The great City is a Turkish city . . . for centuries the seat of a massive Empire.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the most successful in human history. To the very end it preserved peace in regions where peace has been hard to find. One of the most important things I have learned this semester is the glory of that great state in reading and now in a visit.
Growing up the Ottoman state was always presented in my classes as the “sick man of Europe.” Little was said of the beautiful buildings, the phenomenal palaces, and the artistic and literary contributions. Just as the Byzantine Empire is always taught as one thousand years of “decline,” so the Ottoman state is also pictured as five hundred years of stagnation. Overlooked were the great accomplishments of the early centuries when it was one of the most magnificent states in Europe. The Turks are not new comers to Europe . . . having been part of the continent for over half a millennium.
The beauty created by the Turks is staggering. Istanbul is not just Constantinople (though the Ottoman Empire retained that name for centuries), but is a city that is a fusion of Byzantium and of Turkish culture. The modern city is the product of the visionary Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the changes prosperity is bringing.
Is peace possible in the Middle East? The Ottoman Empire in its last days may point to the possibility of peace. Word War I destroyed much that might have been, a peaceful constitutional monarchy in Russia, a Balkan region in a multi-ethnic Hapsburg confederacy, but what happened to Asia Minor and the Middle East may have been one of the greatest blows. The Ottoman Empire may have been evolving into a state that would have allowed for the overwhelming importance of Islamic religion to the region while providing a place for the numerous religious minorities of the region. Certainly religious groups lived in more peace at the dawn of the twentieth century, than they have since the First World War.
This is not in any way to white wash the Ottoman Empire. One can wish for a more peaceful evolution of Tsarist Russia and see the good points of that regime (compared to that of the monstrous Lenin and Stalin) without vindicating the pogroms or missing the evils done in its name. The early twentieth century was both a time of promise for the Ottoman Empire, but also of uncharacteristic inhumanity. Both sides of the Ottoman story are ignored by partisans . . . which prevents historical lessons from being learned.
One of the successor states to the Empire has evolved in a generally positive direction: Turkey. As this nation prospers economically, it stands as a stable bulwark in an unstable region. Turkey has been a faithful friend and ally to the United Sates. She was a stalwart foe of communism during the Cold War and fought with the United States in some of the hot points of that conflict. Support for Turkey, within the context of our values, is in our best interest.