“…Historically, the Turkish state recognized only non-Muslim minorities (Armenians, Greeks, and Jews), while all the others were subjected to assimilation efforts under the umbrella of Turkishness, which carried both national/civic and ethnic connotations. These nation-building policies mainly emphasized ethnic homogeneity rather than civic inclusivity (Grigoriadis, 2009), leaving little room for the recognition of other ethnic minorities. The vague nature of the ethnic–civic dichotomy, coupled with exclusionary citizenship discourse (Aslan, 2007; Üstel, 2004) framed with a grandiose narrative (Ardag et al, 2019) that fosters othering (Sandal-Önal, 2021), causes doubts about the notion of Turkish national identity as a unifying force for all member of the nation.…”