 The term is derived from an identification of Muslims with Ottomans and/or Turks, due to the Ottoman Empire's administrative millet system of classifying peoples according to religion, where the 
Muslim millet played the leading role.From the middle of the nineteenth century, the term "Turk" and from the late nineteenth century onwards, the derivative term "Turco-Albanian" has been used as a pejorative term, phrase and or expression for Muslim Albanian individuals and communities.The term has also been noted to be unclear, ideologically and sentimentally charged, and an imperialist and racialist expression.