مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري

Abstract :

The concern in this study is with how Young Turks perceived West and the ways and means this group proposed regarding Westernization of Turkey. When looked at Young Turks’ thought from this point of view, three proposals are crystallized. Conservative thought apprehended Westernization in a defensive logic to resist the West once Western scientific achievements and technology have been acquired. The aim was to re-entitle the State previous glory without relinquishing Ottoman-Islamic identity. Radical Westernist wing, however, define the issue as a preference for an advanced Western civilization instead of traditional Oriental Islamic civilization. Prerequisites for Westernization in this thesis which is based on a positivist and materialist rationale are to secure intellectual secularization and introduce logical human being. This is to be realized only when enlightened elite assume the management of society and to enlighten the people with the sponsorship of the State. Briefly, this wing regarded the concepts of “Westernization” and “progress” as a cultural metamorphosis movement rather than economic, social and political advancement. For liberal wing of which Prince Sabahattin is the leading figure, main reason for recession of Ottomans against the West were the collectivist community structure and centralist political-administrative system that restrained individual creativity. According to the liberal wing, only way of Westernization of Ottoman-Turkish society is the transformation of “society” itself with the guidance civil peripherial actors.