When we look at our history, we see that it is full of success. Indeed, we have a magnificent history that has spread over 3 continents and turned into a huge empire. The Ottoman Empire is among the most powerful empires to have ruled this world. Of course, the empire with such a variety of people and regions contains countless stories. We are shown the battles, deals, and failures we’ve made in our history in schools. So is history just that?
Although there are so many moments and stories in our history to rejoice, there are just as many stories that are wrong and that we will regret. One of them is III. Monkey massacre in Murat period. The Ottoman Empire, like many other things, brought monkeys to Istanbul from the African lands it conquered during the reign of Yavuz Sultan Selim. The 12th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, III. During the Murat period, the number of monkeys increased considerably and they were used in many useful areas. So what happened that these monkeys were brutally slaughtered? Let’s take a look at these events.
For what purposes were the monkeys in the Ottoman Empire?
The monkeys, which were included in the Ottoman Empire after the African conquests of Yavuz Sultan Selim, became extremely popular in terms of both their very smartness and some physical superiority. In addition to being pets due to their various qualities, monkeys were used for vital purposes in the Ottoman navy, which was the strongest of that period, and they were keeping watch on Ottoman ships thanks to their eyesight. Thanks to their easy training and their ability to see much farther than humans, they were able to see distant warships while traveling on the seas and inform the Ottoman soldiers.
Monkeys used for many purposes in the Ottoman Empire, III. It was also attracting the attention of the people who got rich during the Murat period. There were even shops that sold monkeys to be trained and sold on purpose. Although monkeys, one of the many positive effects Africa contributed to the Ottoman Empire, got along very well with humans, of course some people were uncomfortable with these creatures. III, which will cause all these events to turn into massacres. Mullah Abdulkerim Efendi from Manisa, who was the imam of Murat, was one of them.
The targeting of monkeys and the resulting massacre
Mullah Abdulkerim Efendi from Manisa, who was the imam of Sultan Murat and later became a judge of Rumelia, hated monkeys as if they were his enemies. was doing. He thought that the monkeys were used by people for games and entertainment and would lead the Muslim people astray. Mullah Abdulkerim Efendi, one of the most famous clergymen of his time, said in a Friday sermon at Fatih Mosque that monkeys can lead Muslims astray, that monkeys are used for prostitution and women are used to provoke them. He caught the monkeys and had them hanged in the trees.
This angry crowd first raided the monkey sellers in Azapkapı and Galata. Mullah Abdulkerim Efendi, who had monkeys killed and hanged in the trees with an unexpected hatred of the clergy, and even had special execution stands prepared for large monkeys, started to be known by the nickname “Maymunkeş imam” among the people after this incident. Because of this hatred of Molla Abdulkerim, who pulled the ropes of hundreds of poor monkeys with his own hands, there are almost no monkeys left in Istanbul. According to some important sources, it is said that “there is almost no tree left in Istanbul on which monkeys are not hung”.
If this event had never happened, perhaps we would be able to adopt monkeys as pets, as well as our lovely friends such as cats and dogs. There are always people in the world who see killing as their right, no matter what. Now they do these things to cats, dogs and other animals. We should not forget that we do not live alone in the world and we should try to protect our animal friends at every point.
Source: 1, 2, 3
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