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The Turkish diaspora in Europe is associated with a number of particularities. The Turks of Europe did not leave their homeland, en bloc, in the wake of a traumatic event ; neither did they find themselves passing on a mythologized memory of any such event upon which to construct their identity. In addition, their presence on European soil is not a longstanding situation. Spread across the world (though mainly in Western Europe) they feel a strong national identity – a pride built, rightly or wrongly, on the imperial Ottoman past. Whether they are for or against the regime in Ankara, their gaze remains fixed on Turkey – and their own migration does not seem to have been fully assimilated.