Young Ottomans

participants in a secret political organization, the Society of Young Ottomans, founded in 1865 in Istanbul by members of the young Turkish intelligentsia, including Namik Kemal, Ziya Bey (later known as Ziya Pasha), and Ali Suavi. The Young Ottomans advocated the establishment of a constitutional government and the implementation of other progressive reforms. At the same time, they denied the right of non-Turkish peoples of the Ottoman Empire to independent development within the empire and advocated the Utopian idea of a unified “Ottoman nation.” In 1876, Midhat Pasha, closely associated with the Young Ottomans, succeeded in proclaiming the first Turkish constitution. But by 1878 it had been virtually abolished by Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, and Midhat Pasha and the Young Ottomans were subjected to reprisals. The successors of the Young Ottomans were the Young Turks.