THE SALONIKA CONGRESS
YOUNG TURKS AND THEIR PROGRAMME
The Times (London)
3 Oct 1911.
(From our Correspondent in the Balkan Peninsula).
(excerpt)
Sooner or later the complete Ottomaniza-
tion of all the Turkish subjects must be effected,
but it was becoming clear that this could
never be achieved by persuasion, and recourse
must be had to force of arms. Moslem domina-
tion was inevitable, and respect must be
preserved for Moslem institutions and tradi-
tions - the most humane in the world. Other
nationalities must be refused the right of
organization, for decentralization and autonomy
were treachery to the Turkish Empire ; these
nationalities were a negligible quantity ; they
might retain their religion, but not their
languages ; the diffusion of the Turkish
language was one of the principle means of
assuring Moslem predominance and assimilating
other elements.
The Salonika Congress. 1911, October 3. The Times (London), p. 3. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/archive/article/1911-10-03/3/10.htm
Note: In October 1911, the London Times' Balkan correspondent reported on the results of the Committee of Union and Progress Party's annual Congress which was held in Thessaloniki, at the time part of the Ottoman Empire. The Congress confirmed that Ottomanization of the Empire was necessary and since it was not possible through peaceful means, violent or military means were required. Non-Turkish people were to lose their right to form their own organizations based on their ethnicity since this threatened the unity of the Ottoman state. Ottoman minorities they said had to be disregarded. In the years that followed these policies of assimilation were achieved through re-settlements and deportations and other means.