Well all that change began under the (born in Greece, heh) Kemal Ataturk (Gallipoli victor [German leadership on Ottoman side was mediocre at best] over Russia, France & Britain)...and the war hero and hero of Turkish independence might have created a secular state but he was a nationalist who spoke of desiring to establish a new kind of caliphate, later tossed aside once its usefulness was past and the Sultanate was abolished...he knew the failures of the Ottoman Empire and chief among them was an inability to modernize...he never asked anyone to give up their religion, just to absorb the modern while retaining the history, traditions and religion of the Turkish people. A nationalist. And his cooperation with the new Soviet state in battling "imperialists" shows to what extent he would go to fight Monarchists...though Britain can hardly be called a Monarchy when the Monarch's are powerless. In truth he saw weakness in a waning empire and wanted some spoils, and he liked fighting Brits. He was a nationalist through and through. And Erdogan sees himself in the same way...but more so I think. He has shall we say a colorful history. He seems himself as Turkey, he and the state are one and inseparable. And Turkey will float or sink with him.
