At the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. on November 5, 2023, Umut Uzer delivered the presentation "Mosque Construction as Nation-Building: The Case of Turkey”.

Dr. Uzer discussed the linkages between mosque construction and nation-building in Turkey as the study argued that mosques were built not only as manifestations of the freedom of worship of the congregation but also, they were utilized as a tool in the definition or re-definition of the identity of the Turkish people by policymakers. Therefore, the main research question of this study was: what role did mosques have in the definitional process of nationhood? In other words, the religious element of Turkish national identity was thoroughly discussed within the framework of mosque construction in the country.