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dynasty. Hence, the basic elements of Ottomanism and the religious adherenceto a universal Islamic identity were absorbed into Turkism of thatnewly arising Young Turks Movement. its main alm was not yet the creationof Turkish national state; rather, it intended to transform the OttomanState into a constitutional monarchy.Although the Young Turks were organized into an effective movementwhich was able to seize power and take further initiatives, it did notfind positive solution to the main problems of the declining Empire andfailed to avert the profound crisis of the Ottoman society. The World WarI and the resulting defeat of the Ottoman Empire meant not only thethreat of partition by the victorious powers, but also an endangerment ofthe fundamental prerequisities for the existence of the Turkish nation.How did the Turks react to the changed situation and develop newattitudes to the different problems facing them at that period? As a reactionto the partition plans of the Allies, the Turkish resistance groupsknown as Societies for the Defence of Rights had already been formed invarious parts of Anatolia. One of the Turkish military leaders who had nointention of submitting to the occupying Allies was Mustafa Kemal.Disregarding the Sultan's instructions to pacify the country, he setabout the task of organizing a resistance movement, the main aim ofwhich was to prepare the ground for the armed defence of Anatolia. Duringhis early military career, he was very close to the Young Turks movementand even certain dynamic features of the Turkist ideology servedhim as an impetus for his further activities. In this connection. Let usmake reference to his mission to Libya in 1908 where he was sent by theCommittee of Union and Progress to look into that Ottoman province'spolitical and social problems. As Rachel Simon writes: "Although MustafaKemal's success in establishing modern politics in Libya was limitedby the region's traditionalist character... he did succeed in laying out thebasic pattern of Kemalist political activity of later years" 2 . Moreover,Mustafa Kemal shared the idea of maintenance of the Ottoman Empire ina constitutional form with the Young Turks Movement, at that time.After World War I, the traditional institution of the Sultanate andCaliphate were no longer capable of coping with their political and socialresponsibilities. There were the historical circumstances of the TurkishWar of independence that brought Mustafa Kemal from a moderate constitution-monarchicalthinking tovvards new thoughts on nation and statewhich led him to the acceptance of the republican doctrine. Hence, inspite of his earlier efforts to accommodate traditional political usages tonew necessities, he was to adopt a new, and radical position.2. See her contribution Prelude to Reforms: Mustafa Kemal in Libya. In: Atatürk andthe Modernization of Turkey Ed. by Jacob M. Landau. Boulder 1984, p. 21.48