Ideological and political preconditions of the tragic events at the turn of XIX - XX centuries in the Ottoman empire: the Ottomanism, pan-Islamism, pan-Turkism doctrines

The article focuses on the ideological and political preconditions of the major violence perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire in the last third XIX - early XX century till the destruction of the whole nation, particularly, the Armenians. The article is devoted to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. The article highlights the essence of the Ottomanism, pan-Turkism and pan-Islamism doctrines and analyzes the policies of the Ottoman government aimed at merging all people of the empire into one “new nation” consisting of “homogeneous elements” loyal to Ottoman Empire regardless of the ethnicity and religious beliefs ("Ottomanism"). The concept of Ottomanism was oriented against the Christian peoples’ national liberation movement and it was intensively inculcated during the tyranny rule by sultan Abdul Hamid II. The Sultan government has also adopted an Islamic reactionary ideological and political doctrine, strongly promoting and encouraging pan-Islamists activity. It is emphasized that the empire continued to be a cockpit of non-Turkish peoples for their liberation and Abdul Hamid II with his inner circle are responsible for the organization in 1894-1896 of terrible massacres of Armenians that astounded the world. The victorious Russian-Turkish war (1877-1878) was an indirect cause of those dramatic events. Armenian issue as a part of the Eastern Question was a subsidiary coin in the geopolitics of Great Powers. The break-up of Ottomanism and pan-Islamism ideas in the early XX century inaugurated the epoch of a new doctrine - pan-Turkism (the union of all Turkic peoples under the aegis of Turkey), which was put in the forefront as the Turkish national ideology by the government of the Young Turks.