How was life for Non-Muslims in the Ottoman-Balkans?

Posted by Alarmed_Business_962@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 20 comments

I'm an Ethiopian and an Orthodox Christian. Our lives in Islamic sultanates were... not that good. I want to know how life was for a Non-Muslim in the Ottoman-Balkans in those 500 years.

In Ethiopia, for example, it was obliged for non-muslims to wear special clothing that would make them recognisable, similar to the ''David-star'' (which actually was inspired by Islamic practices). It did not stop with that, we also had to wear massive crosses and bells so Muslims would know that a ''dirty disbeliever'' was approaching them. Happily, there were no deportations... except for pogroms and some ''fires''. And then you had the rules, like that we could not own guns, we could not fight Muslims and other discriminatory laws.

Was life similar in the Ottoman-Balkans or were the Ottomans milder in their treatment?

Fun fact: We, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, too dislike the Ottomans. They used to ''bully'' us in a similar manner to what you Balkans had to endure: Slave-raids. Though their conquest failed and they eventually left the Horn of Africa. Though we were unable to drive them off, due to... you know... we thought it was a good idea to mostly use spears against the Ottoman musketeers and canons. If they planned an invasion in a similar manner they tried in Europe, we would probably have been a lil screwed.