The Posse is pleased to see our earlier post on Janissaries was linked by Gates of Vienna.
We've long admired that blog and, because they have linked to us, they are now Honorary Members of the Posse.
We had forgotten the bitterly-fought Greco-Turkish War which Baron Bodissey describes in such detail. Indeed, the entire history of the Ottoman Empire is soaked in blood. While many historians hearken back to the "Gardens of Cordoba" or some such idyllic period, the fact remains that Muslim rule was brutal, oppressive and resulted in incredible impovrishment - and lingering bitterness.
Unlike the Habsburgs, who even in their decadence brought some rudimentary improvements into their southeastern provinces, the Turks plundered their possessions. It was because of these depredations that their subject peoples repeatedly rose in often hopeless rebellion.
Yet as the ossified Ottoman military weakened, these uprisings began to meet with success. First Greece, then Serbia, Romania, Montenegro and Bulgaria all threw off the Ottoman yoke.
Turkey was the "Sick Man of Europe" indeed, and if anyone should be apologizing for past injustices, it should be the learned rulers of Turkey for centuries of occupation. The Crusades ended in 1291, but Turkish occupation of the Balkans didn't come to an end until 1913.
Thus the sins for which the Pope is condemned date to remote antiquity, while those of a far more recent vintage are simply ignored. What is the Turkish word for "chutzpa?"
We congratulate the good Baron for this welcome (and needed) history lesson.
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