ABSTRACT
The negative attitude toward the West, England in particular, was deeply rooted in Arab and Muslim culture. The defeat of Turkey by an infidel army inflamed ill-feeling still further. Mustafa Kemal, though himself a secularist, capitalized on the rising force of nationalist Islam and used it to further his cause whilst simultaneously undermining British standing in the East. The Bolsheviks, Commander Luke went on, had contrived very skillfully to turn the amorphous and somewhat vague aims of the Pan-Islamic movement into anti-British channels. Christian rulers were always regarded in the East as adversaries of Islam. Mustafa Kemal, although himself not an Islamist, was fully aware that Islam was a deeply-rooted component of Turkish identity and was scrupulous in respecting Islamic institutions such as the sultanate. The nature of Turkish nationalism too was not fully understood by the Foreign Office officials.
