Discontent under Abdülhamid II

• Secret organizations• Ottoman Unity Society (İttihad-ı Osmanî Cemiyeti)• Ahmed Rıza: leader of the European branch• Committee of Union and Progress (CUP)• Meşveret (Consultation), 1895• Mizancı Murat Bey

Discontent under Abdülhamid II

• Prince Sabahaddin (nephew of the Sultan)• Ahmed Rıza vs. Prince Sabahaddin = state vs. individual• Split in 1902: Congress of Ottoman Liberals• Prince Sabahaddin: Society of Ottoman liberals• 1905 Russian Revolution and 1906 Iranian Revolution• Dr. Bahaeddin Şakir and Dr. Nazım reorganized CUP

Discontent under Abdülhamid II

• Ottoman Freedom Society (1906) in Salonica• Network in Macedonia (officers & bureaucrats)• Involvement of troops based in Edirne and

Macedonia (Enver Bey)• Ottoman Freedom Society merged with CUP (1907)

Discontent under Abdülhamid II

• Inflation, small-scale revolts• Strikes• Macedonian problem• June 1908: Young Turk Revolution

Young Turk Period, 1908-1909

• 1908 elections: CUP victory• Only opposition: Party of Ottoman Liberals (Osmanlı

Ahrar Fırkası)• CUP members: socially and ideologically

heterogeneous• Power shifted back to the Sublime Porte

Young Turk Period, 1908-1909

• Liberal opposition: suppressed• Conservative opposition: counterrevolution of April

1909• Volkan and İttihad-ı Muhammedî• Led mostly by Nakşibendî orders• Demands for the restoration of the sharia (which in

fact was not abolished)• Joined by Macedonian troops and religious students

Young Turk Period, 1908-1909

• CUP members murdered & went underground in Istanbul

• The position of Ahrar Party & high-ranking ulema• CUP continued activities in Macedonia• Action Army led by Mahmut Şevket Pasha• Martial law in Istanbul – execution of the leading

rebels• Abdülhamid II deposed and replaced by Mehmed

Reşad

Young Turk Period, 1908-1909Reasons for the 1909 incidents• Decreased number of staff in government offices• Educated vs. uneducated soldiers in the army• Stricter training in the army• CUP’s monopoly of power

• Adana incidents of 1909: only repercussion of 1909 incidents outside Istanbul– Anti-Armenian pogroms

Young Turk Period, 1909-1913• CUP shaken after 1909• Martial law until 1912• Power at the hands of the army (Mahmud Şevket

Pasha)• Constitutional change restricted the power of the

Sultan and increased the power of the parliament• Individual and collective freedoms restricted

Young Turk Period, 1909-1913• The problem of military intervention in politics• CUP vs. parliament• CUP still a secret society• Opposition to CUP in 1910-1911: Party of Freedom and

Understanding (Hürriyet ve İtilaf Fırkası)• Election victory against CUP in 1911• 1912 election: election with a stick: CUP victory• Saviour Officers (Halâskâr Zâbitân)• Political chaos, dissolution of the parliament and the

persecution of CUP members

International Politics in the Young Turk Era

• Eastern Question and Crisis in the Balkans

• 1908: Bulgarian independenceBosnia & Herzegovina annexed by AustriaCrete united with Greece

International Politics in the Young Turk Era

• Albanian Insurrection (1910-12)

• Yemeni Insurrection (1904-1911)

• Italian occupation of Tripolitania (1911) and Dodecanese (1912)

Balkan Wars

• 1912: Serbian-Bulgarian AllianceMontenegro and Greece joined

• First Balkan War (1912)• Treaty of London:

• Independent Albania• Edirne handed to Bulgarians• No decision about the borders between

Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria

Coup in Istanbul

• Committee of Union and Progress weakened after 1912

• The status of Edirne• Armed coup against the government, using

the war as an excuse• Another conference in London (1913)• Second Balkan War (1913)

Coup in Istanbul

• Mahmud Şevket Pasha as the grand vizier• Talat Pasha: Minister of Interior• Enver Pasha: Minister of War• Cemal Pasha: Military governor of Istanbul

• ‘Triumvirate’

CUP After 1913

• Volunteer officers around Enver Bey• Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa (Special organization)• Organizational ties to CUP• Bahaeddin Şakir and Enver Bey