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Armenian Genocide
Background
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire · Armenian Question · Hamidian Massacres · Zeitun Resistance (1895) · 1896 Ottoman Bank Takeover · Yıldız Attempt · Adana Massacre · Young Turk Revolution
The Genocide
Armenian notables deported from the Ottoman capital · Tehcir Law · Armenian casualties of deportations · Ottoman Armenian casualties  · Labour battalion
Major extermination centers: Bitlis · Deir ez-Zor · Diyarbakır · Erzurum · Kharput · Muş · Sivas · Trabzon
Resistance: Zeitun  · Van · Musa Dagh · Urfa · Shabin-Karahisar · Armenian militia
Foreign aid and relief: Reactions · American Committee for Relief in the Near East
Responsible parties
Young Turks: Talat · Enver · Djemal · Committee of Union and Progress · Teskilati Mahsusa · The Special Organization · Ottoman Army · Kurdish Irregulars · Topal Osman
Aftermath
Courts-Martial · Operation Nemesis · Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire · Denial of the Genocide
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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. A landmark in the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the Revolution arose from the Ottoman peoples' near-universal opposition to the tyranny and corruption of the Sultan, which forged an unlikely union of reform-minded pluralists, Turkish nationalists, Western-oriented secularists, and indeed anyone who accorded the Sultan political blame for the harried state of the Empire.

The Revolution restored the parliament, which had been suspended by the Sultan in 1878. However, the process of supplanting the monarchic institutions with constitutional institutions and electoral policies was neither as simple nor as bloodless as the regime change itself, and the periphery of the Empire continued to splinter under the pressures of local revolutions.

Contents 1 Background 1.1 Congress of the Ottoman opposition 2 The Revolution 2.1 Revolt 2.2 Reconvene of the Parliament 3 Results 4 References 5 Additional resources 6 See also

Main articles: Committee of Union and Progress and Young Turks

Young Turk exiles were Murad Bey, Ahmed Riza, Damad Mahmud Pasha and Prince Sabaheddin, the latter two of whom were defectors from within Sultan Abdul Hamid's own family.^[1]

The goal was to unite all parties, including Young Turks, to advance the Revolution. Some differences, however, such as those in regards to nationalism, proved irreconcilable, and no lasting alliance was formed.^{[citation needed]}

There were two congresses held of opposition to the current Ottoman regime: the first in 1902 and the second in 1907. The second was occurred in Paris, France. The leadership included Ahmed Riza, Sabahheddin Bey, Khachatur Maloumian. The goal was to unite all parties, including Young Turks, to advance the revolution. However, some differences, such as those about nationalism, were great enough to prevent formation of a true alliance.

Two of the most important revolutionary groups trying to overthrow Sultan Abdul Hamid II had been the ARF and the Committee of Union and Progress.^[2] In a general assembly meeting in 1907, the ARF realized that both the Armenian and Turkish revolutionaries shared the same goals. The ARF decided to cooperate with the Committee of Union and Progress. The "Second congress of the Ottoman opposition" took place in Paris, France in 1907. Opposition leaders including Ahmed Riza (liberal), Sabahheddin Bey, and Khachatur Maloumian of the ARF were in attendance. During the meeting, an alliance between the two parties was officially declared.^[2][3] The ARF decided to cooperate with the Committee of Union and Progress, hoping that if the Young Turks came to power, autonomy would be granted to the Armenians.

Discontent within the 3rd Army Corps in Macedonia was the main reason for the revolt.^{[verification needed]} Major Ahmed Niyazi, fearing discovery of his political moves by an investigatory committee sent from the capital, decamped from Resen on July 3, 1908 with 200 followers demanding restoration of the constitution. The sultan's attempt to suppress this uprising failed due to the popularity of the movement among the troops themselves. Rebellion spread rapidly. On July 24, Abdül Hamid announced restoration of the constitution.

Main article: Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)

The alliances of the Young Turks and expatriate organizations of various ethnic groups, such as the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, began to fracture, and indeed the Young Turks struggled to find consensus even among themselves.

The Committee of Union and Progress's adoption of an aggressive form of Ottomanism failed, its opponents regarding it as tantamount to Turkification, further straining relations among ethnic minorities and their fledgling government.

A significant result of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution was

• The gradual creation of a new governing elite.
• Opening a path for consolidation over the Ottoman civil and military administration, Coup of 1913.
• Young Turks, small organizations, consolidated under the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP).
• Committee of Union and Progress became the new power center in Ottoman politics.
• Armenian Revolutionary Federation replaced the pre-1908 Armenian elite, which had been composed of merchants, artisans, and clerics who had seen their future in obtaining more privileges within the boundaries of the state's version of Ottomanism.^{[citation needed]}
• The Muslim Albanian elite, who had greatly benefited from the Hamidian regime in return for their fidelity to the sultan, was also replaced by an intellectual-nationalist elite. With members such as Bajram Curri, Nexhib Draga, and Myfit Libohova, the revolution aimed at uniting Albanians of three different faiths under the flag of Skenderbeu and called for reforms for the benefit of all Albanians.
• In some communities, such as the Jewish (cf. Jews in Islamic Europe and North Africa and History of the Jews in Turkey), reformist groups emulating the Young Turks ousted the conservative ruling elite and replaced them with a new reformist one.

• M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, Preparation for a Revolution: The Young Turks, 1902-1908, Oxford University Press 2001, ISBN 0-19-513463-X
• Esther Benbassa, Un grand rabbin sepharde en politique, 1892-1923 (Paris, 1990), page 27-28

• Young Turks
• Committee of Union and Progress