Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha’s Fortifications Along the Northern Black Sea Coast

Author(s): Mahmut Halef Cevrioğlu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

Ottoman historiography has focused on the construction activity of the Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha with reference to the castles he got built in Western Anatolia. Nevertheless, his endeavours to fortify the Black Sea coasts of the Ottoman Empire attracted less attention. This study seeks to describe and clarify Köprülü Mehmed Pasha’s defensive construction projects against Cossack naval raids in two separate zones of the Northern Black Sea: the Don and the Dnieper. This study relies on contemporary European reports, Ottoman archival material and related literature. It suggests that Köprülü Mehmed Pasha reinforced the protection of the Don estuary by commissioning the construction of a castle (Sedd-i İslam) on the one hand, and two self-standing towers on the other in 1660. As for the Dnieper, the pasha commanded the Doğangeçidi Castle’s construction in 1661, which was completed in 1662. Highlighting this dynamic building activity, the present essay suggests that Köprülü Mehmed Pasha’s invigoration of the northern frontiers of the Ottoman Empire should not be overshadowed by the conquests he is rather associated with.

1821-2021. Bicentenarul Revoluției conduse de Tudor Vladimirescu

Author(s): Mihaela Bărbieru / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2023

The volume 1821-2021. The Bicentennial of the Revolution led by Tudor Vladimirescu, coordinated by Sevastian Cercel and Georgeta Ghionea, brings together 22 papers signed by representatives of the academic and university environment which belong to some prestigious institutions in Romania (“C.S. Nicolăescu-Plopşor” Institute for Research in Social Studies and Humanities from Craiova, of the Romanian Academy, University of Craiova, University of Bucharest, “George Baritiu” Institute of History, of the Romanian Academy from Cluj-Napoca, “Ovidius” University from Constanța, Valahia University from Târgoviște).The volume is the result of the National Symposium dedicated to Vladimirescu (1821-2021. The Bicentennial of the Revolution led by Tudor Vladimirescu), initiated by the researchers from institute from Craiova, held on May 14-15, 2021. The volume is structured in three chapters and all the papers are subordinated to the maine topic.

FRONTIÈRES GÉOGRAPHIQUES, SOCIALES ET MÉMORIELLES : CIRCULER ENTRE LA TURQUIE, LA GRÈCE ET LA BELGIQUE

Author(s): Katerina Seraïdari / Language(s): French Issue: 2/2023

The article examines the life story of a Greek Pontic, who migrated from central Macedonia (Greece) to Belgium in 1965. The account of his life starts with his father being born and living in the Samsun province (Ottoman Empire), that is before the exchange of populations in the 1920s and his arrival to Greece as refugee. This dense and precise life history narrative not only allows us to revisit major events of Greek history, but also to follow the social and geographical transitions and trajectories that a family made during a century. Socialization processes, appropriation and loss of economic resources, political choices, transmission of stereotypes are some of the issues discussed here. The analysis of this material is inspired by cognitive anthropology: one of the aims has been to examine how « analogic thinking », through the connections and the correspondences it establishes, leads to exegetical reflections that facilitate the process of understanding and coping with novel situations. In this framework, analogies not only play a heuristic role, but also give the impression of intimately knowing not lived situations and experiences of the past. By listing similarities and differences, analogical arguments become an adaptation tool in migratory contexts as the one analyzed here.

LE MUSÉE DES PROPHÉTIES DE KREMNA (SERBIE OCCIDENTALE) AU CROISEMENT DES FRONTIÈRES ET DES PATRIMOINES

Author(s): Galia Valtchinova / Language(s): French Issue: 2/2023

The paper is focused on Kremna, a village in Western Serbia close to the Serbian-Bosnian border where a series of prophetic pronouncements, recorded and publicized in the early 20th century, gained momentum during the demise of Yugoslavia and are undergoing a process of heritage-making. It builds on two kinds of ethnography: visits of the field “site” which is the Museum/Memorial of the Prophecy”, and an ethnography of a main road which crosses the state border and relates two former Yugoslav countries. The first and longer part of the paper is dedicated to Kremna, its prophets, the prophecies and to those promoting it as the “Serbian Delphi”. It first outlines the local context and the history of the purportedly prophetic pronouncements subsequently known by the name of the village. It uncovers the logic and the circumstances in which the Kremna prophecies have been brought to public knowledge, to become a banner of Serbian national aspirations and during the last decades, of nationalism. A special section is dedicated to the legitimation of local prophets and the inscription of their work in the longue durée history as well as in cosmic processes. The second part evolves around the ethnography of the road Užice-Višegrad, Kremna being half way from both. It helps to grasp the overall landscape of history- memory- and heritage sites, the dynamics of their intertwining, and the creation of a kind of symbolic grammar of events, personae and cultural items which impacts the historical imagination. Throughout the paper, attention is paid to the importance of border and of boundaries broadly speaking in the microareas where outspoken national prophets are born and have lived.

Красимира Мутафова. Религия и идентичност (християнство и ислям) по българските земи в османската документация от ХV–ХVІІІ век.

Author(s): Gergana Georgieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2023

Участието на Османската империя на международното изложение във Филаделфия през 1876 година

Author(s): Simeon Tonchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2023

The article examines the presentation of the Ottoman Empire at the Philadelphia International Exposition in 1876, putting two main tasks in the study. On the one hand, it follows the coverage of the exhibition in the press of the Bulgarian Revival period, mostly by the American Protestant newspaper Zornitsa, which introduced to its readers the five main sections of the exposition, some inventions shown for the first time, and specific exhibiting countries. On the other, the Turkey’s preparations, participation in the fair and its results are studied in detail. For this purpose, a comparative and an idiographic approachеs are applied. In the end, new information on the subject regarding the preparation in places in the empire, as well as examples of Bulgarian participation, is presented. Turkey impresses visitors with high-quality carpets and an authentic Turkish café. Foods, goldsmith’s works, coming from the Bulgarian lands, and rose oil of two Kazanlak companies are exhibited.

LES CAPITULATIONS FRANCO-OTTOMANES ET LES INSTITUTIONS ÉDUCATIVES ET CULTURELLES DANS LES BALKANS (XIXе – XXе SIÈCLES)

Author(s): Raïa Zaïmova / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2023

The capitulations between France and the Ottoman Empire (1535 – 1536) opened the way of trade and navigation, as well as of the Catholic missions in the Levant. The training of consuls and dragomans in Eastern languages began in the 17th – 18th century, when Capuchins and Jesuits were the main school teachers in Constantinople and Paris. The beginning of the Ottoman Empire’s decline forced its rulers to turn to France, with which they had not had military conflicts and which was famous with the scientific and technological progress. Although the diplomatic relations between the two countries were unequal and inconsistent by the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, France managed to gain advantage over the other Western countries and to implement its own education system within the Eastern Empire. Thanks to the capitulations, which had been renewed many times over the years, Catholic missions opened their schools and enjoyed respect of the Ottoman rulers. In the period after the Crimean War, the education following European patterns gained popularity. The Catholic Congregations that had been created, along with some secular ones, attracted the attention of both foreigners and Ottoman subjects. « The Enlightenment Language » opened up an opportunity for modernization of mentality and, at the same time, provoked nationalist reactions from the students. French cultural and educational institutions underwent significant changes after the collapse of Turkey and the creation of national Balkan states.

LA RELIGION AU SERVICE DE LA DIPLOMATIE : LAZARISTES AU COURS DES GUERRES BALKANIQUES (1912 – 1913)

Author(s): Biljana Stojić-Radović / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2023

In the presented article the author researched the role and the position of catholic mission Lazarists based in Macedonia during the Balkan Wars (1912 – 1913). The articles explore the relations of Serbia toward this catholic community but take into consideration the entanglements of the other states involved in the Balkan Wars: Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and the Ottoman Empire. Special attention is given to the mission’s humanitarian work conducted during the war operations, as well as its complex position during the Second Balkan war and the problems they have faced after the Wars in Serbia and Greece. A great part of the article is dedicated to France’s attitude and aims to protect Lazarists’ work in the Ottoman Empire and accordingly its religious diplomacy. For two centuries in the Ottoman Empire Lazarists had been closely tied with the French diplomatic network benefiting from diplomatic protection while working in promoting French culture along with Catholicism. France used all diplomatic resources to (re)assure the continuity of its cultural influence after 1913 and the decay of Ottoman rule in the Balkans. The article is based on documents from the Diplomatic archive and the Archives of Congregation of the Mission.

L’IMPORTANCE DES RÉCITS DE VOYAGES DE FRANÇOIS POUQUEVILLE SUR LA LIBÉRATION DE LA GRÈCE

Author(s): Alexandra Milanova / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2023

The article aims at analysing the travelogues of François Pouqueville (1770 – 1838), a major representative of the European intellectual elite with undoubted merits for the rediscovery of the Balkans in modern times. By describing the everyday life of Balkan peoples his works became a means of influencing the European public about the future of the Ottoman Empire and the fate of the Greeks. The article also demonstrates the gradual evolution of the Frenchman from a relatively pro-Ottoman enlightened man to a firm opponent of the Sultan and an uncompromising supporter of the Greek liberation movement.

VOYAGE ET MISSION. STANISLAS BELLANGER ET SON DEUXIÈME VOYAGE DANS LES PROVINCES DE L’EMPIRE OTTOMAN EN 1846 – 1847

Author(s): Nicu Diaconiuc / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2023

Mostly known for his travelogue entitled singularly Le Kéroutza, French author Stanislas Bellanger has left us a huge body of work of over a thousand pages dedicated to his travels and sojourns, mainly to and throughout the Romanian Principalities, but also collaterally throughout Bulgaria and to Constantinople. During his second journey to the Orient (1846 – 1847), sponsored by the French Ministry of Education, Bellanger wrote five reports to his patron, the count Salvandy, which are consistent with his ambition of becoming a historian of the East and producing a History of the Ottoman Empire. But while he ultimately failed to achieve all of that, Bellanger succeeded in outlining an image of the Oriental Other and sketching interesting landscapes from the provinces of the great empire, which he ends up appropriating and mapping in his own unique way.

LA FRANCE DANS LES PAGES DE LA REVUE OTTOMANE MECMUA-I FÜNUN (REVUE SCIENTIFIQUE) DE JUIN 1862 À JUIN 1867

Author(s): Margarita Dobreva / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2023

A sign of the Ottoman scientific and cultural progress in the Tanzimat years, the journal Mecmua-i Fünun (Journal of Sciences/ Revue scientifique) was published in June 1862 – June 1867 by Cemiyet-i İlmiye-i Osmaniye (Ottoman Society of Science/ Société scientifique ottomane) and offered articles of manifold topics. Some of them were based on the masterpieces of French theologians, philosophers and doctors. Others presented the speeches delivered by French politicians and monarchs. The journal paid attention to the French revolution, Napoléon Bonaparte, the International Universal Exposition and to the construction of the Suez Canal. Many of the notes on France were short news about its development. In fact, all presented French masterpieces discussed universal values and virtues, promoted centuries long by Islam and Christianity. They inspired the audience with religious devotion and love to the country, with obedience to the monarch and laws, expansion of welfare, brotherhood of man and thankfulness, with continuous efforts towards technical headway and ethic maturity. However, even presented in Mecmua-i Fünun, France and its ideas did not set the journal’s tone, that was mainly consistent with the official state policy. The article is based on all 47 journal issues, available on the digital library of the Türk Tarih Kurumu (Turkish Historical Society/ Société d’histoire turque) in Ankara.

LES COMMUNAUTÉS BULGARES DE MACÉDOINE ET LEURS RAPPORTS AVEC L’ÉGLISE CATHOLIQUE PENDANT LES ANNÉES 1873 – 1878

Author(s): Eleonora Naxidou / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2023

This article aims to contribute to the issue of the relations between the Orthodox populations of the Balkans and the Catholic Church during the Ottoman period focusing on the Bulgarians and their contacts with the Pope in the second half of the 19th century. More specifically two intertwined topics are discussed: on the one hand the attempts of the Bulgarians in Macedonia to establish a Uniate Church in the 1870’s; on the other how this incident was perceived and commented by the Greek Orthodox press of Constantinople. In this way significant conclusions are drawn with regard to the motives and aspirations of this Macedonian Bulgarian ecclesiastic separatist movement as well as the differing interpretations that the Greek newspapers of the Ottoman capital provided to this development.

The Songs of the Lost Land: Re-envisioning the Turkish Folk Songs from Adakele through Previous Compilations and Research Studies

Author(s): Cenk Güray,Duygu Günever / Language(s): Turkish,English Issue: 1/2021

Adakale, a center of Turkish culture in the Balkans since the 15th century, has witnessed the establishment of cultural communication between the Balkan people sharing the multicultural life symbolized by the River Danube. After the “loss” of Adakale by being submerged in 1970, music and literature were the only media reflecting this memory. The past studies of Turkish folk poetry and music compiled from the Adakale region will be evaluated within this work. Possible methods of re-envisioning the melodies of the compiled lyrics whose melodies are lost will be discussed by utilizing compilations made from other regions of the Balkan Peninsula and using the folk melodies in Turkey that originated from the Balkan lands.

Turks and Tatars in Romania in the Bilingual Edition of the 𝐷𝑜𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑗𝑎 / 𝐷𝑜𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑎 Newspaper

Author(s): Metin Omer / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

This article analyzes the content of the bilingual edition of the Dobruja newspaper, which was published between 1919 and 1924 in Bazargic (present-day Dobrich). Until 1921, it was published in Romanian and Ottoman Turkish, and later only in the latter. Dobruja is important because it was the first bilingual newspaper of the Muslim community in interwar Romania that existed for a long time. Also, the main authors of the articles published in this newspaper were important figures of the community, such as Halil Fehim (the mufti of Caliacra County), Mehmet Niyazi (the national poet of the Tatars and a Turkish language teacher at the Muslim Seminary in Medgidia), and Ibrahim Themo who had an Albanian background and was an important leader of the Young Turks. After presenting the context in which the Dobruja newspaper came out, the article analyzes the content of bilingual editions from three perspectives: the demands that the Turks and Tatars made before the Romanian authorities, the organization of the community, and international developments. The author points out that the main idea encountered in the articles published in the newspaper is that the Turkish and Tatar minority was a safe one for the Romanian state because it had no territorial claims. This message was important, given that Southern Dobruja had an ethnic composition in which the Romanian ethnicity was a minority, and that the territory was claimed by Bulgaria. Thus, the reiteration of this by the elites of the Turks and Tatars was necessary for the attempts to obtain the satisfaction of some demands and support in the initiatives to improve the situation of the community. The Dobruja newspaper was the means by which this message was conveyed.

PRIKAZI

Author(s): Madžida Mašić,Amer Maslo,Edin Omerčić,Dino Mujadžević,Amir Džinić,Emina Mostić,Aladin Husić,Muamer Hodžić,Ekrem Čaušević,Esad Duraković / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 72/2023

Review of: Mahmud Derviš, SABRANA DJELA, POEZIJA, I-IV, prijevod s arapskog: Džemo Redžematović, Horizonti – centar za međukulturno razumijevanje, Podgorica 2022, 510+478+400+278 str. Olga Vladimirovna Sarıgöz, Praktičeskaja grammatika sovremennogo tureckogo jazyka (v dialogah i tablično-shematičeskih objasnenijah) // Praktična gramatika suvremenoga turskog jezika (u dijalozima i tabličnim objašnjenima//, URSS, Moskva, LENAND 2022, treće prerađeno izdanje, 426 str. Amina Šiljak-Jesenković, RE/KONSTRUKCIJA PRIČE O LJ/ljUBAVI: FABULE I IZBOR STIHOVA IZ MESNEVIJA U PRIJEVODU NA BOSANSKI JEZIK, Univerzitet u Sarajevu – Orijentalni institut, Posebna izdanja LXVIII, Sarajevo, 2023, 570 str. Emrah Seljaci, POEZIJA FEVZIJA MOSTARCA NA OSMANSKOM TURSKOM JEZIKU, Fondacija “Baština duhovnosti”, Mostar, 1444/2023, 105 str. Aladin Husić, DEVŠIRMA U BOSNI (O REGRUTACIJI BOSANACA U JANJIČARE), Posebna izdanja LXIX, Univerzitet u Sarajevu – Orijentalni institut, Sarajevo, 2023, 164 str. Elma Korić, OBLIKOVANJE GRANICA BOSNE: BOSNA U AHDNAMAMA I HUDUDNAMAMA IZ 16. I 17. STOLJEĆA, Univerzitet u Sarajevu – Orijentalni institut, Posebna izdanja LXVII, Sarajevo, 2022, 174 str. Faruk Taslidža, IZMEĐU RATOVA – NA GRANICI SVJETOVA: DRUŠTVENO-PRIVREDNI ODNOSI HERCEGOVAČKOG SANDŽAKA U PRVOJ POLOVINI XVII STOLJEĆA (1606–1645), BZK Preporod, Mostar, 2022, 233 str. Hana Younis, A QADI IN THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE: THE STAFF AND WORK OF THE SHARIA COURTS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 1878–1914, Univerzitet u Sarajevu – Institut za historiju, Sarajevo, 2023, 430 str. Dijana Pinjuh, Anđelko Vlašić, TRAGOM EVLIJE ČELEBIJA KROZ HERCEGOVAČKI SANDŽAK, Srednja Europa, Zagreb 2023, 290 str. ULOGA I ZNAČAJ GAZI HUSREV-BEGA U HISTORIJI BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE: Zbornik radova sa naučnog skupa “Uloga i značaj Gazi Husrev-bega u historiji Bosne i Hercegovine”, Sarajevo, 22. septembar 2021. godine, Gazi Husrev-begova biblioteka u Sarajevu, Univerzitet u Sarajevu – Orijentalni institut, Univerzitet u Sarajevu – Institut za historiju, Historijski arhiv Sarajevo, Sarajevo, 2022, 305 str. ZAMIŠLJANJE ŽENE: O IDEOLOŠKIM I KULTURNIM KONCEPTIMA ŽENSKOG RODA U POVIJESTI BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE, ur. Sabina Veladžić, Aida Ličina Ramić, Fondacija Heinrich Böll, Sarajevo, 2023. Dženita Karić, BOSNIAN HAJJ LITERATURE: MULTIPLE PATHS TO THE HOLY, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2023, 256 str. Katalog arapskih, turskih, perzijskih i bosanskih rukopisa, Svezak treći. Obradio Hamza Lavić. Historijski arhiv Sarajevo, Sarajevo, 2022, 370 str.

The Bulgarian Textile Industry (1800-1912) between the Center and the Periphery

Author(s): Ivan Roussev / Language(s): English Issue: 3-4/2023

Martin Ivanov, Book review

Идеята за централно училище в просветните концепции на Найден Геров (1850–1877)

Author(s): Antoaneta Kirilova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2024

This article delves into Nayden Gerov’s proposal to transform the Plovdiv boys’ school into a “central” institution aimed at preparing educators and clergy for both local communities and broader Bulgarian territories. Drawing on published documents and archival sources, the study traces Gerov’s endeavors in various societal roles, encompassing his roles as the school’s founder and inaugural teacher, a prominent Bulgarian public figure, and a Russian diplomat in Plovdiv. The narrative explores the realization of Gerov’s visionary concept and sheds light on the landscape of Bulgarian educational initiatives during the Revival.

REVISITING ZEMUN AND BELGRADE THROUGH THE LENS OF OTTOMAN MOBILITY (1772 – 1826)

Author(s): Zeynep Arslan Çalık / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

The study of human mobility has been a crucial aspect of history, enabling the integration of diverse communities and cultures transcending socio-cultural differences and political boundaries. The focus of this study is the examination of the significance of Zemun and Belgrade in Ottoman mobility during the period of 1772 – 1826, documented by the Habsburg authorities. The registers entitled “Türkische Untertanen in den Erblanden, mit Listen” (Turkish Subjects in the Hereditary Lands, with Lists) contain information on 6,930 Ottoman subjects, dating back to as early as 1772, and encompassing a vast geographic expanse. This study aims to scrutinize the demographic, socio-economic, and geographical factors associated with Ottoman mobility, emphasizing the pivotal role played by Zemun and Belgrade in facilitating interaction with Europe and the Mediterranean region, particularly through commercial activities. The study provides conclusive evidence and novel data for further research.

Новооткрити османотурски документи за рударството в българските земи през XV–XVII век

Author(s): Stefan Dimitrov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2024

This research presents new insights into the development of mining in Bulgarian territories during the 15th to 17th centuries, drawing from previously unpublished Ottoman Turkish documents. These documents, sourced from the Ottoman Archives at the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey in Istanbul, offer valuable information on various aspects of mining activity. The author highlights a significant contribution to scholarly understanding by introducing, for the first time, details about the presence of kürecis (individuals responsible for melting ore in furnaces) in Bulgarian lands during the late 15th century. Additionally, the study sheds light on the religious affiliations and demographic shifts among kürecis over time, providing a unique perspective on this aspect of mining history. Furthermore, the research uncovers new data regarding the involvement of Voynuks in security functions within the mines, as well as the participation of Müselems and Yürüks in the ore remelting process. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the roles and dynamics within the mining industry during the specified period.

За децата с любов и разбиране

Author(s): Yura Konstantinova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2024