[3] Temo was born in Struga to a family with origins from Starovë (now Buçimas), Albania, with ancestors that served as soldiers for the Ottoman Empire and later migrated to his birthplace.

[1][5] Temo, along with Mehmed Reshid, İshak Sükuti and Abdullah Cevdet where students enrolled at the Military Medical School and in 1889 they founded a progressive secret society called Ittihad-ı Osmani Cemiyeti.

[8] Rıza, drawing on ideas of positivist philosophy encouraged Temo's group to adopt the name Nizam ve Terakki which was a translation of Auguste Comte's motto "Order and Progress".

[8] During 1894–1895, a compromise was reached between both factions and they united under a new name Osmanli Ittihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti (Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress) or CUP.

[8] Ottoman authorities uncovered the CUP group in 1895 resulting in the arrest and exile of its members and to avoid imprisonment Temo fled during November to Romania.

[12] During this period of exile Temo remained busy with CUP circles while his personal views became more liberal, such as advocating for a modified Latin alphabet to write the Turkish language.

[13][14] To secure support from the leading Young Turk organisations and to talk about the potential for activities within the Balkans, Temo toward late 1902 travelled to Europe to meet the leadership of the two dominant CUP factions.

[16] In Paris, Temo participated in the Congress of Ottoman Opposition (1902) organised by Prince Sabahaddin calling for reforms, minority rights, revolution and European intervention in the empire.

[12] Temo assisted Mustafa Ragib, a Turkish language secondary teacher in Dobruja to distribute Young Turk propaganda on behalf of the local CUP branch.

[18] As the headquarters of the Albanian Bashkimi Society were in Bucharest, the CUP requested Temo's assistance in inviting the organisation to the congress and through a telegram wanted to know from him in a quick response if they would participate.

[19] Later Temo sent an agent to İzmir as requested by the CUP centre yet after meeting with Armenians in the city the Young Turk operative was arrested by Ottoman authorities.

[18] Temo instructed one of his followers Dervish Hima to write in CUP journals with the aim of achieving reconciliation between the Young Turks and Albanian opponents of the sultan.

[18] The local CUP branch attempted to get support from Muslims in Constanța and Temo organised lectures in towns like Babadag to inform the public with some talks given by him being about medical topics.

[21] After the revolution, some rebels were sidelined in favour of more famous ones and Temo felt that at times some peoples rights were violated with individuals being underappreciated like Atıf Bey, an important participant in the revolt.