Second Constitutional Era

As a second Ottoman constitutional period ( Ottoman ايکنجى مشروطيت; Turkish İkinci Meşrutiyet Devri ) is called in Ottoman history the period between the power of the Young Turks in 1908 and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War.

In 1908, the constitution of 1876 was re-enacted against the resistance of the then Sultan Abdulhamid II and parties related to conservative Islamic circles. The Constitutional Revolution of 1908 was initially welcomed especially by the non-Muslim minorities thrilled. In the whole realm elections were held for the House of Representatives. The instability of the regime has been exploited by European powers to push back the Ottoman rule in the Balkans. The fear and distrust of sections of the ruling Turkish elite, especially against the Christian minorities such as Greeks and Armenians led then to the pogroms and expulsions, which escalated during the First World War, the genocide of the Armenians and the Assyrians, as during the Dardanellenschlacht in April 1915 the imminent threat of an Allied invasion of the capital Constantinople Opel ( since 1930 Istanbul) threatened, which was inhabited at that time for the most part of members of minorities.