The modernization efforts of the early Republic of Turkey were a recurrent theme of books and newspaper articles written by interwar Yugoslav travelers in Turkey. Their views on Turkish modernity were based on a dichotomy between the “old,” “traditional,” and “backward” Ottoman Empire and the “new,” “modern,” and “revolutionary” Turkish Republic. Their comments reveal the Yugoslav public’s self-perception: in their eyes, through its reforms, Turkey was becoming similar to Western European countries, and had reached or even surpassed the civilizational level of Yugoslavia. Thus, the Yugoslav perception of Turks as Europe’s “Other” had changed for the better.

土耳其共和国初期的现代化努力是两次战争中南斯拉夫土耳其旅客撰写的书籍和报纸文章的经常主题。他们对土耳其现代性的看法是基于“旧的”，“传统的”和“落后的”奥斯曼帝国与“新的”，“现代的”和“革命的”土耳其共和国之间的二分法。他们的言论揭示了南斯拉夫公众的自我认知：在他们看来，通过改革，土耳其正变得与西欧国家相似，甚至达到甚至超过了南斯拉夫的文明水平。因此，南斯拉夫对土耳其人作为欧洲“其他国家”的看法已经变好。