I believe even before it was simmering just below the surface. Ataturk tried and it worked for awhile, but inevitably, Turkey’s Islamic heritage would rear its’ ugly head again.
You’re correct. Turks are actually & still Very hardcore muslim in mentality. Ataturk had alot of difficulty trying to secularize. He arrested, subdued & even executed many clerics. Remember Mecca for a long time was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, before the Brits installed the House of Saud just after WW1. Although there are secularists still in Turkey, the mentality of the Turks is still quite Islamic. And, they can be totally brutal. Erdogan is an Islamist too but tries superficially to appear not to be. Mostly because of wanting Turkey to be accepted as part of Europe & Turkey also being in NATO.