I cristiani e il Medio Oriente (1798-1924)

The book examines the role of the Ottoman Christians – Greek, Slav, Armenian and Arab ones – in the radical transformation of the Ottoman Empire in the 1800s. They were dynamic, learned and cosmopolitan communities which played a pivotal role in modernizing the Empire, also thanks to their ties with Europe. However, the coexistence of the different ethnic and religious communities which the Empire was built upon went through a crisis as the Western concept of nation broke in and penetrated in the East, also thanks to the Ottoman Christian communities. Hence, the contribution of the Ottoman Christians to modernization ended up backfiring on them. The beginning of the 1900s saw the rise of an anti-West, Turkish nationalism that considered the Ottoman Christians accomplices to European imperialism. The crisis of coexistence marked the end of the Ottoman civilization and of its pluralism, and it brought consequences we still witness today: it paved the way to the prevalence of Islam in the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean countries.