Research On The Young Turks And Its Governing Practices

This dissertation is about The Young Turks as well as its political visions and practices in the political,military,economical,social,ethnic and foreign policy areas.Young Turks is also known as the name "The Committee of Union and Progress(CUP)".Based on the historical research methods for this study and using the theoretical achievements of political party science and military politics,this dissertation will draw some conclusions and new understanding as follows:First,The Young Ottomans is the first nationalist party in Middle East history which carried out the first constitutional practice in Ottoman Empire.It's new national view,state view and constitutional concept had an importnant influence on the establishment,development and political ideology of the Young Turks.Young Turks is also an early nationalist party,which pioneered the first one-party political party system in world history.The political and economic foundation of the Ottoman Enpire had made it difficult for Young Turks to form a mature modern party.The complex internal and external environment that the empire faced and the high dependence on the officers had made the emergence of military intervention in this period inevitablely and rationally.Second,Young Turks' economic policy had made a very big change in the era of its governing.From 1908 to 1913,the liberal economic policy was the dominant,while after the Balkan Wars(1912-1913),Young Turks changed its policy and adopt the nationalist economic policy.This change was a manifestation of the increased political power of Young Turk in the country and the result of the domestic and foreign dilemmas and crises inspired by the Ottoman Empire.The economic thoughts of the socialist scholar had made a significant impact on Young Turks.The special circumstance of the First World War was also created an opportunity for the implementation of nationalist economic policy.The shift of Empire economic center and economic nationalization and islamization had made a deep affect of the transformation of the empire.Thirdly,the secularization of the Ottoman Empire in the field of society and education is a process of gradual advancement and deepening.Along with the modern reform of the Ottoman Empire,the forces of secular had been more and more strengthened.Young Turks period was an important turning point in the contrast between the secular and the forces of religion in the Ottoman Empire that the former'power exceeded the later at the first time.Young Turks had unprecedly implemented secular reform in the field of social and education in history of the empire which paved the road for the Kemal secularization reform in the era of the Republic of Turkey.Fourthly,Young Turks' national policy had undergone a process of transition from Ottomanism to the Ottoman muslim nationalism.Ottoman muslim nationalism was the most influential nationalist trend from the Balkan wars to the end of the first World War and its influence had been keeping strong in the national resistance movement of Ottoman Empire after the first World War.Both of Pan-Turkism and Pan-Islamism were mainly used by Young Turks as a political instrument which were produced important influence in the country.While the influence of Turkish nationalism in the empire was mainly embodied in culture and education field and Pan-Turkismism had provided ideological and cultural inspiration and resources for the development of Turkish nationalism.The main factor in the policy of Young Turks towards ethnic minorities was the loyalty of them to the empire.The final failure of the Ottoman Empire can not be attributed to the failure of Young Turks' national policy.It was the Fragile national structure,weak national strength and complex international environment that caused the decline of the Ottoman Empire.Fifthly,the main target of Young Turks' foreign policy was to seek economic assistance from the western countries,to pursue natfonal independence and to form alliances with the great powers to safeguard national security.There are many contradictions between these goals that is determined by the weakness of the Ottoman Empire.After the October Revolution in 1917,Ottoman Empire dispatched troops to the Caucasus,but its main aim was to establish a buffer between Ottoman and Russia in case of the Russia's expansion in the future rather than to promote pan-Turkic policy in the region.Sixthly,Young Turks had made a significant contribution to the national resistance movement in the Empire after the First World War which is often ignored by international scholars especially by Turkey's scholars.Its leader such as Enver Pasha and Talat Pasha had prepared for the national resistance movement before the end of the first World War,they led the Ottoman people to start the earliest national resistance organizations,to carry out public political activities,to provide a major source of troops for the national resistance movement and most important of all to mobilize Mustafa Kemal to East Anatolia to lead the national resistance movement.Seventh,Young Turks had provided a major source of ideas for the subsequent Ataturk's reform.Young Turks inherited a declining empire that had complex,structural drawback.The weakness of Young Turks was also largely due to the drawback.In an era of imperialist country dominant,Young Turks was difficult to succeed in this complex international environment.In the ruins of Ottoman empire,Kemal led the people to realize the transformation from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey successfully,Kemal Group's success must be attributed to their own efforts,the contribution of young Turks and changes in the international environment.Kemalists had a clear inheritance relationship with Young Turks.Eighth,Academia should judge the youth Turkish party with a dialectical view.Three lessons are learnt from the failure of the governing practices of Young Turks:It is important for every country to learn the advanced aspects of other civilization to develop itself;The developing countries should the western countries to interfere in their internal affairs with national issues;The development of the nation need a stable environment.the failure of the Young Turks'governing practices had caused the fragmentation of the geopolitical landscape of Middle East,which has become an important source of the political plight of the contemporary Middle East in the world.In view of history from a long period of time,the finality of Young Turks from the historical stage marked the end of the recent unification of the Middle East and the beginning of a new round of split phase.The counterchange of the unification and splitting stage in the Middle East is the normal state of historical development.In the future,Middle East can not repeat the tragic trajectory of nearly a hundred years and will achieve unity or union by some way.