The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and survival strategies of Christian communities in Greater Syria

ABSTRACT

The millet system compartmentalised religious communities into different sociopolitical environments under the overarching Ottoman imperial realm. However, during the nineteenth century, state transformation and crisis and the global re-allocation of political and economic power led to the exacerbation of ethnoreligious conflicts. Facing the collapse of the Ottoman imperium and the threat of extinction, the Greek Orthodox, Assyrian, Chaldean and Syrian Orthodox communities developed five survival strategies. The first was co-optation by state authorities; the second, protection of the Great Powers; the third armed resistance and the creation of autonomous enclaves; the fourth was that of exodus; and the last was to integrate themselves into Arab nationalism, lowering the banner of religion and becoming strong advocates of an Arab national identity encompassing Muslims and Christians alike. This paper aims to present a comparative approach to these strategies in the period from the beginning of the twentieth century to the formation of the Mandates.

KEYWORDS:

• Christians
• Syria
• Ottoman Empire
• survival strategies
• Iraq
• nationalism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Syrian Orthodox Church is also called in some texts the Syriac Orthodox Church. For the use of the term Syrian Orthodox Church see Christine Chaillot., 1998. The Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East: A Brief Introduction to Its Life and Spirituality. Geneva: Inter-Orthodox Dialogue.

Additional information

Funding

The research for this paper was supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation under the ‘First Call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to support Faculty members and Researchers and the procurement of high-cost research equipment grant’.

Notes on contributors

Sotiris Roussos

Sotiris Roussos Associate Professor of International Relations and Religion in the Middle East in the Department of Political Science and I.R. of the University of the Peloponnese and Scientific Supervisor of the Center for Mediterranean, Middle East and Islamic Studies (CEMMIS).