The only solution in these years when mankind stands most in need of peace, calm and brotherhood is to raise people with proper moral values, who are just, devout and patriotic. The way to do that is by elevating national and spiritual values by using modern means and methods of communication. The current young generation of Turks must be made aware of their Turkish and Muslim identity and of their Ottoman legacy by means of modern means of mass communications. In order for the importance of this Muslim Turkish identity to be properly appreciated, they must be told how people possessing that identity ordered the world for hundreds of years. Over the course of history the Turkish Nation founded 16 powerful states, and with the superior ability it demonstrated in the administration of those states it constitutes a historic model for all the nations of the world. The strength of the Muslim Turkish Nation, and particularly the Seljuk and the Ottoman empires, cannot be explained in terms of military strength alone. It was a moral conception based on the values of the Qur’an that underlay the force that governed the world’s most complex and sensitive region over the centuries.
The main features of this moral conception revealed by our Lord in the Qur’an are behaving honestly and generously by avoiding oppression and injustice, maintaining justice no matter what the circumstances, and always favoring tolerance and reconciliation. It is because of these characteristics that the peoples subject to them were always content with the rule of the Muslim Turks, and even generally entered under their rule of their own free will. It was thanks to this just rule under the Ottoman Empire that members of the three Abrahamic faiths and many sects and millions of people with completely different languages, cultures and ethnic origins lived together in peace for hundreds of years in an area including the whole of the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East.
In our day, however, the suffering, tears, oppression and war in those same lands refuse to come to an end. The “Ottoman Territories” made up of the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus, with Turkey in their center, are still very active and complex in structure. The vacuum that arose in the region in the wake of the Ottoman Empire has yet to be filled and no real security has been established. This has attracted the notice of the Muslim Turkish Nation that applied an exemplary “co-existence model” in these same lands for hundreds of years under Ottoman leadership. And this model reveals the fact that it can only be made a reality today and in the future by the Muslim Turkish Nation. Indeed, many statesmen, political scientists and researcher/authors have been examining this just system of administration implemented with such success by the Turkic states, especially the Ottoman Empire. The aim behind this investigation is to establish a new administrative model based on that applied by the Turks. History shows that permanent peace can be brought to both the Middle East and to the Balkans and the Caucasus under Turkish leadership, that of the heir to the Ottoman legacy. A union established under Turkey’s leadership will both put an end to the conflicts and bring permanent peace to the region and also raise the standards of living of all the peoples there as they become part of a powerful economic union.
| The Turkish Nation possesses a very sound and deep-rooted legacy. The important thing is to properly understand that legacy and to turn our faces to the future while fully adopting our past. |
The responsibility of the individual members, the children, of a nation that founded glorious states over the centuries and ruled over three continents, and that has the potential to establish a new world state in the 21st century is to correctly understand and act on the material and spiritual values that made the Ottomans what they were.
The Ottoman example shows that the Turkish Nation has the requisite experience, ability and strength to easily manage a wide expanse of territory. The important thing is to properly evaluate these values that were so elevated in the Ottoman Empire and re-interpret them and apply them to our own age.
As in the past, so today, with its patience, faith and excellent moral values, the Muslim-Turkish Nation will support the wronged against the oppressor, and will unite people from different cultures and origins under the umbrella of justice and tolerance, and will thus establish the climate of peace and security for which the whole world is longing.
By the will of Allah, the 21st century will be an age of enlightenment for all Muslim and Turkish people...
| The disorder and confusion in the Middle East in recent years has led world historians to intensively investigate the Ottoman Empire. |
Seven hundred fifty foreign scholars applied to attend the 15th Turkish History Congress held by the Turkish History Institution (THI) on 1-15 September, 2006.
THI President Yusuf Halacoglu stated that the record demand for attendance stemmed from increasing interest in Turkey and the Ottoman Empire on the part of historians.
Halacoglu described this interest by saying, “The lands where the events in the Middle East taking place in Ottoman territories has encouraged much greater research in these lands on the part of historians.” Prof. Ilber Ortayli, a member of the Preparatory Committee, stated that previously only Europeans had been interested in the Ottoman Empire, though now the whole world was interested in it.
A documentary on the Ottomans produced by the world-famous History Channel was broadcast in the USA in early 2007. The documentary provided a lengthy description of the reigns of sultans Mehmet the Conqueror, Selim the Stern and Suleyman the Magnificent.
It emphasized how the Ottoman Empire, described as the protector of truth and justice, was open to all faiths and beliefs.
It also touched on the Ottoman policy of conquest and described how this was not based on religious or ethnic principles. It also praised the legal system drawn up in the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent.
THI President Yusuf Halacoglu stated that the record demand for attendance stemmed from increasing interest in Turkey and the Ottoman Empire on the part of historians.
Halacoglu described this interest by saying, “The lands where the events in the Middle East taking place in Ottoman territories has encouraged much greater research in these lands on the part of historians.” Prof. Ilber Ortayli, a member of the Preparatory Committee, stated that previously only Europeans had been interested in the Ottoman Empire, though now the whole world was interested in it.
| The reason for their success in the Gallipoli Campaign was the devotion Turkish troops demonstrated to Islamic moral values. |
There is no doubt that one of the most important events in Turkish history is the War of Independence. The religious behavior of the Turkish Nation played a major role in the winning of that war. Turks, young and old, displayed enormous self-sacrifice and made a major contribution to the preservation of the country. Ataturk saw that it was its spiritual strength that kept the heroic Turkish Army going during the Gallipoli Campaign and described the determination of the troops in these words:
It was by means of this faith, despite losing tens of thousands of martyrs, that the Turkish Army was able to fight so heroically at Gallipoli without the slightest uncertainty or wavering.
They see the dying, know they will die in three minutes, but display not the slightest defeatism; there is no wavering! Those who can read hold the Holy Qur’an and prepare to enter paradise. Those who cannot, march reciting the Confession of Faith. This is an astonishing and laudable model that shows the spiritual power in Turkish troops. You must be sure that it is this loft soul that won the Gallipoli Campaign. (Selected Passages from Ataturk, Collected by: Cihat Imer, Remzi Press, 1989, p. 13)
It was by means of this faith, despite losing tens of thousands of martyrs, that the Turkish Army was able to fight so heroically at Gallipoli without the slightest uncertainty or wavering.
| The whole world is interested in the Ottoman model |
A documentary on the Ottomans produced by the world-famous History Channel was broadcast in the USA in early 2007. The documentary provided a lengthy description of the reigns of sultans Mehmet the Conqueror, Selim the Stern and Suleyman the Magnificent. It emphasized how the Ottoman Empire, described as the protector of truth and justice, was open to all faiths and beliefs.
It also touched on the Ottoman policy of conquest and described how this was not based on religious or ethnic principles. It also praised the legal system drawn up in the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent.