Although identity related problems gained a new sense of urgency after Turkey's last military take-over in 1980, they are far from being products of the last two decades. This text is an attempt to study Turkey's national and secular identity in light of the challenges posed by Kurdish nationalism and political Islam. The underlying premise of this work is that Kurdish nationalism and political Islam represent existential threats to Turkey's Kemalist military and political establishment. While any evidence, no matter how minor, of Kurdish nationalism is perceived as a major security threat to the nation-state's territorial and national integrity, Islamic socio-political and cultural activities are often considered as harbingers of a fundamentalist revolution.