Origins
Tanzimât emerged from the minds of reformist sultans like Mahmud II and Abdülmecid I as well as prominent reformers who were European educated bureaucrats. They recognized that the old religious and military institutions no longer met the needs of the empire in the modern world. Most of the symbolic changes, such as uniforms, were aimed at changing the mindset of imperial administrators. Many of the reforms were attempts to adopt successful European practices.The reforms were heavily influenced by the Napoleonic Code and French law under the Second Empire. Changes included universal conscription; educational, institutional and legal reforms; and systematic attempts at eliminating corruption and decriminalizing homosexuality. Tanzimat included the policy of Ottomanism, which was meant to unite all of the different peoples living in Ottoman territories, "Muslim and non-Muslim, Turkish and Greek, Armenian and Jewish, Kurd and Arab". For this purpose, Islamic law was put aside in favour of secular law. This policy officially began with the Imperial Rescript of the Rose Chamber of 1839, declaring equality before the law for both Muslim and non-Muslim Ottomans.
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