The Turks are an interesting case.
They had a few centuries of dominance in the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, but they were mainly adopters of western methods (the Byzantine administrative system, cannons) rather than innovators, and most of their history is one of decline after their big conquests.
They were rejuvenated by the secularization under Ataturk, but that’s receding now as Islam makes a comeback.
Turkey before Islam ever set foot there was made up of many succesfull areas as part of the the trade routes into and out of Europe. Heading for the East and going south down into Egypt.
And as you point out, it is going backward now that Islam set it’s goal of making Turkey a big part of it’s post-Ottoman dismantling, revival.