Tucker Carlson thinks that Muslims were very kind toward... Christians during the Ottoman period, and for that reason, I would like to explain to you how kind they were. For 300 years the Ottoman Turks were stealing kids from their mothers. This was the most brutal thing humanity ever witnessed. They were waiting for women to birth, raise their kids, and then at the age of 8 were collecting them. The devşirme known as "collection of children" or "blood tax" or in Greek as "paidomazoma", was a systematic practice by the Ottoman Empire from the late 14th century until the mid-17th century, that forced the recruitment of young Christian boys, typically aged 8–18, from Balkan provinces as a form of tribute ("blood tax"). They were taken from their families, converted to Islam, and rigorously trained to serve in the empire's military, administrative, and bureaucratic roles. This created a loyal class of elite soldiers and officials who were dependent on the sultan rather than on hereditary Turkish aristocracy. Many became Janissaries, the empire's elite infantry corps, or rose to high positions like grand viziers, provincial governors, admirals, or financial bureaucrats. Estimates suggest tens of thousands of boys were recruited annually at its peak in the 15th–16th centuries. Historians estimate the total number of Christian boys taken across the entire Ottoman Empire around 300.000 kids. From those kids 150.000 were Greek kids (over 300 years). It means the half of the total kids that were stolen were only Greek. For example in 1540, a levy in the Greek regions of Thessaly & Macedonia took 1.000 Greek boys in one season and in Chios (the Greek island) 200 boys taken in 1567 alone. The peak was 5.000 kids/annual from Greece. A generational trauma, with thousands of Greek families losing sons every few years for centuries. The system began under Sultan Murad I (1362–1389) and largely ended by 1648, as Muslims were increasingly allowed to fill these roles and Janissary corruption grew. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman control extended over most Greek lands, making Greek Orthodox families prime targets for recruitment. The practice targeted rural communities disproportionately, as urban or strategically important groups were often exempt. On 28 February 1395, Archbishop Isidore Glabas of Thessaloniki denounced it in a speech as "paidomazoma" (child-gathering), describing the anguish of parents: mothers scratching their cheeks in grief and fathers beating their breasts and the violent Islamization of children and their hard training in the use of dogs and falcons. A 1550 Greek poem by Ioannes Axayiolis, appealed to Charles V of Germany to liberate the Christians from the Turks (for liberation from this "sorrow"). The text is found in the Codex Vaticanus Graecus of 1624. In another account, the Roman Catholic bishop of Chios in 1646 writes to the director of the Catholic Greek Gymnasion of Rome asking the latter to accept Paulos Omeros (lol my name Pavlos Homeros), a 12-year-old boy from Chios, to save him from the devshirme. Once taken, boys were circumcised, renamed with Muslim names, and forbidden from contact with their families. They were raised as Muslims, effectively erasing their Greek cultural and religious identity to foster loyalty to the sultan. Historical records show Greek-origin devşirme boys rising to prominence, such as Mimar Sinan (chief architect of the Ottomans, possibly Greek) and several grand viziers like Ibrahim Edhem Pasha (from Chios). The system accelerated Islamization in Greek regions, reducing Christian populations and creating a class of "Greek Muslims" (for example in Pontus or Crete). It fueled revolts and the Greek War of Independence (1821), where devşirme grievances were invoked. During the Ottoman period, Muslims enjoyed performing all kinds of mutilations. Ears, noses, lips, tongues, breasts, and genitals were primarily cut off. Not just those, though. Let's recall here the Saint Raphael of Mytilene, who was hanged from a tree and had his lower jaw cut off, while the twelve-year-old martyr Irene was roasted in a barrel on the Tuesday of Easter in the year 1463, ten years after the fall of Constantinople. In many cases, the severed body parts "adorned" the warrior collection of the janissary. The pashas gave bakshish (tips) to every "brave" Muslim warrior according to how many ears of "infidel" Christians he brought back. He himself confirmed his bravery and "manliness" among his peers by having a "komboloi" (worry beads) made from the nipples of breasts he had cut off from women. The bravest man was the one with the longest komboloi after a massacre and looting. Blinding with various sharp objects was also common. This was particularly frequent during periods of massacres and atrocities. Many unfortunate Christians remained blind for the rest of their lives because they had the misfortune of a horde of janissaries passing through their land. The Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha were especially notorious for this crime. Many times Christian captives were placed in front of cannons that were fired, turning them into human shreds of flesh. In other cases, they were tied to galleys that sailed in opposite directions and were torn apart. Dismemberment of victims also occurred with horses. Indeed, Islam was very kind toward Christians during the Ottoman period. In Greece, the denial or public endorsement of the Genocide of the Greek Christians of Pontus, Asia Minor, and Anatolia by the Turkish Muslims is criminally prosecuted and constitutes an offense. We won't forget the anti-Greek and Islamic propaganda that Tucker Carlson pushed through his podcast.show more
