although economic development and increased education reduced the explicitly religious characteristics of the two communities, the growth of nationalism on the two mainlands increased the significance of other differences. turkish nationalism was at the core of the revolutionary programme promoted by the father of modern turkey, mustafa kemal atatürk (1881–1938) and affected turkish cypriots who followed his principles. president of the republic of turkey from 1923 to 1938, atatürk attempted to build a new nation on the ruins of the ottoman empire and elaborated the programme of "six principles" (the "six arrows") to do so.