MULTICULTURALISM AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

Abstract

In recent years, that the widespread debate on the multiculturalism has led to a false perception, as multicultural societies emerged for the first time today. The rise in the popularity of debates on this issue profoundly related to the rise of the critics towards the formation of nation-state in a hierarchical plane and its attitude to comprehend the cultural sphere in the same way. The persistent demands of those excluded from the nation-state idealisation of diversities for the recognition of diversities ensured the debates on this case to be noticed. However, within a historical perspective, it is realized that multinational structures, such as empires or kingdoms, have a more multicultural structure in sociological means. Due to this, in this paper Ottoman Empire - which is a multinational structure- is analyzed in terms of multiculturalism.