Druzes and Druze Maronite conflicts in the Ottoman Empire In The 19th Century

The subject of this study is the Druze living under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire. The study examines the political, social and cultural lives of the Druze in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. In addition to domestic and foreign archive sources, research works and articles were used in the research. The administrative organization of the Ottoman Empire in the Mount Lebanon region, which was a cultural mosaic due to its high social diversity, constitutes an important part of the study. The Druze, who lived under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, became one of the important issues that the Ottoman Empire was concerned with in the last period of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. When evaluated from a cultural and social perspective, the Mount Lebanon region is a place rich in diversity, where different nations and beliefs live together. It is stated in various sources that the first settlers of Lebanon were Phoenicians, Assyrians and Arabs. Later, Romans, Crusaders and Turks came to this geography one by one. Among those who came to the region are various communities such as Armenians, Arabs, Nusayris, Turks, Druze, Greeks, Maronites, Catholics and Protestants. In this context, when the region came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the Druze, one of the local minorities, was connected to the central authority. Druze-Maronite conflicts occurred in Mount Lebanon and its surroundings in the 19th century. Under Ottoman rule, the granting of privileges to Mount Lebanon that were not granted to other provinces brought with it a number of problems. Especially in the struggle for dominance in the region, the community that the Druze came into contact with the most was the Maronites. The most obvious reason for the conflicts between the two ethnic groups was the desire to seize dominance in the region under autonomous governance. Although the reasons for the Druze-Maronite conflicts that occurred in the early periods of the 19th century were the struggle to establish superiority in Mount Lebanon, these conflicts later turned into religious and economic problems. Over time, these conflicts turned into civil wars. The fact that the Ottoman State approached this region with a different understanding of self-government, contrary to its classical administrative organization, shows the importance it gave to the region. The Druze struggled with the Maronites in Mount Lebanon for many years. In the establishment of the central and provincial organization of the Ottoman State in Mount Lebanon, unlike other provinces, certain rights were granted to the Druze and Maronites. The Druze and Druze-Maronite relations were ethnic issues that occupied the political and social life of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. In terms of political developments, the Druze and the Mount Lebanon region held an important place in the last period of the Ottoman Empire.