Perceiving the committee of union and progress: Two authors, two approaches

The continuity and discontinuity thesis has a major place in the reading of Turkish political history. Two prominent researchers, Ahmad and Zürcher have analyzed the modernization of Turkish society and institutions from two different perspectives. While Ahmad has advocated the discontinuity thesis, Zürcher has underscored continuity in this process. In this study, the changes, transformations and legacies to Turkish political, cultural and social life are examined chronologically on the basis of the continuity and discontinuity perceptions of these two authors. The enlightenment movements starting with the Reform era lighted the blue touch paper of social and political movements – the effects of which are still felt today – by importing many ideas from the West under the leadership of Turkish intellectuals. These groups including the New Ottomans and the Young Turks, leaded the ideology of the enlightenment and modernization movement, while they touched the lives of people in a way that has extended up to today. Along with the Constitutional Monarchy proclaimed in 1908, these streams of thought transformed into mass movements and recorded in our social history. The Committee of Union and Progress left its mark from the end of the 19th century to the early 20th century and is critical in understanding this period comprehensively as a determining factor shaping this study. Built on a great intellectual legacy, state tradition and political cadre, the Republic of Turkey continued its modernization by turning reform movements into state policies. The Republican cadres, most of whom had a Unionist background, radicalized revolutions and carried out several activities to serve for the integration of Turkish society's political, economic and social life with the West through great efforts. From the time when Mustafa Kemal rose in the stage of history to the early period of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal's passionate and idealist attitude to build the Turkish state and Turkish society is also elaborated from the perspective of the continuity and discontinuity thesis.