Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
On 3 November 1839, the process that became known as the Tanzimat reforms began when Sultan Abdulmecid's marked the opening of his reign with the issuance of the Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane. The Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane was the brainchild of statesmen, Mustafa Reşid Pasha, the Ottoman minister of foreign affairs. The Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane outlined three central notions in which: (i) The life, property, and honor of all subjects under the Ottoman Empire must be guaranteed, (ii) A new fixed tax system would replace the outdated tax farming system and finally, (iii) Lifetime military conscription would be replaced to conscription of four to five years. Perhaps the most notable and groundbreaking element of the Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane was its assertion that all Ottoman subjects regardless of religion would be equal before the law. This was the first time during the Ottoman Empire in which non-Muslims would be deemed equal to their Muslim counterparts, something that would become a more regular occurrence among the Sultan and Ottoman government during this period.