Curing the Sick Man of Europe: the Young Turks 1907-1913

It is 1907, and our once great Ottoman Empire is now on its deathbed. Our territories are silently being carved away by foreign powers, our coffers are more than emptying out, and the inflammatory diversity of our people - more obvious now than ever - is threatening to tear our empire apart. Just thirty years ago, our people had a say in the government through a parliament and a liberal constitution. Not long after, the incompetent Sultan Abdulhamid II stole these rights from us. Now, he rules with a vice-like grip on the throne, and it seems as though there is nowhere for us to turn. But voices throughout the empire are finally beginning to murmur of revolution. Since we, the Young Turks, have unified to become the Committee of Union and Progress, there is an opportunity for us to turn these murmurs into a roar. How will we wrestle control away from the inept bastard on the throne? Can we prevent our empire from devolving into civil war, or is violence the only way forward? Will we be able to defend our claim on our land from foreign encroachment? Curing this sick man of Europe will be no easy task, but we are determined to rid our empire of its illness and restore a great liberal democracy.

Background Guide

Chair - Tim Hofmockel

Tim Hofmockel is a second year studying political science and economics. Originally from the Chicago suburbs, he’s called this city his home for a long time. Model UN has been a huge part of Tim’s life the last few years. He switched to MUN from policy debate his junior year of high school, and he’s been competing for three years and has staffed five conferences. Aside from studying and Model UN, Tim enjoys pick-up games of football and ultimate, running, SCUBA diving, and long romantic walks down the beach. He has also been studying German since his freshman year of high school, and spent his fall quarter of 2014 in Vienna taking European Civilization and German classes.

timhofmockel94@gmail.com

Crisis Director - Erika Zheng

Erika Zheng is a second year prospectively double majoring in HIPSS (the history, philosophy, and social studies of science and medicine) and Biology. She was born in New York City, but grew up in Beijing, China. In addition to ChoMUN and her (frequent) “therapeutic” visits to Chinatown (though it can’t compare to “home”), she enjoys playing water polo and spending time with her friends.

Crisis Director - Srishti Kapur

Srishti Kapur is a second year Economics and Math major from Plano, Texas (the 6th most boring city in America). Although she didn’t get involved with Model UN until college, she was an avid debater in high school. When she’s not working on ChoMUN or school, you can find her tutoring, learning to play poker, watching sitcoms, or complaining about the Chicago weather.