Le Figaro: Turkish authorities nostalgic for country’s imperial past
10.01.2010 16:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Le Figaro French daily newspaper published an
article relating about Turkish authorities’ nostalgia for country’s
imperial past, Hurriyet reported.
According to the article, everything related to Ottoman past is
gaining popularity in Turkey.

Muslim bourgeoisie, which strengthened during the years Justice and
Development Party was in power, is pushing aside the elite,
traditional carrier of Kemalist ideals. At the same time, in foreign
policy, dubbed neo-Ottomanism in the article, imperial trends become
increasingly perceptible.

As the article notes, Turkish audience showed great interest to
`Ottoman Republic’ historical-fictional movie, portraying events in
Turkey, still ruled by Ottoman sultan. The past is imagined by average
men in Turkey as Pax Ottomana golden age, with peace, prosperity and
creed tolerance prevailing in the Mediterranean.
Such moods become prevalent in view of Europe’s refusing EU membership
to Turkey, the article concludes.

The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State, also known by its contemporaries
as the Turkish Empire or Turkey, was an empire that lasted from 1299
to November 1, 1922 (as an imperial monarchy) or July 24, 1923 (de
jure, as a state). It was succeeded by the Republic of Turkey which
was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923.

At the height of its power (16th-17th century), it spanned three
continents, controlling much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and
North Africa. The Ottoman Empire contained 29 provinces and numerous
vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire,
while others gained various types of autonomy during the course of
centuries. The empire also temporarily gained authority over distant
overseas lands through declarations of allegiance to the Ottoman
Sultan and Caliph, such as the declaration by the Sultan of Aceh in
1565; or through the temporary acquisitions of islands in the Atlantic
Ocean, such as Lanzarote (1585).

The empire was at the centre of interactions between the Eastern and
Western worlds for six centuries. With Constantinople as its capital
city, and vast control of lands around the eastern Mediterranean
during the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent (ruled 1520 to 1566), the
Ottoman Empire was, in many respects, an Islamic successor to the
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.