Armenians And Young Turks (the Armenian Revolutionary Federation And Constitutionalism In The Ottoman Empire, 1895-1908)

By (author) Moumdjian, Garabet K.
Short description/annotation:
The history of the role of Armenians in the 1908 constitutional revolution in the Ottoman Empire.
Description:

What was the nature of the relationship between the Young Turks, whose members would go on to form and lead the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) which would carry out the Armenian Genocide beginning in 1915, and the Armenian revolutionaries of the late Ottoman Empire?

Based on rich Armenian, Ottoman, British and other archival documents and periodicals, this book reveals the complex dynamics and relations that Armenian organizations, most importantly the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), maintained with the Young Turks between 1895-1908, when relations were transformed from mutual suspicion to closer collaboration. Put in the context of the worsening conditions for Ottoman-Armenians in the eastern provinces of the empire, the book reveals the internal debates of the ARF about collaboration with Young Turk cadres in an effort to improve conditions for their people, as well as the role that Armenian revolutionaries played in CUP calculations and aims for toppling the regime of Sultan Abdulhamid. The book thus reveals the complex and gradual development of relations between the groups before the outright anti-Armenian policies of the CUP would culminate in the Armenian Genocide. It also reveals the ARF’s commitment to the constitutional project and the difficult choices it faced in pursuing those aims.

Table of contents:

Acknowledgment
Note on Transliteration

INTRODUCTION: FROM “MILLET-I SADIKA” TO “MILLET-I ASIYA”

1) REFORMS, NEGOTIATIONS, AND EARLY RELATIONSWITH THE YOUNG TURKS AND SULTAN ABDÜLHAMID II
2) TOWARD A CONGRESS OF OTTOMAN DISSIDENTS, 1899-1902
3) ON THE PATH TO REVOLUTION
4) THE EASTERN PROVINCES, 1902-1908: COLLABORATION TO SPREAD REVOLUTIONARY AGITATION WITHIN MUSLIMS AND KURDS
5) ARMENIAN AND BALKANS REVOLUTIONARY CROSS-POLINATION: ARMENIAN-MACEDONIAN RELATIONS AND THEIR BULGARIAN AGENCY, 1895-1908

Review quote:
Essential reading to understand political and security conditions in the Ottoman Armenian provinces in the years prior to the Constitutional Revolution. Moumdjian provides critical insight into the interactions and cooperation between Armenian and Turkish revolutionaries.
Biographical note:
Garabet K Moumdjian held a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. He held teaching positions at US universities including Glendale Community College, California State University, Northridge, and the University of California, Los Angeles, before working as a consultant for Middle East security affairs for the Armenian government. His academic writing on the history of Armenians in the late Ottoman Empire appeared in numerous peer-reviewed edited collections, and he was a regular commentator on current affairs in the Armenian media.
Promotional headline:
The history of the role of Armenians in the 1908 constitutional revolution in the Ottoman Empire.
Description for collection:

Recent decades have seen the expansion of Armenian Studies from insular history to a broader, more interactive field within an inter-regional and global context. This series, Armenians in the Modern and Early Modern World, responds to this growth by promoting innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to Armenian history, politics, and culture in the period between 1500-2000. Focusing on the geographies of the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Contemporary Russia [Eastern Armenia], it directs specific attention to imperial and post-imperial frameworks: from the Ottoman Empire to Modern Turkey/Arab Middle East; the Safavid/Qajar Empires to Iran; and the Russian Empire to Soviet Union/Post-Soviet territories.