Turkey Politics from the Ottoman Empire Period until our very Modern day - Research Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages During the decline of the Byzantine Empire, the Beylik of the ottoman dynasty, a small developing state located at the Northwest of Anatolia had already been established. The ottoman dynasty grew substantially both physically and in its powers to replace the Byzantine Empire and spread throughout the Balkans. Its political history was attached to Islam religion, within a monarchial leadership under the Islamic ideology, reserved power to a single leader and its strongly established military. However, after its peak season in power, the 19th century saw a revolution of the political system under Mustafa Kamal, who introduced varying legal, social, and political reforms in Turkey. It is believed that it was under his authoritarian rule that led to an introduction of democracy in the country, through his government actions of reform and smooth transfer of power after a long period of one ruling party to an opposition, which paved way for development of multiple parties. 1Today, Turkey is a country that remains in a world’s focused geographical location, due to its cultural and religious views that are crucial to both the interests of the Western and Eastern nations. The changes in the political structure from ancient times to the modern turkey were not easy, but accompanied by numerous wars and military separation. 2.0. Islam Religion and Ottoman Empire 2.1. Entry of Islam religion Before Constantinople was invaded by Muslims, it was the most crucial point of the Christian Byzantine Empire, which had established itself for over a thousand years. 2After the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II led to its conquest in 1453, Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman empire and renamed it ‘Instanbul’ meaning the city of Islam, the sultan authority executed many in the population (the majority of the population were christians), forcing others into exile, while replacing the city’s population with other people, but from within Ottoman territory. Of course this was a blow to the Europeans nations, which had struggled to spread the Christianity in the world. Constantinople being a well strategized location for reaching out to the people in Europe and Africa, in their trading activities was one way to shake the foundation of the Christian faith and European countries. As a result of the massive killings in effort to conquer Constantinople, Ottoman Empire suppressed resistance from the Christian population, who were forced to live within the principles and under authority of Islamic directives. According to 3Kuru and Stepan, the empire had formed a strong Islamic religious identity, such that the religion could be characterized as subordinate to its leadership. The Empire was highly influenced by the cultures and faiths of the people it incorporated in diversity; Christianity, people’s traditions, and Islam. However, 4the non Muslim communities were categorized in a millet system as the minorities who had limited powers to control their own affairs within the Ottoman Empire. Although some people could refute this, the Christians were treated with leniency in the empire compared to other places or Empires in the world. They were disadvantaged, but somehow, some were beneficiaries. The leniency and incorporations of different people and cultures was as a need to obey the Islamic rule that urges Muslims to respect other religions. Even though some Christians in certain ...Download file to see next pagesRead More