The question is never what the general population believes, but only the elite. They will lie and do whatever it takes to further their agenda. Perhaps only about 15% of Turks would argue that restoring the Ottoman Empire would be a solution. However, even this minority is created primarily as a direct result of the declining economy. As I have explained numerous times, there is a direct correlation between economics and war. When everyone is FAT & HAPPY, war does not come. Let the economy crash and this fuels resentment that the elites need to exploit for political gain.

The biggest crisis in the Middle East is the declining oil price in combination with the decline in oil demand as energy storage expands creating cars and other products not dependent on oil. This is a lethal combination. Some countries expanded their budgets without rational thought. As the economy has turned down taking demand with it, some countries are in a similar position as was Spain after the discovery of America. The spent wildly and in the process they could no longer support that lifestyle. Spain then defaulted seven times and they fell from the richest state in Europe to the poorest. This was all magically created by fiscal mismanagement. They turned against their own people when desperate for money. They employed the Spanish Inquisition ruthlessly usurping the power of the Catholic Church to justify their exploitation of their own people. Even the Pope spoke out against the Spanish Inquisition. Religion has always become the excuse in times of economic decline.

When Rome began to fall during the 3rd century, became known as the Great Persecution since it was the last and most severe persecution of Christians even to take place during the Roman Empire. The year was 303AD, when the Emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding the legal rights of Christians. They demanded that they comply with traditional Roman religious practices because the prevailing view was the gods were punishing Rome because the Christians would not acknowledge them. They also then went after the clergy ordering all inhabitants of Rome must sacrifice to the Roman gods. This persecution lasted for 8.6 years until it peaked and began to decline. Maximian issued coins depicting himself as Hercules savior of the world.

It was Constantine and Licinius who issued a new Edict of Milan in 313AD has traditionally marked the end of the Great Persecution. Keep in mind that this correlated with the economic decline. Here, the people said the gods were punishing Rome since they could not attribute the decline to another empire. When there is an external enemy, then that is who will always be blamed first. If nothing else exists, then they turn against their own people singling out some group be in Christians in Rome or Jews in Germany under the Nazi movement. The he Fontanelle cemetery in Naples Italy is a reminder of the Christians put to death during the Great Persecution.

Moreover, just so it is clear, the people of Turkey and other Islam following countries are completely different regarding paths of Islam just as Catholics and Protestants, or in Judaism be it Orthodox v Reformed. Probably, the majority do not go to church these days so it is debatable to what extent religion really plays a role in the majority of people’s lives. Politicians steal regardless of their religion. Nevertheless, the elites seek power by trying to  inspire a unifying factor.

That said, what we are really talking about here is not the dream of the majority of the people, but of elites. They will do whatever it takes to make that dream reality driving the people to act in one way or another. The people are always collateral damage to achieve their goal of domination.