What were the causes of nationalism in Ottoman Empire and what were its effect to Ottoman Empire?

Answer 1

Although the Ottoman Empire is now generally thought of as being a Turkish Empire, the Ottomans identified themselves by language and religion more than by an ethnic identity. Although the Turks made up the largest portion of the population and had been the ones to establish the Empire, they had recognized early on that they would have to assimilate the subject populations and make use of their talents. Many of the most able managers and administrators of the empire were Greek, the merchants and traders were often Armenian, and for centuries the soldiers in its armies and the governors of whole provinces were raised from Christian children captured in the Balkans and raised in the Sultan's palace. The famous Grand Vizier Mehmet Sokollu Pasha was the son of Bosnian parents, and the Sultans themselves were frequently from non-Turkish mothers. All these people thought of themselves as "Ottomans" and most spoke Turkish.

In the 19th century, waves of nationalism swept Europe, with people who had always been the vassals of larger nations or who were part of cobbled together territories began to wish for countries of their own. For example, the people of the many cities and small kingdoms of Italy began to think of themselves as a single people "Italy" and began to think of "Italy" as a country instead of just a geographical expression. This led to the unification of some countries, like Italy or Germany, but caused great conflicts in others, such as the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires.

The Ottomans had never tried to forcibly convert any population to Islam or force any group to give up their language, so in some areas like Arabia and the Balkans there were large groups of subject people who had a different language and faith than their rulers. In some cases, like Serbia and Greece, the people had memories of independent kingdoms from before the Empire. As nationalist passion began to grow, it was encouraged by outside powers like Russia, Germany, and England who sought to unbalance the Empire.

The effects were disastrous for the Ottomans; in the Balkans countries declared and fought for independence and then fought each other over the borders. In trying to hold onto Macedonia the Ottoman inadvertently created the first modern terrorists, the IMRO, and were drawn into bloody and inconclusive battles and became demonized in the Western Press as "bloodthirsty Turks".

The worst situation, however, was in areas of the Ottoman heartland where Turks and other nations lived mixed together. A town which had once been 100% Ottoman and peaceful suddenly found itself a warring camp full of Armenian, Kurdish, Greek, and Arabic people. As it found itself pulled into WWI, the Ottomans were faced with movements among the Arabs, Kurds, and Armenians demanding independence or greater freedom and representation within the Empire.

During this period, the Ottomans committed a genocide against the Armenian people which tarnished the name of the Empire in the eyes of the world and history and still haunts the modern Turkish republic. Although the subject is still extremely controversial in Turkey and the use of the word "genocide" is forbidden by law, the facts are not in dispute by most scholars. The Armenians, an ancient Christian people who had lived in Asia Minor and the Caucasus for millenia, and who were found everywhere in the Empire (often as loyal servants of the Empire), were expelled from their homeland or murdered. Some modern Turkish scholars claim that the Armenian genocide was not intended, but that the Ottoman authorities had simply meant to resettle a population they believed was attempting to help the enemy during war and that the massive deaths were a result of either poor planning, unreliable soldiers, or Armenian resistance. Whether or not this is true, a crime of epic proportions took place.

A less atrocious but equally tragic population transfer took place after the war, when Greece and Turkey struck a devil's bargain to make their countries mono-ethnic, mono-linguistic modern nations. Millions of people were displaced as Turks from Greece (who might never have seen Turkey or spoken a word of Turkish) and Greeks from Turkey (whose ancestors had lived on the Anatolian Coast since pre-History) were forced to change places, leaving homes they had had for generations to go live among strangers. By this time the Ottoman Empire was dead, and the whittled down new country of Turkey, under the democratic and secular leader Ataturk, had just driven out a Greek army intent on annexing the entire extent of the old Byzantine Empire.

The new Turkey was modeled on the successful Western democracies, which meant that it was a secular republic with one language and one nationality. In the end, the Turks themselves had given in to nationalism, although Ataturk famously said that "anyone who speaks Turkish and calls himself a Turk is a Turk". This was much more tolerant than the national creeds in many countries, but even today Turkey has not managed to deal with the vexed issue of the people in its borders who do not want to speak Turkish or call themselves Turks. In the case of the Kurds, the largest ethnic group on earth without its own country, the problem of nationalism is still unsolved.