Özet:

More than half of the world Jewry was living within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 16th century. Rather than analyzing the factors lying behind this fact, much scholarly effort in Ottoman/Jewish historiography was spent on whether the Ottoman Jewry were living a “Golden Age” or “Dark Age” under the Ottomans. Instead of this traditional approach, this study focused on the factors that made the Ottoman/Turkish/Jewish possible; the Turkish/Ottoman perception of and approach toward the Jews, and the Jewish approach toward the Ottoman state and the Muslims in general. The study concluded that no other Muslim state, possibly with the exception of Umayyads of Andalusia, welcomed Jews in such large numbers and with such great living space and opportunities in Islam history. Whereas the contacts between the Muslims and Jewish millet were limited in nature the pragmatic, rational and flexible Ottoman raison d’etat provided the Jews with extensive privileges beyond the confines of dhimmi status. Nevertheless, the presence of the Jews in the Empire contributed significantly in the political and economic success of the Ottoman Empire in becoming a hegemonic power of the pre-modern times.

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