Don't distort history Nuray

Submitted by Richard the Lion heart (United States), Feb 10, 2006 at 00:14

Dear Nuray,

It is amazing the stuff you say sometimes. It's like Barbara said. You just make things up as you go along. For you to say only 10000 Armenians died at the hands of the turks is complete and utter none sense. You sound like that thug Amadinejad who denies the holocaust. The Turks conducted a systematic campaingn of genocide against the Armenians. The Turks have a history of brutality against Christians.

This is an account of Ottoman behavior in Bulgaria.

"There were many cases of individual or mass forced islamization, especially in the Rhodopes. Non-Muslims did not serve in the Sultan's army. The exception to this were some groups of the population with specific statute, usually used for auxiliary or rear services, and the famous "tribute of children" (or blood tax), also known as the "devsirme", whereby every fifth young boy was taken to be trained as a warrior of the Empire. These boys went through harsh religios and military training that turned them into an elite corps subservient to the Sultan. They made up the corps of Janissaries (yenicheri or "new force"), an elite unit of the Ottoman army."

You want to know about Ottoman atrocities, ask the Roumanians, the Bulgarians, the Serbs, the Greeks who had to endure it for several centuries. They were treated as second citizens more commonly known as "dhimmi's". For you to say the Ottoman empire was tolerant is complete falacy.

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