This study is rooted in the various contexts in which the Ottomans adopted the Tanzimat, a series of reforms in the 19th century, which later gave rise to a constitution. These reforms came about because of the impact of competitive forms of rising capitalism, a growing awareness among local elites on the importance of reforms, and the tensions borne out of the diversity and complexity of the Ottoman Empire's ethnic composition. This study seeks to describe these reforms in terms of what the constitution strived to achieve-a Western concept of citizenship represented in the formation of a nation-state, which implied the rise of civil society, human rights, and the rights of citizenship-and what was prevalent at the time of the Ottoman Empire-a system that conceptually embodied the idea of a state founded on a dominant, over-arching social community (or social solidarity - asabiya) in a society composed of multiple ethnicities.