Committee of Union and Progress

The Committee of Union and Progress was an Ottoman political organization that restored constitutional rule in 1908 and dominated imperial politics until the empire’s collapse.

Young Turk Revolution: The 1908 uprising that compelled Sultan Abdulhamid II to restore the Ottoman constitution and parliament. The revolution brought the Committee’s demand for constitutional government into effect.
Young Turks: A diverse opposition movement seeking political and social reform in the late Ottoman Empire. The Committee became the most influential organization within this wider movement.
Talat Pasha: An Ottoman statesman and CUP leader who served as grand vizier from 1917 to 1918. Talat became the Committee’s leading civilian politician and wartime head of government.
Armenian genocide: The Ottoman government’s systematic destruction and deportation of Armenians during the First World War. The wartime CUP leadership organized and implemented the mass deportations and killings.
CUP coup d'état of 1913: The raid on the Sublime Porte through which CUP leaders seized direct control of the Ottoman government. This coup ended the Committee’s coalition government and established its single-party rule.
Abdulhamid II: Ottoman sultan and caliph who ruled from 1876 to 1909, suspending parliament after its first session. Opposition to his autocratic rule helped galvanize the Committee’s formation and revolution.
Enver Pasha: An Ottoman military officer and CUP leader who served as minister of war during the First World War. Enver’s military ambitions strongly influenced the Committee’s wartime decisions.
Greek genocide: The persecution and mass displacement of Ottoman Greeks, especially during the First World War and its aftermath. Policies under CUP rule targeted Greek communities for deportation and forced displacement.
Ottoman Parliament: The elected legislative body created under the Ottoman constitution, first convened in 1877. The Committee used parliamentary politics to consolidate its authority after 1908.
Midhat Pasha: An Ottoman statesman associated with the constitution promulgated in 1876 and the empire’s first parliament. His constitutional project supplied an earlier precedent for the Committee’s demands.

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