Editing Multinational state (section)

===Ottoman Empire===
The [[Ottoman Empire]] was the [[dynastic state]] of the Turkish [[House of Osman]]. At its peak in the 16th and 17th centuries, it controlled much of [[Southeast Europe]], [[Western Asia]], the [[Caucasus]], [[North Africa]], and the [[Horn of Africa]].

In addition to [[Turkish people|Turks]], the ethnic groups of the Ottoman Empire included [[Albanians]], [[Amazighs]], [[Arabs]], [[Armenians]], [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], [[Bosnians]], [[Bulgarians]], [[Circassians]], [[Georgians]], [[Greeks]], [[Jews]], [[Kurds]], [[Laz people|Laz]], [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]], [[Romanians]], [[Serbs]], [[Tatars]], and [[Zazas]].

Through [[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet courts]], [[confessional community|confessional communities]] were allowed to rule themselves under their own legal systems: for example, [[Sharia|sharia law]] for Muslims, [[Canon law]] for Christians, and [[Halakha|halakha law]] for Jews. After the [[Tanzimat]] reforms from 1839 to 1876, the term "millet" was used to refer to legally protected religious minority groups, similar to the way other countries use the word "nation". (The word "millet" comes from the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] word "millah" (ملة), which literally means "nation".){{citation needed|date=April 2016}} The millet system has been called an example of pre-modern [[religious pluralism]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Sachedina |first=Abdulaziz Abdulhussein |date=2001 |title=The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/islamic_sac_2001_00_4172/page/96 96–97] |isbn=0-19-513991-7 |quote=The millet system in the Muslim world provided the pre-modern paradigm of a religiously pluralistic society by granting each religious community an official status and a substantial measure of self-government. |url=https://archive.org/details/islamic_sac_2001_00_4172/page/96 }}</ref>