THE POSITION OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE ON THE ISSUE OF THE MORISCOS AND ITS STRATEGY TOWARDS IT
This research deals with the issue of the Moriscan refugee crisis after the fall of Andalusia to the Spanish in 1492, and the brutal policies they carried out against the refugees. The research also deals with the policy of the Ottoman Empire towards this ordeal, which represented the largest global humanitarian crisis during the 16th and 17th centuries AD. The Ottoman Empire played a major role in the process of saving these Muslim and Jewish refugees, and their homeland in different parts of the Ottoman geography. The Ottoman Empire also succeeded in adopting an integrative policy for these refugees that took into account their social and sectarian specificities, as well as the societal privacy of the new settlement areas. This policy has contributed to creating dynamism and vitality in these areas, and transforming Andalusian refugees into an active force on all cultural, social and economic levels. On the other hand, the Spanish and European refugee crisis revealed the mentality of the issue of religious freedom and the lack of recognition of other religious sects. At the same time, this crisis reflected the Ottoman mentality towards the issue of non-Muslim minorities and how the state interacted with them, and its ability to manage diversity within the Ottoman society. In this context, we will try in this research to present a different analytical approach to the issue of Andalusian Muslim and Jewish refugees, as well as knowing the strategy of the Ottoman Empire towards it and the backgrounds that motivate it. This topic will be addressed through four axes as follows: -First: Andalusia and its importance in attracting immigrants in the Middle Ages -Second: The historical and political circumstances in which the Andalusian refugee crisis arose -Third: The Andalusian refugee crisis and the position of the Ottoman Empire on it -Fourth: The Ottoman Empire's strategy towards the refugee crisis -Fifth: The policy of the Ottomans towards the refugees from Andalusia.
Keywords: Andalusia, Moriscos, Spaniards, Ottomans, Refugees, Jews