Population The Republic of Turkey, created within the former Ottoman borders, was still a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual society, with a large majority of Turks and significant minorities of Kurds, Arabs and many smaller groups. However, it was far less multi-ethnic than it had been. As a result of war, massacres, epidemics and starvation, the population of Anatolia declined by 20 percent through mortality in World War I. The population of about 13 million was now 98 percent Muslim, compared with 80 percent before the war.

Ottoman Legacy The republic created out of the ruins of Ottoman Anatolia in October 1923 was legally and formally a new state. Yet, it inherited a disproportionate part of the military and civil bureaucracy, and of the people with political experience. This is not to say that the Kemalists took over the servants of the empire without some purging of the ranks. In September 1923, for instance, they passed a law which enabled the dismissal of army officers who had not joined the national resistance movement. Three years later, a similar law was passed for civil servants. But with respect to the application of these laws, the scope of the purges seems to have been fairly limited. The great schools of the empire (such as military academy and civil service academy), which had bred the officers and civil servants of the 19th century Ottoman state, continued to do so under the republic.

A Daring Modernization Project The goal of the republican elites was to make society modern and civilized. This goal could only be reached by enlightening the masses. The policies that resulted from this ideological program, as was the case in Iran, constituted a far reaching form of interference in the daily and personal lives of the citizens. For instance, the new state forced organized religion to relinquish its control on people’s minds. It abolished the mystical fraternities, and introduced the Swiss civil code to replace religious law. Ruling elites introduced a new sartorial order. They banned the traditional headgear, fez, and required male citizens to wear western style hats. Likewise, they adopted the metric system to realize standardization.

Political System From 1925 onwards People’s Party, created by Mustafa Kemal, was the only legal party in Turkey, save a three-month, dual-party period in 1930. Mustafa Kemal closely monitored access into the parliament. The parliament ceased to be a meaningful institution. For instance, laws were usually passed unanimously or with very large majorities, but the number of votes cast was often less than half of the total

Egypt Throughout the war period, British officials in Egypt resorted to etatist policies in economic life. New taxes, artificially deflated produce prices, and increasing rent and interest rates led to an increase in debt level and to the confiscation of land and property by the leading agrarian and mortgage banks. Approximately 10-15 percent of peasant property owners lost their land in this manner.

Al-Wafq In November 1918, some Egyptian professionals and entrepreneurs established a political union. This relatively small group took the name of al-Wafq, the Delegation, under the leadership of former Minister of Education and Justice Sa’d Zaghlul. The Wafq leadership sought to place the demand for immediate independence on the agenda of Versailles peace conference. The political leadership of the Wafq decided in March 1919 that in the case the British authorities did not meet their demands, at that time limited to the dispatch of an Egyptian delegation to the peace conference in Versailles, a boycott was to begin on March 15. In response, the British authorities arrested Zaghlul and three other members of the Wafq on the evening of March 15 and exiled them to the island of Malta. The arrests set off popular upheaval in both urban and rural areas.