Sultan Mehmed: multi-culture, multi-law setup

The non-Muslims among the new settler were grouped into millets (cultural entities), according to their religion/LAW. Thus the Greek millet (cultural entity) was headed by the Orthodox patriarch, the Armenian by the Gregorian patriarch and the Jewish by the chief rabbi. The authority granted to the head of each millet (cultural entity) extended not only to religious  matters but also to most legal questions other than criminal cases, which were always tried before the Sultan's judges. The millet (cultural entity) system instituted by Mehmet was continued by his successors right down to the end of the Ottoman Empire, forming the core of its multi-culture, multu-law character. The Grand Turk John Freely, 2009 p.51.

 

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