ECO a new beginning after end of the Ottoman Empire 86 years ago

Posted on 04 March 2010.

A man with a vision, Osman I El-Gazi was the leader of the Ottoman Turks, and the founder of the enduring dynasty that established and ruled the vast Ottoman Empire– that at its peak stretched from Algeria to Indonesia with some provinces on the extremities of the empire in varying degree of closeness to Istanbul. Caliph Ghazi Osman was given the nickname “Kara” (“brave” or “strong” in old Turkish–still used in Urdu/Punjabi as brave) for his courage. Caliph Ghazi Osman I was admired as a strong and dynamic ruler long after his death. This is shown by the centuries-old Turkish phrase, “May he be as good as Osman.” The Ottoman Empire, named after him, prevailed as an unrivaled global superpower for over six centuries. That was when all the Muslims were united behind a single leader.

The origins of this vast empire can be attributed to the charisma, foresight and vision of one man. Osman I El-Gazi declared the independence of his own small kingdom from the Seljuk Turks in 1299. The brutality of the Monglas had destroyed Baghdad and the regions under its control. The westward onslaught of the barbaric Mongol invasions had pushed scores of Muslims toward Osman’s Anatolian region, a power base that Osman was quick to consolidate. As the eastern branch of the Ancient Holy Roman Empire declined, Osman’s Ottoman Empire rose to fill the void and take its place.

At the height of their power (16th–17th centuries), the Ottomans spanned three continents, controlling much of North Africa, West Asia and Southeastern Europe.

For 600 hundred years, the empire was at the centre of the confluence between the Eastern and Western worlds. With Istanbul (fka Constantinople) as its capital the Ottomans controlled extensive lands. One of the most illustrius Ottomans was Suleyman the Magnificent (1520 to 1566). He ruled the eastern Mediterranean during the reign. The Ottoman Empire was, in many respects, an Islamic successor to the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.

Osman saw an opportunity for unity among the disparate emirates which had been asserting their independence from the With the demise of the Byzentine Empire. In 1300 the Seljuk Sultanate of R?m (all states liked to be called Rome at the time), Turkish Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent states, the so-called Ghazi emirates. By 1300, a weakened Byzantine Empire had lost most of its Anatolian provinces to ten Ghazi states. One of the Ghazi emirates was led by Ghazi Osman I , son of Ertu?rul, in the region of Eski?ehir in western Anatolia. Osman I extended the frontiers of Ottoman settlement toward the edge of the Byzantine Empire. Osman moved the Ottoman capital to Bursa, and shaped the early political development of the nation.

Osman’s reputation was burnished by the medieval Turkish story known as “Osman’s Dream”–the young Osman was inspired to Muslim unity by a prescient vision of a huge empire. Osman saw the future empire is a big tree whose roots spread through three continents and whose branches cover the sky. Osman created a formal Ottoman government whose institutions would dramatically transform the world in more than one way. Based on the Mishaq e Medina, the Ottomans, a multiethnic and multireligious state, used the legal entity known as the millet, under which religious and ethnic minorities were allowed to manage their own affairs with substantial independence from central control.

  • 830-850, Turkish mercenaries from Central Asia found in service of Abbasid caliphs
  • 850-905, Tulunids (Turkish generals) rule Egypt virtually independently of the Abbasids
  • 900, Samanids rule in eastern Persia and borderlands of Turkistan; Turks are exposed to Persianate Islamic culture; preparation far incorporation of Turks into main body of Middle Eastern Islamic civilization
  • 10thc. , term ”sultan” (Arabic abstract noun meaning ”sovereign authority”) begins to be used to designate rulers
  • c.1000 , Ghaznavids establish rule in Afghanistan, break Samanid power, and expand into Persia below Oxus River; champions of Sunni Islam within a predominantly Persian cultural context
  • 1040, Seljuks take Khorasan from Ghaznavids; soon control most of Persia with center at Isfahan; from there advance to defeat Buwayhids (Shi’i Persians) who had dominated Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad for a century
  • 1055, Seljuk sultans become de facto rulers in Abbasid Baghdad; two centuries of turmoil is ended and unity restored in eastern Islamic region; Persia and Mesopotamia are reunited and northern Syria added to the ”Great Seljuk” state
  • 1071 , Battle of Manzikert ( Malazgirt ) a decisive victory for Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan over Byzantines; break Byzantine line of defense in Eastern Anatolia; Turkish-speaking Muslims raid and settle in area now known as ”Turkey”; much of the Greek/ Christian veneer of indigenous Anatolian population gradually replaced by a Turkish/Muslim veneer
  • 1092 , death of Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah and his great vizier, Nizam al-Mulk; dynastic strife ensues
  • 1118, Seljuk Empire splits into principalities ruled by princes of the family, often over- shadowed by their ”atabeys” ( tutor guardians )
  • 12th c. , Seljuks of Rum ( Konya, Anatolia ) rule centra1 Anatolian plateau with center at Konya (Iconium) .
  • 1204 , Byzantium fatally weakened by 4th. Crusade and Latin occupation
  • c.1200 , high point of Seljuks of Rum; by absorption of smaller Turkish principalities (beyliks), Seljuks extend their jurisdiction to south coast of Anatolia; Turkish nomads (”gazis”) active in western border/march region adjacent to Byzantium
  • 1243, Mongols under Hulagu Khan move west, defeat Selcuk Sultan Kaykhusrav II, and establish overlordship in Seljuk Anatolia
  • 1258, Mongols conquer Baghdad and bring Abbasid Caliphate to an end
  • Later 13th c., Turkish Anatolia fragmented as Mongol control weakens and is withdrawn; many small principalities ( beyliks ) emerge, one of them led by Osman (Turkish form of the Arabic/Muslim name, Uthmm; European corruption of Osman is Ottoman) in northwest Anatolia (around Iznik and Bursa) adjacent to Byzantine territories.
  • 1071-1300, Anatolia witnesses swift military penetration, ragged political conquest, partial and superficial cultural/linguistic conquest by Muslim Turks who, in their upper ranks were carriers of Persianate Muslim culture. That group was small in number but powerful . Below them, Turkish-speaking Muslims mix with indigenous population. Folk culture and folk religion often at odds with high culture and Islamic orthodoxy represented by the religious and political elite in the society

The Ottoman conquered Constantinople in 1453 consecrating their status of the Empire as the preeminent power in Eastern Mediterranean adn Eastern Europe. The Ottoman Empire entered a long period of expansion, expanding its borders deep into North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The Ottomans set up a magnificent system of military governance. One great innovation was the establishment of the Jannesaries–conscripted and focused military professionals known for their bravery, stamina, and discipline. The disciplined Ottoman military combined forces with the innovative Ottoman navy knocking on the doors of the mighty Roman EMpire in Sicily and Rome itself. The potent Ottoman navy also contested and protected key seagoing trade routes, competing with the Roman city states in the Black Sea, Aegean and Mediterranean seas and the Portuguese in the Red Sea and the Arabian and Indian Ocean. The Ottomans also flourished economically because of an efficient system of governance on the land and overland trade routes between Europe and Asia. The lock-hold on trade between western Europe and Asia is forced Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile to fund Christopher Columbus’s voyages to find a sea route to Asia.

The Ottoman Empire prospered under the rule of a line of competent, committed and effective sultans. The Ottamsn clashed with the Byzentines, the Romans, and the Sefavidsd. On all counts they overwhelmed their enemies. Sultan Selim I (1512–1520) dramatically expanded the Empire’s southern and eastern borders by defeating Safavid of Persia defeating Shah Ismail in the Battle of Chaldiran. Selim I brought Egypt under Ottoman, and created an overwhelming naval presence on the Red Sea. Ottoman expansion provoked a competition with the Portuguese Empire and led to the rise of Portugal as a sea power and the discovery of sea routes to South Asia.

The mid 16th century saw deep inroads into Europe and the ascension to the throne of the one of the finest sovereigns of the world. Selim’s successor, Suleiman the Magnificent (1520–1566), further expanded the empire. After capturing Belgrade in 1521, Suleiman expanded Ottoman rule to the southern and central parts of the Kingdom of Hungary. After his victory in the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Sulaiman established Ottoman rule in the territory of present-day Hungary and other Central European territories.

Sulaiman the magnificent was on the verge of destroying the last bulwark of European sovereignty. He laid siege to Vienna in 1529, but failed to take the city after the onset of winter forced his retreat. That interaction spread a lot of Muslim ideas into Vienna. Bach Beethoven and others were greatly influenced by Turkish music and instruments. Sulayman attacked Vienna again in 1532 with 250,000 strong army, but could not capture the fortress of Güns. He then retreated to tray another time.

The Ottomans forced the Hapsberg Ferdinand in 1543 to officially recognised Ottoman ascendancy in Hungary in 1547. During the reign of Suleiman, Transylvania, Wallachia and, intermittently, Moldavia, became tributary principalities of the Ottoman Empire. In the east, the Ottomans took back Baghdad from the Persians in 1535, gaining control of Mesopotamia and naval access to the Persian Gulf. By the end of Suleiman’s reign, the Empire’s population totaled about 15,000,000 people.

Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha defeated the Holy League of Charles V under the command of Andrea Doria at the Battle of Preveza in 1538 (painted 1866). Under Selim and Suleiman, the Empire became a dominant naval force, controlling much of the Mediterranean Sea.

The exploits of the Ottoman admiral Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, who commanded the Ottoman Navy during Suleiman’s reign, led to a number of military victories over Christian navies. Among these were the conquest of Tunis and Algeria from Spain; the evacuation of Muslims and Jews from Spain to the safety of Ottoman lands (particularly Salonica, Cyprus, and Constantinople) during the Spanish Inquisition; and the capture of Nice from the Holy Roman Empire in 1543. This last conquest occurred on behalf of France as a joint venture between the forces of the French king Francis I and those of Barbarossa.[22] France and the Ottoman Empire, united by mutual opposition to Habsburg rule in both Southern and Central Europe, became strong allies during this period. The alliance was economic and military, as the sultans granted France the right of trade within the Empire without levy of taxation. By this time, the Ottoman Empire was a significant and accepted part of the European political sphere. It made a military alliance with France, the Kingdom of England and the Dutch Republic against Habsburg Spain, Italy and Habsburg Austria.

As the 16th century progressed, Ottoman naval superiority was challenged by the growing sea powers of western Europe, particularly Portugal, in the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and the Spice Islands. With the Ottomans blockading sea-lanes to the East and South, the European powers were driven to find another way to the ancient silk and spice routes, now under Ottoman control. On land, the Empire was preoccupied by military campaigns in Austria and Persia, two widely separated theatres of war. The strain of these conflicts on the Empire’s resources, and the logistics of maintaining lines of supply and communication across such vast distances, ultimately rendered its sea efforts unsustainable and unsuccessful. The overriding military need for defence on the western and eastern frontiers of the Empire eventually made effective long-term engagement on a global scale impossible.

The Arab Revolt which began in 1916 turned the tide against the Ottomans at the Middle Eastern front, where they initially seemed to have the upper hand during the first two years of the war. When the Armistice of Mudros was signed on October 30, 1918, the only parts of the Arabian peninsula that were still under Ottoman control were Yemen, Asir, the city of Medina, portions of northern Syria and portions of northern Iraq. These territories were handed over to the British forces on January 23, 1919. The Ottomans were also ordered to evacuate the parts of the former Russian Empire in the Caucasus (in present-day Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) which they had gained towards the end of WWI, following Russia’s retreat from the war with the Russian Revolution in 1917.

The decline of the Ottomans was iterative and it took a long time. Disunity and growth of enemies, and elthargy of the later Ototmans led to the fall of one of the greatest empires of history. The Empire was formally was defeated in 1918 and did not take part in the Paris Conference that produced the Treaty of Versailles. The helpless sultan was forced in 1920 to sign the Treaty of Sèvres, by which the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire was finalized. The new countries created from the former territories of the Ottoman Empire currently number 40 (including the disputed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.)

The occupation of Constantinople along with the occupation of Smyrna mobilized the establishment of the Turkish national movement, which won the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922) under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. The Sultanate was abolished on November 1, 1922, and the last sultan, Mehmed VI Vahdettin (reigned 1918–1922), left the country on November 17, 1922. The new independent Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNA) was internationally recognized with the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923. The GNA officially declared the Republic of Turkey on October 29, 1923. The Caliphate was constitutionally abolished several months later, on March 3, 1924. The Sultan and his family were declared personae non gratae of Turkey and exiled.

There were several reasons for the decline of the Ottoman empire. The main reason was the Arab revolt led by Lawrence of Arabia. The 2nd one the desire by the Libyans, Algerians and the Egyptians to be independent. That independence was short lived, because France, Italy and Britain took them over as small morsels. The other reason was the internal strife and lack of military prowess. Even though the Ottomans did form alliances with the Germans and the Italians, the so called Axis powers were defeated, and The ottomans suffered the consequences. The rise of Britain, and France as military powers led to the creation of potent enemies that could harm the Ottomans.

March 3rd 2010 marks 86 years since Mustafa Kamal pressured by the Arab revolts (led by Lawrence of Arabia) abolished the Islamic Khilafah state in Turkey. Since then, the Muslims have endured division, occupation, economic stagnation and foreign domination. However evidence now points to an unstoppable momentum for change and a greater call for unity.

and Guantanamo.”Ghraibhas seen the false promises of ‘freedom and democracy’ exposed in the prisons of Abu  Ummahcan see the failure of global Capitalism as the financial crisis unleashed a disaster upon humanity. The  Ummahrevival are there for all to see. The  Islamic“However, things are changing across the Muslim world.

..we are without a shield, exposed to the most vicious colonialist attacks.“Khilafahin Palestine, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, and elsewhere. Without the  have been massacredut-Tahrir Britain said, “Since 1924, we have ended up divided into more than fifty weak and insignificant states whose rulers have systematically colluded with colonial powers against their own people, as our brothers and sisters  Hizb, media representative of Mustafa TajiCommenting on this important anniversary,

“It is an astonishing fact that the Muslim world possesses approximately 20% of the world’s population, over 60% of the world’s oil reserves and 55% of gas reserves, approximately 37% of the world’s gold reserves, and almost 25% of the world’s defence personnel…”

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Republic of Azerbaijan Islamic Republic of Iran Republic of Kazakhstan Kyrgyz Republic Islamic Republic of Pakistan Republic of Tajikistan Republic of Turkey Turkmenistan Republic of Uzbekistan

The future of Pakistan is the ECO–economic, cultural and peaceful political union in West Asia, with enmity towards none, and peace towards all.


Istanbul Summit on Friendship and Cooperation in the “Heart of Asia”
26 January 2010


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