Turkey’s shallow Ottomania
Aug 4th 2016, 12:01 by S.J.
THE Ottoman Empire is in vogue in Turkish politics and popular culture. “Magnificent Century”, a 2011 soap opera based on the life of Sultan Süleyman, ran for five seasons and amassed an audience across 47 countries. The country’s foreign policy stance, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan exercising Sultan-esque authority, has grown increasingly aggressive. Yet this nostalgia is short-sighted. The causes of the Ottoman dynasty’s decline—racial tensions and the first world war chief among them—are being ignored; exploring them could provide some much-needed insight into the divisions that plague modern Turkey.
More:A war to remember: Turkey’s shallow Ottomania | The Economist