Macedonians in Anatolia: The Importance of the Macedonian Roots of the Unionists for their Policies in Anatolia after 1914

Abstract

The article looks at statements and acts of the core members of the Committee of Union and Progress in the run-up to the constitutional revolution of 1908 to determine whether these express ideas that later guided them in their policies in Anatolia. The main argument is that the Balkan War of 1912–13, in which the European provinces were largely lost, was an important catalyst that led to a radicalization of policies but that in fact the basic outlook of the Young Turks had been shaped years earlier, during their struggle to keep Macedonia Ottoman. Their relative ignorance of Anatolia led them to read the social and political realities there through a Macedonian prism.