Abstract
A Fearless Young Turk in Bulgaria: Edhem Ruhi Balkan and Balkan Newspaper (1907-1908)
The life of Edhem Ruhi Balkan, who was one of the unknown figures of the Young Turks, the opponents of Sultan Abdulhamit II’s absolute power, in the empire and abroad, and his continuous political opposition to either Sultan Abdulhamit II or the Bulgarian governments for the rights of Muslim Turkish minority, are going to be discussed in this paper. His main instrument for this political opposition was his Balkan newspaper. Balkan, which was published by Edhem Ruhi in Plovdiv, was struggling for a constitutional regime in the Ottoman Empire on one hand and for the rights of the Muslim Turkish minorty in Bulgaria on the other hand. His efforts against the absolute regime of the Sultan and the pressures of the Bulgarians on the Muslim Turkish minority in Bulgaria put him in a different position in the Young Turk movement. In this paper, first, the characteristics of Balkan newspaper and the articles of Edhem Ruhi in this newspaper was analyzed in detail.
Keywords
Edhem Ruhi Balkan, Sultan Abdulhamit II, Balkan newspaper, Young Turk press, Bulgaria
