The culture of Turkey combines a heavily diverse and heterogeneous set of elements that have been derived from the various cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean (West Asian) and Central Asian region and to a lesser degree, Eastern European, and Caucasian traditions. Many of these traditions were initially brought together by the Ottoman Empire, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state. During the early years of the republic, the government invested a large amount of resources into fine arts such as paintings, sculpture and architecture. This was done as both a process of modernization and of creating a cultural identity.

The style of the current novelists can be traced back to the "Young Pens" (Genc Kalemler) journal in the Ottoman period. Young Pens was published in Selanik under Omer Seyfettin, Ziya Gokalp and Ali Canip Yontem. They covered the social and political concepts of their time with the nationalistic perspective. They were the core of a movement which became known as the "national literature." With the declaration of the Turkish Republic in 1923, Turkish literature became interested in folkloric styles. This was also the first time since the 19th century that Turkish literature was escaping from Western influence and began to mix Western forms with other forms. During the 1930s, Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoglu and Vedat Nedim Tor published Kadro, which was revolutionary in its view of life. Stylistically, the early prose of the Republic of Turkey was essentially a continuation of the National Literature movement, with Realism and Naturalism predominating. This trend culminated in the 1932 novel Yaban (The Wilds) by Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoglu. This novel can be seen as the precursor to two trends that would soon develop: social realism, and the "village novel" (koy romani). The social realist movement was led by the short-story writer Sait Faik Abasiyanik. The major writers of the "village novel" tradition were Kemal Tahir, Orhan Kemal, and Yasar Kemal. In a very different tradition, but evincing a similar strong political viewpoint, was the satirical short-story writer Aziz Nesin. Other important novelists of this period were Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar and Oguz Atay. Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, is among the innovative novelists, whose works show the influence of postmodernism and magic realism. Important poets of the Republic of Turkey period include Ahmet Hasim, Yahya Kemal Beyatli and Nazim Hikmet (who introduced the free verse style). Orhan Veli Kanik, Melih Cevdet Anday and Oktay Rifat led the Garip movement; while Turgut Uyar, Edip Cansever and Cemal Sureya led the Ikinci Yeni movement. Outside of the Garip and Ikinci Yeni movements, a number of other significant poets such as Fazil Husnu Daglarca, Behcet Necatigil and Can Yucel also flourished. Orhan Pamuk is a leading Turkish novelist of post-modern literature. His works have been translated into more than twenty languages. He is the recipient of major Turkish and international literary awards, such as the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. CANNOTANSWER

Using a quote from the above article, answer the following question: When did prose become important in Turkish culture?

The style of the current novelists can be traced back to the "Young Pens" (Genc Kalemler) journal in the Ottoman period.