Critical view at Union and Development governence: Hikmet press (1912)

The Second Constitutional era that marked the last period of the Ottoman Empire is regarded as the end of the autocratic regime, and a preparatory process of the republican period to start after the First World War. During this period, the establishment of political parties on behalf of the constitutional system to be permanent caused great changes in political and social life in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman people for the first time met with the elections and the governments that came to power with the elections. Yet a hundred or even less years of past, the young Ottoman press met the second Constitutional period with excitement and happiness, and the number of published newspapers and magazines greatly increased. In our study, the criticisms in the columns of the newspaper about the actions performed in the first four years of Union and Progress party by Şehbenderzade Filibeli Ahmed Hilmi, who is among the important people in the Second Constitutional era, have been put forward. Our study also reviewed the examples which have been given by Ahmed Hilmi in order to interpret the axis of opposition on behalf of guiding the understanding. In addition to the literature survey, the daily copies of Hikmet newspaper have been scanned and then relevant parts have been translated and interpreted in this work. The descriptive analysis method has been utilized in this study. Keywords: Ottoman Empire, second Constitutional Era, Union and Progress, Partisanship, Opposition, Şehbenderzade, Hikmet Press