Turkish speaking majority.Do you
mean predominantly Turkish speaking or do you mean dominated by Turkish or Ottomans?
OTOH because it's so sparse it might not take that many Turks shipped in from the north to create a majority. Any possibility of imposing bilingualism? Everyone speaks their own language, but use Turkish (I guess it's Ottoman Turkish) to communicate universally. If the Ottomans expand the early-childhood education they could teach it to the young.Hmm. I don't think it's very likely, because the idea of linguistic uniformity didn't really predate the advent of modern nationalism, and it's really unlikely for Turkish to take over naturally as it's an Altaic language that's so alien to Arabic.
It would have to be imposed by force, which would require a way, way more powerful Ottoman Empire in the 19th c, and there would have to be a good reason for doing it, because Arabia is gigantic with a sparse population, to a considerable extent nomadic. In addition, the center of Arabic culture and learning is next door in Egypt.
OTOH because it's so sparse it might not take that many Turks shipped in from the north to create a majority. Any possibility of imposing bilingualism? Everyone speaks their own language, but use Turkish (I guess it's Ottoman Turkish) to communicate universally. If the Ottomans expand the early-childhood education they could teach it to the young.
Yes, I know that Ottoman Turkish was well, a mess of a language. My reasoning was that since a lot of the rank and file citizenry doesn't know it, they can start from scratch rather than creating an instant middle-over-class of Turkish speakers.A language reform would be needed, because Ottoman wasn't really comprehensible to Turkish-speakers. A lot of people were bilingual, but the OP is asking for Turkish-speaking. While sparse, there's still a whole lot of Arabs, and Anatolia isn't exactly densely populated, either.
Yes, I know that Ottoman Turkish was well, a mess of a language. My reasoning was that since a lot of the rank and file citizenry doesn't know it, they can start from scratch rather than creating an instant middle-over-class of Turkish speakers.
Hmm. I don't think it's very likely, because the idea of linguistic uniformity didn't really predate the advent of modern nationalism, and it's really unlikely for Turkish to take over naturally as it's an Altaic language that's so alien to Arabic.
It could be possible, though, with an Arabic substratum on top of the Perso-Arabic vocabulary of Ottoman Turkish (thereby creating doublets). If the Maltese can get away with an Arabic variety of which at least ½-¾ of the vocabulary is French/Italian/Sicilian in origin and all the implications that brings, than it shouldn't be all that impossible for an "Arabized" Turkish.
You would need a more centralized control over the Ottoman Arabian lands, that's built NOT on a rush. That would have pretty much changed the nature of the empire, and such would require a major setback.
IOTL during Hamidiyan era, due to need to shift the power base to Asia Ottoman Empire began to look east. They were doing it in a hurry for preserving the survival of the empire, so it was pretty much an appeal for the Arabs. That was why changing the language to Arabic was even considered.
However, to do something that's pretty much a reverse, this would take much longer time. In addition to my first point, you have to basically turkify the Arabs, and thus would require a pattern of demographic shift similar to what happened on the Anatolia post-Manzikert. Doing that though, is the problem....
Another thing is by importing a large numbers of Turks in the Arabian peninsula, a dilution policy along with lessening the rights especially cultural rights of those subjects which will cause the occupied ethnic population to lessen and to weaken them because of assimilation the spanish did that to the hostile people they invaded.
I don't understand - are you saying the Byzantines actually moved their own people off the Anatolian plateau, leaving it wide open to the Turkish invaders? Why would they do that? (Especially as it lengthens the frontier rather than shortening it...)Anatolia managed to get Turkified because after Manzikert, the East Roman authority basically ethnically cleansed Anatolian highlands off the Greeks to save tax base. When the Turks just arrived to Anatolia they were really basically just little more then a large band of invaders. They managed to have their Turkish-ness prevailed over the region by a combination of an only considerable increase of their own population with a slow process of absorption of the Anatolian natives by either genetical mixing and cultural assimilation, in which the process was very well tied to the political development anyway. The moving of Anatolian Greeks by Byzantine Empire, was only possible because it was done by Byzantine Empire, which had the advantage of their own superior organization, governmental machinery and administration over pretty much every other contemporary medieval poeples (except maybe China), providing better centralization and command compared to the others. And that factor was pretty well tied to their geographical location and cultural background, so it will be problematic to make an Arabian analogue of all those.....
I don't understand - are you saying the Byzantines actually moved their own people off the Anatolian plateau, leaving it wide open to the Turkish invaders? Why would they do that? (Especially as it lengthens the frontier rather than shortening it...)
Exactly. Look at the places the Byzantines didn't do that like the west. There were significant populations of Greeks in Anatolia until Lausanne and the Balkans remained mixed.When the Byzantines recovered Greece, they had to re-Hellenize it, as the population was mostly Slavic and Albanian - they did this by relocating people from Anatolia. Later, after Manzikert, Christians tended to move out of Anatolia toward Byzantine-controlled lands or were relocated by the Byzantines.
Exactly. Look at the places the Byzantines didn't do that like the west. There were significant populations of Greeks in Anatolia until Lausanne and the Balkans remained mixed.