the republican Turks seemed to harbor little or no resentments about the vast wealth that was squandered on such unworthy and incompetent leaders as the last three Caliphs.
Not sure what you mean there. Padishahs were also Caliphs, and they held absolute rule over the Empire and all its riches. Subjects of the Ottoman Empire would not even THINK of blaming the Padishah for being so rich. As far as they were concerned, he was the Padishah :-)
Also, they were coming out of a long period of war - first WWI, then their war of independence against the invading forces of the winning side (British, Italian, Greek, etc) on multiple fronts. Once they had their borders secured and republic established, Turks were probably too ecstatic to worry about the riches Padishahs consumed. That's my guess, anyway...
What puzzles me more is why on earth the Republic of Turkey decided to accept the debts of the Ottoman Empire as its own. They could have made a clean start, debt-free. Obviously, the latter had little to do with the former. It is like Italy assuming the debts of Roman Empire - insane... |
