Turkish nationalism in the Young Turk era

Book excerpt: Amongst the products of the French Revolution, the idea of nation exerted the deepest influence on the East. In the Ottoman Empire, the concept bore a fresh idea of an Ottoman nation even though the term Ottoman in itself comprised many ethnic groups. Alongside Ottoman nationalism, Turkish nationalism arose in the latter half of the nineteenth century; it became predominant in the Young Turk era. Organizers of Turkish nationalism were scattered not only in the Ottoman Empire but also in Russia. This book analyzes such complicated aspects of the development of nationalism in the Young Turk era with careful attention to both specific and general problems. The author has chosen four leading nationalist periodicals as a clue for settling the issue. He has thereby demonstrated that these periodicals are very useful for history and political science studies as well as for that of literature. In addition, a table of contents of the periodicals dealt with in the text has been added as an appendix, which should be of considerable benefit to concerned scholars and students.