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Committee of Union and Progress
The Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP, also translated as the Society of Union and Progress; Ottoman Turkish: اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, romanized: İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, French: Union et Progrès) was a revolutionary group, secret society, and political party, active between 1889 and 1926 in the Ottoman Empire and in the Republic of Turkey. The foremost faction of the Young Turks, the CUP instigated the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, which ended absolute monarchy and began the Second Constitutional Era. After an ideological transformation, from 1913 to 1918, the CUP ruled the empire as a dictatorship and committed genocides against the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian peoples as part of a broader policy of ethnic erasure during the late Ottoman period. The CUP and its members have often been referred to as "Young Turks", although the Young Turk movement produced other Ottoman political parties as well. Within the Ottoman Empire its members were known as İttihadcılar ('Unionists') or Komiteciler ('Committeemen').
The organisation began as a liberal reform movement, and the autocratic government of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909) persecuted it because of its calls for constitutional government and reform. Most of its members were exiled and arrested after a failed coup-attempt in 1896 which started a period infighting among émigré Young Turk communities in Europe. The CUP's cause revived by 1906 with a new "Macedonian" cadre of bureaucrats and Ottoman army contingents based in Ottoman Macedonia which were fighting ethnic insurgents in the Macedonian Struggle. In 1908 the Unionists revolted in the Young Turk Revolution, and forced Abdul Hamid to re-instate the 1876 Constitution, ushering in an era of political plurality. During the Second Constitutional Era, the CUP at first influenced politics from behind the scenes, and introduced major reforms to continue the modernisation of the Ottoman Empire. The CUP's main rival was the Freedom and Accord Party, a conservative party which called for the decentralisation of the empire, in opposition to the CUP's desire for a centralised and unitary Turkish-dominated state.
The CUP consolidated its power at the expense of the Freedom and Accord Party in the 1912 "Election of Clubs" and in the 1913 Raid on the Sublime Porte, while also growing increasingly splintered, radical and nationalistic due to Turkey's defeat in the First Balkan War and attacks on Balkan Muslims. The CUP seized full power following Grand Vizier Mahmud Şevket Pasha's assassination in June 1913, with major decisions ultimately being decided by the party's Central Committee. A triumvirate of the CUP leader Talât Pasha with Enver Pasha and Cemal Pasha took control of the country, and sided with Germany in World War I. With the help of their paramilitary, the Special Organization, the Unionist régime enacted policies resulting in the destruction and expulsion of the empire's Armenian, Pontic Greek, and Assyrian citizens in order to Turkify Anatolia.
Following Ottoman defeat in World War I in October 1918, CUP leaders escaped into exile in Europe, where the Armenian Revolutionary Federation assassinated several of them (including Talât and Cemal) in Operation Nemesis in revenge for their genocidal policies. Many CUP members were court-martialed and imprisoned in war-crimes trials with support from the Allied powers. However, most former Unionists were able to join the burgeoning Turkish nationalist movement led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, ultimately continuing their political careers in the Republic of Turkey as members of Atatürk's Republican People's Party following the Turkish War of Independence. Atatürk and the Republican People's Party expanded on reforms introduced by Union and Progress and continued one-party rule in Turkey until 1946.
The CUP was first established as the Committee of the Ottoman Union (Ottoman Turkish: İttihad-ı Osmanî Cemiyeti) in Constantinople (now Istanbul) on 6 February 1889 by a group of medical students of the Imperial Military School of Medicine. Ahmet Rıza, being an avid follower of Auguste Comte and his theories on progressivism, changed the name of the early club to the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (Ottoman Turkish: اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, romanized: İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti). Between 1906 and 1908 it was known as the Committee of Progress and Union, but changed its name back to the more recognisable Committee of Union and Progress during the Young Turk Revolution.
The word cemiyet has many translations. It is a loanword from the Arabic ( جمعية, jām‘ia) and a classical translation would be "committee" or "society" or "organisation". As the Young Turks greatly admired the French Revolution and the radical political clubs and societies that were founded over its course, a more accurate and faithful translation of İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti into English would be "The Society of Union and Progress". They especially wished to model their movement of the Jacobin Club and thought of themselves as such.[citation needed]
In the West, the CUP was conflated with the wider Young Turks movement and its members were called Young Turks, while in the Ottoman Empire a member was known as a İttihadçı or Komiteci, which means İttihadist (Unionist) and Committeeman respectively. Its ideology is known as İttihadçılık, or İttihadism (Unionism). The Central Committee informally referred to itself as the "Sacred Committee" (Cemiyet-i mukaddese) or the "Kaaba of Liberty" (Kâbe-i hürriyet).
The Committee of Ottoman Union (İttihad-ı Osmanî Cemiyeti) was established as a secret student society on 2 June 1889 by Ibrahim Temo, Şerafettin Mağmumi, Dr. Mehmed Reşid, Abdullah Cevdet, and İshak Sükuti, all of whom were medical students of the Imperial Military School of Medicine in Constantinople. While they held many contradicting Enlightenment derived beliefs, they were united by the necessity of a constitution to prevent further decline of the empire. Sultan Abdul Hamid II promulgated a constitution and a parliament upon his ascension to the throne in 1876, but suspended both after defeat in the 1877-1878 Russo Turkish War. From 1878 to 1908, Abdul Hamid ruled the empire as a personal dictatorship. Critically though, the empire was still in decline. It was in massive debt to European creditors to the point where its finances were controlled by Western bankers, and nationalist movements by non-Muslim minorities continued making inroads. Therefore, those opposed to his regime, called Young Turks, hoped to overthrow Abdul Hamid II for one of his brothers in order to save the empire through constitutionalism: either the crown prince Mehmed Reşad (Mehmed V) or former Sultan Murad V.
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Committee of Union and Progress
The Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP, also translated as the Society of Union and Progress; Ottoman Turkish: اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, romanized: İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, French: Union et Progrès) was a revolutionary group, secret society, and political party, active between 1889 and 1926 in the Ottoman Empire and in the Republic of Turkey. The foremost faction of the Young Turks, the CUP instigated the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, which ended absolute monarchy and began the Second Constitutional Era. After an ideological transformation, from 1913 to 1918, the CUP ruled the empire as a dictatorship and committed genocides against the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian peoples as part of a broader policy of ethnic erasure during the late Ottoman period. The CUP and its members have often been referred to as "Young Turks", although the Young Turk movement produced other Ottoman political parties as well. Within the Ottoman Empire its members were known as İttihadcılar ('Unionists') or Komiteciler ('Committeemen').
The organisation began as a liberal reform movement, and the autocratic government of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909) persecuted it because of its calls for constitutional government and reform. Most of its members were exiled and arrested after a failed coup-attempt in 1896 which started a period infighting among émigré Young Turk communities in Europe. The CUP's cause revived by 1906 with a new "Macedonian" cadre of bureaucrats and Ottoman army contingents based in Ottoman Macedonia which were fighting ethnic insurgents in the Macedonian Struggle. In 1908 the Unionists revolted in the Young Turk Revolution, and forced Abdul Hamid to re-instate the 1876 Constitution, ushering in an era of political plurality. During the Second Constitutional Era, the CUP at first influenced politics from behind the scenes, and introduced major reforms to continue the modernisation of the Ottoman Empire. The CUP's main rival was the Freedom and Accord Party, a conservative party which called for the decentralisation of the empire, in opposition to the CUP's desire for a centralised and unitary Turkish-dominated state.
The CUP consolidated its power at the expense of the Freedom and Accord Party in the 1912 "Election of Clubs" and in the 1913 Raid on the Sublime Porte, while also growing increasingly splintered, radical and nationalistic due to Turkey's defeat in the First Balkan War and attacks on Balkan Muslims. The CUP seized full power following Grand Vizier Mahmud Şevket Pasha's assassination in June 1913, with major decisions ultimately being decided by the party's Central Committee. A triumvirate of the CUP leader Talât Pasha with Enver Pasha and Cemal Pasha took control of the country, and sided with Germany in World War I. With the help of their paramilitary, the Special Organization, the Unionist régime enacted policies resulting in the destruction and expulsion of the empire's Armenian, Pontic Greek, and Assyrian citizens in order to Turkify Anatolia.
Following Ottoman defeat in World War I in October 1918, CUP leaders escaped into exile in Europe, where the Armenian Revolutionary Federation assassinated several of them (including Talât and Cemal) in Operation Nemesis in revenge for their genocidal policies. Many CUP members were court-martialed and imprisoned in war-crimes trials with support from the Allied powers. However, most former Unionists were able to join the burgeoning Turkish nationalist movement led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, ultimately continuing their political careers in the Republic of Turkey as members of Atatürk's Republican People's Party following the Turkish War of Independence. Atatürk and the Republican People's Party expanded on reforms introduced by Union and Progress and continued one-party rule in Turkey until 1946.
The CUP was first established as the Committee of the Ottoman Union (Ottoman Turkish: İttihad-ı Osmanî Cemiyeti) in Constantinople (now Istanbul) on 6 February 1889 by a group of medical students of the Imperial Military School of Medicine. Ahmet Rıza, being an avid follower of Auguste Comte and his theories on progressivism, changed the name of the early club to the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (Ottoman Turkish: اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, romanized: İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti). Between 1906 and 1908 it was known as the Committee of Progress and Union, but changed its name back to the more recognisable Committee of Union and Progress during the Young Turk Revolution.
The word cemiyet has many translations. It is a loanword from the Arabic ( جمعية, jām‘ia) and a classical translation would be "committee" or "society" or "organisation". As the Young Turks greatly admired the French Revolution and the radical political clubs and societies that were founded over its course, a more accurate and faithful translation of İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti into English would be "The Society of Union and Progress". They especially wished to model their movement of the Jacobin Club and thought of themselves as such.[citation needed]
In the West, the CUP was conflated with the wider Young Turks movement and its members were called Young Turks, while in the Ottoman Empire a member was known as a İttihadçı or Komiteci, which means İttihadist (Unionist) and Committeeman respectively. Its ideology is known as İttihadçılık, or İttihadism (Unionism). The Central Committee informally referred to itself as the "Sacred Committee" (Cemiyet-i mukaddese) or the "Kaaba of Liberty" (Kâbe-i hürriyet).
The Committee of Ottoman Union (İttihad-ı Osmanî Cemiyeti) was established as a secret student society on 2 June 1889 by Ibrahim Temo, Şerafettin Mağmumi, Dr. Mehmed Reşid, Abdullah Cevdet, and İshak Sükuti, all of whom were medical students of the Imperial Military School of Medicine in Constantinople. While they held many contradicting Enlightenment derived beliefs, they were united by the necessity of a constitution to prevent further decline of the empire. Sultan Abdul Hamid II promulgated a constitution and a parliament upon his ascension to the throne in 1876, but suspended both after defeat in the 1877-1878 Russo Turkish War. From 1878 to 1908, Abdul Hamid ruled the empire as a personal dictatorship. Critically though, the empire was still in decline. It was in massive debt to European creditors to the point where its finances were controlled by Western bankers, and nationalist movements by non-Muslim minorities continued making inroads. Therefore, those opposed to his regime, called Young Turks, hoped to overthrow Abdul Hamid II for one of his brothers in order to save the empire through constitutionalism: either the crown prince Mehmed Reşad (Mehmed V) or former Sultan Murad V.
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