Balkan Studies

The Greco-Ottoman War of 1897 has created a collective national trauma for Greeks on account of the supposed magnitude of the defeat, feelings of "national shame and humiliation," and a perceived sense of damage to Greek national interests. Scholarship has not paid sufficient attention to this event, which by and large remains in the shadows of history.

Imperial Refuge revisits late Ottoman history through the lens of migration, holding the resettlement of Muslim refugees as critical to the making of the modern Balkans, Turkey, and the Levant. In the half-century before World War I, about one million Muslims from Russia's North Caucasus region arrived in the Ottoman Empire. Most of them came as refugees fleeing war and persecution. This dissertation investigates the political economy of refugee resettlement in the Ottoman provinces of Danube, Sivas, and Damascus and traces refugee networks throughout the empire and beyond. The ability of refugees to tap into local economies underpinned Ottoman regional and imperial stability. State support, whether in financial aid, legal infrastructure, or transportation, was paramount to the economic success of agricultural refugee settlements. In the northern Balkans, for example, insufficient state subsidies and scarcity of land for refugees contributed to the outbreak of Muslim-Christian clashes and then to the 1877-78 Russo-Ottoman War, which ultimately ejected the Ottomans from much of the Balkans. In central Anatolia, a lack of state investment hindered the development of refugee villages, which led to economic stagnation of the region. In contrast, in the Levant, Circassian and Chechen refugees took advantage of the state-built Hejaz Railway and land reforms to create booming settlements. The refugees founded three of the four largest cities in modern Jordan, including the capital city of Amman. This bottom-up history of refugee migration and resettlement is based on archival materials from Turkey, Jordan, Bulgaria, Russia, Georgia, and the United Kingdom, including previously unknown private letters and refugee petitions.

Winner, 2018 World History Association Dissertation Prize for the best dissertation in world, global, or transnational history

Honorable Mention, 2019 Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award in the Social Sciences, Middle East Studies Association

Book Review of František Šistek, Naša braća na jugu. Češke predstave o Crnoj Gori i Crnogorcima 1830-2006. Cetinje-Podgorica: Matica crnogorska, 2009, 304 pgs.

REFERENCE: Mensur Ramulj: František Šistek, Naša braća na jugu (Češke predstave o Crnoj Gori i Crnogorcima 1830-2006), In: Prilozi (Sarajevo), nr. 40, 2011, pp. 415-417.

This paper discusses three major political biographies published recently in Bosnia and Herzegovina about Mehmed Spaho, Džemal Bijedić and Alija Izetbegović. Author analyses their methodological approaches, sources, narratives and impact by combining his own views with critiques published in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad. By such an approach author offers latest insight into modern Bosnian historiography.

The aim of the paper is to explore whether contemporary Russian Federation has imaginations of its power in the region of the Central and Eastern Europe. Using a theoretical framework based on instruments, notions and tools of critical geopolitics, this paper discusses four discourses that define the territory which is the focus of the research, as well as stressing the most important concepts of contemporary foreign policy of the Russian Federation. Due to the strong influence of NATO’s (and the EU’s) enlargement policies in this region, the Russian administration tries to preserve its traditional geopolitical sphere of interest in the European continent. Therefore, three sub-regional case studies— annexation of Crimea in the Eastern
Europe, the Three Seas Initiative in the Central Europe, and Western Balkan’s case study of Montenegro’s path to full NATO membership—will be explored to examine this hypothesis. Finally, adequate conclusion, regarding the main hypothesis, is brought.

Bu çalışmada, 1. Aleksandr dönemi (1821-1825) Rusya'nın Balkan politikasıincelendi. Bu amaçla, Fransa'nın Adriyatik denizinde nüfuz kurması, Yedi Ada Cumhuriyeti, Sırp isyanı, 1806-1812 Osmanlı-Rus savaşı ve 1821 Rum isyanı Balkanları ilgilendiren başlıca gelişmeler olarak dikkate alınıp, ortaya konuldu. Çalışmada Rusya'yı Balkanlar yönünde politik ve askeri olarak harekete geçiren unsurlara yer verildi. Bu bağlamda Rusya'nın geleneksel dış politikası dikkate alındığı gibi Avusturya, Fransa ve İngiltere'yle Balkanlardaki nüfuz mücadelesine değinildi. Osmanlı Devletinin içinde bulunduğu olumsuz koşulların Balkanlarda sosyo-politik hareketliliğin artmasına zemin hazırladığına vurgu yapıldı. Çalışmada, Rusya yönetiminin, Rusya içinde Balkan kökenli asker-bürokrat kişilerin ve Balkan halkları içinden liderlerin birbirlerini kendi politikalarına uygun nasıl yönlendirmeye çafıştıkları incelendi. Bu bağlamda Balkanlar konusunda Rusya ve Balkanlar içinden önerilen projelere yer verildi. Sonuçta 1. Aleksandr dönemi Rusyası, askeri ve diplomatik gayretleriyle Balkanlar bölgesinde etkin ve nüfuz sahibi devletlerden biri haline geldiği tespit edildi.

Balkanistics vs. Indology: The Etymologization of Slang Words
In the following essay, we trace the Romani origin and the Indo-Iranian etymology of some Balkan slang words (derived from the Romani roots čor- and mang-), focusing on the Romanian and the Bulgarian language.
After looking into the derivational productivity and the semantic content of the slang words, we try to compare the results with the word-history, semantic content, derivational productivity and word-formation processes of their cognate words in the modern Indo-Aryan language Hindī.
Keywords: Etymology, Balkan linguistics, Indology, Romani language, Slang words, Romanian language, Bulgarian language􏰮􏰧􏰩􏰱 􏰯􏰭􏰦􏰴􏰤􏰙 􏰌􏰭􏰳􏰧􏰩􏰰􏰧􏰩 􏰮􏰧􏰩􏰱􏰹􏰧􏰱􏰫􏰙 􏰈􏰹􏰮􏰱􏰧􏰦􏰰􏰧􏰩 􏰮􏰧􏰩􏰱􏰹􏰧􏰱􏰫

Balkan Wars is an important milestone in terms of modern Turkey's process of establishment with the last period of the Ottoman Empire. The centuries-long domination of the Turks in the Balkan geography dates back to the period of Atilla. Ottoman domination, which started in the 14th century in the region, continued until the 20th century, regardless of the distinction between religion and nationality. In addition to those who belong to Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions in the Balkan region, the Ottoman state, with its fair and peaceful policies; has managed different nations such as Turkish, Bosnian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Greek and Croatian together for centuries in an environment of peace and order. However, in the last period of the Ottoman State, the atmosphere of peace that has been going on for centuries in the Balkans has begun to disappear. This article, by benefiting from the information mentioned above, in the birth of modern Turkey's process of persecution faced by Muslims living in the Balkans and Turkey and is intended to express unfavorable conditions.
Key Words: Political psychology, Balkan Turks, Ethnic conflicts, Religious conflicts, Balkan wars.

The International scientific symposium "Days of Justinian I" is an annual interdisciplinary scholarly forum aimed at the presentation of the latest research followed by discussions on various aspects of Byzantine and Medieval Studies before 1500; this includes the treatment and interpretation of cultural, historical and spiritual heritage in contemporary modern Europe. The Symposium is dedicated to Emperor Justinian I with the aim to bring together scholars from around the world to address a broad range of issues related to Byzantium and the European Middle Ages, comprising the exploration of the cultural and historical legacy as an integrative component of the diversities and commonalities of Unified Europe.

This year the special thematic strand Religion aims to incite scholarly debate about the different concepts of religion in Byzantium and Medieval Western Europe. Being an essential component of the Byzantine and Medieval Western World, the religion has shaped the identity of the individuals, communities, polities, acting as a factor of division and unification. Various questions will be raised in examining the profound role of the religion in historical processes, political and cultural transformations, that transcended boundaries and time. As an inspirational model for the literary, architectural, artistic works, the religion will be also observed as an intermediate expression of the past traditions, the system of networks, values, beliefs and practices.

The Symposium will address wide range of conceptional issues in exploring the phenomena of religion and religious controversies in Eastern Roman Empire and Medieval Western Europe. This will include the perspectives of the religion as a function of culture and belonging, its role in defining and constructing the identities, the exclusion and inclusion, conversion and defiance, violence and tolerance, militarization and waging “sacred” wars, relationship with the nations, the heritage of Europe.