Turkish Identity Quotes
Ataturk wrote this manual personally. Religious Turks took violent offense to Ataturk’s proclamation that Turks were great without Islam.
Few non-Arab Muslims would publicly admit this historical truth, and at the time this view was shocking to the most religious men in Turkey. However it resonated with many of the average citizens. The entire Arab world had been subject to and controlled by Turkey, and amongst the Turks, the backward Arabs, were not very popular and were historically seen as underdeveloped colonial subjects.
Ataturk wrote this manual personally as he not only wanted to Westernize Turkey but also generate a climate for acceptance of his vision for a reformed Turkey amongst the Western nations.
Bulgaria was under the control of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Levski always made it clear that Muslims were welcome in the Bulgaria that would be created after the Revolution. Most Muslims did not believe him, and many could not understand the concept of a nation without the Sultan who was the political AND religious head of Islam the world over. Essentially for many Muslims there can be no such thing as separation of church and state. To two cannot be distinct.
This notion of the country of the Turks encompassed half of Europe and all of the Mideast
