The Young Turks began in the 1880s as an enlightened reform movement stirred by the rise of nationalism and the decay of the Ottoman Empire. Originally, they advocated constitutionalism and political freedom for all the inhabitants of the empire. Indeed, two Kurdish intellectuals (Abdullah Jevdet and Ishaq Sukuti) were members of its first 12-member leadership society.
As the multinational Ottoman Empire continued to fall apart, however, the Young Turks gradually adopted pan-Turkist positions. In 1908, the Young Turks came to power and led the Ottoman Empire into World War I on the side of Germany. Operating through the Committee of Unity and Progress, the Young Turks became an ultra-Turkish nationalist precursor of the Kemalist Republic of Turkey, which until very recently refused to recognize any Kurdish rights.
Historical Dictionary of the Kurds. Michael M. Gunter.