Transformation through constitution: young Ottomans and the Kānûn-i Esâsî of 1876

In this chapter, Cemil Koçak looks at the first Ottoman constitution (the Kanuni Esasi) of 1876. He examines how, by whom and for what purpose it was accomplished. He also looks at its specifications and the various changes that were made to it. Set against the backdrop of the constitutional monarchy of the 1860s, this period marked the beginning of a social engineering project that would turn Ottoman Turkey into a society with a constitution. Since then, the constitution has become both indispensable and necessary to the functioning of a modern Turkish state. This was the period that saw the rise of the Young Ottomans