One Ottoman writer in the 1600s has his fictional Native American characters say, "Our world used to be peaceful, but it has been filled with a greedy people, who make war every year and shorten our lives." Was sympathy for non-Muslim victims of European imperialism common among the Ottomans?

by Lithide

The writer is Evliya Celebi, who claims that he did encounter these Native Americans in the Netherlands. But this can't be true because Celebi claims that he arrived in the Netherlands by riding across Germany with an army of 40,000 Tatar horsemen, which is obviously impossible.

shmorbus

I can't say if the Ottomans were typically sympathetic to non-Muslim victims of European imperialism in general, however I can point to at least one other instance of such sympathy.

While Ireland is a European country, it very much was also a victim of European imperialism. During the Great Famine, the Ottoman Empire demonstrated a keen interest in helping the Irish victims.

From Muslims in Ireland: Past and Present by Oliver Scharbrodt, Tuula Sakaranaho, Adil Hussain Khan, Yafa Shanneik, and Vivian Ibrahim:

In addition to Queen Victoria and some Native American tribes, the Ottoman Sultan Abdül Mecid I (1823–61) donated £1,000 (after being dissuaded by Queen Victoria from donating more) and secretly sent three or five ships with food aid to Ireland which could unload at the port of Drogheda in 1847.