en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turks
3 corrections found
founded the first Turkish newspaper
Agah Efendi did not found the first Turkish newspaper overall. He co-published Tercüman-ı Ahval, which was the first private Turkish newspaper; Turkish newspapers already existed earlier.
Full reasoning
This claim overstates Agah Efendi's role in Ottoman press history.
The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism states that Agah Efendi published Tercüman-ı Ahval, "the first private Turkish newspaper," with İbrahim Şinasi in 1860. That means it was not the first Turkish newspaper overall, only the first private one.
A separate source on Takvim-i Vekayi states that it was first published in 1831 and was "the first official newspaper of the Turkish press history." So by the time Agah Efendi published Tercüman-ı Ahval in 1860, a Turkish newspaper had already existed for nearly three decades.
A more accurate phrasing would be that Agah Efendi co-founded the first private Turkish newspaper, not the first Turkish newspaper full stop.
2 sources
- AGÂH EFENDİ
He published Tercüman-ı Ahval, the first private Turkish newspaper, with İbrahim Şinasi (21 October 1860).
- Takvim-i Vekayi Home
Takvim-i Vekayi ... was published for the first time on 1 of November 1831 ... As the first official newspaper of the Turkish press history Takvim-i Vekayi aimed to enlighten the public about governmental issues.
with the collapse of Bulgaria and Germany's capitulation
This chronology is impossible. Germany did not capitulate until November 11, 1918, nearly a month after the Ottoman cabinet crisis in October.
Full reasoning
This phrase misstates the sequence of events in late 1918.
A scholarly reference on the Armistice of Mudros says that following the capitulation of Bulgaria in late September 1918, the CUP leadership resigned from the Ottoman cabinet on 8 October. By contrast, the U.S. Office of the Historian reproduces the armistice terms with Germany and notes that the German armistice was signed on 11 November 1918.
So Germany's capitulation could not have been part of the immediate background to an Ottoman resignation in early/mid-October 1918. The relevant trigger was Bulgaria's collapse in late September, not a German capitulation that happened weeks later.
2 sources
- Mudros, Armistice of
Following the capitulation of Bulgaria in late September 1918 ... the CUP leadership resigned from the Ottoman cabinet on 8 October.
- Terms of the Armistice With Germany, Signed November 11, 1918
The present armistice was signed on the 11th day of November, 1918, at 5 o'clock a.m. (French time).
secret societies of "progressive medical university students and military cadets," namely the Young Ottomans
This conflates two different movements. The Young Ottomans were an 1865 opposition group of intellectuals and bureaucrats, while the student secret society founded by medical cadets in 1889 was the Ottoman Union Society, precursor to the CUP.
Full reasoning
The sentence incorrectly identifies the Young Ottomans as the secret society of medical students and cadets from which the Young Turks emerged.
A standard reference work on the Young Ottomans describes them as Ottoman intellectuals and bureaucrats and says their forerunner group first met in June 1865 in Constantinople. That is a different movement from the later student conspiracy associated with the Young Turks.
A separate reference work on the Committee for Union and Progress explains that its precursor was the Ottoman Union Society, "a secret circle of liberal-minded students in the imperial military medical school in Constantinople." In other words, the student-and-cadet secret society was the later Ottoman Union Society/CUP precursor, not the Young Ottomans.
So the article is conflating:
- the Young Ottomans (1865; intellectuals/bureaucrats), and
- the later student secret society in the military medical school that helped launch the Young Turk/CUP movement.
Those were related by influence, but they were not the same organization.
2 sources
- Young Ottomans | Encyclopedia.com
YOUNG OTTOMANS Ottoman intellectuals and bureaucrats ... The forerunner of the group was the Alliance of Fidelity or Patriotic Alliance ... which first met in Constantinople in June 1865.
- Committee for Union and Progress | Encyclopedia.com
Its precursor was the Ottoman Union Society, a secret circle of liberal-minded students in the imperial military medical school in Constantinople (now Istanbul) who aspired to overthrow the autocratic regime of Sultan Abdülhamit II.