devşirme

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  "the janissaries were made up of christian boys enslaved at a young age though a system called the devshirme. the ottoman sultans adopted this system early in the history of the empire to prevent the emergence of rivals from among the turkish noble and warrior classes, the devshirme levy was imposed every four years on non-muslims in the balkans each locality would provide a certain number of boys who were taken from their familites, converted to islam, and trained to serve the ottoman state and theoretically would remain absolutely loyal only to the sultan. those with greater intellectual abilities staffed the large bureaucracy throughout the empire, reaching the highest offices in the state. in some ways slavery represented an odd form of upward mobility for the rural poor of the balkans. much of the administration and military of the ottoman empire was made up of slaes or mamluks of the sultan. they were in fact a privileged caste and were able to profit handsomely from their position in the state hierarchy. while taken from their families and educated far away, they were theoretically cut off from their families. in practice, however, they often maintained links to their families and found ways to advance their relatives' interests."
  
  "[the janissary became a hereditary title in 1620; and the institution became increasingly corrupt.] in 1808 sultan selim iii paid with his life when he attempted to abolish the janissaries; however, his son and successor [in fact, his nephew, and not immediate successor -sk], mahmud ii, planned carefully for years and successfully disbanded the janissaries in 1826. [an estimated 6,000 were executed.]"
  
  gasper, michael. 2013. "the making of the modern middle east." in the middle east [thirteenth edition], ed. ellen lust. pp. 1-72. 7, 14.
  
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  tema:
  (bkz: tarih/@derinsular)