Османизмът като политика на идентичността през епохата на Танзимата
Ottomanism as a Policy of Identity in the Age of the Tanzimat

Summary/Abstract: The article steps on the general understanding of Ottomanism as a policy of Ottoman authorities at the time of the Tanzimat to create a sense of common belonging for all subjects of the empire. The stress lies on periodicals as the principal means of propaganda for this policy. Newspapers are discussed simultaneously as a mechanism for forming public opinion and as a source to study official policy in the sphere of identity. There is a presentation of the principal arguments with which propaganda at the time of the Tanzimat tried to win the faithfulness and support of the subjects: complete equality of all subjects irrespective of their religious affiliation, the just character of government, the order and peace, well-being and prosperity provided by it. The propaganda tried to exploit the feeling of affection for the sultan, but also to create a new sense of belonging to the “common fatherland” while at the same time opposing “foreign interests” and interventions. The article pays special attention to the arguments to what extent this policy and its propaganda aimed to create a “united Ottoman nation”. This hypothesis is rejected above all because Ottoman authorities of the age of the Tanzimat were not inclined to think of identity as national affiliation — to them religion continued to the most important marker of identity. One can rather speak of attempts to create an imperial supranationalism that would reconcile and combine the interests of the separate communities. Finally, there is also the matter of the sustained influence of Ottoman propaganda on the rhetoric of national movements which developed within the boundaries of the empire in the age of the Tanzimat. Their representatives literally reproduced some of the formulas of the official discourse of Ottoman authorities about equality and fraternal unity of the various peoples.

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