Since the early 2000s, when Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his political party took power in Turkey, the changes in Turkish foreign policy orientation have been visible. The events of 15 July 2016 affected this orientation profoundly. The focus has shifted towards the Middle East. This process has been also related to the transformation of the Turkish national identity and historiography. Erdoğan´s usage of the Ottoman past, the values of Islam civilisation, and un derstanding of being Turk have changed the image of how Turks see their position in the world and how Middle Eastern counterparts should perceive them. The main objective of this article is to show how Erdoğan uses the MENA region in his political discourse in the context of nos talgia for the Ottoman past and how these historical and cultural narratives are used to support the image of Turkey as a leading regional power within Turkish national identity. The main argument is that Erdoğan uses the remembrance of the common Ottoman legacy and shared Islamic cultural values at home and within the MENA region both to strengthen the Turkish political position in the future regional order and to build a new understanding of the MENA region as imagined part of Turkish responsibility. Thus, Erdoğan aims to change Turkish na tional identity and through that even the support for his political vision at home and abroad. The contribution summarises the main ideas Erdoğan has put into his rhetoric to broaden the memory of the Ottoman past among the public in the aftermath of the coup attempt.