Literary works have always more or less been used for political purposes throughout history. The newly formed Balkan nation states or those which regained their independence towards the end of the Ottoman Empire have taken advantage of the affective powers of literature too. These states, in their search for unique national identities (different from their neighbouring countries and unlike the Turkish) have often used literature as powerful means to influence people’s political thoughts and emotions. The 2005 Man Booker International winner novel The Siege by the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare is one of these political historical novels, which can be approached as a national identity building narrative. Published for the first time in the early1970s during the Enver Hoxha’s regime, the book tells the story of an Albanian fortress grossly assaulted by the Ottomans. By applying the ‘othering’ technique and contrasting the Christian Albanians with the Muslim Ottoman attackers, the author masterfully creates a positive Albanian and highly negative even gruesome Turkish images. The following paper analyzes and comments on the methods, reasons and possible effects of Kadare’s hostile Ottoman representation. Keywords: Negative Turkish image, Ismail Kadare, The Siege, The Ottoman Empire.