[HoneyBadger]

You kind of have to separate the two. Turkey is a Muslem country, and the Turks have been in that part of the world for centuries, so there's a lot of cross-over. Whoever does this nation will have to work hard to introduce Turkish elements into the body, the look, the way things work. And I agree about the late age-there are definitely uniquely Turkic elements to concentrate on, but you've still got a majorly Islamic nation in a mainly Islamic part of the world. I think it would be smart to concentrate on the Indian elements of the Mughal Empire, and Burkhan elements of more recent myths.

And there's really no good reason why you couldn't continue the Cappadocian flavor of having their starting Province always be a cavern. That in and of itself would separate them from any generically Persian/Muslim nation.