AHC/WI: Christian Turks?

M. Adolphe Thiers

I'm a bit spotty on Turkish history, but one idea that always interested me was the idea of some of the Turks moving into Anatolia being Christian. How could this be plausible? It could be any Eastern branch, Nestorian, Orthodox, etc.

If said Turks managed to form a strong state, what would be the ramifications of such? Could we see a new Turkish Orthodox/Nestorian state coming to revitalize the Crusades? Could they fend off the Arabs and maintain their independence? Would they become vassals by the ERE, or seize the Empire like the Ottomans did?
 

Fabius Maximus

M. Adolphe Thiers said:
I'm a bit spotty on Turkish history, but one idea that always interested me was the idea of some of the Turks moving into Anatolia being Christian. How could this be plausible? It could be any Eastern branch, Nestorian, Orthodox, etc.

If said Turks managed to form a strong state, what would be the ramifications of such? Could we see a new Turkish Orthodox/Nestorian state coming to revitalize the Crusades? Could they fend off the Arabs and maintain their independence? Would they become vassals by the ERE, or seize the Empire like the Ottomans did?
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Well, IOTL the Ottomans considered themselves to be the successors to the Byzantines (one of the Sultan's titles was Kaisar i-Rum). If they were Christian, then, assuming that they still took Constantinople, their claims to successorship would probably be taken more seriously by the rest of Europe.
 
Sian

Sian

If the Turks hadn't entered Persia, but instead followed a more northern migration path around the Caspian Sea before purring down Caucasus and Anatolia, then its plausible that they could Christianize. The fact that they went through Persia getting islamified by the existing religious order there, means that its tricky to religiously turn Christian from that position.
 

Falastur

Any Christian Turks who moved into Anatolia would almost certainly be Nestorian, as were the Keraits who were a (probably the only) Christian Turkish empire in Central Asia who were friendly to Genghis Khan and ended up joining his empire. This means that they would be rejected by the rest of Christendom - when the Ilkhanate tried to appeal to Christendom for a joint Crusade against the Mamlukes they were basically told to either send the Khan to Rome to be converted to a Catholic or to get stuffed. I can't see the interactions here being any different.
 
Cregan

Cregan

If the Anatolian Turks became Christian, they would have a similar relationship to Byzantium that other formerly nomadic peoples that had been Christianised - the Magyars and the Bulgars - had with the Byzantines. Maybe these Christian Turks could even become the ruling dynasty of the Byzantine Empire.
 

Byzantion

M. Adolphe Thiers said:
I'm a bit spotty on Turkish history, but one idea that always interested me was the idea of some of the Turks moving into Anatolia being Christian. How could this be plausible? It could be any Eastern branch, Nestorian, Orthodox, etc.

If said Turks managed to form a strong state, what would be the ramifications of such? Could we see a new Turkish Orthodox/Nestorian state coming to revitalize the Crusades? Could they fend off the Arabs and maintain their independence? Would they become vassals by the ERE, or seize the Empire like the Ottomans did?
Click to expand...

The Gagauz people (a Turkic people) are predominantly Christian-Orthodox...
 
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