Ottoman Empire (1290s-1922) was vast land-based empire with diverse ethnicities. Millet system governed empire through semi-autonomous religious and ethnic communities. Empire faced challenges from competition with other empires and ethnic nationalism
Born in Diyarbakır in 1876 to Ottoman bureaucrat Muhammad Tefvik Bey. Joined revolutionary underground society of Union and Progress (CUP). Moved to Selanik in 1909, co-founded literary journal Genç Kalemler. Exiled to Malta for two years between 1919 and 1921