Ottoman Empire rose from the thirteenth century to the 1923. Just like many other empires, for instance, Habsburg, Ottoman rule was dynastic whose character and territories were determined by its administrative power and military capability. The Turks conquered many territories and converted them into Islam. This was accompanied by successive revolts from the conquered lands, which spurred the Ottoman repression policies. This polices were meant to respond to the ongoing revolts and prevent future uprisings. This paper seeks to explore the various repression policies implemented by the Ottoman rulers during 1820s to 1918.
Denial policy was a significant policy imposed against the secessionist minorities. The policy denied Ottoman’s involvement in the Armenian genocide during the world war one. The Turks argued that they were too killed in the ethnic clashes and that the death toll was inflated. This was meant to cleanse the Ottoman’s rule and prevent revolts from the Armenians.
Conscription and taxation policy was imposed by the Turks aimed at strengthening the military. In times of war, when the Ottoman was expanding his empire, the secessionist minorities from every quarter, village, and town were required to present to the recruiting office a fully equipped conscript. The minorities were also required to pay taxes to the Ottoman to finance the military, administer the empire, and hindered them from accumulating extra resources to stage a revolt.
Hamidian policy was a suppression policy that facilitated containment and control. Ottoman realized that the minorities were united and participated in voluntary activities like fund raising. To control this, the hamidian policy was implemented to deny the minorities’ political democratic right and protected the Ottoman reign from being over throne. This policy ensured non-Turkish subjects were not given a chance to choose their preferred leaders.
Deportation policy was meant to alienate Armenians from the rest of the subjects in the Ottomans Empire. Turks argued that they were not responsible for the Armenian genocide and that they were deporting them for their own security. The basis of this policy was to eliminate the Armenians from the Ottoman Empire because they were educated and staged effective revolts.
Anti-abortion Policy was a repression rule directed to females. The policy incriminated any abortion acts and argued that the process was a health hazard to the victims. Abortion was practiced to rescue women from their perceived role of child bearing. The hidden aim of the policy was to subject the female gender to this inferior role and prevent them from participating in political activities.
Pan-Islamic policy was implemented in the late Ottoman politics and was characterized by Turks chauvinism. The policy was meant to cultivate Turks interests over those of non-Turks minorities and Christians. This repression policy closed all channels through which the minority interests the empire addressed minority interests and alienated them from participating in critical administrative decisions.
Lastly, the Ottoman implemented the conciliatory policy. A conciliatory policy is one that creates a provision for adjustments and compromise. This is a relaxed policy and the ottoman implemented it to prevent the minorities from siding with their rivals. This policy was critical because, at the time of inception, the Ottoman Empire faced resistance from competing dynasties like the Galleons and Galleys.
In summary, the Ottoman believed the saying that one should keep his friends close and enemies’ closer. This is the reason why Ottoman implemented most of these repression policies to mitigate chances of revolt by the Christians and non-Turks minorities. With these policies in action, the minorities could not accumulate any resources or organize a revolution army to stage resistance.
Bibliography
Ludes , J. (2008). Ancient Religious relations . Journal of Ancient History, 56-76.
