The making of modern turkey turkey had the distinction of being the first modern secular state in a predominantly islamic middle east in this major new study feroz ahmad traces the work of generations of reformers contrasting the institution builders of the nineteenth century with their successors the. After a chapter on the ottoman legacy the book covers the period since the revolution of 1908 and the development of the new turkey successive chapters chart the progress through the single party regime set up by ataturk 1923 1945 the multi party period 1945 1960 and the three military interventions of 1960 1971 and 1980. After a chapter on the ottoman legacy the book covers the period since the revolution of 1908 and the development of the new turkey successive chapters chart the progress through the single party regime set up by ataturk 1923 1945 the multi party period 1945 1960 and the three military interventions of 1960 1971 and 1980. These often violent processes of state formation destroyed historical regions and emptied multicultural cities clearing the way for modern nation states the making of modern turkey highlights how the young turk regime from 1913 to 1950 subjected eastern turkey to various forms of nationalist population policies aimed at ethnically homogenizing the region and incorporating it in the turkish nation state. The making of modern turkey highlights how the young turk regime from 1913 to 1950 subjected eastern turkey to various forms of nationalist population policies aimed at ethnically homogenizing the region and incorporating it in the turkish nation state it examines how the regime utilized technologies of social engineering such as physical destruction deportation spatial planning forced assimilation and memory politics to increase ethnic and cultural homogeneity within the nation state