Ottoman Empire

Pro-Ottoman Answer

Ottomans showed mercy and tolerant against non-Muslims. In Ottoman territories, Muslim, Christians, and Jews lived in harmony. also, Turks, Arabs, Kurds, Bulgarians, Greeks, Macedonians, Serbians, Bosnians, Hungarians, etc.. existed together. Europeans have accused of the Ottomans of issues against this logic. Ottomans have never done a Holocaust and or forced assimilation against other nations.

Pro-Dhimmi Answer

Non-Muslims who lived in the Ottoman Empire were called Dhimmi, or second-class citizens. They lacked a number of fundamental rights such as freedom of movement, freedom of settlement, access to all occupations, and additional taxation because they were Non-Muslim. Each Dhimmi group, like the Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and so forth were organized into Millets which were community representative groups. Each Millet would report to a centralized Millet representative in Istanbul who would have direct dealing with the Imperial Palace. This would allow the Millets to air their grievances, but was more often used as a method to control the Millets and make them less resistive to Ottoman Occupation.

Admittedly, life under the Ottomans was far superior to most contemporaneous Empires. Spain was by far a more religiously and culturally intolerant place during this period as were France and England.

As for the Ottomans not committing a genocide, this is blatantly incorrect. The transition between the Ottoman Empire and Turkey resulted in the Armenian Genocide (around 1.8 million killed) and the Greco-Turkish Population Swaps. Many Greeks in the Aegean cities like Smyrna (now Turkish Izmir) died en route to modern Greece and many Turks from the Peloponnesus (southern Greece) died en route to Turkey.

Finally, the Ottomans' most egregious crime was the policy of devşirme, where Christian families in the Balkans region had to submit to Ottoman soldiers stealing their children to bring to them to Istanbul where they would have no contact with their parents for years and be trained to be the elite Janissary Core and be converted to Islam. No Muslim was even allowed to join the Janissaries because the devşirme system was so effective in producing recruits loyal only to the Emperor because they feared him.

Another Answer

They enjoyed a great deal of religious tolerance but were forced to pay higher taxes.

Answer 1

• They were treated with respect
• They exercised full citizenship rights and obligations
• they were allowed to practice all their ritual worships without any restriction
• They were entitled for enjoying all social and medical benefits
• As they were exempted from sharing Muslims in military service and in defending their lands, they were required to pay what is called in Arabic "Jezia" which is a special tax to be paid by only who are adults, males, and in age range of being able to perform military service but exempted from it. This tax does not apply to children, females, old people, and those who are medically incapable. Currently, this tax is not lawful as people of all religions are sharing the military service.

Answer 2

They enjoyed a great deal of religious tolerance but were forced to pay higher taxes.

Answer 3

Non-Muslims who lived in the Ottoman Empire were called Dhimmi, or second-class citizens. They lacked a number of fundamental rights such as freedom of movement, freedom of settlement, access to all occupations, and additional taxation because they were Non-Muslim. Each Dhimmi group, like the Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and so forth were organized into Millets which were community representative groups. Each Millet would report to a centralized Millet representative in Istanbul who would have direct dealing with the Imperial Palace. This would allow the Millets to air their grievances, but was more often used as a method to control the Millets and make them less resistant to Ottoman Occupation.

Admittedly, life under the Ottomans was far superior to most contemporaneous Empires. Spain was by far a more religiously and culturally intolerant place during this period as were France and England.

Finally, the Ottomans' most egregious crime was the policy of devşirme, where Christian families in the Balkans region had to submit to Ottoman soldiers stealing their children to bring to them to Istanbul where they would have no contact with their parents for years and be trained to be the elite Janissary Core and be converted to Islam. No Muslim was even allowed to join the Janissaries, because the devşirme system was so effective in producing recruits loyal only to the Emperor because they feared him.

Shortly, Padishah or Sultan, but for a long example Sultan Mehmed III was called;

Sultan Hân Padishah,Hünkar,Hakan ül-Berreyn vel-Bahreyn;Sovereign of the House of Osman, Sultan of Sultans,Khan of Khans,Commander (Caliph) of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the UniverseCustodian of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and JerusalemCaesar of the Roman EmpireEmperor of The Three Cities of Constantinople, Adrianople and Bursa, and of the Cities of Damascus and Cairo, of all Azerbaijan, of the Magris, of Barka, ofKairouan, of Aleppo, of Arabic Iraq and of Acem, of Basra, of Al-Hasa, of Dilen, of Ar Raqqah, of Mosul, of Parthia, of Diyarbakır, of Cilicia, of the Vilayets ofErzurum, of Sivas, of Adana, of Karaman, Van, of Barbary, of Abyssinia, of Tunisia, of Tripoli, of Damascus, of Cyprus, of Rhodes, of Candia, of the Vilayet of theMorea, of the Marmara Sea, the Black Sea and also its coasts, of Anatolia, of Rumelia, Baghdad, Greece, Turkistan, Tartary, Circassia, of the two regions of Kabarda, of Georgia, of the plain of Kypchak, of the whole country of the Tartars, of Kefe and of all the neighboring countries, of Bosnia and its dependencies, of the City and Fort of Belgrade, of the Vilayet of Serbia, with all the castles, forts and cities, of all Albania, of all Eflak and Bogdania, as well as all the dependencies and borders, and many other countries and cities.