Abstract

Turkey under the Young Turks

The present European struggle is not due to any one cause, but to many. There are those who believe, however, that it is in its chief motive a war for the reversion of Turkey. For many decades a general European conflagration over the long-coveted heritage of the Sick Man of Europe has been an ever-threatening possibility, and this seemed never as near, perhaps, as in the last few years, since the Great Powers had become divided into the two main camps of the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance, with Turkey, under its new rulers, the Young Turks, defiantly persisting in her provocative policy of playing off the Powers against each other. It will be the object of this article to present, first, a brief review of Turkish foreign relations in the last seven years, that is, during the period when Turkey's destinies have been practically controlled by the Young Turks, and, secondly, a resume of the reasons why this present struggle in Europe may be seriously considered as being in its origin and in its chief motive a war for Turkey's reversion.