The Ottoman Empire was a state which had dominated different continents where different languages were spoken and people of different ethnic backgrounds lived within their borders. Special administration models are needed to administrate such a state. Because it is not an easy task to orient different elements to a single target without allowing them to cause problems and to adopt new methods to prevent a possible disintegration at a later stage. In order to avoid the drawbacks identified in this direction and to achieve the stated objectives, the administration model adopted by the Ottoman Empire became the millet system. With the millet system, the Ottoman State acted on the community rather than on the nation. Because the nation system, instead of referring to ethnic origin, had the claim of accepting the concept of religion as the unifying element. In this context, in this study, the millet system, which has been successfully applied in the Ottoman Empire for a certain period and which allows the masterful managing diversity, has been examined. It is important to reveal the decentralized spirit concealed within the centralized administration system of the Ottoman Empire through the millet system. It is the essence of the study to emphasize that a system that serves as a unifying tool for the Ottoman Empire for a certain period of time, is actually a disjoint in its inner workings due to hidden gaps, and to shed light on the origins of the spirit of decentralization.