The problem is remaining a peasant. Just like when the religious classes forced the Ottomans to ban the printing press while the west was educating her population and industrialising we remained intellectual peasants and as a result the non-Muslim walked in became the master of the Muslim and still today for the most part they are the masters of the Muslims. They can conduct a global agenda to show Muslims as fanatical intolerant terrorists who hate freedom and liberty and the Muslim world cannot combat it, just like the Turks cannot combat the PKK communist terrorists being portrayed and turned into heroes.
Whether you will ever see it, but Islam has been hijacked by the west and its being used in a way to ruin Muslims.
As far as Ataturk is concerned intellectually speaking he was a genius. Ataturk could have never given the Turkish nations something like Syria for example.
And never forget when an agenda takes place to dehumanise a entire peoples its because those conducting it eventually aim to destroy those they demonise.
Printing press is not a black and white issue.
But it stems from politics rather than just religion you had all those scribe writers and calligraphers who wont take to losing their jobs.
Printing press may have led to mass production of books but only small amount who had read them as education has always been for the ones who can afford it.
Reason why us Turks were late because we never a merchant class of people while the Greeks and Armenians along with Jews were.
This wealth allowed them to send their sons abroad to study.
I do believe colonialism played a big role in the industrial revolution while the Renniasance is overrated.
Industrial revolution hit all conservative and traditional societies like a train.
Ottomans, Mughals, Qing, Hasburgs and the Russians were all hit with such a change they did not know how to react.
I do believe the collapse of the Ottomans need to studied even further since its like a 200 to 300 year of weakening and decline.
Barely any proper studies conducted on it just like the collapse of the Roman Empire.
Centuries of an empire lasting cant be explained with black and white.
I dont deny how being conservative religion played a role in the Ottomans collapsibg but that was just a series of factors which led to the collapse of a 600 year empire.
We are focused more on the Osmanli because many Turkic Empires both Pre Islamic and Post Islamic only lasted to 100 to 200. Many nomadic empires like the Huns collapsed within decades while Timur and Nader Shah the Turkmen's empire all collapsed after they died.
I still believe the Turkish republic will be much stronger than all.
Due to technology and manpower.
We may not own a lot of land or control other countries but the era of empires are dead.