A Street in Late 19th century Damascus

A street in Damascus in 1880. Seen on the right is a man wearing a modern European suit except that he has a fez for a head cover. The fez was an innovation introduced under the Orttoman Sultan Mahmud II 1808-1839 who might as well be considered the Ataturk of the 19th century. Under his reign several reformations were introduced so that the decaying Ottoman Empire could catch-up with the rise of Europe in particular and the West in general. The Janissaries were exterminated, administrative reforms introduced, and the European dress plus the fez encouraged, the latter to replace the traditional turban. Unuckily for Mahumd, his reign witnessed the Wahhabi menace, Greece's independence, and -most alarmingly- the rise of Egyptian power under the leadership of the formidable Muhammad Ali. Cairo was to mutate into a center of gravity at least as important as Constantinople and Egypt became independent in all but name. A century later it was the turn of Ataturk to implement far more drastic measures aimed at reinvigorating a war-torn Turkey. His aim was to make Turkey a part of Europe at the expense of its oriental heritage and for that he spared no measure however draconian. He changed the alphabet from Arabic to Latin, banned the fez that was replaced by the European hat, etc.. Ataturk's relation with Islam was nevertheless ambiguous at best. It is true that he marginalized the role of religion and ulema in modern Turkey to a great extent but it also remains undeniable that his age was to witness the evacuation of the vast majority of Christians (suddenly deemed "Greeks") from Asia Minor. Not to be outdone by "secular" Turkey, Greece rid itself of its Muslim "Turks".