Gandhi
vs. Kemal
Compare and contrast Mustafa Kemal with Mohandas Gandhi, explain their similarities and differences. In 1918, the Ottoman Turks were already independent, and consequently the allies (the United States, Great Britain, and France) wanted to make them pay. They were going to divide the Turkish territory among themselves. These were the conditions in Turkey at the time. The Turks' feelings about being split up between the allies and the Greeks were very simple. Obviously they didn't agree. They wanted to remain independent and not be subjects of anyone else. So they elected Mustafa Kemal, who was considered a major hero to the Turks for capturing the Galippity Peninsula, was elected to be leader and ignored what the Sultan in Constantinople was saying, and they formed their own government. In 1923, the Turks defeated the Greeks and Britain and France decided to not send any force over and engage in any other war with the Turks. Simply because the British and the French were totally exhausted from WWI. They no longer had the same energy or power. Getting themselves involved in another war was the last thing they wanted to do. So they negotiated with Kemal a completely new set of treaties. Turkey maintained their national independence and the Allies were finally over with all the fighting. The Turkish independence was preserved, and everyone was happy. Now in 1923, after everything was settled and there was peace, many new changes happened under Kemal. First, Kemal made changes in the government. He got rid of the Ottoman empire, overthrew the Sultan, and made Turkey a republic. Next, Kemal secularized Turkey (secularized- no main religion in place). Turkey had been an Islamic Empire but when Kemal overthrew the Sultan, the religion was no longer dominant. Kemal tried to separate church and state, like the Europeans. No established religion, none was above the other. Religion was now a private affair. This was a revolutionary move on Kemal's