4
Sharing the Same Fate
Muslims and Jews of the Balkans
Ömer TuranFor centuries, Muslims and Jews lived together in peace under Ottoman
rule in the Balkans. Both groups were brought into and settled in the pen-
insula by the Ottoman government between the fourteenth and sixteenth
centuries. The sixteenth century was the so-called golden age for both
groups. During the following centuries, both suffered from the interven-
tions and invasions by Austria, Russia, and Germany. They were also
considered threats by newly emerging nation-states and were forced to
leave the places where they had lived for centuries. Despite the fact that
these groups had very different histories and social, economic, and cul-
tural traditions, they shared their relations with the Christian nations and
states of the Balkans during the Ottoman and post-Ottoman periods. Fo-
cusing on the common features of these groups, this article is an attempt
to reinterpret the Jewish and Muslim histories in the Balkans mainly in
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Settlements and Classical Ages
The Ottoman Empire conquered the Balkans during the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries. Even though the peninsula was on the main trade
roads, the centuries of Crusades, a weak Byzantium, and endless strug-
gles of hegemony made the peninsula unsafe and underpopulated.
The Ottomans allowed the Christians to observe their religion and cus-
toms. Following the Ottoman invasion of the Balkan peninsula, Turks