Young Ottomans

According to Niyazi Berkes, historically the term {{Lang|fr|jeunes}} were two groups: Those who wanted a return to the roots of country by reforms ({{langx|ota|اصلاحات|translit=ʾİṣlâḥât}}) and those who wanted to stage radical reforms (such as adaptation of the European model, separation of the religious and state affairs etc.).{{cite book |last1=Berkes |first1=Niyazi |editor1-last=Kuyaş |editor1-first=Ahmet |title=Türkiye'de Çağdaşlaşma |date=2012 |publisher=Yapı Kredi Yayınları |location=İstanbul |isbn=978-975-08-0434-2 |page=282 |edition=18th |language=Turkish}} M. Şükrü Hanioğlu records that the names "Young Turks" ({{langx|fr|Jeunes Turcs}}) and "Young Turkey" ({{langx|fr|Jeune-Turquie}}) were in use for the groups of reformist bureaucrats and for the educated caste since Mahmud II and Abdülmecid I.{{cite encyclopedia |last= Hanioğlu |first= M. Şükrü |author-link= M. Şükrü Hanioğlu |editor-last= |editor-first= |editor-link= |encyclopedia=Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi |title=Jön Türkler |trans-title=Young Turks |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/jon-turkler |access-date=21 August 2024 |language=Turkish |edition=1st |date=2001 |publisher=Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi |series= |volume=23 |location=İstanbul |id= |isbn=9789753894500 |issn= |oclc= |doi= |page=584 |archive-url= |archive-date= |url-status= |quote= }}

According to Berkes, differentiation on the usage of the words "New" ({{langx|ota|یکی|translit=Yeŋî}}) in Turkish and "Young" ({{langx|fr|Jeune}}, {{langx|ota|ژون|translit=Jön}} or {{langx|ota|جون|translit=Cön}} and {{langx|ota|گنج|translit=Genc}}) in French reflects the perception of the word in the Ottoman public mind. Berkes explains that "{{Lang|fr|Jeunes}} of Europe" (i.e. revolutionaries and liberals) were usually nationalists, republicans and godless; and/or they were perceived as such by the learned-to-illiterate Ottoman public. Thus they were perceived as the enemies of the country and religion. However, such ideas (especially the nationalism) weren't the aims of Young Ottomans, instead these were mostly unwanted for most of them, if not they were against them (see the ideology section).{{cite book |last1=Berkes |first1=Niyazi |editor1-last=Kuyaş |editor1-first=Ahmet |title=Türkiye'de Çağdaşlaşma |date=2012 |publisher=Yapı Kredi Yayınları |location=İstanbul |isbn=978-975-08-0434-2 |pages=282–283 |edition=18th |language=Turkish}}

Both to avoid its negative connotation and because of the hardship of translating its new meaning, initial translation of the term was different (see the next section) than the now famous one. Berkes says that though they dropped the more confusing and indirect names like "{{Lang|tr|Erbâb-i Şebâb}}", they didn't claimed the name "{{Lang|fr|Jeunes}}" either, and instead, used the word "New" to replace the word {{Lang|fr|jeunes}}.{{cite book |last1=Berkes |first1=Niyazi |editor1-last=Kuyaş |editor1-first=Ahmet |title=Türkiye'de Çağdaşlaşma |date=2012 |publisher=Yapı Kredi Yayınları |location=İstanbul |isbn=978-975-08-0434-2 |page=283 |edition=18th |language=Turkish}}

However, contrary to this differentiation in Turkish, they were traditionally and most commonly called as "Young"/"{{Lang|fr|Jeunes}}" instead of "New" in foreign languages, as in the way of the similar named movements.

There were several names of the movement, most possibly because of the differentiation of thinking among its members, and the way they presented themselves to public. In foreign languages they were recognized as "New Turkey"/"Young Turkey" ({{langx|fr|Jeune-Turquie}}), "New Ottomans"/"Young Ottomans" ({{langx|fr|Jeunes-Ottomans}}), and also as "New Turks"/"Young Turks" ({{langx|fr|Jeunes-Turcs}}), however the last one is usually in the use for the next (and somewhat separated) generation's movement, known as Young Turks.

One of the leading figures of the movement, Namık Kemal, used a rough translation for the term {{Lang|fr|Jeune-Turquie}}: "{{Lang|tr|Türkistan'ın Erbâb-i Şebâbı}}" ({{langx|ota|‎تركستانك ارباب شبابي|translit=Turkistânıŋ ʾErbâb-i Şebâbı|translation=Young ones of Turkestan}} [i.e., Ottoman Empire]).{{cite news |author1=Namık Kemal |author1-link=Namık Kemal |title=Mulâḥaẓe |url=https://katalog.ibb.gov.tr/kutuphane3/sureli/02091_00461_1283R1211_100155.pdf |work=Taṣvîr-i ʾEfkâr |issue=461 |date= |page=1}} Another leading figure of the movement, Ali Suavi, used the name {{Lang|tr|Civan Türk}} ({{langx|ota|جوان ترك|translit=Civân Turk|translation=Young Turk}}).{{cite encyclopedia |last= Hanioğlu |first= M. Şükrü |author-link= M. Şükrü Hanioğlu |editor-last= |editor-first= |editor-link= |encyclopedia=Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi |title=Jön Türkler |trans-title=Young Turks |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/jon-turkler |access-date=21 August 2024 |language=Turkish |edition=1st |date=2001 |publisher=Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi |series= |volume=23 |location=İstanbul |id= |isbn=9789753894500 |issn= |oclc= |doi= |page=584 |archive-url= |archive-date= |url-status= |quote= }}

In its documents and publications organization used the names "Young Turkey" ({{langx|fr|Organisation de la Chancellerie de la Jeune Turquie|translation=Organisation of the Secretariat of the Young Turkey}}) and {{Lang|tr|Yeni Osmanlılar Cemiyeti}} ({{langx|ota|یکی عثمانلیلر جمعیتی|translit=Yeŋî ʿOs̱mânlıler Cemʿiyyeti|translation=Organisation of the Young Ottomans}}), and was primarily called with the latter by its members.

A predating group of plotters' attributed-and-claimed names were also mistakenly identified with the Young Ottomans. The names "{{Lang|tr|Üss-i Medeniyet}}" ({{langx|ota|اس مدنیت|translit=ʾUss-i Medeniyyet|translation=Base of the Civilization}}; used by its founder, Mehmed Bey),{{cite book |last1=Bilgegil |first1=M. Kaya |title=Yakın Çağ Türk Kültür ve Edebiyatı Üzerinde Araştırmalar I - Yeni Osmanlılar |date=1976 |publisher=Atatürk Üniversitesi Yayınları |location=Ankara |page=200 |edition=1st |chapter=Abdülazîz devrinde Türk ihtilâlcileri tarafından Avrupa'da çıkartılan iki gazete}} "{{Lang|tr|Meslek}}" ({{langx|ota|مسلك|translit=Meslek|translation=The Path}}; used in the official court documents){{cite book |last1=Onaran |first1=Burak |title=Padişahı Devirmek: Osmanlı Islahat Çağında Düzen ve Muhalefet: Kuleli (1859), Meslek (1867) |date=2018 |publisher=İletişim Yayınları |location=İstanbul |isbn=978-975-05-2417-2 |pages=255–256 |edition=1st |language=Turkish}}
The name "Meslek" can mean several things. Its literal meaning in Arabic is "the path", meanwhile in modern Turkish it's used as "job". "Meslek" can also mean "ideology" too. For example when talking about a journal if someone will say that "its meslek is democratic", it will mean that "its ideology is democratic". Thus it's hard to translate Meslek to one meaning, however it roughly means a group or a goal-idea. and "Patriotic Alliance" ({{langx|ota|اطفاق حمیت‎|translit=ʾİṭṭifāḳ-i Ḥamiyyet|translation=Alliance of Patriotism}}; {{langx|tr|İttifak-ı Hamiyyet}}; according to Burak Onaran firstly used by Mithat Cemal Kuntay, biographer of Namık Kemal, during the republican era)Ibid. are of this group. However these were two different groups, and their only relation was earlier one's members' joining to the latter in exile.

In the summer of 1865, six young men convened at the Belgrad Forest (Turkish: Belgrad Ormanı) near Istanbul for a picnic to form a group that would become known as the Patriotic Alliance and would be the nucleus of the future Young Ottomans.Mardin 2000, p. 10.

Almost all of the men in attendance had at one time or another worked in the Translation Bureau of the Sublime Porte (the metonymy for the Ottoman government) and therefore had knowledge of both European political systems and the inner workings of Ottoman foreign policy.Mardin 2000, p. 11.

The six men in attendance were Mehmed Bey, Namık Kemal, Menâpirzâde Nuri, Reşat Bey, Ayetullah Bey, and Refik Bey, and all shared a desire to change the way the Ottomans interacted vis-à-vis the European powers in addition to the nature of rule in the empire.Mardin 2000, p. 12-13.

The group attracted a moderate number of followers. "In the course of two years, a few hundred people seem to have joined the society, among them two nephews of the Sultan, Prince Murad (the crown prince) and Prince Hamid."Zürcher 2004, p. 69.

During the same year, İbrahim Şinasi left control of his newspaper Tasvir-i Efkâr to Namık Kemal, and it was under Kemal’s editorship that the paper became more radical.Zürcher 2004, p. 68. In 1867, Namık Kemal and other Young Ottomans published the open letter of a disgruntled Egyptian prince Mustafa Fazıl Pasha to the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz. This letter advocated constitutional and parliamentary governance.{{cite book |title=Turkey: A Modern History |last=Zürcher |first=Erik J. |year=2004 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=1850433992 |page=70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qaC24BFy4JQC&pg=PA70}} After the publication, the Ottoman government cracked down on the Young Ottomans, causing them to flee to Paris,{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire |last=Gabor |first=Ágoston |year=2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1438110257 |page=604 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA604}} where they continued operating under the patronage of Mustafa Fazıl Pasha.{{cite book |title=Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire |last=Somel |first=Selçuk Akşin |year=2003 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0810843323 |pages=123, 328 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGZQL41tg_oC&pg=PA328}} By the time these exiled publicists had come together under the patronage of Mustafa Fazıl Pasha in Paris, they began calling themselves Yeni Osmanlılar ({{langx|en|New Ottomans}}).Zürcher 2004, p. 69-70.

File:Ziya Paşa-3 a.jpg]]

Through the new medium of the press and with the financial support of their ally Mustafa Fazıl Pasha, the Young Ottomans were able to widely circulate their ideas in a number of publications. One of the most important periodicals was Hürriyet ("Freedom"), which was publicized by Namık Kemal and Ziya Pasha beginning in 1868, though many others were published and often took a more radical stance.Zürcher 2004, p. 70. Other Young Ottoman newspapers included Ulum ("Science"), Inkilab ("Revolution"), Ibret ("Lesson"),Ágoston 2008, p. 604. and Basiret.{{cite book|author=Howard Eissenstat |editor1=Stefan Berger|editor2=Alexei Miller|title=Nationalizing Empires|date=2015|publisher=Central European University Press|location=Budapest|isbn=978-963-386-016-8|page=448

|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7829/j.ctt16rpr1r|chapter=Modernization, Imperial Nationalism, and the Ethnicization of Confessional Identity in the Late Ottoman Empire|jstor=10.7829/j.ctt16rpr1r }} These publications voiced dissent and opposition to Ottoman policies that ordinarily would have been stifled. These periodicals circulated widely throughout Europe, having sites of publication in "London, Geneva, Paris, Lyon, and Marseille."Hanioğlu 2008, p. 103.

When Mehmed Fuad Pasha and Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha died in 1869 and 1871, respectively, two of the greatest obstacles to the initiatives of the Young Ottomans were now out of the picture, prompting a number of the exiles to return to Istanbul. The acceptance of Mustafa Fazıl Pasha to a post under Sultan Abdülaziz was also seen as evidence of imminent success. However, it was this return from exile that began to fracture the Young Ottomans, many of whom never shared any sort of established ideological consensus. Ali Suavi resigned from the group while Namık Kemal returned to Istanbul. Ziya Pasha, who had disagreed with Kemal, moved to Geneva to work on another newspaper.Ágoston 2008, p. 604. With his new Grand Vizier Mahmud Nedim Pasha, Sultan Abdülaziz reasserted his role as the absolute ruler, leaving many of the Young Ottomans disappointed after having been so hopeful that their reforms would be widely accepted.Finkel 2006, p. 478.

During the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz, the Empire was experiencing a period of great financial hardship brought on by catastrophic drought and floods in Anatolia in 1873 and 1874. In an attempt to raise revenue, the government raised taxes on the surviving population, leading to discontent amongst the people. The financial difficulties were exacerbated by a global stock market crash in 1873.Zürcher 2004, p. 72.

Discontentment amongst the population grew, culminating in a series of revolts that broke out amongst the Christian peasants in the Balkans. Bosnia and Herzegovina were the first to experience rebellions, followed by Bulgaria in 1876.Zürcher 2004, p. 72. Accusations of atrocities being committed by the Turks, particularly in Bulgaria, did not go unnoticed by Russia, who went to war with the Ottomans on April 24, 1877.Hanioğlu 2008, p. 118.

According to Caroline Finkel, "the profound cultural dislocation and humiliation being experienced by the majority of Ottoman Muslims found expression at this juncture in strident criticism of the government for its appeasement of foreign powers."Finkel 2006, p. 480. Due to the tumultuous environment, the Young Ottomans now had an audience, and action quickly followed. On May 30, 1876, a group of leading Ottoman politicians including Midhat Pasha staged a coup d’état and deposed Sultan Abdülaziz. Prince Murad, who was close with the Young Ottomans, was installed to the throne as Sultan Murad V. Murad had promised to institute the constitution, but he began to listen to his Grand Vizier Rüşdi Pasha, who advocated a cautious approach to reform. After the alleged suicide of Sultan Abdülaziz, Sultan Murad’s mental state began to rapidly decline and he became an alcoholic. "The suicide of his uncle and the murder of several members of his cabinet seem to have led to a severe nervous breakdown."Zürcher 2004, p. 69. As a result, after only three months on the throne, Murad was declared unfit to rule and was replaced by his younger brother, Hamit Efendi, who ascended to the throne on September 1, 1876, as Sultan Abdul Hamid II.Zürcher 2004, p. 73.

The First Constitutional Era began on December 23, 1876, when Sultan Abdul Hamid II appointed Midhat Pasha as Grand Vizier and promulgated the Ottoman constitution of 1876, although his motives for doing so are suspect as they seemed to be aimed at appeasing Europeans who were in Istanbul for a conference.Hanioğlu 2008, p. 117. Indeed, Abdul Hamid II "was distrusted by both the Porte and by intellectuals. The ministers knew that he was deceitful and cunning, and they suspected that his rule would mean a return to imperial control over the affairs of the state."Mardin 2000, p. 72. The first Ottoman parliament, the General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire, convened from March 19, 1877, to June 28, 1877, and only convened once more before being prorogued by Abdul Hamid II, ironically using his constitutional right to do so on February 13, 1878. He also dismissed Midhat Pasha and banished him from the empire, effectively ending the first constitutional era and marking a return to centralization of power under the Sultan.Hanioğlu 2008, p. 121.

The Young Ottomans were not united by a single ideology and their views varied greatly within their own group. Yet they were brought together by a few central shared ideas and a common cause.Hanioğlu 2008, p. 103.

The Young Ottomans were brought together by their shared dislike of the bureaucratic and appeasing form that the government had taken on with the advent of the Tanzimat reforms. "Young Ottomans strongly criticized the Tanzimat as a capitulation to European dictates", which they believed was one of the primary reasons for the poor state of the empire.Hanioğlu 2008, p. 103. The Young Ottomans called for the development of a constitutional government that was grounded in Islamic concepts, not only to differentiate it from the European governments that they were looking to for inspiration, but also because they wished to preserve one of the core features of Ottoman culture.Finkel 2006, p. 478.

{{blockquote|"[T]he most pronounced impact of the Young Ottomans stemmed from their elaboration of the notion of Ottoman patriotism.... Namik [sic] Kemal developed this concept to its secular conclusion in his poems and his famous play Vatan (Fatherland), all of which extolled the Ottoman fatherland and insisted that all Ottomans ought to share feelings of devotion to this territorial entity above any loyalties they might feel to their religious communities. This was the beginning of territorial patriotism, the belief that there was an Ottoman patrie to which its inhabitants owed primary allegiance."}} In the face of the emerging national identities in Europe, the desire for a definition of patriotic Ottoman identity became a unifying factor amongst many lead Young Ottomans. The desired goal of Ottomanism was to overcome the tensions between the Muslim and non-Muslim subjects of the empire and unite them through allegiance to the state.

While the Young Ottomans looked to the Europeans for a model of constitutional government, they maintained that it should be developed within the framework of Islam to emphasize "the continuing and essential validity of Islam as the basis of Ottoman political culture."Finkel 2006, p. 475.

The Young Ottomans syncretized islamic idealism with modern liberalism and parliamentary democracy, to them the European parliamentary liberalism was a model to follow, in accordance with the tenets of Islam and "attempted to reconcile Islamic concepts of government with the ideas of Montesquieu, Danton, Rousseau, and contemporary European Scholars and statesmen." Namık Kemal, who was influential in the formation of the society, admired the constitution of the French Third Republic, he summed up the Young Ottomans' political ideals as "the sovereignty of the nation, the separation of powers, the responsibility of officials, personal freedom, equality, freedom of thought, freedom of press, freedom of association, enjoyment of property, sanctity of the home".{{cite book|last1=Berger|first1=Stefan|last2=Miller|first2=Alexei|title=Nationalizing Empires|date=2015|publisher=Central European University Press|isbn=978-9633860168|page=447|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__9fCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA447|access-date=6 May 2017}}{{cite book|last1=Black|first1=Antony|title=The History of Islamic Political Thought: From the Prophet to the Present|date=2011|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0748688784|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hd1vAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA286|access-date=6 May 2017}}Hanioğlu, M. Şükrü (2008). A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire, Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|0-691-14617-9}}. p. 104.

One of their greatest legacies of the Young Ottomans in the Ottoman Empire was in their actions, as they were "regarded as the first modern ideological movement among the Ottoman elite of the empire, and they were the first who, through their writings, consciously tried to create and influence public opinion."Zürcher 2004, p. 70. The use of the press as a tool of political criticism is also attributed to the innovation of the Young Ottomans.Ágoston 2008, p. 604. Additionally, by assigning new meanings to liberal terminology, with terms such as vatan ("motherland") and hürriyet ("liberty"), leading Young Ottomans such as Namık Kemal lent the powerful expression of ideologies to later nationalist and liberal groups within the Ottoman Empire.Zürcher 2004, p. 69.

As the first group to address the issue of Western modernity, future revolutionary movements such as the Young Turks drew both methods and ideology from the Young Ottomans, though they tended to focus on patriotic Ottomanism rather than their emphasis on a return to the fundamentals of Islam. Additionally, their efforts that contributed to the promulgation of the first Ottoman constitution set an important precedent for the Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1918), which began with the Young Turks finally deposing Abdul Hamid II, the same monarch that the Young Ottomans had clashed with, from the throne in the Young Turk Revolution.Hanioğlu 2008, p. 121.

File:Youngottomans.png

The prominent leaders and ideologists behind the Young Ottomans movement included:

• Writers and publicists:
• İbrahim Şinasi (1826–1871), founded the newspaper Tasvir-i Efkâr ("Illustration of Thoughts") in 1862 and imparted editorship of it to Namık Kemal in 1865.Zürcher 2004, p. 67-68.
• Namık Kemal (1840–1888), one of the founding members of the Young Ottomans in 1865 and publisher of many opposition newspapers; helped draft the constitution.Zürcher 2004, p. 398.
• Ziya Pasha (1825–1880), former secretariat of the palace who had been pressured out of his position and published newspapers in France with Namık Kemal.Zürcher 2004, p. 406.
• Ali Suavi (1838–1878), a teacher and preacher with religious training who edited the newspaper Muhbir. ("Reporter")
• Mehmed Bey, a leading reformer and one of the founding members of the Young Ottomans;Mardin 2000, p. 12. nephew of Mahmud Nedim Pasha.
• Ebüzziya Tevfik (1849-1913), a writer and publisher known for his work editing several newspapers that published Young Ottoman writings, and the author of a history of the group (Yeni Osmanlılar Tarihi, History of the Young Ottomans).{{Cite web |title=EBÜZZİYÂ MEHMED TEVFİK |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ebuzziya-mehmed-tevfik |access-date=2024-08-20 |website=TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi |language=tr}}
• Political figures:
• Midhat Pasha (1822–1883), Ottoman prime minister (grand vizier) and reformer who drafted and implemented the constitution.Ágoston 2008, p. 378-379.
• Mustafa Fazıl Pasha (1830–1875), brother to the viceroy of Egypt and grandson of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, principal benefactor and supporter of the Young Ottomans after formally organizing them in 1867 in Paris.Zürcher 2004, p. 69-70.

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Ágoston, Gábor and Bruce Masters (2008). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, Facts on File. {{ISBN|0-816-06259-5}}.
• Akgunduz, Ahmet and Said Ozturk (2011). Ottoman History: Misperceptions and Truths, IUR Press. {{ISBN|975-7268-28-3}}.
• Finkel, Caroline (2006). Osman’s Dream: the Story of the Ottoman Empire, Basic Books. {{ISBN|0-465-02396-7}}.
• Hanioğlu, M. Şükrü (2008). A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire, Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|0-691-14617-9}}.
• Lapidus, Ira Marvin (2002). A History of Islamic Societies, Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-77933-2}}.
• Mardin, Şerif (1962). The Genesis of Young Ottoman Thought, Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|0-691-03018-9}}. Reprinted in 2000 as The Genesis of Young Ottoman Thought: A Study in the Modernization of Turkish Political Ideas, Syracuse University Press, {{ISBN|0-815-62861-7}}.
• Somel, Selçuk Akşin (2003). Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire, Scarecrow Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8108-4332-5}}.
• Zürcher, Erik J. (2004). Turkey: A Modern History, I.B. Tauris, {{ISBN|1-850-43399-2}}.

• Amin, Camron Michael, Benjamin C. Fortna, and Elizabeth B. Frierson. (2007). The Modern Middle East: A Sourcebook for History, Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-199-23631-3}}.
• Kuru, Ahmet T. and Alfred Stepan (2012). Democracy, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey, Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-15933-1}}.
• Mardin, Şerif, "Young Ottomans," in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, vol. 4 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 357.

• [http://www.anayasa.gen.tr/1876constitution.htm] The text of the 1876 Ottoman constitution in addition to amendments made by the 1909 constitution (website)

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Category:Political movements of the Ottoman Empire

Category:Political parties established in 1867

Category:Reform in the Ottoman Empire