Examines the role of border states in developing the character of the Young Turks, who sought to restore constitutional government to the declining Ottoman Empire. Many Young Turk movement leaders grew up in the southern Balkan states, a border region of the Ottoman Empire. There they observed Western and Christian methods of education and economic development and experienced prejudice against Muslims that limited their employment opportunities. These experiences resulted in intense feelings of nationalism that generated interest in developing a Turkish state and Turkish identity, which eventually led to the formation of the Turkish republic in 1922.
