It was this strategy that led to the slow eradication and encompassing of the Byzantine Empire, and finally the siege and capture of Constantinople (Pitman 19987). The quiet nature of the Ottoman Empire's power was also a major part of its success and longevity. While the ruling class was of course limited to a tiny percentage of the total population of the Empire, there were no ethnic requirements for becoming a member of this ruling class -- faith in Islam, loyalty to the sultan, and compliance with certain standard of behavior were all that was necessary to become eligible for this class upgrade (Pitman 1987). In part because the Ottoman's defined themselves primarily as Muslim rather than part of a specific ethnic group, the same ethnic and...

While there definitely advantages to becoming a Muslim, relative peace was achieved for most of the Ottoman Empire's existence through the quiet acceptance of other ways of life (NEW 2011; Pitman 1987). Such peace never lasts, however, and the Ottoman Empire is today just a memory.
References

New World Encyclopedia. (2011). Ottoman Empire. Accessed 29 September 2011. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ottoman_Empire#Expansion

Pitman, P. (1987). Turkey: A Country Study. Washington, DC: Library of Congress.