Ottomanism

thumb|232x232px|The idea behind the adoption of a national flag was inspired by Ottomanism — a common banner which all citizens of the empire could rally under regardless of race or religious group thumb|235px|Opening of the first General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Parliament after the proclamation of the Ottoman Constitution of 1876 Ottomanism or Osmanlılık (, . ) was a concept which developed prior to the 1876–1878 First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire. Its proponents believed that it could create the Unity of the Peoples, '''', needed to keep religion-based millets from tearing the empire apart.

== History == === Beginning === Thinkers such as Montesquieu (1689–1755) and Rousseau (1712–1778), as well as the events of the French Revolution of 1789, strongly influenced Ottomanism. It promoted equality among the millets. The idea of Ottomanism originated amongst the Young Ottomans (founded in 1865) in concepts such as the acceptance of all separate ethnicities in the Empire regardless of their religion, i.e., all were to be "Ottomans" with equal rights. In other words, Ottomanism held that all subjects were equal before the law. Ideally, all citizens would share a geographical area, a language, culture, and a sense of a "non-Ottoman" party who were different from them. The essence of the millet system of confessional groupings was not dismantled, but secular organizations and policies were applied. Primary education, conscription, head tax and military service were to be applied to non-Muslims and Muslims alike.