DRAMA, MINORITIES AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

The birth of ‘Turkic Drama’ within the dramatic rise of nationalist eulogy is, as opposed to popular belief, principally grounded on the theatric activities of ethnic and religious minorities in a non-Western society, the late nineteenth-and early twentieth century Ottoman Empire. The origin of the crisis in terms of the making of national Turkish drama, which has been based almost entirely on the practices of Ottoman minority groups (specifically those of Greeks, Armenians who were under Christian and Judaic beliefs) during three differing phases of late Ottoman period, Tanzimat, Istibdat and Meşrutiyet Eras, is the focus of this paper. Centering on the role played by ethnicity and religion in the Ottoman socio-cultural life, this paper argues that Ottoman ethnic and religious minorities, though divided by Ottoman Islamic ideology of millet system, produced a highly cultural and literary upshot: the groundwork for ‘Turkish drama’.