In the summer of 1865, six young men convened at the Belgrade Forest for a picnic to form a group that would become known as the Patriotic Alliance and would be the nucleus of the future Young Ottomans.[14] Almost all of the men in attendance had at one time or another worked in the Translation Bureau of the Sublime Porte (the metonymy for the Ottoman government) and therefore had knowledge of both European political systems and the inner workings of Ottoman foreign policy.[15] The six men in attendance were Mehmed Bey, Namık Kemal, Menâpirzâde Nuri Bey, Reşat Bey, Ayetullah Bey, and Refik Bey, and all shared a desire to change the way the Ottomans interacted vis-à-vis the European powers in addition to the nature of rule in the empire.[16] The group attracted a moderate amount of followers. "In the course of two years, a few hundred people seem to have joined the society, among them two nephews of the sultan, Prince Murad (the crown prince) and Prince Hamit."[10]