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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 activities of the Young Turks who attempted to organize underground and overseas in reaction to the monarchy of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II in the Ottoman State, took place in Cyprus as well. From the 1890s to the First World War, the influences of Young Turks could be remarkably observed among the Muslim Cypriont on the Island. The Young Turk movement which was an opposition until the Coup of 1913 was limited among some Turkish Cypriots. When the Young Turks managed to come into power, the number of the supporters of Young Turks began to increase on the island. The ideas of Young Turks provided a fertile ground for the development of Turkish nationalism in Cyprus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]