I think it is a good thing to have one faction start at an easier position. It is a bit early to say whether the Turks have it easy or not. If the Byzantines have superior commanders and better troops as they did in MTW, then an easy start for the Turks may not be so easy, especially since this time the Byzantines have less territories to manage and might be able to throw everything at the Turks. We also know little or nothing about the potential strength of Crusades and the Golden Horde (plus the Timurids). I am pointing this out to show that they might be potential threads to the Turks that are not necessarily evident on the campaign map in the first turn.