La révolution des “Jeunes-Turcs” et l' opinion publique en Grèce

Abstract

The revolution of the Young Turks in July 1908 was greeted with enthusiasm not only by the Turks themselves and by the West European countries (France in particular), but also by the Christian peoples of the Ottoman Empire (Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbians, Albanians, and Armenians). They all considered this event the beginning of a renaissance and of the modernisation of the Empire, and, having set aside the racial rivalries which separated them, they fraternised with the partisans of the Committee of Union and Progress and celebrated the legal and civil equality promised by the restored 1876 constitution. This spirit did not prevail only amongst the subjects of the Sultan, it also influenced the policies of Turkey’s Christian neighbours (Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria), who had hitherto been the poles of attraction for their compatriots in the Ottoman Empire. Similarly, public opinion in Greece at first greeted the political changes that took place in the Ottoman Empire with satisfaction and much hope, as the press and other evidence attest. Doubts later arose, however, and though the sceptics did not question the good will of the Young Turks, they were not optimistic about the future, in view of the results of the previous efforts at reform (the Tanzimat), such as the Gulhane Hath-cherif
of 1839 and the Hatti-humayoun of 1856.