Committee of Union and Progress

Foundation:	1894
Dissolved:	1918, Court Martialed
Head:

The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (Turkish: İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti), initially a secret society established as the "Committee of Ottoman Union" (İttihad-ı Osmanî Cemiyeti in 1889 by the medical students İbrahim Temo, Abdullah Cevdet, İshak Sükuti and Hüseyinzade Ali, became was a political organization, established by Bahaeddin Sakir among Young Turks in 1906, during the dissolution period of the Ottoman Empire. It came to power between 1908 and 1918. At the end of World War I most of its members were court-martialled by the sultan Mehmed VI and imprisoned. The remnants of the organization were eliminated from the Republic of Turkey during the "assassination of president" trials in 1926. Image File history File links Flag_of_Turkey. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Abdullah Cevdet (also spelled Djewdet in some sources) (1869–1932) was an Ottoman Turkish intellectual of Kurdish origin and a medical doctor by profession. ... Behaeddin Shakir (d. ... The Young Turks (Turkish Jön Türkler (plural), from French Jeunes Turcs, Arabic: تركيا الفتاة) was a coalition of various reform groups in favor of reforming the administration of the Ottoman Empire. ... Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–65) Edirne (1365–1453) Constantinople (Ä°stanbul, 1453–1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy [[Category:Former monarchies}}|Ottoman Empire, 1299]] Sultans  - 1281–1326... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Mehmed VI (Arabic: محمد السادس), original name Mehmed Vahdettin or Mehmed Vahideddin, (January 14, 1861 – May 16, 1926) was the 36th and last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, reigning from 1918–1922. ...

Revolutionary Era 1906-1908

Committee of Union and Progress was an umbrella name for different underground factions, some of which were generally known as the “Young Turks”. The name was officially sanctioned to a specific group in 1906 by Bahaeddin Sakir. The CUP had built an extensive organization, at home towns, at the capital, and in Europe. Under this umbrella name one could find ethnic Albanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Turks, and Armenians. Changing the régime was their common goal which after the 1908 revolution, Young Turk Revolution, this goal lost its meaning and factions began to emerge. The evolution of CUP, interestingly also supported by French government. Abdul Hamid II was quite successful in suppressing the CUP, and even approached to France and Germany in suppression of this political movement. The Young Turks (Turkish Jön Türkler (plural), from French Jeunes Turcs, Arabic: تركيا الفتاة) was a coalition of various reform groups in favor of reforming the administration of the Ottoman Empire. ... Public demonstration in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, 1908 The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 reversed the suspension of the Ottoman parliament by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, marking the onset of the Second Constitutional Era. ... Abdülhamid II (Ottoman Turkish: عبد الحميد ثانی , Turkish: Ä°kinci Abdülhamid) (September 21, 1842 – February 10, 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire. ...

The Young Turk Revolution played a significant role in the evolution of Committee of Union and Progress from a revolutionary organization to a political party. Public demonstration in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, 1908 The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 reversed the suspension of the Ottoman parliament by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, marking the onset of the Second Constitutional Era. ...

Change through revolution

The revolution and CUP's work made a stronger impact on Muslims. The Persian community in Istanbul founded the Iranian Union and Progress Committee. Indian Muslims imitated the CUP oath for joining the organization. The leaders of the Young Bukhara movement were deeply influenced by the Young Turk Revolution, and saw it as an example to emulate. The Persians of Iran (officially named Persia by West until 1935 while still referred to as Persia by some) are an Iranian people who speak Persian (locally named Fârsi by native speakers) and often refer to themselves as ethnic Iranians as well. ... Istanbul (Turkish: , Greek: , historically Byzantium and later Constantinople; see other names) is Turkeys most populous city, and its cultural and financial center. ... The gate of the Jami mosque built in 1571 in Fatehpur Sikri, a city built by the Mughal emperor Akbar. ...

The Chinese Revolution of 1911 and the Russian Revolution of 1917 diverted the attention of world revolutionaries from the Young Turk Revolution. Combatants Qing Dynasty Chinese Revolutionary Alliance Commanders Feng Guozhang, Yuan Shikai, and local Qing governors. ... Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Coming to power

Further information: Young Turk Revolution

Public demonstration in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, 1908 The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 reversed the suspension of the Ottoman parliament by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, marking the onset of the Second Constitutional Era. ...

Initial, 1908-1912

Main article: Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)

The first election to the Ottoman Parliament after the Young Turk Revolution netted the Committee of Union and Progress only 60 of the 275 seats, despite its leading role in the revolution. Other parties represented in Parliament at this time included the Armenian nationalist Dashnak and Huncha parties (four and two members respectively) and the main opposition, the Liberty and Entente party, sometimes referred to by Ottoman historians as the "Liberal Union" (although this makes it easy to confuse with a Dutch political party of the same name). Public Demonstration The Second Constitutional Era in the Ottoman Empire began with the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, shortly after which Sultan Abdul Hamid II restored the 1876 Constitution suspended since 1878. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion, because: it is patent nonsense. ...

As a result of the "Law of Associations" shutting down ethnically based organizations and clubs, by the time of the second general election in 1912, smaller parties had coalesced with the Liberal Union. At this election, a total of 67% or 184 seats were won by the CUP. In most republics this is the margin required for wholesale transformation of the constitution, but of course the Ottoman Empire was technically a constitutional monarchy, although it is unlikely Sultan Mehmed V could have prevented the revision of the constitution. This Parliament was a very short session due to the outbreak of the First Balkan War; sensing the danger, the government won passage of a bill conscripting dhimmis into the army. This proved too little and too late to salvage the Ottoman toehold in southeast Europe; the Ottomans lost Albania, Macedonia and western Thrace. A republic in its basic sense, is constitutional government. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... Sultan Mehmed V Mehmed V (sometimes also Mahommed V; known as Mehmed V ReÅŸad (or ReÅŸat) or Reshid Effendi) (November 2, 1844 – July 3, 1918) was the 39th Ottoman Sultan. ... Combatants Ottoman Empire Balkan League: Bulgaria Greece Montenegro Serbia Commanders Nazim Pasha, Zekki Pasha, Esat Pasha, Abdullah Pasha, Ali Rizah Pasha Vladimir Vazov, Vasil Kutinchev, Nikola Ivanov, Radko Dimitriev Crown Prince Constantine, Panagiotis Danglis, Pavlos Kountouriotis King Nicholas I, Prince Danilo Petrović, Mitar Martinović, Janko Vukotić Radomir Putnik, Petar Bojovi... A Dhimmi, or Zimmi (Arabic ذمّي), as defined in classical Islamic legal and political literature, is a person living in a Muslim state who is a member of an officially tolerated non-Muslim religion. ... World map showing the location of Europe. ... Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak  Thrace (Bulgarian: , Greek: , Attic Greek: ThrāíkÄ“ or ThrēíkÄ“, Latin: , Turkish: ) is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. ...

On 5 August 1912, the government shuttered Parliament. Just prior to that it had succeeded in passing the "Law for the Prevention of Brigandage and Sedition," a measure ostensibly intended to prevent insurgency against the central government which assigned that duty to newly created paramilitary formations. These later came under the control of the Special Organization. The US government and media was using the term insurgent as early as 1899 to describe rebels during the Philippine-American War, here Filipinos described as insurgents at the time lie in a trench after being executed by US forces. ... The term Special Organization can refer to any of the following: Special Organization was a three member executive committee of the Committee of Union and Progress. ...

Coup and Aftermath, 1913-1918

In spite of parliamentary elections, non-partisan figures from the pre-revolutionary period known as the "Old Turks" still dominated the Ottoman cabinet, known as the Sublime Porte. The Grand Vizier Mehmed Kamil Pasha and his minister of war Nazim Pasha became targets of the CUP, which overthrew them on 23 January 1913. Synonym of the government of the Ottoman Empire often confusing the Sublime Porte and the High Porte. ... A Vizier (وزير, sometimes also spelled Wazir) is an Arabic term for a high-ranking religious and political advisor, often to a king or sultan. ... Mehmed Kamil Pasha (seated) circa 1900 Kıbrıslı Mehmed Kamil Pasha (Mehmed Kamil Pasha the Cypriot), also spelled as Kâmil Pasha or Kiamil Pasha was an Ottoman statesman of Turkish Cypriot origin in the late 19th century and early 20th century, who became, as aside regional or international... Nazim Pasha was the Chief of Staff of the Army of the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War. ...

The emerging government could hardly be called constitutional. Indeed, 1913 was a period of government by assassination as Nazim and then his successor Mahmud Sevket Pasha were both slain, Nazim at the very instant the CUP seized power. The passage of a new law the following year made the CUP the Empire's only legal political party; all provincial and local officials reported to "Responsible Secretaries" chosen by the party for each vilayet. Mahmud Åževket Pasha Mahmud Åževket Pasha (1856 - 11 June 1913) was an Ottoman general and statesman. ... Vilâyet (also eyalet or pashaluk) was the Turkish name for the provinces of the Ottoman Empire. ...

The CUP from this period is probably best understood as a manifestation of clerical fascism, seeking to destroy both minority political parties and minority religions within the Empire while using pre-revolutionary institutions as figureheads to hold the loyalty of a large enough section of the populace as to prevent a countercoup. If so, it was the first fascist government anywhere, distinguishing it from the other governments of the Central Powers, which it joined in early November 1914, thereby sealing the fate of the Empire itself. Clerical fascism is an ideological construct that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with theology or religious tradition. ... European military alliances in 1914. ...

Absent the wartime atmosphere, the CUP could not even purge minority religions from political life; at least 23 Christians joined it and were elected to the third Parliament. This is one possible motivation for the entry into the war, another being the "pan-Turkic" ideology of the party which emphasized the Empire's manifest destiny of ruling over the Muslims of Central Asia once Russia was driven out of that region. Notably, two principal leaders from this time, Enver Pasha and Ahmed Djemal, would in fact die in the Soviet Union leading Muslim anti-Communist movements years after the Russian Revolution and the Ottoman defeat in World War I. This article is about the religous people known as Christians. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... Ismail Enver Ismail Enver, known to Europeans during his political career as Enver Pasha ( Istanbul, November 22, 1881 - August 4, 1922) was a military officer and a leader of the Young Turk revolution in the closing days of the Ottoman Empire. ... Ahmed Djemal Pasha Ahmed Djemal Pasha Ahmed Djemal Pasha (Turkish: Ahmet Cemal Paşa) (May 6, 1872 - July 21, 1922) was born in Mytilene. ... Anti-communism is opposition to communist ideology, organization, or government, on either a theoretical or practical level. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ...

While in theory any Christian other than a citizen of Germany or its allies could legally be killed in what the government defined as a jihad, the CUP especially disliked Armenians, and began plotting their extermination almost immediately. Indeed, the first major offensive the Turks undertook in World War I was an unsuccessful attempt to drive the Russians from the portion of classic Armenia which they had taken over in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, with an eye to the slaughter of the general population. After the predictable failure of this expedition, the CUP was even more able to scapegoat Armenians, who began being exterminated by the hundreds of thousands in February 1915. As explained in the "Key Indictment" at the trial (in absentia) of Enver, Jemal, and Talaat Pasha, the Armenian Genocide was spearheaded by the Special Organization under its leader, Turkish physician Behaeddin Shakir. However, as in any genocide, nearly everyone not specifically slated for destruction was expected to participate to some degree, even other minorities such as the Kurds, who at this writing are the last significant group of non-Turks now residing in Anatolia. Flag, featuring the Shahada, used by Muslims Army during early Islam Jihad (Arabic: IPA: ) as an Islamic term, is sometimes referred to as the sixth pillar of Islam, although it occupies no official status as such in Sunni Islam. ... The Russo-Turkish Wars were a series of ten wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Turkish-ruled Ottoman Empire during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Mehmed Talat Pasha. ... Armenian Genocide photo. ... Special Organization was name given to a three member executive committee established by the Committee of Union and Progress of the Ottoman Empire. ... Behaeddin Shakir (d. ... Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... Anatolia and Europe Anatolia (Turkish: from Greek: Ανατολία - Anatolia) is a peninsula of Western Asia which forms the greater part of the Asian portion of Turkey, as opposed to the European portion (Thrace, or traditionally Rumelia). ...

Disbanding of CUP

Further information: Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-20

The disbanding process of the CUP was achieved through military trials. Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-1920 were court martials of the Ottoman Empire after the armistice of Mudros during the aftermath the World War One, which the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress and selected former officials had court-martial with/including the charges of subversion of the...

As the military position of the Central Powers disintegrated in October 1918, the government resigned. A new Grand Vizier, Damad Ferid Pasha, negotiated the Armistice of Mudros at the end of the month. The position of the CUP was now untenable, and its top leaders fled three days later. Damat Ferid Pasha (wearing the fez) with the three other signatories of the Treaty of Sevres; to his right, Rıza Tevfik, and to his left, the Ottoman minister of education Bağdatlı Hadi Pasha and the ambassador Reşad Halis; in a photograph with several hidden messages on board... The Armistice of Mudros (30 October 1918), which ended the hostilities on Middle Eastern theatre of World War I between Ottoman Empire and Allies, was signed by the Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Bey) and the British Admiral Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe), on the aboard HMS Agamemnon in Moudros port...

British forces occupied various points throughout the Empire, and through their high commissioner Somerset Calthorpe demanded those members of the leadership who had not fled be put on trial, a policy also demanded by Part VII of the Treaty of Sevres formally ending hostilities between the Allies and the Empire. The British carried off sixty Turks thought to be responsible for atrocities to Malta, where trials were planned. The new government obligingly arrested over 100 party and military officials by April 1919 and began a series of trials. These were initially promising, with one district governor, Mehmed Kemal, being hanged on April 10. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe (1865–1937), sometimes known as Sir Somerset Calthorpe, was a British Royal Navy admiral. ... The Treaty of Sèvres of August 10, 1920, made peace between the Allied and Associated Powers1 and the Ottoman Empire after World War I. The treaty was signed by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI who was trying to save his throne but was rejected by the independence movement in...

Any possibility of a general effort at truth, reconciliation, or democratization was, however, lost when Greece, which had sought to remain neutral through most of World War I, was invited by France, Britain, and the United States to occupy western Anatolia in May 1919. Nationalist leader Mustafa Kemal (no relation to the CUP official) rallied the Turkish people to resist. Two additional organizers of the genocide were hanged, but while a few others were convicted, none completed their prison terms. In spite of its comprehensive defeat in World War I, Turkey was somehow able to retain control of almost 30 British prisoners, whom it eventually traded for those held on Malta, obliging the British to give up their plans for international trials. Combatants Greece Turkish Revolutionaries Commanders Gen Leonidas Paraskevopoulos, Gen Anastasios Papoulas, Gen Georgios Hatzianestis Ali Fethi Okyar, Ä°smet Ä°nönü, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Fevzi Çakmak Strength 200,000 men 120,000 men (plus village protectors) Casualties 23,500 dead; 20,820 captured 20,540 dead; 10,000 wounded The... Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 – November 10, 1938), Turkish soldier and statesman, was the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. ...

Effects on Republic of Turkey

Further information: Establishment of Turkish national movement

The CUP has at times been identified with the two opposition parties attempted to be introduced into Turkish politics during the life of Kemal, the Progressive Republican Party and the Liberal Republican Party. While neither of these parties was primarily made up of persons indicted for genocidal activities, they were eventually taken over (or at least exploited) by persons who wished to restore the caliphate or otherwise return to the CUP's jihadist heyday. Consequently, both parties had to be outlawed, although Kazim Karabekir, founder of the PRP, was eventually rehabilitated after the death of Kemal and even served as speaker of the Grand National Assembly. Establishment of Turkish national movement explains the initial stages of the alliance that will become Turkish revolutionaries which waged an independence war that resulted in decleration of Republic of Turkey. ... (Turkish: Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Fırkası) Progressive Republican Party (Turkish: Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Fırkası) is a non-existing Islamic Turkish political party banned by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. ... The United States Liberal Republican Party was a political party formed in 1872 to oppose the administration of the then-current President, Ulysses S. Grant. ... A caliphate (from the Arabic خلافة or khilāfah), is the Islamic form of government representing the political unity and leadership of the Muslim world. ... Jihad (ǧihād جهاد) is an Arabic word which comes from the Arabic root word jahada, which means exerting utmost effort or to strive. The word connotes a wide range of meanings, from an inward spiritual struggle to attain perfect faith, to holy war. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, tone, style, and voice). ... The main chamber of the Grand National Assembly in session. ...

It was also Karabekir who crystallized the modern Turkish position on the Armenian Genocide, telling Soviet peace commissioners that the return of any Armenians to territory controlled by Turks was out of the question, as the Armenians had perished in a rebellion of their own making. Historian Taner Akçam has identified four definitions of Turkey which have been handed down by Kemal's generation to modern Turks, of which the second is "Turkey is a society without ethnic minorities or cultures." While the postwar reconstruction of Eastern Europe was generally dominated by Wilsonian ideas of national self-determination, Turkey probably came closer than most of the new countries to ethnic homogeneity due to the genocide and the subsequent population exchanges with neighboring countries. Similarly with countries which came under Soviet domination following World War II, it has not become truly multi-ethnic like the immigrant havens of Western Europe or the United States, rather serving as a net exporter of people. This is probably the main reason Karabekir's approach has continued to be viable. Taner Akçam (born on October 23, 1953, Turkey) is a Turkish historian, sociologist and publicist. ... Wilsonianism or Wilsonian are words used to describe a certain type of ideological perspectives on foreign policy. ... Self-determination is a principle in international law that a people ought to be able to determine their own governmental forms and structure free from outside influence. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Kemal was particularly eager that political Islam be marginalized; this made possible the eventual normalization of relations with Western countries, though the denial of admission to the European Union indicates there are still strong negative feelings among some political leaders. This remains the most difficult aspect of the Turkish national movement.

The CUP's effects have arguably been more profound in Turkey's former Arab provinces. First, these nations' independence would have been considerably delayed had the Ottoman Empire not committed suicide by joining World War I on the wrong side. No combatant seems likely to have attacked the Empire absent its decision to join the war. Second, and more significantly, Turkey is the only majority Muslim country in the Middle East not governed or seriously threatened today by a jihadist movement. A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Jihad (ǧihād جهاد) is an Arabic word which comes from the Arabic root word jahada, which means exerting utmost effort or to strive. The word connotes a wide range of meanings, from an inward spiritual struggle to attain perfect faith, to holy war. ...

See

• Armenian Genocide
• Young Turks
• Young Turk Revolution
• Three Pashas
• List of parties in Ottoman Empire

Armenian Genocide photo. ... The Young Turks (Turkish Jön Türkler (plural), from French Jeunes Turcs, Arabic: تركيا الفتاة) was a coalition of various reform groups in favor of reforming the administration of the Ottoman Empire. ... Public demonstration in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, 1908 The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 reversed the suspension of the Ottoman parliament by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, marking the onset of the Second Constitutional Era. ... The Three Pashas are the famous Pashas who enabled the Ottoman Empire to enter the WWI. Talat, along with Enver Pasha and Djemal Pasha formed a group called the three pashas. ... List of parties in Ottoman Empire gives an overview of parties in Ottoman Empire. ...

References

• Şerif Mardin, Jön Türklerin Siyasi Fikirleri, 1895–1908, Istanbul 1964 (1992), 221–50.
• idem, Continuity and Change in the Ideas of the Young Turks, expanded text of a lecture given at the School of Business Administration and Economics Robert College, 1969, 13–27.
• M. Sukru Hanioglu, Bir siyasal düşünür olarak Doktor Abdullah Cevdet ve Dönemi, Istanbul, 1981.
• idem, Bir siyasal örgüt olarak Osmanlı Ittihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti ve Jon Türklük, Istanbul, 1986.
• Sina Akşin, Jön Türkler ve İttihat ve Terakki, İstanbul, 1987.
• Tarık Zafer Tunaya, Türkiye’de Siyasal Partiler, İstanbul, 1989.
• M. Sukru Hanioglu, The Young Turks in Opposition, Oxford University Press, 1995.
• idem, Preparation for a Revolution: The Young Turks, 1902-1908. Oxford 2001