Ottoman History

Yusuf Akçura ve Ahmet Ferit Tek, Kuleli Askerî Lisesi’nde başlayan samimiyetlerini, Akçura’nın vefatına dek sürdürmüş iki yakın dosttur. Yusuf Akçura’nın 1903’te
Fransa’dan Rusya’ya dönüşüyle yoğunlaşmaya başlayan mektuplaşmalar 1935’e
kadar devam etmiştir. Bu 32 yıllık sürenin bir bölümünü (1909-1925) İstanbul ve
Ankara’da birlikte geçirmişlerdir. Ahmet Ferit Tek’in 1925’te Hariciye Vekâleti’nde
görevlendirilmesiyle mektuplaşmalar yeniden başlamıştır. Mektuplardan anlaşıldığı üzere birbirlerine hemen hemen her hafta mektup yazmışlardır. Birbirlerini
bu derece seven, saygı duyan iki dost herhâlde Türk siyaset ve kültür hayatında
enderdir. Bu mektuplar Yusuf Akçura ve Ahmet Ferit Tek’in hayatlarının karanlıkta kalan bazı noktalarının aydınlatılması açısından önemli olduğu kadar,
Rusya Türkleri’nin 1905 İhtilali sonrası giriştikleri siyasi mücadelenin tarihinin
yazılmasına da mühim katkı yapacak niteliktedir. Belki de en önemlisi neşredildiği
günden beri gündemimizi işgal eden Üç Tarz-ı Siyaset’in yazılış serüveni, Jön Türkler’in muhaceretteki mücadeleleri, birbirleriyle olan ilişkileri hakkında da mektuplar sayesinde yeni bilgiler edineceğiz.

While applied in social sciences, the term “post-Ottoman countries” barely appears as a category in comparative public administration and/or local government studies. Nevertheless, just one and a half centuries ago, territories and populations of several modern states in South-Eastern Europe were subjects of the Ottoman Empire, where notorious centralism was combined with low regulatory capacity. Although these states followed distinct trajectories, all of them opted for centralist patterns, following the Napoleonic model. In addition, they nowadays share some common traits, like persistent corruption and low levels of social capital. On the other hand, there are remarkable deviations across these countries, especially concerning the level of human development,  the range of inequalities, and the quality of democracy. It seems therefore that centralism, a shared option to tackle common challenges (state consolidation, socio-cultural homogenization, modernization, crisis management), did not prevent deviating outcomes. This paper aims at tracing the reasons for the persistence of centralism, on the one hand, and, on the other, the deviating outcomes in terms of local autonomy and regionalization, democratization, human development, and inequalities in selected post-Ottoman countries.

06.03.2018 tarihli ve 30352 sayılı Resmi Gazetede yayımlanan “Yükseköğretim Kanunu İle Bazı Kanun Ve Kanun Hükmünde Kararnamelerde Değişiklik Yapılması Hakkında Kanun” ile 18.06.2018 tarihli “Lisansüstü Tezlerin Elektronik Ortamda Toplanması, Düzenlenmesi ve Erişime Açılmasına İlişkin Yönerge” gereğince tam metin erişime açılmıştır.ÖZET Rüya, bütün insanların neredeyse her gece uykuda yaşadığı bir haldir. Rüya, sadece bir görüntü olmakla kalmaz aynı zamanda insanı iyi kötü etkiler. Kur' ân, bazı peygamber kıssalarım anlatırken yeri geldikçe rüyaların yorumlarından ve bu yorumların gerçekleşmesinden bahseder. Bunu yaparken, tabir alimlerinin istifade ettiği yorumlama ilkeleri de sunar. Sünnet, rüyanın kimi zaman müjdeleyici kimi zaman uyarıcı kimi zaman da gelecekten haber vermekte olduğunu kimi zaman da anlamsız ve şeytani vesveseler olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Güzel rüya görmek, Allah (c.c) tarafından şükredilmesi gereken bir tür nimettir. Kötü rüya ise şerrinden emin olmak iç...

The distribution of mosques is considered one of the problems that residents and planners suffer from in Gaza Strip, thus losing part of their civilized impact and influence. The non observance of planning standards in the distribution of mosques to cope with population growth and urban expansion and the needs of the population on the one hand, and the surplus in number of scattered mosques on the other hand, led to planning problems that affect the role of mosque in community. This research aims to find appropriate planning standards contribute to reduce these problems, and indicate some criteria to choose best locations for future mosques through a case study of neighborhood in Sheikh Radwan district. The importance of this research is analyzing and evaluating the pattern of mosques through descriptive and analytical approach based on using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This research shows the importance of using the GIS in planning and urban design through selecting the b...

This article highlights the absence of historical gazetteers for territories once part of the Ottoman Empire, which hinders modern scholarship. The mid-nineteenth-century population registers (nüfus defterleri) offer a useful foundation for developing a gazetteer of the entire Ottoman Empire, but their use is limited due to the challenging task of geolocating the included populated places. To overcome this issue, two research projects collaborated to map mid-nineteenth-century population data using around 850 Ottoman population registers from the 1840s. The authors utilized historical maps and population registers to geolocate 16,782 populated places, creating the first version of their regional mid-nineteenth-century gazetteer. The article outlines the team's methodology used to build the gazetteer and addresses the notable limitations of the sources. Moreover, it contributes to the study of Ottoman population geography by demonstrating the extensive possibilities of historical GIS methodologies in enriching population density maps by considering environmental variables in the analysis.

Osmanlı Devleti’nin Avrupa topraklarında Edirne vilayetine bağlı bir sancak merkezi olan Kırklareli, 19. yüzyıl resmî kayıtlarına göre dokuma, bağcılık ve hayvancılık ürünleri ile Avrupa pazarlarında revaçta olan bir şehirdir. Savaş yıllarında büyük bir göç akınına uğrayan kent, aynı zamanda 1920’de Yunan işgaline de maruz kalmıştır. İşgal yıllarında üretimde keskin bir düşüş yaşanmış özellikle Yunanlıların planlı yağmacılığı sonucu yoksulluk had safhaya ulaşmıştır. Kırklareli, Mudanya Ateşkes Antlaşması sonrası 10 Kasım 1922’de Yunan işgalinden kurtulmuştur. İşgal sonrası, halkın üretimi artırma gayreti ve devletin özellikle tarımı destekleme konusundaki çabasına karşın, savaşların yarattığı yıkım öylesine büyüktür ki, 1925 yılında dahi birçok alanda üretim miktarı 1894 yılının gerisindedir. Cumhuriyetin ilk yıllarında Kırklareli’de batıl inanç ve hurafeler halkın günlük yaşamında önemli yer tutmaktadır. Ancak eğitimin önemini çok erken kavrayan ve yeniliklere son derece açık olan ...

Paul Strathern's Rise and Fall: A History of the World in Ten Empires is a concise world history analyzing the characteristics and impact of ten empires from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and America. Explaining the spirit of adventure, administration and power of ten of the most significant empires is central to this study. War, subjugation of conquered peoples, and a 'civilising agenda' are linked with this. Broadening the analyzes to include how empires operate hand-in-hand with world civilization (notably long-term social development and technological advances) and the migration of early humans across continents and oceans offers the reader a thought-provoking experience.

Με την παρούσα ανακοίνωση στοχεύουμε ν’ αναδείξουμε με ποιους τρόπους η Σημειωτική (πχ. Barthes, Greimas, Λαγόπουλος & Boklund Λαγοπούλου) -την οποία επικαλούνται άμεσα ή έμμεσα οι θεωρητικοί της προσαρμογής (πχ. Andrew, Hutcheon, Klein & Parker, Leitch, McFarlane, Stam, Wagner) - μπορεί ν’ αποκαλύψει τις αφηγηματικές και μορφολογικές παραμέτρους που καθορίζουν τη σχέση της ταινίας με το πρωτογενές κείμενο, χαράσσοντας έτσι κατευθύνσεις για την κατάταξη των ταινιών ανά κατηγορία προσαρμογής και αποκαλύπτοντας συσχετισμούς, συμπλεύσεις ή αποκλίσεις νοήματος.
Η τριπλή διασκευή του ''Ιππόλυτου'' του Ευριπίδη μέσα στην ίδια περίοδο, με τις ταινίες ‘’Φαίδρα’’ (1961) του Ζυλ Ντασέν, ‘’Γυμνοί στο χιόνι’’ (1974) του Γιώργου Ζερβουλάκου και ‘’Το σπίτι στους βράχους’’ (1974) του ίδιου σκηνοθέτη στην ίδια χρονιά, αποτελούν δόκιμα παραδείγματα για την προσέγγιση των ζητημάτων προσαρμογής και την ανάδειξη των διαφορετικών κατηγοριών της.

Pre-publication of chapter XIX of my forthcoming book "Turkey is Iran and Iran is Turkey – 2500 Years of indivisible Turanian – Iranian Civilization distorted and estranged by Anglo-French Orientalists"; chapters XXVII to XXXII form Part Eleven (How and why the Ottomans, the Safavids and the Mughals failed) of the book, which is made of 12 parts and 33 chapters. Chapters XXVII and XXVIII have already been pre-published.

Until now, 21 chapters have been uploaded as partly pre-publication of the present book; this chapter is therefore the 22nd (out of 33) to be uploaded. At the end of the text, the entire Table of Contents is made available. Pre-published chapters are marked in blue color, and the present chapter is highlighted in green color. 

In addition, a list of all the already pre-published chapters (with the related links) is made available at the very end, after the Table of Contents.

The book is written for the general readership with the intention to briefly highlight numerous distortions made by the racist, colonial academics of Western Europe and North America only with the help of absurd conceptualization and preposterous contextualization.
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First published on 29th September 2023 here:
https://megalommatiscomments.wordpress.com/2023/09/29/selim-i-ismail-i-and-babur/

As one of the important characters of medieval Islamic art, Zahhâk has
been the subject of various works for centuries. Associated with evil, Zahhâk was transformed into a cruel man by the Satan, and this was used as a symbol to describe the ruthless rulers. In classical Iranian narrations, he was recognized as a very powerful giant created with three mouths, three heads and six eyes as well as a ruler who dethroned Jamshid. This character, who took place in religious texts such as the Avesta and the Old Testament, in historical texts such as the History of Tabari and in mythological narratives, was depicted in medieval Islamic art on metals, ceramics and frescoes without much connection with the texts. Besides, Firdawsi’s Shahnama is among the most referenced sources within the literary texts. The aim of this study is to identify some of the most repeated scenes among the copies of Firdawsi Shahnamahs illustrated
from the 14th century and make an evaluation on the depictions of Zahhâk by ordering them chronologically according to their subjects. In the examples examined, these illustrated copies, which were prepared by rulers and administrators such as Abu Said, Iskender Sultan, Baysungur, Muhammad Juki, Ibrahim Sultan, Pir Budak bin Shah Jahan, Sultan Ali Mirza, Shah Tahmasp, Shah Ismail II, Shah Abbas and Sultan Murad II during the Mongol, Timurid, Safavid, Turkmen and Ottoman periods, were illustrated by Mir Musavvir, Sultan Muhammad, Mir Zeynalabidin, Nakdi and many anonymous painters. In these paintings, which were prepared between the 14th and 18th centuries in important illustrated manuscript production centers such as Herat, Tabriz, Shiraz, Mazenderan, Qazvin, Isfahan and Istanbul, the subject of "nailing Zahhâk to Mount Demâvend" stands out the most whereas the least illustrated subject is the scene of "Zahhâk's murder of his father, Mirdas". The defeat of the cruel ruler Zahhâk, with serpents on his shoulders, supports an understanding in Islamic literature that emphasizes good will always win over evil. Similarly, Islamic painting, just like other decorative arts, has served this idea, as well.

Programme of the International Conference "The Inexorable Conversation. Islamo-Christian Contacts and Contests in Early Modern Eurasia", Venice 12.10.2023
(DSAAM, Dipartimento di Studi sull'Asia e sull'Africa Mediterranea; MAP, Centro di Ricerca Marco Polo sulle connessioni globali Europa-Asia)

The study will analyse the corpus of the so-called “Frontier Letters” dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, which provide proof of the interconnectedness between the frontiers of Habsburg Slavonia and Ottoman Bosnia. The primary focus of the analysis will be on the communication of border elites, and through this lens, the letters will be broadly divided into two categories. The first category, which may be referred to as “business correspondence,” illustrates the existence of distinct customary practices that were upheld and regulated by both sides in order to facilitate exchanges and the ransom of prisoners. The second category of letters, which pertains to “interpersonal communication,” reveals friendly relationships, mutual respect, and a shared understanding of the concept of honor among the elites, as well as instances of dispute resolution and mutual assistance. Finally, moving away from the elite sphere and towards the perspectives of the general population, the study will briefly delve into the unfortunate circumstances of individuals who, having been captured in enemy territory, sought to secure ransom and to regain freedom through letters.

During the period of Ottoman penetration and stabilization in the Balkans, one community within what was then Serbian society gained importance. They were pastoralists who were referred to in documents of the time as Vlachs. Vlach communities that specialized in extensive pastoralism are recorded in the oldest documents related to medieval Serbia from the end of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries. Over time, these groups took on a Serbian ethnicity. The collapse of classical feudalism and the specific Ottoman system, especially in the hinterlands and sparsely populated areas, gave the Vlach communities opportunities for meaningful social progress. The paper analyzes the rise of the Vlach Bakić family, who rose to power during the second half of the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth centuries, first within the Ottoman Empire and then later within Habsburg Hungary.

This study targets the decision-making process and the politico-administrative relations in the Public Procurement Review System in Albania (PPRS). The inner logic of this study is composed of interrelation between decision making and accountability of actions and inactions, which pose the risk for decision making to face corruption due to the lack of legal and/or social auditing mechanisms. The study targets decision making in Public Procurement Commission (PPC) in Albania by reviewing decisions to identify stable patt erns of fl awed, inconsistent interpretation which allow corruptive actions and inactions to take part.

For centuries, people moved between the Ottoman Empire, Eastern Europe, and Iran. This book studies the biographies of individuals and groups as different as rulers and revolutionaries, frontier bandits and merchants, soldiers and slaves from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. Following their journeys across borders, the case studies of this volume emphasize the profound effect that mobility had on the lives and thoughtworlds of everyone with a Transottoman trajectory. The chapters reveal breaks, adjustments, and continuities in people’s biographies and the in-betweenness that moving typically created.

Contributions by Denise Klein, Anna Vlachopoulou, Nana Kharebava
, Veruschka Wagner, Andreas Helmedach
, Stanislav Mohylnyi
, Lyubomir Pozharliev
, Elke Hartmann

Alexandra Gerykova
, eds. Denise Klein / Anna Vlachopoulou

Transottomanica. Osteuropäisch-osmanisch-persische Mobilitätsdynamiken, vol 3. Edited by Stephan Conermann, Albrecht Fuess and Stefan Rohdewald

Open Access:

https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/themen-entdecken/geschichte/geschichte-der-fruehen-neuzeit/55541/transottoman-biographies-16th-20th-c

This article studies how and why the policies of the Bulgarian and Romanian states towards Muslim/Turkish minorities differed widely from each other between 1923 and 1936. Minority policies in Bulgaria shifted from tolerance during the Agrarian People's Union government in 1919, to assimilation and repression in the 1930s. In contrast, the Romanian state tolerated and favourably treated Muslim minorities throughout the interwar period. In order to account for this difference, we highlight the influence of Turkey's diplomatic relations on Bulgarian and Romanian state policies towards minorities and the responses of the latter. While Turkish-Bulgarian relations see-sawed, Turkish-Romanian relations constantly improved from the 1920s to 1930s. We argue that, whenever Turkey's diplomatic relations with Bulgaria and Romania ameliorated, Bulgaria's and Romania's minority policies improved. Yet, whenever diplomatic relations deteriorated, so did the minority policies.

The article analyses the Cossack armed actions in the 20-30's of the XVIIth century as the lost chance to reform Rzechpospolita and transform it into a powerful state of the three peoples – Polish, Lithuanian and Ukrainian. It has been found out that after the establishment of Rzechpospolita in 1569 and due to the intergovernmental union of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Ukrainian Cossacks considerably strengthened over the 50 years and became a powerful factor of influence in socio-political and interstate relations of that time. It has been established that at the beginning the Cossacks, conscious of their strength and combat ability, tried to peacefully negotiate with the authorities of Rzechpospolita. Nonetheless after the authorities abandoned a constructive dialogue they began recalcitrance actions, which subsequently turned into bloodthirsty uprisings. The conclusions of the paper state that the Cossack armed actions in the 20-30's of the XVI...

Translation processes in the Islamic world of the early modern period, especially in the Ottoman Empire, have hardly been researched so far. The new Emmy Noether Junior Research Group TRANSLAPT aims to change this and invites you to its inaugural event on 19 October in Münster.

In addition to the presentation of the TRANSLAPT team, the event will also feature a lecture by the renowned scholar Andrew Peacock (St. Andrews) on the topic of "Translation and the Making of Islamic Intellectual Culture", as well as a muscial contribution by Maktub Trio.

All interested are cordially invited!

Starting from documents in archive (convent of Our Lady, Genazzano) and images (photo album by Carlo Galli in Italian Geographic Society, Rome) this paper analyzes texts regarding the devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel in Shkoder and similar worship in Genazzano. The modification of the place identified as the first site of the image is investigated (according to the legend, the place of miraculous angelic departure in 1467): for prodigies reported up to XIXth century it was identified at the church of S. Mary Magdalene in Casena beyond the Buna river; since 1875 recognized at the current location on the opposite side. The cults are specified in this two places (in Casena, S. Mary Magdalene; in the ruins under the castle reused as foundation of the new sanctuary, Our Lady of Shkoder).

This research article is based mainly on Ottoman archival data of 1845. They are manuscripts, written in Ottoman Turkish. Ottoman government needs cash in the years of 1820s due to wars with Russia and Iran. To achieve this, the state demands extra taxes from all peasants of Anatolia. In this study, the economic situation of 22 small Muslim villages of the district of Kıreli of Konya of Anatolia was examined in outline. Agriculture and livestock were the main means of livelihood for the Muslim peasants. However, with the increase of the population, the economic resources were not enough for the Muslim peasants and the nomads (Yörük) living in this region. Many men had to leave their villages and went to the large cities to earn struggle for life. Ottoman administration founds them there and also taxes the labor. This was a very heavy practice for them. In the region, most villages were abandoned. The peasants had to be content with only rural resources. The vacant agricultural lands were immediately planted by the surrounding peasants.

Founded by individuals for religious and charity purposes, the Vakıf institution was the main institution in the construction and conservation of the built environment in the Ottoman period. Religious, charitable, municipal, educational, social and health services were provided by spaces such as külliyes, mosques, medreses, hans, baths, shops, etc. which were built through the Vakıf Institution. As the underlying concept of the vakıf institution was serving forever, the repair of these spaces the vakıf buildings was accepted as a fundamental issue for ensuring the functionality and continuity of the vakıf. With this aim, vakıf institution set the legal, administrative, technical and financial bases for the continuity of the system within its autonomous and local structure in the classical Ottoman period. With the westernization movements in the Tanzimat era, vakıfs were gathered under a central institution called Evkaf Nezareti, which had a central budget and administrative structur...