OTTOMAN SLAP

The “Ottoman slap” was a technique that was used by the Ottoman army when they were unarmed or attacked in order to stupefy the enemy by hitting with both sides of the hand. It is done by hitting the opponent with an unangled arm and hand, and a quick movement of the shoulder. It is usually done to both sides of the face and the nape of the neck. It could be lethal depending on the intenseness of the slap. In the Ottoman army, it was generally used in one on one, face to face struggles when the soldier lost or broke his weapon. In the Ottoman culture, the sides never “punched” one another and as punching could cause permanent injury on the face, it was the last resort and the one to take the first punch was always dispraised. Usually the elder one in the fight would warn the opponent with a severe slap that could be heard by everyone and this would usually be enough.