He joined the Committee of Union and Progress in 1907 which instigated a coup against Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1908. Following he was employed in the ottoman administration and sent to Trabzon. From 1909 onwards he was appointed Governor of several provinces of the Ottoman Empire. From 1911 onwards, he was involved in the Pan-Turkist associations such as the Association of Turks () and the Turkish Hearths. During World War I, his literary work became popular amongst the adherents of the CUP as his nationalist views did not exclude religion. In 1913 he became a member of the Ottoman Parliament representing Mosul. After the foundation of Turkey in 1923, he was a member of the Grand National Assembly, where he supported the adoption of the Turkish alphabet.