Turkish History

WEEK 9.YOUNG TURKS * Tıbbiye students formed Ottoman Unity Society, laters some members joined CUP_Committe of Unity and progress. * Started against Abdulhamid’s absolute regime (istibdad). Supporting the westernizationed and modernizations. * Many member of the Y.O were educated in Western style school of Ottoman Empire, however these members are lower ranking bureaucrats and student of royal colleges. * Baski yonetimine karsi kendi aralarinda kurduklari birlikle mucadele baslayan grup CUP’nin temellerini olusturmaktadir. * CUP leaders represented themselves as directors of not only of a distinct group political organization but also of a much larger ideological movement. * Abdulhamit II used the term “agiator” (fesat,tahrikçi) for Young Turks. * CUP realized that they were fighting against the absolute regime. Namık kemal said that it is impossible to eliminate liberty by opression and cruelty. * They represented modernist wing of Ottoman Empire. They regarded themselves as the natural heirs of the reformist movement. * They demanded Ottoman Empire install Western institutions. “there is only 1 civilization, that is European civilization.” For Young Turks, European civilization was essentially synonymous with “contemporary science.”
CONCEPTS
1. SCIENCE: * Popular science and materalism were main support of Young Turks Royal Medical School, birthplace of CUP. * Young Turks gave no credit to reconcile western civilization and science with Islam and traditional ways. * Science articles were published in journals. Science is their way of thinking. They wanted replace religion with science. Royal medical school played important role to set a ground for materialist and antireligious ideas. * Students read from Darwins’s work so they saw the difference between nature and religion. Belief in god was harshly criticized. They were impressed by Bucher who says religion is considered obstacle to human progress.