Rev. Athenagoras Ziliaskopoulos
domestic policy (related to religion)
Thank introduction should be new, that it was the Ottoman Empire - has already traded to the rule of law - after that time scale. This means that there was a solid legal order, which all Ottomans subject including the Sultan himself had this order.
The basis for this was the religion law, which is the prophesied by Mohammed rules to include belief in one God, Allah. This included, to put it in words familiar to Christians, deadly sins, or the 10 Commandments, which were in the Ottoman Empire part of the judiciary. Legal problems for which there was no provision in the religion law were regulated by the Sultan adopted "secular laws." Legal problems also found in this work no provision were convicted under the local customary law and punished. Also have been avoided ad hoc decisions. Furthermore, it was
within the state system and regulations which are the more modern concept of the welfare state "near. This includes, for example a well-controlled delivery system (current tax) or a statutory upper price limit for all main supplies, what emerged positively the progress.
was also there for all subjects (regardless of race or religion) a right of appeal to protect them from abusers or attacks from higher layers. Such complaints were immediately raised in the "large beautiful sofa" which harsh punishments suspension.
At the head of the state was the Sultan of Europeans, "Great Men" mentioned. He reigned despotic over the people (where this word should be considered negative) and had more power over it, as the absolutist rulers in Europe, as it the entire country and even belonged.
He alone decided under the laws of life and death or war and peace. Even the highest positions of power, he filled in its sole discretion and withdrew it the same way. In these positions, he paid no attention to home, family, nobility, wealth, or religion, but chose his men in on merit, by which he saved himself in trouble with the needle and all positions were filled most profitably. This type of Selection surprised and astonished European visitors and envoys very strong because of this principle from their absolutist form of government which they themselves came from was absolutely unknown. It is observed as the Habsburg ambassador in 1550 just this and, said:
"birth differs here not by the other, honor each is proved by the standard of his class and office, as there is no rank conflict, the place that you provides, gives each her own. But offices and agencies distributed the Sultan himself this is not scrutinized to the wealth, not on the next needle stick, not on someone's reputation or to the verdict of the crowd: the earned but it is considering, manners, talent und Eignung sieht er an; nach seiner Tugend wird jeder ausgezeichnet.“
Wie bereits erwähnt unterlag der Sultan bei diesen Entscheidungen keinen anderen Institutionen, sondern war „nur“ an das Religionsgesetz gebunden.
(Quelle: Matuz, Josef: Das Osmanische Reich)
Das Millet
Im Laufe seines 600jährigen Bestehens in Südosteuropa und Nahen Osten entwickelte sich das Osmanische Reich zu einem multikonfessionellen Gemeinwesen. Dabei war für den rechtlichen Status und die politische Identitätsfindung der Untertanen die Zugehörigkeit zu einer anerkannten und autonomen Religionsgemeinschaft (Millet-System) ausschlaggebend.
Wie Milletsystem nach Ansicht der akademischen Gelehrten definiert wird, ist von hoher Wichtigkeit, um die Welt des Osmanen-Reiches zu betreten und zu versuchen, seine gesellschaftlichen Strukturen zu verstehen. Es soll gemerkt werden, dass das Wort Millet vom arabischen Wort millah kommt, und als „Religion“ übersetzt wird, ein allgemeiner Ausdruck verwendet für eine Vielzahl der Religion im Gegensatz zu din, der wahren Religion des Islam.
Es wird auf den heiligen Koran (Sure 9: 16) bezogen, auf einer vor-Islamischen Gemeinschaft, millat Ibrahim „die Gemeinschaft von Abraham“, obgleich der mittelalterliche Verbrauch sich auf Juden, Christen oder Moslems beziehen kann. Im Osmanen-Reich wird anfangs, je nach Religionszugehörigkeit zum Armenischen, Jewish and Greek Millet distinguished. The Greek Millet Millet-I or Rum Orthodox Millet enclosed Serbs, Romanians, Bulgarians, Vlachs, Albanians and Orthodox Arabs and Greeks, of course. Naturally, the Greeks spoke Greek in the majority, but the sources are often, even mentioned before the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Turkish-speaking Greeks, or Altay, especially in regions Kayseri (Karaman) and Thrace (Gagauz). Surprisingly, the groups used these Turkophone Greek, and not the Arabic alphabet for their Turkish dialects. A number of Greeks in the regions of Topkapi, Nicaea and Chalcedon spoke Armenian. On the other side was It Greco Phone Turks. The Ottoman State granted the non-Muslims in religious, legal, administrative and educational affairs under their leadership, the right of self determination.
bibliography
• Alexis Alexandris, The Greek Minority of Istanbul and the Turkish-Greek relations 1918-1974, ed.Centre for Asia Minor Studies, 1992
• Benjamin Braude, Bernard Lewis, Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire, The functioning of a plural society, Volume 1, The Central Lands, Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc.. New York, London 1982
• Elcim Macar, Cumhuriyet Donaminde Rum Patrihanesi Istanbul, Iletisim Yayinlari 2003
• Αλέξης Alexandris, Thanos Veremis, Panos Kazakos, Vangelis Coufoudakis, Christos L. Rozakis, George Tsitsopoulos, Greek-Turkish Relations 1923-1987, ekd.Gnosi.
• Paraskevas Konortas, Ottoman visas for the Ecumenical Patriarchate 17th-early 20th century. ed Alexandria. Athens 1998
Die Aufgabe der Kirche
Das ökumenische Patriarchat durch die heilige Synode und der höheren Hierarchie, übte nicht nur die Leitung der Kirche im gesamten Reich aus, sondern war zuständig für das Greece Millet. Clerics had the right to invoke territorial civilian courts. The election of the Patriarch was confirmed by the Sultan (sultan's advisor) and the Patriarch promised loyalty to himself and his Millet against the state. He collected the poll tax for the state and granted for the peace of the Millet. For any unrest was the first Patriarch blamed. All local councils of the municipalities of the Rum Millet had to put your affairs by the Patriarch to the government.
The existence of a community in the Rum Millet presupposed the existence of a church building. The latter, intended for the exercise of religious duties, was a sign of the will of a minority of Christian Religious belonging. Without church or priest, a municipality was required to either convert to Islam or to relocate.
other hand, were busy all church offices only in the referendum.
The Patriarchate was also charged with the education of the faithful. Since there is no realm of state-organized education system was, it was commissioned by the Millet to fill this gap. The romantic concept of "Secret School" Millet indicated on the school system in the rum. This was organized by the Church in cooperation with the local councils. Church was also parallel school and parish priest was a teacher. Training centers were in the monasteries and of course, was the first place religious and ecclesiastical Education achieved. In this case, the students learned reading, writing, arithmetic and natural history. In addition to the higher levels we got to church fathers, classical ancient Greek literature and philosophy. Besides books, there were small church school books, mostly printed in the West. Here must be noted that the Greek Millet, as the official language of the rum, one of the official languages in the country was recognized.
The church, guaranteed on the one hand, as an important factor of the state social peace mechanism on the other hand the maintenance of faith, culture and language.
The Church, far from other nice stories, but could never imagine Greek National Propaganda operate. Not just because Phyletismus contradicts church canons, but because the idea of the nation, a civic idea, in the pre-bourgeois communities of the East by the end of the 18th Century was unknown. Thus the Patriarchate could be either for the Greek nation, nor for any other ethnic group.
first end of the 18th C, in the wake of the Enlightenment, the idea of the nation among the various ethnic groups of the Rum Millet spread. Ultimately, it came to wars of independence and formation of national states in the territory of the empire. Clerics were among the first to support such independence aspirations or were even actively involved. Officially, the Patriarchate could not take any position, but secretly supported there any freedom of movement.
The organization and interaction of non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire seem
The non-Muslim communities of their status until 19 century have been satisfied. For in the classical Ottoman period, they were not tending to emigrate or to revolt against the government. The people in the conquered territories were able to continue their religious and cultural life. The Ottoman government in the conquered territories a policy of "geographical integration" operation to secure the power of the state.
The ratio of the Ottoman Empire to the non-Muslims deteriorated towards the end des18. Century. The limitations of the Ottoman Government, such as special clothing requirements, prohibition of riding and the use of the sidewalk, etc., had weakened their loyalty to the state (6).
were proportionately the Turks, who were dominant in the administration, eindrittel the total population. Two-thirds of the population were Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Romanians, Slavs, Albanians and Arabs. According to religious affiliation, Muslims formed the majority of Ottoman society. The relationship between the State and religious communities can not use "tolerance" towards other faiths in the modern sense, but only with toleration and protection of non-Muslim communities by of the state are explained. In particular, the poll tax was seen as a particularly unjust discrimination. Since the mid-18th Century, the discontent of the non-Muslims with their legal status. In this context the increasingly close commercial, cultural and political relations with Christian Europe a significant role. The discussion of the millet system, attained in the late 19th Century gave Europe its peak and a tool to interfere in the internal affairs of the Ottoman state. Aware of these facts, the Ottoman reformers sought by appropriate steps to oppose the modernization.
the reform decrees of 1839 and 1856, especially the Ottoman Constitution of 1876, meant in this respect, the end of the ancien régime. They solemnly proclaimed equal rights for all regardless of religious affiliation. For example, the notorious head tax on non-Muslims was abolished, the judiciary largely secularized and even dasPrinzip introduced the administrative jurisdiction. In return, the non-Muslims should abandon their traditional "alloyed privileged" position. The non-Muslim leaders were not inclined to waive the education authority to the Konfessionsge communities, because it greatly as a factor in nation-building to benefit in the minority.
Under these conditions tended the Ottoman government the abolition of the Millet-Constitution by attempting to replace the old religious and dynastic loyalties through a secular and territorial nature of the concept of nation state, the Ottomanism, (10). Under the compulsion of the situation, the Ottoman modernization experienced a remarkable shift of emphasis in the relationship between Europe on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire and the other between the central bureaucracy and the individual millets. This did not mean the complete departure from Ottomanism, the Muslims marched to the fore now. Accordingly, the main focus was on the previously neglected Anatolian and Arab provinces. Compared with the Christian communities, advocating for decentralization of the empire with the appropriate regional autonomy and for this end were even willing to ask the great powers of military intervention, the representative of the Ottoman reform insisted on respect for the Ottoman sovereignty. This "centralist" had already in 1895 its political line defined as follows: "We call for reforms, not for this or that province, but for the whole kingdom, and not in favor of a single ethnic group but for all Ottomans, they were Now Jews, Christians and Muslims "(11).
The Muslim population was the independent efforts of Christian communities in the crisis years before the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-78 very critical. They witnessed every day how to improve the European countries under the pretext that the situation of the Christian population, have interfered in the internal affairs of the kingdom. Paradoxically, the European powers took care not about the rights of people in their colonies (12). Neither England nor France were thinking of introducing similar reforms for the Muslim population in their dominions. Under these circumstances, the "profound" European concern owned by the equal rights of Ottoman Christians, of course, not even the advantage of being understandable.
The growing power of the Christian world on the one hand and the radical ideas of the French Revolution broke the other hand, in the 19th Century in the Christian subjects of Muslim states, a wave of dissatisfaction. At precisely the time when the Christians to accept the willingness of the restrictions, diminishing, grew up in the Mus-limen the belief that they were absolutely necessary. As long as the Muslim kingdoms retained superiority, they were willing to tolerate the constant growing strong influence of minorities on the economy. But as the 18th and 19 Century, first economically and militarily then a power shift took place between Islam and Christianity, caused the economic power of a minority in their concern and eventually hatred.
History offers numerous examples, that a relatively underdeveloped economy is replaced by the commercial impact of a developed society pulses. What is enjoyed in the era of European expansion in the Near East, special attention was the fact that functioned in the following economic change on both sides of strangers as actors and beneficiaries. These foreigners were Europeans, foreigners and members of religious minorities. They formed the new middle class, also known by the term Comprador bourgeoisie are known.
only at a comparatively late date could show a new Muslim middle class a certain social and political impact. There has been limited and in many countries has already given way to other elements. Under the influence of Western goods, institutions, ideas and education developed in the 18th and 19 Century, a Turkish-Muslim bureaucratic bourgeoisie. It was next to the Christian commercial bourgeoisie, their position was in the Ottoman Empire because of the strengthening trade with the West. In the Nationswerdungsprozess the Turks, the Christian merchant bourgeoisie was pushed back. In this process, the Armenians were deported to Anatolia, the large Number of Greeks left Anatolia after the agreement on exchange of populations, the Jews emigrated to Europe or Jerusalem and the Christian Arabs took part in the Arab national movement. The Ottoman Empire lost the status of a multiethnic empire and transformed into a homogeneous nation-state. The bureaucratic bourgeoisie under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the Turkish nation-state finally (14).
The era of modernization from the late 19th Century to the present has in some respects the position of non-Muslims strengthened considerably and they deteriorated significantly in other respects. Material, it was them very well. As Christians, they were more receptive use of Western influences and therefore more able, Western education with its many advantages better. The role of foreigners and minorities played in the financial sector can illustrate, in some examples. An official document from 1912 lists forty private bankers in Istanbul, including a single Turkish Muslim. Among those are twelve Greeks, twelve Armenians, eight Jews and five Levantine or European. As they improved their position
largely owed to the European support, the minority relied heavily on European protected. Many acquired the status of protected persons, whether through the acquisition of a European citizenship or protection by the European powers. At the same time their situation was complicated by other demands and aspirations: for example, after independence from the Muslim State for equality within the Muslim state (15).
The equality between Christians and Muslims in the late Ottoman Empire failed because many Christians they would not even exist. The Greeks in Crete did not fight for equal rights under Ottoman rule, but for autonomy or union with Greece. Instead of equality of Serbs and Romanians also wanted national independence. The continued interference of the European Powers in the Ottoman affairs angered the Turks. The rebellions of Christians hurt the feelings of the Muslims and finally led to many Ottoman Turks and patriotically adjusted in response to Turkish nationalists and were in the national sense (16).
final
From 15 Century until the end of the 19th Century, the Middle East won only because of the conflicts between the Ottomans and the European countries a large geohistoric importance. For the Ottoman Empire would stand in his own territory was a livelihood. The Western world tried, however, back the potential military threat to the Ottomans.
The Rise of Europe and the expansion of Western influence brought to Christians and Jews great changes. The Christian powers took care of the position of Christians in Islamic countries and used their influence to achieve legal equality for them and enforce economic privileges. In this effort were the intended Christians, Jews, the accidental beneficiaries (17).
Religion was for Muslims, Jews and Christians under Islamic rule, not only faith, but the main basis of their identity. The national identity of individual groups participated in the Islamic world by no means the importance of them in the political and cultural life of Europe held (18).
In light of the above can be said that the coexistence of Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Ottoman Empire, the religion is by no means been the only determining factor. Generalised statements such as, the non-Muslims had been barred from the military service because of their religion, no solid foundation. After all had the same priority as the Sultan with the reform decrees in 1839 and 1856 the Christian subjects in military service to the Muslims, they were then to the payment of poll tax. For a better understanding of the problem rather a detailed analysis of the confessional relations is essential. Whether and to what extent the non-Muslims were granted citizenship in the Ottoman Empire, is quite controversial. In the political constellation of the era was also a normative assessment of the Ottoman Millet system of positive, even if it can not be compared with the civil rights and minority rights of the nation state in the modern sense.
notes and bibliography
first The rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire to see the emergence of the Turkish Republic: Josef Matuz, the Ottoman Empire. Outlined its history, Darmstadt: Routledge, 1985.
second Bernard Lewis, The Jews in the Islamic world. From the early Middle Ages to the 20th Century, Munich: Beck, 1987, S. 38, 45, 60.
3. Aufklärung, eine von Bürgertum getragene Bewegung des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, die von England, Frankreich und Deutschland ausgehend sich in ganz Europa durchsetzte. Mit der Kritik an Vorurteilen jeglicher Art und der kritischen Durchleuchtung der gesellschaftlichen Selbstverständlichkeiten, vornehmlich solcher aus Religion, der Politik, der Kunst und den Wissenschaften, zielte die Aufklärung auf eine Veränderung der Menschheit und der Gesellschaft. Instrument der Aufklärung ist die Kritik, Freiheit der Meinungsäußerung und Toleranz der anderen Meinungen. In: Lexikon zur Soziologie, hrsg. von W. Fuchs, R. Klima, u.a., Sonderausgabe, Opladen 1988.
4. Henry Blount, A Voyage into the Levant (1636), Amsterdam 1977, 126 S. Der Originaltitel lautet: A Voyage into the Levant. A Breife Relation of a Journey. Lately performed by Master H.B. Gentleman, from England by the way of Venice, into Dalmatia, Sclavonia, Bosnah, Hungary, Macedonia, Thessaly, Thrace, Rhodes and Egypt, unto Gran Cairo: With particular observations concerning the moderne condition of the Turkes, and other people under that Empire. London, 1636.
5. Zu dem Begriff ”Millet” siehe folgende Beiträge: Michael Ursinus, Zur Diskussion um „millet“ im Osmanischen Reich, in: Südost-Forschungen 48 (1989), S. 195-207; Benjamin Braude und Bernard Lewis (Hrsg.), Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire. The Functioning of a Plural Society, 2 vols, New York and London 1982nd On the relationship of the Islamic state to other religions see: Irwin Cemil Schick, Osmanlılar, Azınlıklar ve Yahudiler [Ottomans, minorities, and Jews], in: Tarih ve Toplum 29 (Mayıs 1986), 34-42. Elizabeth A. Zachariadou, Co-Existence and Religion, in: Archivum Ottomanicum 15 (1997), 119-129. Bat Yeor, The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam, Cranbury, NJ, 1985. Youssef and Philippe Fargues Courbage, Christians and Jews under Islam, translated by Judy Mabro, London-New York 1997. Karl Binswanger, studies on the status of non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire of the 16th Century with a new definition of the term "dhimma", Munich 1977th Yavuz Ercan, Osmanlı Yönetiminde Gayrimüslimler. Kuruluştan Tanzimat'a kadar Sosyal, Ekonomik ve Hukuki Durumları [Non-Muslims in the Ottoman administration. Social, economic and legal situation of the foundation to the Tanzimat], Ankara 2,001th Paret, Rudi: tolerance and intolerance in Islam, in: Saeculum 21 (1970), 344-65.
6th Erhan Bilal, Osmanlı Devletinde Gayrimüslim Teb'anın Yönetimi [The management of non-Muslim subjects in the Ottoman Empire], Istanbul 1990, p. 215-218.
7th Erhan, supra, p. 12, 38, 51
8th Lewis, The Jews in the Muslim world, p. 106-117.
9th Ibid., P. 119-121.
10th Fikret Adanir, The disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, in: The end of empires, from the Persians to the Soviet Union, ed. Alexander Demant, Munich 1997, p. 108-128, here: p. 122-123.
11th Quoted in Ramsaur, Ernest Edmondson Jr., The Young Turks. Prelude to the Revolution of 1908, 2 Edition, Istanbul 1982, p. 40-41, n. 30: "Meşveret", Paris, 3 Dezember 1895th
12th Fikret Adanir, the Macedonian question, their origin and development until 1908, Wiesbaden 1979, p. 93
17th Bernard Lewis, The Decline of the East. Why the Islamic world lost its supremacy, Bonn 2002, p. 99
18th Bernard Lewis, star, cross and crescent. 2000 years of history of the Middle East, München, Zürich 1995, S. 302.
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