The great developments in the collective activities of the Greeks in Constantinople from the middle of the 19th century until the 1920s were due to the favourable conditions created by the reforms introduced to the Ottoman Empire; such include the institution of egalitarianism for both Muslim and non-Muslim subjects, as well as the legal foundation of Greek-Orthodox communities. These associations embarked upon rich scientific, educational and recreational activities, while ideas, anxieties,...

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During the period of the tanzimat reforms in the Ottoman Empire (1839-1876), some typical features in the cultural and social environment of the Ottoman capital emerged, which leave room for the use of the term “public space”, according to the model of Jürgen Habermas. These features consisted of new spaces of sociability, like the bourgeois associations and clubs, the development of the press, the formation of a literate public through the establishment of educational foundations. As a result,...

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An ideology that flourished within the framework of the Ottoman reforms and the development of the concept of Ottomanism. It promoted the collaboration between the Greek-Orthodox and the Muslims in the Ottoman Empire. After the revolution of the Young Turcs, Greco-Ottomanism was resurrected together with the visions of equality, until at last they were dealt the death blow at the time of the Blakan Wars.

The strong presence of newspapers printed in Greek in Constantinople in the 19th c. is closely related to the re-establishment of the religious communities, the reforms of Tanzimat in the 1830’s and the developments in the Greek-Orthodox community and the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

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The twentieth century was not exactly paradisiacal for minorities in the world – and much less so in the Ottoman lands. The definition of “minority” –or, for that matter, of “majority”– was still rather hazy since the conjunction of “ethnicity” and “religion” in the formation of the “national identity” was still ambiguous. But, quite clearly, feelings toward members of the minority, however defined, were not friendly.

Tanzimat is the term we use to describe a series of edicts and processes aiming at reorganizing the administration and the finances of the Ottoman Empire as well as its relations with its subjects, Muslims and non-Muslims, with the ultimate purpose to safeguard its survival.

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