During WW1 the empire made their last stand by throwing in their lot with the other dying empires. The country got broken up by the winners but a lot of partisan action by the local liberals forced them to make peace with the newly founded (bourgeoisie) republic. In return the country made a hard turn towards the west, switching out their alphabet, their garments, everything ottoman was shunned in favour of what could substituted with european counterparts.

However, realising that no matter how hard they try they wont be seen as white forced them to realise their place in the western alliance with the death of their dream to be accepted into the EU being the final nail in the coffin.

Now they are in the awkward place of having to strike a balance between Iran and the EU since they share a border with both as well as having Israel nearby and hosting huge seppo military bases while also being very close to all the nations in the ME the empire subjugates.

Add all the remnant issues of once being an empire, like continuing to have to subjugate the minorities still within their borders or close by, near-open hostilities with countries whose population they once genocided, not letting their supremacists drink too much of their own kool-aid but still needing them for the dirty work and it's a pretty volatile clusterfuck.