Essay on Describe the Ottoman-Turkish Empire’s repression policies against secessionist minorities (Greek-Balkan Christians, Armenian Christians, Assyrian Christians) and non-Turkish subject Muslim populations (Arabs and Kurds) in 1820-1918.

According to the historical data, the Ottoman-Turkish Empire was responsible for the genocide of thousands of people including Greek-Balkan Christians, Armenian Christians, Assyrian Christians, Arabs and Kurds. It is known that the Ottoman-Turkish Empire was ruled by Muslim Tirks from 1300 to 1923. The sultanate was at the head of the state. The state was ruled according to the Islamic Law which put non-Muslims on the lowest level in the Turkish society. The representatives of non-Muslims social groups could not enjoy the basic civil rights and had to pay extra taxes. This discrimination was legalized. (Adalian)

According to the law of the Ottoman Empire, it was allowed Christians to live on the territory of the state and to keep their own religion, a lot of Greek-Balkan Christians, Armenian Christians and Assyrian Christians lived on the territory of the Ottoman-Turkish Empire. The repression policies against the above mentioned minorities discriminated the representatives of these minorities in the following way. Christians had no right to testify in court against Muslims. Conversion to Christianity was forbidden and the punishment given for this action was death. It is known that during the World War I the repression of the Christians was the severest. There were organized so called national movements which were called Young Turks. The activists of these movements not only persecuted all the Christians who lived on the territory of the Empire but also they killed thousands of Assyrians, Greeks and Armenians.

According to the historical data, about 1 million of Armenians were killed by the Young Turks and a lot of Armenians had to leave their home places where they lived thousands of years. (Islam and Anti-Christian Persecution)

A policy of genocide of Christians was conducted in 1894-1918. It is known that the official policy against Armenians was issued by the Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1894. Numerous brutal massacres took place in 1896 when more than 300,000 Christian Armenians were killed. There were also hundreds of massacres of Orthodox Greeks, and Assyrians communities at the beginning of the 20-th century.

The Ottoman policies concerning Kurds had the main aim to remove power from the local authorities of Kurdish emirs. In 1847, Bendirhan Bey, the last emir tried to fight against Ottomans and to protect the power of Kurds but his actions were suppressed. National movements of Kurds who demanded autonomy on the territory where most of the people belonged to this community were also suppressed by the Ottoman Empire. (Kakeyi)

The Ottoman Empire had control over the Arab lands, and most of Arabs were Muslims as well as the Turks. However, the Turks were against Arabs. It is known that many Arabs had high positions in the Ottoman Empire but they opposed the Turkish authority which was widely spread in the Empire. The national movement of Arabs was organized but the Young Turks repressed the national movement of Arabs who wanted to be separated from the Empire. (Antonius 24)