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.