XX
THE REAL PROBLEM OF TURKISH NATIONALISM
ECONOMIC BEGINNINGS IN THE NEW TURKISH
STATE—MUSTAPHA KEMAL PASHA OPENS THE
SMYRNA CONGRESS—THE CHESTER CONCESSION
A STEP FROM IMPERIALISM TO LAW.
As soon as the Erzerum program had been definitely committed to negotiation at Lausanne, Mustapha Kemal Pasha lost no time in diverting into the ways of peace the energy with which Turkish nationalism had re-mobilized and re-equipped its Armies. For the building up of a new and Western economic tradition with which to supplement the old and Eastern military tradition which had long distinguished its nation, the new Turkish Government had laid its foundations well. It had refrained from the issue of paper money, confining itself to the use of paper issued by the old Ottoman Government during the war. As fast as this paper became worn out, it was sent to the headquarters of the Public Debt administration in Constantinople to be exchanged for clean paper. Unlike a number of post-war European Governments, it had refrained from financing itself by the use of the printing press but the merit of this achievement is of course lessened by the primitive nature of the
