The askeri was the “military” class, which made people of that class exempt from taxes and dependent on the sultan for their well-being. They were priviledged members of society who performed the military, admininistrative and religious function within the Ottoman state.
Only a minority of the askeri class could be called "true" Ottomans. To be an Ottoman one had to serve the state and the religion and know the "Ottoman way."
Serving the state meant having a position within the military, the bureaucracy, or the religious establishment that carried with it the coveted askeri status and tax exemption.
Serving the religion meant being a Muslim. Knowing the "Ottoman way" meant being completely at home in the high Islamic tradition.
It also meant being fully trained in Arabic and Persian—languages that were, along with Turkish, the constituent elements of Ottoman Turkish, the language vehicle of all Ottomans.
For more info, refer to the following sources below:
Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition by Norman Itzkowitz
Bureaucrat and Intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: The Historian Mustafa Ali (1541-1600) by Cornell H. Fleischer
The Ottomans: From Frontier Warriors To Empire Builders by Robert Guisepi
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