Monday, April 7, 2014

4/4/14 Homework: The Young Turks

Prompt: How do the plans of the Young Turks privilege their own age cohort within the Ottoman Empire, particularly in terms of voting rights and education?

The Young Turks gave specific rights to their own age cohorts within the Ottoman Empire in terms of voting rights and education, primarily to increase their say in Ottoman policy and governance.  In the Proclamation of the Young Turks, the third point of the constitution states that all citizens of the Ottoman Empire (not including slaves and those without citizenship) are given the right to vote.  This does not mean that they are forced to vote, however.  In giving younger Ottomans a chance to vote, they were given a greater power in determining foreign and internal policy, thus privileging the Young Turks.  In order to eventually occupy high government positions, the Young Turks must have placed great importance on education, which is necessary to all individuals within a smoothly functioning government.  It is due to this reason that the Young Turks provided free education to all individuals regardless of age.  Motivated children and boys would be able to be educated from an early point on in their lives, which would increase the change that they become a highly government official.  They placed the power of schooling and age restrictions in the hands of the government to ensure that all children legally had the same rights, benefits, and opportunities to become educated.  In a broader perspective, the Young Turks privileged their own age cohort within the Ottoman Empire in terms of voting rights and education to increase the likelihood that they are educated and are able to elect each other into high government positions in the future, possibly providing the Young Turks Party to gain power in the Ottoman Empire.

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