The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (Turkish: İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti), later Party of Union and Progress (Turkish: İttihat ve Terakki Fırkası) began as a secret society established as the "Committee of Ottoman Union" (Turkish: İttihad-ı Osmanî Cemiyeti) in Istanbul on February 6, 1889 by medical students Ibrahim Temo, Çerkez Mehmed Reşid, Abdullah Cevdet, İshak Sükuti, Ali Hüseyinzade, Kerim Sebatî, Mekkeli Sabri Bey, Selanikli Nazım Bey, Şerafettin Mağmumi, Cevdet Osman and Giritli Şefik. It was transformed into a political organisation (and later an official political party) by Behaeddin Shakir, aligning itself with the Young Turks in 1906, during the period of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. In the west, members of the CUP were usually called "Young Turks" while in the