Evaluation of citizenship education policies and practices in the period of the Committee of Union and Progress

In the Ottoman Empire, many nations have lived in different places but under one roof for centuries. With the application of the millet system, which was developed to ensure the order of these differences, the people were divided into two as Muslims and non-Muslims. The millet system has put Muslims in a more privileged position than non-Muslims. However, the idea of nation-state, which spread with the French Revolution in 1789, also affected the Ottoman Empire. The concept of nation-state, which is directed towards the individual, has led to the concept of "citizenship" gaining importance over time. The Ottoman Empire made its first development in the context of citizenship with the declaration of the Tanzimat in 1839. Then, with the 1856 Reform Edict, he went to an application where non-Muslims and Muslims were equal in many ways. II. With the Kanun-i Esasi, which was proclaimed by Abdülhamit in 1876, he gathered his religion, language and race around an ideology in which everyone was seen as Ottoman. However, II. Abdülhamit stopped the Kanun-i Esasi and put the repression regime into effect. The members of the Committee of Union and Progress, who were disturbed by the current situation, ensured that the constitutional administration re-entered into force in 1908. With this new order, the nation-state model has been adopted. In order for this model to be sustainable and transferable, importance was given to citizenship education practices. This thesis, which evaluates the citizenship education policies and practices of the Committee of Union and Progress, was researched using the cultural analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods. Since the scope of the research was between 1908-1918, the data were accessed digitally from the State Archives and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Atatürk Library. These materials were translated from Ottoman Turkish to Contemporary Turkish through document analysis and evaluated within the framework of the Committee of Union and Progress citizenship education, general practices, curriculum and textbooks. The Committee of Union and Progress has clubs bearing its name in general citizenship education practices. It has been determined that in the regulations published by the Committee of Union and Progress, the organizational structure of the clubs, their duties and expenses are mentioned. In the regulations, there is information that the clubs will have newspapers, magazines and maps published in the Ottoman Empire, and that conferences will be held for the public on subjects such as morality, health and agriculture. At the same time, it is understood from the documents that almost every club patronizes a school or opens a school and patronizes these schools. The Committee of Union and Progress includes many of its sub-organizations or the organizations it supports in the citizen training model for the younger generation. These are the Defense of the National Society, the Turkish Hearths, the Boy Scouts, the Power Associations and the Youth Associations. Scouts Corps, Power Associations and Youth Associations were opened under the auspices of the Minister of War Enver Pasha. It is understood that these formations were established with the aim of raising generations who would defend their homeland both spiritually and physically by focusing on physical education. Although the activities of the Scouts and Power Associations stopped with the outbreak of World War I, Young Associations were established in the war environment and continued their activities in this environment. Youth Associations also established a connection between the students and the journal they published. Von Hoff, Selim Sırrı and Mustafa Asım are among the authors of the journal, which started its publication life with its first issue on September 1, 1917. It has been concluded that various topics have been written about the activities carried out in the journal, Youth Associations, games, matters related to physical education, loving and understanding the homeland. The course of the Committee of Union and Progress, focused on citizenship education, is Malumat-ı Medeniye. Books with different names were written by different authors within the framework of the Malumat-ı Medeniye course. Rehber-i İttihat, one of the earliest of these textbooks, was written to serve as a recitation treatise for elementary students. In the book, patriotism and patriotism, the parliamentary system and the concepts of freedom and equality in this direction are mentioned. The issues to be considered in health are discussed in detail under the title of hygiene. By mentioning the love of animals, the care and benefits of pets in people's lives are emphasized. Geography issues are also included in the book. In the part where the Malumat-ı Medeniye books are evaluated in general, how the imperial mechanisms function and the responsibilities of the individual are mentioned. Thus, in the new order brought by the Committee of Union and Progress, how the citizens will be good citizens by being educated is covered in the books of Malumat-ı Medeniye. As a result of the findings obtained from the research, suggestions can be made to investigate the citizenship education of the clubs of the Committee of Union and Progress and the citizenship education of the established associations by using the newspapers of the period.