Turkey In Focus - Discover Turkey: Experience the Best of Turkey - page 678

Declining Empire
One Western development in particular quickened the Ottoman demise: nationalism. For
centuries manifold ethnic groups had coexisted relatively harmoniously in the empire, but
the creation of Western European nation states sparked a desire among subject peoples to
throw off the Ottoman 'yoke'. Greece attained its freedom in 1830 and other countries fol-
lowed.
Attempts at reform were too little, too late. In 1876 Abdülhamid allowed the creation of
an Ottoman constitution and the first-ever Ottoman parliament, but he soon annulled the
constitution and returned to authoritarianism. Educated Turks were looking for ways to
improve their lot, for example, by creating the Committee for Union and Progress (CUP)
in Macedonia. Reform-minded and influenced by the West, the CUP came to be known as
the 'Young Turks'.
European Wars
The First Balkan War (1912-13) removed Bulgaria and Macedonia from the Ottoman
map, with Bulgarian, Greek and Serbian troops advancing rapidly on İstanbul. European
diplomats plotted how to cherry-pick the choicest parts of the once-mighty empire, now
deemed the 'sick man of Europe'.
A triumvirate of ambitious, nationalistic CUP paşas (generals) took de facto control of
the ever-shrinking empire, pushed back the unlikely alliance of Balkan armies and saved
İstanbul. However, they chose the losing side in WWI. The Ottomans had to fend off the
Allies on multiple fronts: Greece in Thrace, Russia in northeast Anatolia, Britain in Ara-
bia and a multinational force at Gallipoli. It was during this tumultuous period that the Ar-
menian tragedy unfolded.
By the end of WWI, the French held southeast Anatolia, the Italians controlled the
western Mediterranean, the Greeks occupied İzmir, and Armenians, with Russian support,
controlled parts of northeast Anatolia.
Birth of Modern Turkey
At the head of a slowly building Turkish nationalist movement, Mustafa Kemal (later
called Atatürk) began organising Turkish resistance and established a national assembly in
Ankara, far from opposing armies and meddling diplomats.