OTTOMAN RULE BENEFITED THE HUNGARIANS

The President of Hungary said, “I consider it a stroke of luck that we were governed by the Turks for 150 years. If it had been someone else, they would have wanted us to change our language and religion. We would have been assimilated.” These words bring to mind the following anecdote: During the Cold War, Khrushchev, the leader of Soviet Russia, saw Sultan Suleiman I in his dream. He asked him, “You stayed in Hungary for almost two centuries. We couldn’t even last ten years before the people revolted. How did you manage that?” The sultan gave a historic answer: “After conquering Hungary, we settled there as our homeland. We didn’t impose the Turkish language on the people. Unlike you, we didn’t declare the day of conquest a Hungarian national holiday.”

Gül Baba was one of the Ottoman dervishes who came with the conquest. He passed away in Buda. His funeral prayer was led by Sheikh al-Islam Ebussuud Efendi. The sultan attended the funeral. Today, this is a place respected and visited by Hungarians as well. The surrounding area is also the richest district of Budapest.

The Sultan Who Died in Hungary

Ottoman rule in Hungary began in 1526. Hungary was not the primary target of the Ottomans. The aim was to descend into Rome via Vienna. The Hungarians, who had one of the most powerful land armies in Europe, made a historic mistake in an attempt to avert the approaching danger: they formed an alliance with Iran, the mortal enemy of the Ottomans, and at the same time incited Wallachia and Moldavia against the Ottomans. The last Hungarian King Louis, was the brother-in-law of the German emperor and had no children. Upon his death, the Hungarian throne would pass to Austria, something the Ottomans did not want at all.

 

In 1526, the two armies met on the plain of Mohács between Belgrade and Budapest. They had previously fought in Varna and Kosovo as well. Sultan Suleiman I defeated the bravely fighting Hungarian army in two hours. King Louis died on the battlefield. The Hungarian army suffered 25,000 casualties. Sultan Suleiman I stayed for 13 days in Budapest, which had surrendered on its own. It is a strange twist of fate that this sultan died 40 years later in Szigetvár, a Hungarian land. The Hungarians built a monument there and placed a bust of the sultan.

Hungary remained under Ottoman rule for 173 years. With its fertile plains, Hungary was rich. However, the Ottomans held it primarily for its strategic importance. They spent a lot for this purpose. The governors (beylerbeyi) and judges (qadis) knew Hungarian and corresponded in this language. Sokollu Mustafa Pasha governed the province as Beylerbeyi of Buda for many years and commissioned many charitable works. Muslims mainly lived in cities. During the period of conquest, Hungarian peasants found it more reasonable to side with the Ottomans in order to escape the foreign and plundering landlords who shared their own religion. Even Hungarian clothing came under Ottoman influence, with heavy garments being replaced by light cotton attire. 

The last Ottoman governor of Buda, Abdurrahman Abdi Pasha

Worse Than Worse

The Second Siege of Vienna in 1683 ended in failure. The Ottoman armies were defeated and began to retreat. With the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, Hungary passed to Austria. A new era began for the Hungarians, one that was not better than the previous. The Ottomans had not interfered with the Hungarians’ religion and culture. But now they were faced with strong German influence. Hungarians struggled greatly to avoid German assimilation. They even used Latin—a dead language—in official matters to prevent the spread of German.

In 1848, the Hungarians revolted against Austria. Although the rebellion was suppressed, Hungary was granted autonomy. In 1868, it became one of the two equal elements of the state known as Austria-Hungary. The Austrian Emperor was also declared King of Hungary and wore the national symbol of the Hungarians, the Crown of Saint Stephen, in Budapest. When the monarchy in Austria was abolished in 1918, Hungary preserved its monarchy. Admiral Horthy ruled the country as Regent until 1944. He was overthrown by the Nazis. In Hungary, which had been occupied by the Red Army, a republic was declared, and the country became a satellite state of Soviet Russia. The freedom-loving Hungarians revolted in 1956, but the Great Hungarian Revolution was bloodily suppressed. Thousands were killed. Hundreds of people, including Prime Minister Imre Nagy, were executed. Tens of thousands of young Hungarians were deported to Siberia in freight wagons. 160,000 Hungarians fled the country. Not even at Mohács had the Hungarians suffered such losses. The Russians could only stay in Hungary for thirty years.

The tomb of the last Ottoman governor of Buda, Abdurrahman Abdi Pasha, who was martyred while defending Buda against the Germans, was built by the Hungarians; they placed a Turkish inscription on it, reading: “He was a heroic enemy. May he rest in peace.”

The Turks’ European Relatives

Hungarians, Finns, and Estonians are related to the Turks. Hungarians once lived in Western Siberia. They were the most populous of the ten tribes known as “On Ugr” by the Turks. The name “Hungary” in European languages derives from this. It has no relation to the Huns. Thanks to the advantage of being a horse-riding nation, the Hungarians settled in Hungary in the 9th century. This was the land of Attila the Hun. Attila’s army had intermarried with local girls and merged with the local people. Hungarians, claiming his legacy, made his descendant Árpád their king. Today, 80% of the Hungarian population carries Turkish blood. Attila is the most common Hungarian name. They raided all over Europe. But in 933, they were defeated by the Germans. Thus began the historic Hungarian-German enmity.

Their liberation from Austrian rule drove the Hungarians to search for their roots. Through this, they in a way rediscovered their kinship with the Turks and conducted serious research. Turks, too, were able to learn much about their origins thanks to the Hungarians. The founders of the field of Turkology in the world are the Hungarians. There are many Turkish words in their language. Like the Ottomans, Hungarians put the surname before the given name. The Hungarian national dish “goulash” (gulaş/kulaşı) is also an Ottoman legacy. Nowhere in Europe are Turks viewed with as much sympathy as in Hungary. Nowhere are Ottoman artifacts as well-maintained as they are there. And yet the Turks were people of a different religion who had occupied their country for nearly two centuries.