Truth Bearer
09-06-2007, 02:54 AM
The Young Turk Revolution
The period of the Ottoman Empire's final dissolution, the Second Constitutional Era (ايکنجى مشروطيت دورى İkinci Meşrûtiyyet Devri), began with the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, shortly after which Sultan Abdülhamid II restored the constitutional monarchy, with reduced powers for the imperial dynasty, and a series of elections resulted in the gradual ascendance of the Committee of Union and Progress's (CUP) domination in politics.
On 3 July 1908, the Young Turk Revolution that began in the Balkan provinces spread quickly throughout the empire and resulted in the sultan announcing the restoration of the 1876 constitution and reconvening the parliament. The reason behind the revolt, still localized at that stage, had been the Sultan’s heavily opppressive policies (istibdâd as marked by contemporaries, although many were to express longings for his old-fashioned despotism a few years into the new regime), which were based on a vast array of spies (hafiye), as well as constant interventions by the European powers to the point of endangering the Empire's sovereignty. The officers who had instigated the revolution, as well as their civilian supporters, were primarily concerned with preserving the status quo for the Ottoman Empire. They were not, strictly speaking, revolutionaries. It is also pointed out that they were concerned with issues of a more personal nature at the same time as the state's salvation, such as salaries and rank promotions, not unlike the Janissaries a century before then. The military reforms carried out in the Ottoman Empire had accentuated the role of a new type of officer, often of lower social origin and more open to ideas that were developing in the Western world. These new soldiers, as opposed to the traditional soldiery revolving around the Palace, also did not acquire the formation covering administrative fields as aside their military training, a new corpus of civilian administrators being on the emergence, and their field of expertise was very much confined to military matters. In administrative terms, the officers actually had not foreseen any concrete action further than their demand for the restoration of the constitution.
At the restoration of constitutionalism, the stated legal framework was that of a continuation of the status that had prevailed in 1876, since the sultan declared never having officially closed the first Ottoman Parliament. Former parliamentarians (those still available) who had gathered for a short time 33 years before suddenly found themselves representing the people again, although briefly and rather symbolically.
In the elections held in 1908, The Committee of Union and Progress, the main driving force behind the Young Turk Revolution, managed to gain the upper hand against the rival group led by Prince Sabahaddin, more liberal in outlook, bearing a strong British imprint, and closer to the Palace. The new parliament comprised 142 Turks, 60 Arabs, 25 Albanians, 23 Greeks, 12 Armenians (including four Dashnaks and two Hunchas), 5 Jews, 4 Bulgarians, 3 Serbs and 1 Vlach(where are the "Macedonians"?). The CUP could count on the support of about 60 deputies.[1]
Once in power, the Young Turks introduced a number of new initiatives intended to promote the modernization of the Ottoman Empire. They promoted industrialization and administrative reforms, and their reforms of provincial administration quickly led to a higher degree of centralization. This group advocated a program of orderly reform under a strong central government, as well as the exclusion of all foreign influence. Although the CUP collaborated with the League of Private Initiative and Decentralization, under Prince Sabahaddin, their respective goals contrasted strongly. Sabahaddin's group favored administrative decentralization and European assistance to implement reforms and also promoted industrialization.
In addition, the CUP implemented the secularization of the legal system and provided subsidies for the education of women, and altered the administrative structure of the state-operated primary schools. Their domestic reforms were in some ways quite successful, but their foreign policy proved to be disastrous.
Young Turks sought to modernize the Empire's communications and transportation networks, trying at the same time not to put themselves in the hands of European conglomerates and non-Muslim bankers. Europeans already owned the paltry [citation needed] railroad system (5,991 km of single-track railroads in the whole of the Ottoman dominions in 1914) and since 1881 administration of the defaulted Ottoman foreign debt had been in European hands. The Ottoman Empire was virtually an economic colony.
The period of the Ottoman Empire's final dissolution, the Second Constitutional Era (ايکنجى مشروطيت دورى İkinci Meşrûtiyyet Devri), began with the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, shortly after which Sultan Abdülhamid II restored the constitutional monarchy, with reduced powers for the imperial dynasty, and a series of elections resulted in the gradual ascendance of the Committee of Union and Progress's (CUP) domination in politics.
On 3 July 1908, the Young Turk Revolution that began in the Balkan provinces spread quickly throughout the empire and resulted in the sultan announcing the restoration of the 1876 constitution and reconvening the parliament. The reason behind the revolt, still localized at that stage, had been the Sultan’s heavily opppressive policies (istibdâd as marked by contemporaries, although many were to express longings for his old-fashioned despotism a few years into the new regime), which were based on a vast array of spies (hafiye), as well as constant interventions by the European powers to the point of endangering the Empire's sovereignty. The officers who had instigated the revolution, as well as their civilian supporters, were primarily concerned with preserving the status quo for the Ottoman Empire. They were not, strictly speaking, revolutionaries. It is also pointed out that they were concerned with issues of a more personal nature at the same time as the state's salvation, such as salaries and rank promotions, not unlike the Janissaries a century before then. The military reforms carried out in the Ottoman Empire had accentuated the role of a new type of officer, often of lower social origin and more open to ideas that were developing in the Western world. These new soldiers, as opposed to the traditional soldiery revolving around the Palace, also did not acquire the formation covering administrative fields as aside their military training, a new corpus of civilian administrators being on the emergence, and their field of expertise was very much confined to military matters. In administrative terms, the officers actually had not foreseen any concrete action further than their demand for the restoration of the constitution.
At the restoration of constitutionalism, the stated legal framework was that of a continuation of the status that had prevailed in 1876, since the sultan declared never having officially closed the first Ottoman Parliament. Former parliamentarians (those still available) who had gathered for a short time 33 years before suddenly found themselves representing the people again, although briefly and rather symbolically.
In the elections held in 1908, The Committee of Union and Progress, the main driving force behind the Young Turk Revolution, managed to gain the upper hand against the rival group led by Prince Sabahaddin, more liberal in outlook, bearing a strong British imprint, and closer to the Palace. The new parliament comprised 142 Turks, 60 Arabs, 25 Albanians, 23 Greeks, 12 Armenians (including four Dashnaks and two Hunchas), 5 Jews, 4 Bulgarians, 3 Serbs and 1 Vlach(where are the "Macedonians"?). The CUP could count on the support of about 60 deputies.[1]
Once in power, the Young Turks introduced a number of new initiatives intended to promote the modernization of the Ottoman Empire. They promoted industrialization and administrative reforms, and their reforms of provincial administration quickly led to a higher degree of centralization. This group advocated a program of orderly reform under a strong central government, as well as the exclusion of all foreign influence. Although the CUP collaborated with the League of Private Initiative and Decentralization, under Prince Sabahaddin, their respective goals contrasted strongly. Sabahaddin's group favored administrative decentralization and European assistance to implement reforms and also promoted industrialization.
In addition, the CUP implemented the secularization of the legal system and provided subsidies for the education of women, and altered the administrative structure of the state-operated primary schools. Their domestic reforms were in some ways quite successful, but their foreign policy proved to be disastrous.
Young Turks sought to modernize the Empire's communications and transportation networks, trying at the same time not to put themselves in the hands of European conglomerates and non-Muslim bankers. Europeans already owned the paltry [citation needed] railroad system (5,991 km of single-track railroads in the whole of the Ottoman dominions in 1914) and since 1881 administration of the defaulted Ottoman foreign debt had been in European hands. The Ottoman Empire was virtually an economic colony.