Amir > Recent Status Updates

"The Greek authorities did not abolish Muslim religious schools as neighboring Turkey did. This is because the Greek state was obliged by international treaties and, at the same time, wanted to preserve the religious character of its Muslims with the view
that preservation of Islamic religiosity could curb the penetration of secular
nationalism emanating from neighboring Albania and Turkey."

"For example, the Greek
census of 1928 records the existence of 72 Spanish-speaking, 16 Armenian-
speaking, 2 Macedonian-speaking and 3 Vlach-speaking Muslims,4 while the
census of 1951 records 32 Kirkasian Muslims in the district of Evros."

"...when Ankara decided to adopt the Swiss Civil Code... Religious leaders, both Muslim and non-Muslim, were not supportive of the idea. Especially in the case of the minorities, the new Civil Code contradicted article 42 of the Lausanne Treaty that clearly stipulated that issues related to family law or personal status would be settled in accordance with the customs of the minorities.

For example, the Bulgarian-speaking Patriarchists were considered as Rums by the Ottoman authorities and by the Patriarchate, as Greeks by the supporters of Greek nationalism, but as Bulgarians by Bulgarian nationalists. The Greco-Bulgarian national conflict in Macedonia and southern Thrace in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century made use, among other elements, of the confusion between millets and nations.

In general, it could be
argued that by the end of the Tanzimat period the Ottoman Empire no longer
represented a multi-religious, but rather a multi-ethnic state.

As a result, to the“Greek” and “Orthodox unity” of the nation provided by ancient history and religion respectively, he[Konstantinos Paparrigopoulos] added the imperial element of “Roman” (ρωμαϊκήν) unity provided by medieval times. Based on Zampelios’s periodization, Paparrigopoulos integrated Byzantium into Greek historiography as the period connecting ancient with modern Greek history."

"The content and aims of this education were not determined in Istanbul,
but in Athens. The liberation and incorporation of the outside Greeks into a
greater Greek state would form the basis of an ambitious political plan, the
Megali Idea (Μεγάλη Ιδέα, Great Idea)."

"Therefore, the Bulgarians would eventually demand the establishment of an autonomous Bulgarian church congruent with the language of the Bulgarian ethnoreligious community.
Through the creation of their own separate millet they would be able to
nationalize the traditional religious identity of the Slav-speaking Orthodox
Christians."

"Finally, the central authorities were struggling for a number of years
to restrain the Albanians, who had managed to dominate much of the institutional framework and economic life of southwestern Macedonia. Appearing weak was obviously not an option for the Ottoman state in the face of such internal and external challenges to its authority."

“The paucity of battles during a century of steady Mughal expansion indicates that their opponents avoided offering battle because they expected to lose. ”

“Shii thought changed considerably in Safavid times. The doctrine that Shii ulama capable of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad; the ulama were mujtahids) should exercise the religious and judicial authority of the Hidden Imam gained acceptance during the sixteenth century, though it was developed in Lebanon rather than Iran.”

“The imposition of Twelver Shiism in the lands of the Safavid Empire created a national identity that overlay the distinction between Turk and Tajik. Before the Safavid era, the majority of Persian speakers were not Shii, and the majority of Shiis did not speak Persian. The Safavid effort to impose uniformity bore durable fruit.”

“Majlisi “revived the power of the ulama and promulgated a ‘missionary’ Shi’ism of a public devotional character.”... It is unclear to what extent his policies actually led to forced conversion; it is possible that Majlisi’s anti-Sunni policies provoked the Afghan uprising which led to the collapse of the regime.”

“The need for experts in Shii theology and jurisprudence led to the establishment of a second class of ulama, with narrow expertise in Shii learning. Most came from outside Safavid territory, primarily from the Jabal Amil in contemporary south Lebanon or from Bahrain, and all, at first, had neither landed wealth nor hereditary association with official positions.”

“The sources do not disclose the rationale for the imposition of Twelver Shiism decision and historians do not agree on an explanation. The standard argument, that the Safavids imposed Twelver Shiism in order to create a sharp distinction between themselves and the Sunni Ottomans and Uzbeks and to establish a national identity is both teleological and anachronistic.”

“The decision to impose Twelver Shiism as the sovereign faith of what had become the Safavid principality did not facilitate gaining popular support, since Shiis were a distinct minority in Azerbaijan and the rest of the areas the Safavids conquered. It was, not, apparently, planned in advance, but it must have had an ideological purpose.”

“Sulayman’s most significant action was the appointment of Muhammad Baqir Majlisi as the empire’s chief religious official. Majlisi sought to transform Safavid society into an entirely Shii environment and called for the forced conversion of all non-Shiis. There is little information about the enforcement of this policy on the ground.”

“The establishment of Twelver Shiism dominated the social, religious, and cultural history of the Safavid period. Earlier dynasties frequently had Shii tendencies or preferences; none in the post-Mongol era had made Shiism a political platform or sought to impose it. The Safavid imposition of Shiism broke precedent and began the pattern of confessionalization.”

“The Safavid regime relied not on broad agricultural prosperity or control of major trade networks but on the export of a single commodity: ...silk. The Safavid polity thus became a gunpowder empire because of the increase in global trade in the sixteenth century. Otherwise, the Safavid Empire, in all probability, would have remained a tribal confederation...”

“Abbas transformed the Safavid polity from a tribal confederation into a bureaucratic empire. The primacy of the bureaucracy, with the tribes present but peripheral, survived until the rapid collapse of the empire in 1722.”

“The Safavid Empire never equaled the size, power, or wealth of the Ottoman or Mughal empires... Safavid rule transformed the religious life of the empire but had a much less significant effect on its ethnic composition and social structure. Some historians have questioned whether it qualifies as an empire at all...”

“The Ottomans recruited mass infantry armies not because they preferred infantry to cavalry or wanted to exploit the military potential of peasant manpower but because they had no alternative. The dominance of the qapiqullar prevented the Ottomans from developing a standing professional infantry force large enough to match developments in Europe.”

“Many Orthodox ethnic Greeks and religious and ethnic Armenians used Turkish in day-to-day language. One Orthodox group, the Karamanlis, used the Greek liturgy transcribed in Turkish (Arabic) script. They were otherwise entirely Turkic and probably descended from a Turkic tribe or clan that became Christian rather than Muslim. In eastern Anatolia, Armenians called Armenian converts to Islam Kurds.”

“In Ottoman times, no less than 232 inns, eighteen caravanserais (large enclosures to shelter caravans at stops between cities), thirty-two hostels, ten bedestans (covered markets for the sale of valuable goods), and forty-two bridges were built in Bosnia and Herzegovina alone.”

“In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Italian merchants, primarily but not exclusively from Venice and Genoa, dominated the trade of both the eastern Mediterranean and the Black seas. The Black Sea littoral had long been a source of wheat, fish, oil, and salt for the Mediterranean world. Fatih Mehmed excluded the Italian merchants from this trade, placing it entirely in the hands of Ottoman subjects.”