As far as I understand when the Ottoman Empire was dissolved, religion was more important than language when it came to deciding who was Turkish and who was not. This strikes me as somewhat odd, since the Young Turks wanted a secular republic. It seems strange with a religious definition of what it means to be Turkish when one wants to establish a secular republic. Also, I would have though that religious minorities would be positively inclined towards secular rulers (like many religious minorities in Syria prefer Assad compared to rule by the Sunni majority). Was the reason that the religious minorities often had their loyalty towards other states?