Its proponents believed that it could create the Unity of the Peoples, İttihad-ı Anasır, needed to keep millets from tearing the empire apart.
Primary education, conscription, head tax and military service were to be applied to non-Muslims and Muslims alike.
[4] This accounted in part for the success of the Ottoman Empire: the Sultan didn't force any major changes on populations as he conquered them.
Because of struggle for self-determination, the concept of nation-states with shared senses of identities began to rise in Europe, most notably with the Greek War of Independence of 1821-1830, which also started affecting the various other peoples of the Ottoman Empire.
From these instances, Ottomanism developed as a social and political response, with the hope of saving the Empire from downfall.
The Ottoman Nationality Law appeared before any commonly-adopted international concept of the basic elements of this legislation.