Those Left Out

Abstract

As the Ottoman law of captivity expanded to include other sovereign states at the close of the eighteenth century, the rules also left out many of the Porte’s enemies. This chapter argues that rebels, pirates, and certain types of slaves trafficked into the Ottoman Empire remained unprotected by either the prisoner-of-war system, the Law of Release, or both. Ottoman subjects, or those who could claim no major empire’s subjecthood, had far fewer protections than those who were Russian, Austrian, Iranian, British, or French subjects. This distinction became systematic as the Ottoman state dealt with corsairs, and then rebellious Serbian and Greek populations. Throughout, slaves sold into the empire (such as Circassians and Africans) and some of those forcibly abducted (such as Georgians) also remained outside the prisoner-of-war system and the Law of Release.