The period of the Ottoman Empire's final dissolution, the Second Constitutional Era (ايکنجى مشروطيت دورى İkinci Meşrûtiyyet Devri), began with the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, which shortly after Sultan Abdul Hamid II forced to be restored the constitutional monarchy, in which the sultan had reduced power and through the series of elections that resulted with the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) to gain the power.
Revolt
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On 3 July 1908, the Young Turk Revolution began that quickly spread throughout the empire and resulted in the sultan announcing the restoration of the 1876 constitution and reconvening parliament. The reason behind the revolt was the sultan’s policies which controlled the system under his heavy arm and also European interventions which endangering the Empires existence. The officers who had instigated the revolution, like their civilian supporters, were primarily concerned with the Ottoman Empire. It is also claimed that they were also concerned personal matters such as salary and rank, same as Janniseries. The military reform's produced a new type of officer, of lower social origin. The current Pashas, opposing to traditional Pashas from Place School, did not acquire the extensive education covering many administrative fields, besides their military training. The officers had not thought much beyond their demand for the restoration of constitution.
First Elections (1908)
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The Committee of Union and Progress managed to defeat Sabahaddin's group in the elections held in 1908. In power, the Young Turks introduced a number of new initiatives intended to promote the modernization of the Ottoman Empire. They promoted industrialization and administrative reforms, and their reforms of provincial administration quickly led to a higher degree of centralization. This group advocated a program of orderly reform under a strong central government, as well as the exclusion of all foreign influence. It worked together with a similar reform group—the League of Private Initiative and Decentralization, under one Prince Sabaheddin—whose goals were somewhat different: Sabaheddin's group favored administrative decentralization and European assistance to implement reforms and also promoted industrialization.
In addition, they implemented the secularization of the legal system and subsidies for the education of women, and altered the administrative structure of the state-operated primary schools. Their domestic reforms were in some ways quite successful, but their foreign policy proved to be disastrous.
Young Turks sought to modernize the Empire's communications and transportation networks, trying at the same time not to put themselves in the hands of European conglomerates and non-Muslim bankers. Europeans already owned the paltry railroad system (5,991 km of single-track railroads in the whole of the Ottoman dominions in 1914) and since 1881 administration of the defaulted Ottoman foreign debt had been in European hands. The Ottomon Empire was virtually an economic colony.
31 March Incident
After nine months of the new parliament, discontent found expression in the counter-revolutionary ‘Thirty-First of March Incident’. Many aspects of this revolt, which started within certain sections of the mutinying army in Istanbul, have still not been carefully analyzed. The traditional perception that it was a ‘reactionary’ movement has sometimes been challenged, given the results and effects on the young political system.
Second Elections (1912)
By 1912, the Committee of Union and Progress had been in power for four years. Towards the end of 1911, the opposition gathered around the re-organized Liberty and Entente (tr:Hürriyet ve İtilâf) Party seemed on the rise. A by-election in December 1911 (actually covering a single constituency) in which the Liberty and Entente candidate won was taken as a confirmation of a new political atmosphere and its repercussions were extensive.
The CUP then sought national elections before the things slipped out of the party's control, as they perceived. In the two-party general elections held in the spring of 1912, the CUP still had the upper hand in the Parliament. But with the Balkan countries preparing to launch a war against the Ottoman Empire, and many deputies owing allegiance to those countries, the Parliament that opened proved unworkable. On 5 August 1912, due to the situation of emergency created by the First Balkan War, the Parliament was closed.
In 1912 the majority of the empire was composed of Turks and Arab (Muslim) millets. Given the new structure, representatives from Arab provinces increased from 23% (1908) to 27%, Turkomans 14% (1908) to 22% and in total CUP members from 39% (1908) to 67%. Interestingly, in this new consolidated structure minority issues, such as those affecting the Armenians, dominated mainstream politics. Armenian politicians were supporting the CUP, but when the parliament was formed the result was very different from the expected one. The Balkan wars had significantly shifted from a multiethnic and multireligious Ottoman Empire to a Muslim core. The size of the CUP's majority in parliament proved to be a source of weakness rather than strength as minorities became outsiders. The deported Muslims (Turks) from the Balkans were located in the western parts of Anatolia and they brought their own issues. Armenians were expecting more representation through the parliament, but the nature of democracy kept them in a minority position. That was an unexpected result for the Armemians after they had been in a very protected position since 1453.
In 1913, politics in Istanbul was centred around trying to find a solution to the demands of Arab and Armenian reformist groups. 19th century politics of Ottoman Empire dealt with the decentralist demands of the Balkan nations. In 1913, the same pattern was originating from the eastern provinces. With most of the Christian population having already left the Empire after the Balkan Wars, a redefinition of Ottoman politics was in place with a greater emphasis on Islam as a binding force. The choice of this policy should also be considered as external forces (imperialists) were Christians. It was a policy of "them against us". In 1913, the CUP was trying to govern through populist politics. To gain more legitimacy among the population the CUP propagated an Islamic propaganda effort with anti-imperialist rhetoric. All around the Empire CUP clubs were springing up. The CUP was challenging traditional forces; this proved to be the source of its destruction.
Coup of 1913 and the Single-Party Regime
On 23 January 1913, Enver Pasha, one of the Young Turk leaders, burst with some of his associates into the Sublime Porte while the Cabinet was actually in session, shot the Minister of War Nazım Pasha dead at the Council table and literally overturned by force Mehmed Kamil Pasha's [Prime] Ministry. The primary reason for the coup had been the disastrous fortunes of the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars. A new CUP-led government was formed, headed by Mahmud Shevket Pasha. who in his turn was assassinated on 11 June 1913, and was succeeded by Said Halim Pasha. New elections in a single-party framework were held in 1914 and the CUP gained all constituencies. The effective power lay in the hands of Mehmed Talat Pasha, the Interior Minister, Enver Pasha, the Minister of War, and Cemal Pasha, the Minister of the Navy, till 1918.
World War I and the end of the CUP
Through highly secret diplomatic negotiations, a fraction within the CUP led the Ottoman Empire to ally herself with Germany during the World War I. The Empire's role as an ally of the Central Powers is part of the history of that war. With the collapse of Bulgaria and Germany's capitulation, the Ottoman Empire was isolated.
On October 13, 1918, Talat and the CUP ministry resigned, and the Armistice of Mudros was signed aboard a British battleship in the Aegean Sea at the end of the month. On November 2, Enver, Talat and Cemal escaped from İstanbul into exile.
Last term of the Ottoman Parliament
The last elections for the Ottoman Parliament were held in December 1919. The newly elected members of the Ottoman Parliament, composed in their sweeping majority of candidates of "Association for Defense of Rights for Anatolia and Roumelia (Anadolu ve Rumeli Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti)", headed by Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who himself remained in Ankara, opened the fourth (and last) term of the Parliament on 12 January 1920. Despite being short-lived and the exceptional conditions, this last assembly took a number of important decisions.
But with the occupation of İstanbul by the Allied forces on March 16, who arrested, in the same day or in the following days, a number of deputies to send them to exile in Malta, the parliament's activities came to a halt. Its last session was held on March 18, with a number of deputies missing, a black pulpit covering the pulpit instead in a gesture of protest to remind of their forced absence. Many of the remaining members soon leave for Ankara to constitute the core of the new assembly. On April 5, the sultan Mehmed VI Vahdeddin, under the pressure of the Allies, closed the Ottoman Parliament officially.