Repression Policies Against Secessionist Minorities

Repression Policies Against Secessionist Minorities

The Ottoman Empire represents one of the most interesting and fascinating creations of history. In the time of its glory, the Ottoman Empire was one of the most terrific forces that stretched on two continents and encompassed millions of people pertaining to different cultures.

Given its immense size, the Ottoman Empire was forced to consider all sorts of oppression measures against the populations it dominated. This was largely due to the fact that the cultural diversity of the Empire was huge and minority groups present in the Empire were oppressed by the simple presence of the Turkish on their territory. These groups included the Greek-Balkan Christians, Armenian Christians, Assyrian Christians and non-Turkish subject Muslim populations (Arabs and Kurds).

The issue of the Turkish Empire lied in the historical context of the time, context that the Ottoman Empire helped draft. More precisely, after the 1820s and until the end of the First World War when the Ottoman Empire collapsed, the issue of creating a national state became more and more obvious especially inside the multinational empires such as the Ottoman Empire or the Austrian one. Therefore, there were constant pressures inside such empires to reduce to the limit the possibility of rebellions that would weaken the state.

The Kurdish minority had and still has a difficult situation in the Empire and Turkish state respectively. During the 19th century most of the oppressions that took place related to the increased control of the Turkish military over the Kurdish population. More precisely, the ottoman armies tried with every means possible to reduce the establishment of nucleus of Kurdish population that followed the same creed, customs, or social habits (Reid, 2000, p61-2). This in turn prevented a unity that might have in the end weakened the ottoman grip on the territories occupied by the Kurds. This type of attitude is, in the vision of James J. Reid a sort of "mind games" played by the ottomans in the territories of the Kurdish population. However, similar tactics, such as military oppression, prevention of social gatherings would take place in several parts of the empire where religion was not an issue to be different.

By comparison, with the religious minorities such as the Greek Balkan Christians or the Armenian Christians, the most important oppression was the one related to religion because it was also the most important difference. Religion represents a strong connection at the social level especially because it provides the necessary parameters that can be addressed when in times of crisis. Christianity has always been an issue for the Muslim empire particularly because South East Europe was in general, with few exceptions, a Christian region. Therefore, in terms of oppressive measures, religious minorities were forced to limit their Christian worship or consideration for the religious aspects. This is the time in which a lot of Christian churches were destroyed in South East Europe and beautiful mosques built (Hobsbawn, 1997).