The word mezalim (مظالم) originally comes from the Arabic word (ظلم -) zalama, which in German is synonymous with the terms iniquity and injustice.
In academic discourse, mezalim describes mass violent crimes against the Muslim civilian population, with different regional characteristics. In the broadest sense, terms such as genocide, forced resettlement, ethnic cleansing, assimilation, massacre, ghettoization, exclusion, enslavement and political oppression or persecution are subsumed under the term mass crimes of violence. Mezalim is, in the broadest sense, the violent manifestation of anti-Muslim racism. Although the time frame is not clearly defined, research looks at events from the late Middle Ages to the 21st century.
In comparative genocide research, colonial crimes of violence in the Islamic region have received little attention. A number of crimes against Muslims, which could possibly also be classified as genocides, have not yet been sufficiently researched. The lack of awareness of the violent crimes committed against Muslims in the colonial era in turn leads to a reduced understanding of empathy for traumatized societies. Political reactions in these societies are all too quickly perceived as “impulsive”, “anti-Western” and interpreted as an expression of a contrary, values-driven political mindset.
The culture of experience and memory from the colonial era in Islamic societies, which is burdened by violence, is a key element in their own nation-state formation and is decisive for understanding the social thought patterns there and for collective attitudes towards the West. In recent times, the scientific investigation of mass violent crimes, also known as mezalim, has increasingly come to the fore. In Turkey and Azerbaijan, this term has become firmly established as a technical term for suffering and injustice.