commander-in-chief during World War I. He later became a leader of the Basmachi movement (1916–1934) against Russian and Soviet rule in Central Asia. During World War II, the Nazis founded a Turkestan Legion which was primarily composed of soldiers who hoped to establish an independent Central Asian state after the war. The German intrigue bore no fruit. When the Turkish Republic was established under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923, interest in Pan-Turkism declined, because Atatürk generally favored Ziya Gökalp rather than Enver Pasha. The Pan-Turkist movements gained some momentum in the 1940s, due to the support which it received from Nazi Germany, which sought to use Pan-Turkism as leverage in order to undermine Russian influence in an effort to acquire the resources of Central Asia during the course of World War II. The development of pan-Turkist and anti-Soviet ideology, in some circles, was influenced by Nazi propaganda during this period.<ref>Jacob M. Landau, "Radical Politics in Modern Turkey", BRILL, 1974. pg 194: "In the course of the Second World War, various circles in Turkey absorbed Nazi propaganda; these were pro-German and admired Nazism, which they grasped as a doctrine of warlike dynamism and a source of national inspiration, on which they could base their pan-Turkic and anti-Soviet ideology"</ref> Some sources claim that Nihal Atsız advocated Nazi doctrines and adopted a Hitler-style haircut. Alparslan Türkeş, a leading pan-Turkist, took a pro-Hitler position during the war and developed close connections with Nazi leaders in Germany. Several pan-Turkic groups in Europe apparently had ties to Nazi Germany (or its supporters) at the start of the war, if not earlier. The Turco-Tatars in Romania cooperated with the Iron Guard, a Romanian fascist organisation. Although the Turkish government's archives which date back to the World War II years have not been declassified, the level of contact can be ascertained from German archives. A ten-year Turco-German treaty of friendship was signed in Ankara on 18 January 1941. Official and semi-official meetings between German ambassador Franz von Papen and other German officials and Turkish officials, including General H. E. Erkilet (of Tatar origin and a frequent contributor to pan-Turkic journals) took place in the second half of 1941 and the early months of 1942. The Turkish officials included General Ali Fuad Erdem and Nuri Pasha (Killigil), brother of Enver Pasha. Pan-Turkists were not supported by the Turkish government during this time and on 19 May