Flag of the Ottoman Empire (eight pointed star)

Ottomanism or ''Osmanlılık'' (, tr, Osmanlıcılık) was a concept which developed prior to the 1876–1878 First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire. 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 (1689–1755) and Rousseau (1712–1778), as well as the events of the French Revolution 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 The Tanzimat (; ota, تنظيمات, translit=Tanzimāt, lit=Reorganization, ''see'' nizām) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. ...

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 powers 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 ...

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 right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

, the concept of nation-states with shared senses of identities began to rise in Europe, most notably with the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

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 ''

'', the 1839-1876 era of intensive restructuring of the Ottoman Empire by the bureaucratic elite. The inauguration of the General Assembly 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 of 1908 to 1920. It lost most of its adherents during the First Balkan War 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 Kemalism ( tr, Kemalizm, also archaically ''Kamâlizm''), also known as Atatürkism ( tr, Atatürkçülük, Atatürkçü düşünce), or The Six Arrows ( tr, Altı Ok), is the founding official ideology of the Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurche ...

in the 1920s.

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 Stanford Jay Shaw (5 May 1930 – 16 December 2006) was an American historian, best known for his works on the late Ottoman Empire, Turkish Jews, and the early Turkish Republic. Shaw's works have been criticized for their lack of factual accurac ...