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An analysis of French Diplomatic Reports concerning economic activities on the most known annual fair on the Balkan territories of The Ottoman Empire
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An analysis of French Diplomatic Reports concerning economic activities on the most known annual fair on the Balkan territories of The Ottoman Empire
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Ilinden Uprising of 1903 was a test for Bulgarian Exarchist local authorities in Macedonia,for their maturity and ability to survive in extreme conditions. Not that the situation before the uprising was mild and stimulating the development of Christians in the empire, but the revolutionary events of the summer of 1903 mobilized authorities to focus their efforts to “tame” with cruelty the restive Bulgarians and prevent the consolidation of the largest nationality in the region – the Bulgarian one. Despite the blow that they suffered, the municipalities managed to recover and strengthen the distraught municipal network in the provinces, so that they continue to successfully fulfill their church school and social functions. This article traces the ways in which the Exarchist local institutions fitted into the post Ilinden atmosphere and the attitude of the Ottoman authorities towards them. Despite all the difficulties and obstacles encountered, they continued to assert their rights and privileges with patience and diplomacy. The article discusses the changes that occurred under the constitutional parliamentary regime. Albeit with no official sanction from the authority the Exarchate expanded its office and continued to work hard on the organization of the exarchist network defending its reputation as an institution, and the overall ethnical case in Macedonia and Odrin region.
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What was the point of view of the Ottoman thinkers or scholars in general to philosophy and in particular to subjects of the philosophy of religion and to philosophers? In Ottoman, what was the existence and level of philosophy according to the other sciences? These kinds of questions have been frequently asked by those who deal with philosophy. The answers given to these questions are as important as at least the questions. To discuss such an important subject, what we need is to accept scientific issues as basis. To answer these questions together with a different motivation which is far from scientific methods may lead us to a vicious circle. The first thing of this kind of scientific attitude is to examine the Ottoman thinkers’ studies and try to understand them. General aim of this article is to shed a light to these discussions and in particular, to understand the approach of Harputlu Ishak Efendi to some issues of the philosophy of religion and his attitude towards some philosophers.SUMMARY: What were the perspectives of Ottoman thinkers or scholars towards philosophy in general and the subjects of the philosophy of religion and philosophers in particular? What was the presence and level of philosophy in Ottoman compared to other sciences? These are the questions usually asked by those who work on philosophy. The answers provided to such questions are as important as at least the questions themselves. To discuss such an important subject, what we need is to accept scientific issues as basis. Answers tried to be given with other motivation elements outside of the scientific frame and method can take us to a vicious circle. The first step of this scientific perspective should be an examination of the books of Ottoman thinkers. The overall purpose of our article is to shed light on such discussions to some extent, while the specific purpose is to explain Harputlu Ishak Efendi’s approach towards some matters of the philosophy of religion and his attitude towards philosophers in general terms. When the courses, which were studied by Harputlu Ishak Efendi, and the masters, who taught these courses, are investigated, it will be seen clearly that he took a good education. Ishak Efendi, who executed important duties in different bureaucratic positions of the Ottoman such as inspection duties, then was assigned to be the judge (qâḍî) of Medina and Isparta. Harputlu Ishak Efendi expressed opinions on the relationship of religion-philosophy, status of prophets and philosophers, place of the intellect in religion and especially the “Knowledge of God”, “Resurrection”, “Creation of the Universe” which are very controversial issues among Gazzâli and the Islamic philosophers. Providing a statement on such controversial issues requires being an expert on the Kalâm theology and philosophy. As for wording, we see that he has studied the subject with all dimensions. Harputlu Ishak Efendi is a unique Ottoman thinker. The reason behind this is that he has never studied on annotation and elucidation, but he was a scholar paying attention to the human intellect (ʿaql) and use of the intellect. He expresses that he prefers using intellectual evidences as a method and this is a beneficial approach and he experienced this himself. Stating that Islam is a religion definitely based on the intellect, he expresses that “God shall not propose something contrary to the sound intellect in the religion of Islam”, and claims that God does not request from human beings something contrary to the sound intellect and those requested comply with the sound intellect only. We know that some scholars educated in Ottoman Madrasas assumed took a sharp position against thoughts established and philosophy in particular. Considering the methods used by Harputlu Ishak Efendi on dealing with the issues, we see that he tries to indicate the views of other people expert on the subject while he investigates it.Because the thinkers he often refers to in his works are Ibn Sina, Nasîrüddîn et-Tûsî Devvânî and Gelenbevî, we think that his philosophical thought emerges from such views. He has more references to Ibn Sina. Harputlu Ishak Efendi tried to understand what philosophers try to explain instead of declaring the philosophers as unbelievers and showing the philosophy out of religion. As some previous Ottoman scholars, he has considered the prophets as a philosopher and so tried to bring a new perspective to the discussion of religion-philosophy relation which has been continuing for centuries. Harputlu Ishak Efendi claims that the human intellect (ʿaql) alone can know the presence of God and His attributes such as knowledge and power. For instance, regarding the oneness of God, he puts similar views with Kindî. He also states that it is not possible both rationally and traditionally that there is an existent equal and similar with God. He provides evidences from scholars, Ibn Sina in particular. However, he stresses that there are some religious matters which cannot be known by the intellect.Providing opinions on whether the resurrection will be bodily and spiritual or spiritual only, Harputlu Ishak Efendi gives his views on that God knows totals but partials, which is why Gazzâlî declared the Islamic philosophers as unbelievers. Harputlu Ishak Efendi also provides ideas on the eternity of the universe which has been one of the main problems between the philosophers and Gazzâlî. The matters studied by Harputlu Ishak Efendi are the main subject of the religion and majority of which corresponds to the three basic fields of philosophy: existence, knowledge, and value. As many of the previous scholars, Harputlu Ishak Efendi studied these matters through a method of question and answer. In explaining these subjects, he firstly provided verses from the Qur’an and then provided the hadiths, if any. Then he wrote down what the philosophers, Kalâm theologians, and sûfis said about the matter. And what is significant is that he did not provide any adverse remark while referencing such approaches of this group of three.We, recently, see more often the oral statements and approaches in this regard which signify that the philosophy of religion should be built upon its own resources and thinkers in the Islamic lands. The meaning of this excitement with regards to the philosophy of religion is more meaningful in specific terms. The problem, as often stated by the recent philosophers of religion, that we do not still have a unique philosophy of religion model despite we owe very rich, important classic and scientific works, is still under discussion. We hope that trying to understand what Ottoman scholars and thinkers remarked on such significant matters shall contribute to the project of “developing a unique philosophy of religion to us.”.
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In 1842 the British Consul of Morocco stated that as part of his government he is around to abolish the slavery permanently, and do everything in order to introduce the suppression of the slave trade measures. To this statement that was addressed to I. Abdul-Mejid (1823-1861) Sultan he replied the next: “The slave trade is a case in which from the time of Adam and sons to our days all religions, sects and nations have agreed…" Then he added “I do not know any single religion, sect that specifically forbade slavery, so there is no need to raise related issues. Such and similar questions lead both to too low and too lofty answers, although the phenomenon is such natural, as the sun rises.”Unfortunately, the Sultan’s today obsolete perception of abolition the slave trade contained legally founded statements. The institution of slavery actually existed since time immemorial in the ancient civilizations: in Asia Africa Europe and in America before Columbus. Accepted and even supported the Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other world religions.The institution officially survived in the Ottoman Empire until 1890 significantly longer than the transatlantic slave trade. In my essay I study the reason of this phenomenon, especially the slavery traditions of the Ottoman Empire, the religious and secular legal background comparing the most important features to the transatlantic slave trade and slavery.
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Between 1735 and 1881, Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina, except the ones from Trebinje- Mrkan Diocese, were organized in Apostolic Vicariate. During this period in Ottoman Bosnia, many priests and monks lost lives because of their faith. Two Franciscans and one Glagolitic priest themselves committed murders at that time. One was defending basic human dignity, the other two were under the infl uence of alcohol. As a result, they lost their jurisdictions as priests. Furthermore, multiple killings were committed by a prospective member of the Franciscan province of Bosnia Argentina.
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Stanisław Stachowski wrote a series of articles devoted to studies on the New Persian loanwords in Ottoman-Turkish, which were published in Folia Orientalia in the 1970s and later republished in 1998 as a single volume. Since then, however, a good number of editions of new Ottoman texts have appeared, especially transcription texts dating from before Meninski’s Thesaurus (1680), which provide much new lexical material. Within this material there are many Persianisms – predictably enough where Ottoman-Turkish is concerned. This paper aims to supplement Stachowski’s work with words of Persian origin taken from pre-Meninski transcription texts. It is divided into two parts, the first including data to be added to entries already recorded by Stachowski (eight articles), the second containing data that constitute new entries (three articles). A short historical-etymological note on the words dealt with also features at the end of each entry.
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Stanisław Stachowski wrote a series of articles devoted to studies on the New Persian loanwords in Ottoman-Turkish, which were published in Folia Orientalia in the 1970s and later republished in 1998 as a single volume. Since then, however, a good number of editions of new Ottoman texts have appeared, especially transcription texts dating from before Meninski’s Thesaurus (1680), which provide much new lexical material. Within this material there are many Persianisms – predictably enough where Ottoman-Turkish is concerned. This paper aims to supplement Stachowski’s work with words of Persian origin taken from pre-Meninski transcription texts. It is divided into two parts, the first including data to be added to entries already recorded by Stachowski (eight articles), the second containing data that constitute new entries (three articles). A short historical-etymological note on the words dealt with also features at the end of each entry.
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Kahire – Bağdat – İstanbul uç noktalı KABAİS ÜÇGENİ ve bu üçgeni çerçeveleyen KABAİS ÇEMBERİ kapsamındaki toprakların hassasiyeti ve odak noktası olan Kıbrıs adasının değerini birçok asker, diplomat, siyasi, iktisadi strateji uzmanı idrak edememiştir. Sadece 21. yüzyıl için değil aynı zamanda son dört yüzyıldır üç şehir üzerinde oyunlar oynanmaktadır. Bu üç şehir 19. yüzyıl sonlarına kadar Osmanlıların elindeydi. Dünyanın merkez ve en stratejik üçgeni olan bu üç şehir şu anda da Müslüman dünyasının elinde görünmektedir. Bu üç şehir, üç kıtanın en stratejik konumunda yer almaktadır. Bu üç kıta Afrika, Asya ve Avrupa’dır. Bu üç şehir ise Kahire, Bağdat ve İstanbul’dur. Her üç şehir de dünyanın en büyük medeniyetlerine başşehir olmuştur. Tarihteki çeşitli Türk Devletleri, bazı dönemlerde bu üç şehri kendilerine başkent yapmıştır.
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Ottoman language and literature had been a deep effects on Turkish Islamic eras. One example of this was literature and language of Crimean. The poetry is one of the examples to show that Crimean khans first of all related to the Ottomans from 1427 to 1783 not only economically but also literary. It is known that many khans of Crimea had written not only poetries but also made up divans under the impact of Ottoman poetry. Shahin Giray had gone further and wrote a kind of poem that not one example of it known in the Ottoman poetry called “gazel-i müdevver” by now (The circle lyric) that shows the most artifical side of Ottoman poetry. It is mentioned here about the contribution of crimean literature to the Ottoman literature in the context of Shahin Giray’s literary and historical identity. First of all the knowledges are reminded about Shahin Giray Khan of Crimean and his khanate, then worked on the Circle lyric of his.
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In the turbulent late 17th century, when the Ottoman state started to decline and lost a considerable part of its European possessions, the period of great wars ended with a peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire, Austria, and the Venetian Republic, signed in 1699 at Sremski Karlovci. The agreement was followed by the settling of borders and a result of this land division in the western and south-western areas of the Bosnian eyelet was an Ottoman list (1701) of all territories occupied by the Venetians that were to be returned to the Ottomans according to the said treaty. The list contains exceptionally valuable data, including notes on numerous Ottoman captives who mostly ended as rowers on the Venetian galleys. One of the most distinguished Ottoman officials at the time, Mehmed-pasha Atlagić, was the most important Venetian captive, which he remained until his death. There are several theories on his fate, mostly incorrect, and the data analysed here shed a new light on the topic.
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Plague in early modern Belgrade becomes a constant occurrence since the time of the Ottoman conquest. The biggest problem of the research of the plague epidemic in Belgrade is the lack of adequate historical sources, so the rhythm of its deadliness can not be determined with absolute certainty. In addition, this issue is burdened with lack of regular censuses taken by the Ottoman authorities during the 17th and 18th centuries, when the state had moved to a different system of levying taxes. The scale of the impact of the plague on the total population of Belgrade could therefore be only speculated. Important fact is that since the Great Turkish War, during all subsequent Ottoman-Austrian conflicts, plague seems unavoidable visitor of Belgrade. This is fully in line with the research, which showed that in the period from 1700 to 1850, the Ottoman northeastern border (which Belgrade belonged to) was affected by 23 plagues, which lasted for a total of 59 years. Unlike some parts of Europe, where it caused a collective hysteria, as a manifestation of the general misery and uncertainty, similar cases have not been recorded in Belgrade. The Ottoman state greatly lagged behind Europe in the implementation of sanitary regulations, so it was completely surpassed by Austria in the early modern era, as Austria had managed to finish the construction of a sanitary corridor towards the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century.
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“Reddiye”, which is derived from the word “redd” in Arabic, is described as a kind of text that is written for rejection of an idea. Furthermore, in Divan poetry, poems that are written for rejection of an idea in another poem are accepted as reddiye. Reddiyes are poems that should be considered in the nazire tradition of Divan poetry, since they are poems like “nakiza/ nakize”. As is well known, “nazire” means similar poem that is written for a poet’s poem with the same rhythm and rhyme. Nazire writing tradition, which is quite common among Divan poets, is also significant since it functions as a school that trains poets. The difference between nakiza and nazire is that in nakiza, there are opposite ideas, not similar, to ideas in the original poem. In reddiyes, it is also opposed to the ideas in the original poem, as in nakizas. However, the difference between reddiyes and nakizas is that reddiyes are the poems, which are written to oppose ideas about religion and worship. In this article, reddiye will be defined and its features will be determined by using the literature mentioned, and 17th century poet, Niyâzî-i Mısrî’s reddiye, which is written for 16th century poet, Fuzûlî’s “gazel” that is about his ideas on worship will be analyzed. To conclude, this article basically tries to explain “reddiye” writing tradition with gazel poem in Divan poetry by examining the poems in question.
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Literary criticism has always been based on the literary realm as well as the political realm since the Tanzimat period. The first feature of the literary criticism in the Ottoman-Turkish literature is the transformation of itself into a symbol of modernization. Still another feature is that “formal/objective criticism” has not been well established as a critical approach for a long time. Literary texts, therefore, have been usually evaluated on the basis of personal judgements rather than objective theoretical criteria. The critics on Divan poetry seem to be an area where boundaries between the literary and political realms are the most blurred. The source of devaluing judgements, which have been repeated since the Tanzimat period and turned into stereotypical expressions, on Divan poetry are mostly shaped by these two features of literary criticism. To define, however, the position of Divan poetry not only in the Ottoman-Turkish but also in the world literature in a rightful way, it is necessary to foster “formal/objective criticism” in the field of literary criticism.
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In this article the literary works of Konstantin Leontiev about the Eastern studies with point of view of mutual Turkish-Greek relations have been analyzed. Konstantin Leontiev (1831-1891) is one of the famous and many-sided Russian intellectuals of the XIX century: he is a diplomat, philosopher, writer, literary critic and political journalist. His works offer very interesting material and knowledge on the history of Ottoman Empire as well as on nations inhabiting these territories. Konstantin Leontiev lived in Turkey during the period of 1863-1874, when he worked for the Russian diplomatic service in the Ottoman Empire. He served as a consul in Crete, Adrianople, Tulcea, Ioannina, Salonika. In 1872-73 he lived in Constantinople and the Princes Islands. However, not only the call of duty but his true and genuine affection bound K.Leontiev to Turkish lands and people. His intimate knowledge of the East has influenced deeply K. Leontiev literature and resulted in creation of many works. It is during this time that he wrote his famous oriental stories, which were published as a separate book entitled “From the lives of Christians in Turkey”. The Philosophical works and literary heritage of Konstantin Leontiev have been quite an important interest for Turkey and Turkish society as well. A very good knowledge of Muslim religion and culture has profound influence on the religious vision of K. Leontiev, who has revealed a tolerance and respect for religion. Characters of Konstantin Leontiev’s works reflects perfectly very different and difficult lives of Turks and Greeks of this period. He succeeds in creation of very bright picture representing their traditions and daily lifestyle, ethical and family values, political and religious views. Thus, in these works the author has presented a broad epic painting portraying the fate and history of these two nations living together for many years.
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Ulcinj je imao sve uslove za razvitak pomorstva: iskusno ljudstvo za posadu, okolinu bogatu šumama i organizovanu proizvodnju materjala za izgradnju brodova. Ulcinjani su još u 14. v. bili glavni snabdjevači drvetom Dubrovnika i Ankone.1 Navodi se da se ono utovarivalo na dubrovačke brodove u zoni Bojane, pa i od njenog ušća do Ulcinja, na primjer i „ad portum Algirani“ (iz luke Đerani).
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Buhurizade Mustafa Itri Efendi, is one of the most interesting musical personalities of XVII century Ottoman musical scene, which can be identified as the last era to be culturally connected to the roots of the Ottoman Musical Tradition. Itri received significance as a “master”, by both being “well known” as the composer of important religious music examples of the Islamic World like “Segah Tekbir and Salat-ı Ümmiye”, and being named as a “great composer” due to his musical power that had affected the following generations. But, the details of the “process”-that should b related to the above characters of Itri- by which he had been dignified with the attribute “great” is not yet clear. The research about these details will be only possible with a comparative survey of the practical-theoretical musical works of the period with other sources of art produced in the same era. The first step of such a research should be based on the clues about the life story of Itri which could strongly identify the social relations underlying the musical productions of the period. This step also should require a survey on musical productions of these centuries supported by parallel researches on areas like history, literature as well. The second step should be consisted of a comparative survey of the theoretical and practical musical sources. The works named as ‘theoretical’ are hand written books called “edvar (cycles)”, whereas the practical works are the compositions attributed to Itri which are written in the musical notations of different periods. Such a comparative survey within the light of the social history will be able to produce the seeds of a study indicating the technical effects of Itri and his “school” to the Ottoman musical tradition. The aim of the current study is to build the initial blocks for such an extensive study, by an analytic survey about the music of the XVII-XVIII centuries by putting the name of Itri in the scope. Such studies will not only help in identifying the musical choices accompanying the period so called the “summit” of the Ottoman musical tradition, but also will possibly to assist to expose the “social causes” affecting these choices.
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Nije moguće govoriti o društvima Balkana a da ne bude prihvaćena činjenica da su ona religijski pluralna u ukupnosti svojih trajanja. Religijska pluralnost je u osnovi svih značajnijih civilizacijskih postignuća balkanskih naroda, i svih stradanja nastalih kao posljedice sukoba njihovih unutarnjih sadržaja te sukoba s njihovim vanjskim drugim. Postoje različiti kognitivni okviri tumačenja religijske pluralnosti u prošlosti i u ovom dobu. Kako su nastale sadašnje slike religijske pluralnosti? Kako ih je moguće primijeniti na konstrukcije nacijskih historija? Da li su naslijeđa religijske pluralnosti u modernim zamislima balkanskih nacija mogući podsticaj reartikuliranju političke filozofije u traganju za tolerantnim i harmoničnim odnosima među pojedincima i narodima? Koji su izvori tolerancije u pluralnim društvima i šta su kognitivne ponude tradicijske intelektualnosti? Tim pitanjima i mogućim odgovorima na njih autor se bavi u okvirima istraživačkih iskustava u razumijevanju sakralnih tekstova, novih artikulacija perenijalne filozofije i afirmacije tradicijskih sinteza metafizički zasnovanih religijskih i nereligijskih učenja.
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M. Mazower započinje svoju knjigu Balkan ovim riječima: „Potkraj dvadesetog stoljeća govorilo se kao da Balkan postoj oduvijek. Dvjesta godina prije toga taj pojam nije još ni postojao. Osmanlije nisu vladale Balkanom nego „Rumelijom“, nekadašnjim „rimskim“ zemljama koje su osvojili od Bizantinaca.“1 U drugoj polovini 19. stoljeća Balkan je bio potcijenjen predmet na koji su se pridodavale demonizirajuće etikete pomoću kojih se gradio arsenal evropskih predrasuda o drugom i drugačijem. Najjači stereotip o Balkanu bio je onaj o civilizacijskoj drugosti, drugobitnosti, zaostalosti i primitivnosti. A spram njega Evropa je bila prostor blagostanja, prosvjetljenosti, napretka i slobode. U ovoj crnobijeloj shemi istina je bila potisnuta ideološkim diskursom i služila je za ostvarenje dominacije i kontrole nad prostorom jugoistočne Evrope od strane evropskih sila tog vremena.2 Osmansko carstvo bilo je na izdisaju i iza njega su ostajali užasi stradanja za narode koji su prihvatili islamsku vjeru. Njihovi prvi hrišćanski i kršćanski susjedi nazivali su ih Turcima, poturčenjacima ili muhamedancima, reducirajući ih na taj način na nešto drugo od njihovog bošnjačkog, albanskog, crnogorskog ili nekog drugog etničkog bića kojem su doista pripadali.
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There is a real assumption that Dervishes came to our lands before the Ottomans did, and simultaneously with the expansion of the Ottoman state and civilization (end of XIV and the beginning XV century) had a big role in the development of Islamic and Oriental cultural flow and the comprehensive process of formation of the first urban habitats. The Dervishes have a long tradition in Sandžak. The first information about Dervishes and their tariqas were brought by the Sufi nucleuses in certain centers on the Balkan Peninsula (Sofia, Salonika, Skopje, Tetovo, Prizren, Đakovica, Mostar, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Užice etc). The appearance of the Naqshbandi, Havleti, Qaderi, Rufai, Bektashi, Mevlevi, Hamzevi and other orders initiated the strengthening of the whole religious atmosphere among certain populations, making a special accent on a new, ascetic way of life. Sandžak became a solid terrain for the expansion of such a new civilizational trend-the world of Sufism which had a huge impact for a long time afterwards. The work is made on basis of researches made on original archive material, authentic records from the terrain, available literature and unpublished collections of certain Dervish doyens in Novi Pazar, Rožaje, Bijelo Polje, Pljevlja, Priboj, Prijepolje, Sjenica and some rural locations. The strong influence of Sufism was spreading through Sandžak from Ottoman Užice where many great poets and ulemas originated. Leaders of various Dervish tariqas in Sandžak have left significant resources of prose with theological, philosophical and mystical content which are of invaluable price for researching history and culture of living of the populace of Dervishes in our countries.
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