It has been argued that modern Iranian nationalism was established during the Pahlavi era and was based on the aim of forming a modern nation-state.[9] What is often neglected is that Iranian nationalism has its roots before the Pahlavi, in the early 20th century.[9] On the eve of World War I, Pan-Turkist propaganda focused on the Turkic-speaking lands of Iran, the Caucasus and Central Asia.[9] The ultimate purpose of persuading these populations to secede from the larger political entities to which they belonged and to join the new pan-Turkic homeland.[9] It was the latter appeal to Iranian Azerbaijanis, which contrary to Pan-Turkist intentions, caused a small group of Azerbaijani intellectuals to become the strongest advocates of the territorial integrity of Iran.[9] After the constitutional revolution in Iran, a romantic nationalism was adopted by Azerbaijani Democrats as a reaction to the pan-Turkist irredentist policies emanating from modern Turkey and threatening Iran's territorial integrity.[9] It was during this period that Iranism and linguistic homogenization policies were proposed as a defensive nature against all others.[9] Contrary to what one might expect, foremost among innovating this defensive nationalism were Iranian Azerbaijanis.[9] They viewed that assuring the territorial integrity of the country was the first step in building a society based on law and modern state.[9] Through this framework, their political loyalty outweighed their ethnic and regional affiliations.[9] The adoptions of this integrationist policies paved the way for the emergence of the titular ethnic group's cultural nationalism.[9]