>>61607253The "Turks" never saw themselves as Turkish. The Ottomans intermarried with Greeks and LARPed as Persians, and most of their "Turkish" subjects were converted locals.
They considered their empire to be just a continuation of Byzantium, they adopted the title of "Caesar of Rome" and made the crescent and moon, an ancient Byzantine symbol, their flag.
They even were mortal enemies with the Persians, Bulgarians, and Austrians just like their predecessors were. The change in religion means nothing when that has already been done before when Rome adopted Christianity.
