Ottomanism or ''Osmanlılık'' (, tr, Osmanlıcılık) was a concept which developed prior to the 1876–1878
First Constitutional Era of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
. Its proponents believed that it could create the social cohesion needed to keep
millets from tearing the empire apart.
History
Origins of the concept
Thinkers such as
Montesquieu
Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher.
He is the princi ...
(1689–1755) and
Rousseau (1712–1778), as well as the events of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
of 1789, strongly influenced Ottomanism. It promoted equality among the
''millet''s. The idea of Ottomanism originated amongst the
Young Ottomans (founded in 1865) in concepts such as the acceptance of all separate ethnicities in the Empire regardless of their religion, i.e., all were to be "Ottomans" with equal rights. In other words, Ottomanism held that all subjects were equal before the law. Ideally, all citizens would share a geographical area, a language, culture, and a sense of a "non-Ottoman" party who were different from them. The essence of the ''millet'' system of confessional groupings was not dismantled, but secular organizations and policies were applied. Primary education, conscription,
head tax and
military service were to be applied to non-Muslims and Muslims alike.
Development of the concept
Ottomanism was inspired and formed as a reaction to European ideas and the growing Western involvement in the Ottoman Empire. Following the
Tanzimat reforms begun in 1839, Ottomanism developed from a need to bring the Empire together. The Ottomans feared the growing threat the Europeans posed, especially after events like the 1838
Treaty of Balta Liman, which allowed for British merchants in the Empire to be taxed equally to the locals, and the growing concern of the
great power
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power i ...
s over the treatment of
Christians within the Empire. The Ottomans thought that if they could unite the Empire fully under one state entity, then they would be stronger and the Europeans would have a harder time encroaching on Ottoman territory, as well as on Ottoman people. Previously, the Empire was vastly split into many small communities that mostly governed themselves. The
Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it c ...
oversaw these communities, but most areas adhered to their own laws and beliefs.
This accounted in part for the success of the Ottoman Empire: the Sultan didn't force any major changes on populations as he conquered them. Because of struggle for
self-determination, the concept of nation-states with shared senses of identities began to rise in Europe, most notably with the
Greek War of Independence of 1821-1830, which also started affecting the various other peoples of the Ottoman Empire. From these instances, Ottomanism developed as a social and political response, with the hope of saving the Empire from downfall.
Ottoman nationality
The major precursors to Ottomanism were the
Reformation Edict of 1856, which promised full equality under the law regardless of religion, and the ''Ottoman Nationality Law'' of 1869, which created a common ''Ottoman citizenship'' irrespective of religious or ethnic affiliation. The nationality legislation was a 19th-century concept, and the Ottoman Empire adopted it early. The Ottoman Nationality Law appeared before any commonly-adopted international concept of the basic elements of this legislation. Many in the non-Muslim ''millets'' and many Muslims rejected Ottomanism. Non-Muslims perceived it as a step towards dismantling their traditional privileges. Meanwhile, the Muslims saw it as the elimination of their own superior position. There were claims that Ottomanism was a reaction to the ''
Tanzimat'', the 1839-1876 era of intensive restructuring of the Ottoman Empire by the bureaucratic elite. The inauguration of the
General Assembly
A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company.
Specific examples of general assembly include:
Churches
* General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of pres ...
in 1876 contributed to the spirit of reform, as all
millets were represented in this bicameral assembly.
Young Turk Revolution
Ottomanism enjoyed a revival during the
Young Turk Revolution of 1908, and during the
Second Constitutional Era
The Second Constitutional Era ( ota, ایكنجی مشروطیت دورى; tr, İkinci Meşrutiyet Devri) was the period of restored parliamentary rule in the Ottoman Empire between the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and the 1920 dissolution of the ...
of 1908 to 1920.
It lost most of its adherents during the
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...
of 1912–13, when the Ottoman Empire lost most of its European territories inhabited by minorities. Disappointment in the failure of Ottomanism became integral to the surge of
Kemalism in the 1920s.
See also
*
Byzantinism
Byzantinism, or Byzantism, is the political system and culture of the Byzantine Empire, and its spiritual successors the Orthodox Christian Balkan countries of Greece and Bulgaria especially, and to a lesser extent Serbia and some other Orthodox ...
*
Neo-Ottomanism
*
Rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire
References
* The concept is covered under the section ''The era of Modern Reform:Tanzimat'' at "History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey" by
Stanford J. Shaw, Ezel Kural Shaw.
*Cleveland, William L. A History of the Modern Middle East. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2004. Print
*https://tr.boell.org/en/2019/08/22/nationalism-turkey-roots-and-contemporary-answers
{{Authority control
Political movements of the Ottoman Empire
Citizenship