Deported Armenians had their property confiscated by the state and redistributed to Muslims or simply snatched by local provincial authorities (such as Central Committee member Mehmet Reşid's governorship in Diyarbekir). Return of property to the deportees was "de facto" forbidden. By late 1916 most Armenians outside of cities like Constantinople and Izmir lost their private property. In areas where Christian minorities were deported from, the government settled Balkan Muslim refugees to take their place and property. Some local governors stood up to the Central Committee's orders of deportations against Christians such as in Küthahya, Izmir, and Dersim (modern Tunceli), but most resistors were simply replaced by Talat. This program of redistribution of Armenian property, "Millî İktisat" (national economy)"," was a core tenet of the CUP's "Türk Yurdu" project. The deportations, massacres, and confiscation of property that were performed against Armenians and other Christian groups were on a larger scale than ever, but this was not the first of such occurrences. Talat and the CUP hypocritically but easily portrayed their actions in a Hamidian context; just like how Abdulhamid's pretext for massacres against his own (Armenian) subjects was justified through legal means.