Committee of Union and Progress

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The Committee of Union and Progress(CUP, Ottoman Turkish: اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, romanized: İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, Turkish: Birlik ve İlerleme Derneği) was a political group which tried to reform and modernize the Ottoman Empire during the late 19th and early 20th century. The group was the main political expression of the Young Turks movement.[1]

The Establishment of the CUP[change | change source]

The reforms supported by the Ottoman state from the late 1830s under the Tanzimat had created a generation of Ottomans who advocated even greater modernization of the empire. In 1865, the “İttifak-ı Hamiyet” was founded, which in 1867 was renamed “Genç Türkiye Partisi” (Young Turkey Party). These organizations served as bases for the establishment of the CUP.[2] The CUP was established in Paris in 1889 by a group of Ottoman intellectuals and military officers as the result of the authoritative governance of sultan Abdülhamid II.[3] The central ideology of the Committee was "Ottomanism", which advocated the development of a patriotic feeling in all subjects of the empire,[4] a kind of "Ottoman nationalism". The goal of the CUP was the reformation of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of a modern, constitutional and liberal state, which would be governed by the equality of its subjects in terms of gender, nationality and religion. Also, although it strongly supported the dethronement of Abdülhamid, it prefered the establishment of a constitutional monarchy rather than a republic.[5] Ahmed Rıza was the main leader of the movement.[6] Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was also among the early members of the CUP.[7]

The Young Turk Revolution and the First World War[change | change source]

The CUP came to power between 1908 and 1918. At that point, the CUP had it also had the support of the non-Muslim communities of the Ottoman Empire, as it had inspired them with the confidence that their constitution and political program would ensure their full equality and peaceful coexistence within the Ottoman state.[8][9] Despite their initial pro-constitutional and inclusive agenda towards religious and national minorities, the CUP started showing a direction towards the Turkish nationalism. Soon, the leadership of the Committee saw itself identified with the interest of the Ottoman Empire.[10] Although it remained politically dominant, by 1911 the opposition to the CUP was growing and formed a single political group called Entente Libérale (Hürriyet ve İtilaf Fırkası). In 1912 and 1913 the two Balkan Wars were fought. The Ottoman Empire, although in the Second Balkan War it belonged to the winning side, in the First it lost Macedonia and almost all its European territories. This defeat led on July 12, 1913 to a coup d'état by a group of the CUP. From then until the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire was ruled dictatorially by three members of the Committee: Mehmed Talaat Pasha, İsmail Enver Pasha and Ahmed Cemal Pasha.[11] During the Gallipoli campaign, which was victorious for the Ottomans, the CUP leadership managed to limit the power of the Grand Vizier Said Halim Pasha and strengthen their own political position.[12]

Aftermath[change | change source]

The three leaders of the CUP were held responsible for the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the war while the while the committee had essentially collapsed. At the end of World War I most of its members were court-martialled by the sultan Mehmed VI and imprisoned, while Talaat, Enver and Cemal had already fled the country.[13] After the success of the Kemalist movement in the Turkish War of Independence, in the spring of 1923 the few remaining members of the Committee offered Mustafa Kemal its leadership, which he declined.[14] Eventually, the last members of the CUP formed an opposition against Mustafa Kemal's radicalism and authoritarianism. The remnants of the organization were eliminated from the Republic of Turkey during the Izmir trials for plotting the assassination of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1926.[15]

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ Ahmad, Feroz (2018). The Young Turks: Struggle for the Ottoman Empire, 1914-1918. Istanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları. pp. 3–4. ISBN 6053995304.
  2. ↑ Gökbayır, Satılmış (2012). ""Gizli Bir Cemiyetten İktidara: Osmanlı İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti'nin 1908 Seçimleri Siyasi Programı"". Çankırı Karatekin Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi. 3 (1): 62.
  3. ↑ Ahmad, Feroz (2014). The Young Turks and the Ottoman Nationalities: Armenians, Greeks, Albanians, Jews, and Arabs, 1908–1918. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-60781-338-5.
  4. ↑ Findley, Carter Vaughn (2010). Turkey, Islam, Nationalism and Modernity. A History, 1789-2007. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 102.
  5. ↑ Gökbayır (2012). pp. 64-65.
  6. ↑ Lévy-Aksu, Noémi; Georgeon, François (2020). The Young Turk Revolution and the Ottoman Empire. The Aftermath of 1908. London: I.B. Tauris. pp. 7–8.
  7. ↑ Zürcher, Erik J. (2004). Turkey. A Modern History. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 142.
  8. ↑ Ahmad, Feroz (2013). From Empire to Republic. Essays on the Late Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. Vol. 2. Istanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Unıversıty Press. p. 163.
  9. ↑ Ahmad (2014). p. 42.
  10. ↑ Zürcher, Erik J. (2010). The Young Turk Legacy and Nation Building. From the Ottoman Empire to Atatürk’s Turkey. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 69.
  11. ↑ Findley (2010). p. 198.
  12. ↑ Seyhun, Ahmet (2021). Competing Ideologies in the Late Ottoman Empire and Early Turkish Republic Selected Writings of Islamist, Turkist, and Westernist Intellectuals. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 196. ISBN 075560220X.
  13. ↑ Lewis, Bernard (1968). The Emergence of Modern Turkey. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 240–241.
  14. ↑ Zürcher (2004). p. 160.
  15. ↑ Zürcher (2004). p. 174.


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