Socio-Political Change, Turkey, Caliphate, Secular Republic 

There is always the thread of continuity which runs through the history of virtually every nation and there is rarely a total break with the past. Yet it is vital not to lose sight of the turning points. This is particularly true in the case of modern Turkey where there has been a conscious effort to break with the past, especially on the part of the founders of the republic. Ataturk laid stress on the fact that the regime they were creating had nothing in common with the former Ottoman state and was a complete break with the corrupt past.1 The story of Ottoman history is a complicated and complex one. It involves not only the Ottoman dynasty itself but also the many peoples who operated and ruled the empire and were ruled by it - the Turks, the Arabs, the Serbs, the Greeks, the Armenians, the Jews, the Bulgars, the Hungarians, the Albanians, and many others. It constitutes the history of the major religious groups among the subjects, the Muslims, the Jews, and the Christians. It takes into account relations between the Ottomans and their neighbors in Europe and Asia, complicated stories of wars, conquests, diplomacy, and territorial losses that much later were called the Eastern Question. It includes the history of the political, administrative, and social institutions incorporated into this multinational and multicultural Empire.