Am I too radical for Pakistan?

[19CavPK]

As a Turk from Bulgaria (a country that used to be under Ottoman rule for almost 500 years all until the end of the 19th century and where Turks now form 10% of the population) I can tell you that Ottoman Turkish has almost nothing to do with Arabic even if it was writen in Arabic letters and even if Arabic was spoken in large areas of the Empire and used in mosques. For example Turks on the Balkans (around 1,5 million people) were never part of that modern language reforms that took place in Turkey after the creation of the Republic in 1923 hence the Turkish we speak around here is more archaic and in rare cases influenced by the local Balkan languages. Still most Balkan Turks understand and use at least 90% of Modern Turkish that is being spoken in Turkey and nobody even knows Arabic or is interested in learning it. Maybe having Turkey next door and watching Turkish TV channels also helps a lot but still if my great-grandparents used to speak Arabic I would have known, right? On the other hand it is not strange that a lot of Arab, Persian, Latin/Western European and etc words are in our vocabulary (like 15% of it is non- Turkic) as we are people who have conquered many places and at the same time traded and lived with many different people. Turks in general are very diverse people and a huge nation living on a crossroad between cultures so it is a normal thing to have people of different backgrounds considering themselves Turkish. To be a Turk is a big honour for me.

ps It is nice to easily understand not only Turks in Turkey but also Azeris, Turkmens, Crimean Tatars, Gagauzs and other Turkic people from the Oghuz branch... Can't say the same about the Lebanese, Saudis or Algerians though.

Thanks for the information. Really helpful in creating a better understanding. One question, irrelevant to the discussion thou, is how much pride do turks take in the history of Ottoman Empire and its Islamic historical relevance?