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The article discusses Turkey's political, social, and religious history from the perspective that the country is not a democratic, secular nation-state because Turkish leaders have focused on Muslim supersessionism since the Ottoman Empire era began in 1288. The article notes Muslim supersessionism, a radical form of nationalism based on Islamic hegemony and the idea that all citizens should want to belong to a Turkish "race," was a driving force behind the development of the Young Turks organization and Kemalist political doctrine. Ethnic cleansing, the Armenian genocide, the Greek massacres, and the government's efforts to expel Christians and Jews from Istanbul, Turkey in 1955 are topics in the discussion. Other topics include Cyprus, Islamization, and Turkification.

The article examines the future of the island of Cyprus. The central focus of the article is on a resolution of the political divisions that separate the Greek and Turkish populations living in autonomous regions on the island. Among other issues the article discusses a resolution proposed by Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the United Nations, the stated goals of Greek nationalists on the island, and the result of the position of the European Union with regard to the ethnic divisions in Cyprus.