their part, Sabahaddin Bey and his followers were deeply influenced by the Science sociale movement, particularly by Edmond Demolins (1852–1907). (The Science sociale movement aimed at turning social research into a branch of science through scientific research and creating a truly scientific method of study and analysis of social phenomena.) Following the reorganization of the Ottoman Committee of Progress and Union, these ideas receded to the background. Practical political ideas took their place. For instance, a proto-nationalism emerged. It stressed a dominant role for ethnic Turks in the empire, while resisting European economic penetration and political intervention in the Ottoman Empire.

See alsoNationalism; Ottoman Empire.