The Young Turks and Turkish Nationalism

By the early twentieth century, many educated Ottoman officers and officials believed that only radical change could save the empire. A secret organization, the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), known in Europe as the Young Turks, forced Sultan Abdulhamid II to restore the 1876 constitution in July 1908. The revolution was initially celebrated by Muslims, Christians and Jews alike as a new era of equal citizenship.

But crises followed quickly: Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina and Bulgaria declared independence in 1908, Italy seized Libya in 1911–12, and the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 cost almost all remaining European territory. After a coup in 1913, a CUP triumvirate ruled. As the empire lost its Christian-majority provinces, CUP leaders moved from Ottomanism toward a Turkish nationalism that emphasized Turkish language and identity, influenced by thinkers such as Ziya Gökalp. This shift had grave consequences for minorities during World War I.