Why did a people who were once part of the medieval European world become separated from the course of its development? THE GREAT RUPTURE is a historical and philosophical journey through five centuries of civilizational interruption. This book examines the Ottoman conquest not merely as a military event, but as a rupture in the historical, institutional, and cultural continuity of a nation. Through an exploration of institutions, memory, language, religion, and identity, the book examines how a society can lose the continuity of its historical path-and how it can survive despite that loss. This is the story of a nation that was broken, but did not disappear. The story of a memory that was buried, but did not die. And above all, the story of a question that still echoes: What Happened Here?
