Ottoman Empire Research Articles

Was the interest burden of the Ottoman public debt sustainable? A cliometric analysis

Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine whether the Ottoman Empire’s net interest payments and foreign debt were sustainable or not in terms of their burden on budget revenues, using the method of historical econometric analysis. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the period between 1847 and 1882 of the Ottoman Empire is analyzed for sustainability analysis. Within the framework of the study, unit root tests and econometric analysis methods frequently used in the literature were used to analyze the sustainability of public debt. In the econometric analysis, in addition to various unit root tests, current econometric analysis methods, in particular Fourier expansion, were also used. Findings The results of econometric analyses showed that the burden of interest payments and foreign debt on the budget of the Ottoman state was unsustainable. This situation clearly shows the reason for the official bankruptcy of the Ottoman Empire, which was declared in 1875. Practical implications Although this study reveals the bankruptcy process of an important structure such as the Ottoman Empire in the historical process through econometric analyses, it also gives a very important message to today’s states. Accordingly, today’s state policies and decision-making mechanisms should take these results into account and strive to make the burden of public interest payments sustainable. It is believed that the study will shed light on the public finance policies of today’s states by drawing lessons from the collapse process of the Ottoman state. Originality/value Unlike the historical assessments in the literature on the decline of the Ottoman Empire, this study presents a cliometric approach by applying current econometric analysis techniques to past historical data. The study explains the unsustainability of the Ottoman Empire’s interest payments and external debt burden in the period under consideration in a way that, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has not been done before.

Antiquities in exile: Ottoman Greek refugees’ trauma and Ionian antiquities

Abstract This article contributes to our understanding of the links between forced exile, refugee trauma, and antiquities. It zooms in to the case of the Ottoman Greek refugees who fled to Greece in the wake of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the defeat of the Greek army by the Turkish National Movement forces in 1922. It critically discusses memories of ordinary people from Lithri (ancient Erythrai, modern-day Ildırı), Nymphaio (near ancient Sardeis, modern-day Kemalpaşa), and Ayasolouk (ancient Ephesus, modern-day Selçuk). It also looks at aspects of the literary world of Smyrna-born poet and Nobel Laureate George Seferis. It is argued that, for these refugees, antiquities served as conduits, symbols, metaphors, and allegories for expressing the trauma linked to their state of uprootedness and forced exile. The refugees in question employed reverse “rescue archaeologies,” where it was for antiquities to salvage refugees rather than the other way round. The main primary material consulted consists of refugee testimonies from the Oral Tradition Archive of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies and Seferis’s diary. The approach is interdisciplinary and, besides Ottoman Greek history, draws on cultural geography, anthropology, archaeology as well as broader discussions in memory studies and critical heritage studies.

An Orient of One’s Own: Music and Islamic Modernism in the Late Ottoman Empire

Abstract During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Muslim intellectuals sought to articulate new forms of Islamic thought and practice that would be suitable for the modern world. Islamic modernist movements drew on concepts of civilization, progress and science that were integral to European imperialism while also constituting a critical response to the latter. In this essay, I examine the views of prominent Ottoman Muslim reformists concerning music, and situate them within a transnational debate about Islam and modernity. While the views of earlier reformers were shaped by Eurocentric notions of musical progress, an oppositional discourse emerged at the end of the nineteenth century. This discourse, associated especially with Rauf Yekta (1871–1935), appropriated the idea of ‘the Orient’ in order to establish a pan-Islamic narrative of music history, which also emphasized the scientific aspects of Islamicate music theory. In the final part of the essay, I discuss how debates about musical reform were related to the political dynamics of the late Ottoman Empire, particularly in terms of religious and ethnic identity. In conclusion, I argue that the discursive categories of the late nineteenth century continue to underly music historiographies both in the West and in other places, precisely as a consequence of the global connections that emerged during this period. In order to write more ‘global’ histories of music, it is therefore necessary to move beyond the analysis of Western colonialist representations by engaging more closely with non-European sources and discourses, which reveal more entangled and ambivalent stories about music, empire and modernity.

‘The Red Sea is the key to the Mediterranean’. The Italo-Ottoman war and the Red Sea region (1911–1912)

ABSTRACT This article examines the relationship between the Italo-Ottoman War of 1911–1912 and the Red Sea region. Italy, having failed to obtain a decisive victory in battle, decided in late 1911 to pressure the Ottoman Empire by extending the conflict to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea. While scholars have focused mainly on the conquest of Rhodes and the Dodecanese islands, this article maintains that greater attention needs to be paid to the involvement of the Red Sea area in operations in Libya. It was from this region that the tens of thousands of askaris were recruited, contributing over the years to shifting the balance in combat, and it was also from this region that attempts were made to get the support of some brotherhoods linked to the teachings of Sheykh Aḥmad Ibn Idrīs in a vain attempt to convince the Sanūsī order to de-escalate resistance. Consequently, this work looks at the Italian-Ottoman War also from the angle of its intense, dynamic link with the Red Sea region.

The Waqf of Nûrî Bimaristan in Aleppo in the Mid-16th Century

Aleppo, one of the most important industrial and commercial centres of the Middle East, has been home to many civilisations, and especially during Zangid, Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman periods, many waqf works were built in the city and offered to the public. One of these buildings, the Bimaristan of Nūrī, was built by Nūr al-Dīn Mahmud, one of the Zangid rulers in Aleppo. This hospital was known as the Bimaristan of Nurī or the Bimaristan of Nūr al-Dīn Şehīd in relation to its founder, and it was also known as “Bīmāristan-ı ‘Atīq” because a second bimaristan named Ergûn Kâmil was built in the city later. In this waqf bimaristan in Aleppo, patients were treated free of charge and their medicines were provided from the waqf budget. In this distinguished health institution, where mental patients were also treated, many physicians were trained in order to meet the need for future physicians.
 In this study, after providing information about bimaristans in general, the Bimaristan of Nūrī and its founder Nūr al-Dīn Zangi, the waqf assets of the Bimaristan of Nūrī and their income amounts in the Mid-16th century, the waqf and hospital staff, their salaries and other expense items of the waqf are emphasised. The main sources of this study, which aims to reveal the importance of bimaristans in general and the Bimaristan of Nūrī in Aleppo in particular in terms of the history of medicine and architecture and its operating model, are the Aleppo awqaf registers in various funds with waqfs records in the Ottoman Archives of the Presidency of State Archives.

Political Islam: Postscript

The article gives a detailed theological and linguistic analysis of the term “pan-Islamism” in its connection with the concepts of “Muslim union”, “Islamic solidarity”, “political Islam”, etc. Moreover, the paper analyzes the false and dangerous dualistic ideology of sects of political Islam with a rigid division of the world into “we” and “they”, “the world of Islam” and “the world of Jahiliyyah” with the announcement of all those who are not part of the party of political Islam, the “ignoramus” (who are in Jahiliyyah) and pagans. The research also considers the concept of the relationship between religious, ethnic and national in Islam, the concept of a modern nation-state, as it is formed in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The article deals with the reaction of apologists of political Islam to the monograph by V. S. Poloshin “Political Islam: in search of an “earthly paradise””, in particular, the review by D. R. Gilmutdinov. The review is based on an incorrect, expansive definition of the subject of the study of the monograph, it has no signs of scientific argument. It is replete with distorted citation of the peer-reviewed text and logical errors. In a meaningful plan, D. Gilmutdinov supports the binary opposition: “we are them” inherent in the ideology of representatives of political Islam. The article considers the circumstances of the declaration by the Ottoman Empire of the “jihad” against the Russian Empire in 1914 and the introduction of pan-Islamism in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as the tendency to reconstruct this expansion 100 years after the “fatwas” of the Ottoman Sheikh-ul-Islam Khairi Efendi.

Nogai muhajirism to the Ottoman empire during the Caucasian war

This article is devoted to tragic circumstances of the major Nogai migration to the Ottoman Empire in the end of the Caucasian war. The first part says about the term “hijra”, its meaning, conditions and other characteristics according to the Quran. Then it comes to the historic context of this event, the political position of Nogai in this period. Particular attention is paid to the economic, political and religious causes of the nomads’ relocation which are not dictated by just the result of the war given their minor participation in the military operations. The author made an attempt to consider theological justification of the terms “hijra” and “muhajirism” as well as their appropriate usage in Russian historical science.

Ahmed Cevdet Pasha’s Printed Quranic Manuscript in the Ottoman Empire: a Critical Study

Abstract This article discusses a discovery made by the author involving the wrong manuscript of calligrapher Şekerzâde being printed by the Ottoman Empire. It was initially illegal to sell printed copies of the Qurʾan in Ottoman lands, as cutting letters of the verses was deemed disrespectful. After foreign-printed copies began circulating, the position of the Ottoman government was forced to change. Thereby, the Ministry of Education, led by Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, was commissioned to produce a printed Qurʾan. However, the governmental body accidentally printed a manuscript that Şekerzâde wrote in Istanbul, while indicating it was the Qurʾan he wrote in Medina. Through careful examination, including translations of the inscriptions, this error was noticed for the first time. This paper presents an introduction to Ottoman reverence for the Qurʾan, a history of the printing process, background information of Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, and evidence regarding the mistake made when printing the manuscript.

Imagined Musical Geographies in a Global Age: Views from Jodhpur, Istanbul and Buenos Aires, c. 1870–1930

Abstract This collection of papers explores the intellectual history of music in global context during the period between around 1870 and 1930. Following an introduction that discusses the state of the field, each of the three papers presents a case study that explores the intersection between music and global history from diverse perspectives. The first paper discusses a Hindi music treatise published in 1896. By situating this work within multiple ‘significant geographies’, the paper highlights the limitations of ‘global’ approaches that neglect the more immediate musical, social and intellectual environments of their subjects. The second paper analyses the intersection between music and Islamic modernism in the late Ottoman Empire. It argues that a Eurocentric understanding of music history propagated by earlier reformists was succeeded at the end of the nineteenth century by an oppositional narrative that drew on the geopolitical imaginary of pan-Islamism. The final paper discusses the work of the Argentine composer Alberto Williams, particularly in relation to his views on race and national music. The paper demonstrates how contemporary scientific theories such as positivism and Social Darwinism contributed to a narrative of national musical development that created hierarchies of musical genres and excluded Argentine composers of African descent.

Correlation Between Tax Rates and Tax Revenues in the Ottoman Empire in Respect to Laffer Theorem as Applied to Raki and Wine Figures (1792-1839)

This study aims to calculate the relationship between tax rates and revenues of wine and raki coming to Istanbul for consumption from different regions of the Ottoman Empire in the period 1792-1839 with the T Test and interpret it according to the Laffer theorem. The main question of the study can be formulated as what kind of change did the increases in the tax rates of wine and raki in 1810, 1822 and 1831 cause in the tax revenue of these goods. This question can also be expressed as whether the Ottoman Empire should or should not increase the tax rates of wine and raki in order to increase tax revenue. In order to achieve this goal and resolve the question, the tax revenues of the period 1792-1839 were obtained from the financial records in various funds of the Presidential Ottoman Archives (BOA) and the changes in these revenues with the change in tax rates were calculated with the T Test. The results of the test will show, according to the Laffer Theorem, whether the Ottoman Empire increased the tax rates of wine and raki, causing an increase or decrease in the tax revenues of these goods, that is, whether the tax rates were above or below the optimum tax rate. The possible result expected to be obtained from this study is that the increase in the tax rates of raki and wine in the Ottoman Empire did not cause an increase in tax revenue, but on the contrary, a decrease. In other words, it can be said that the tax rate increases in these two goods in the Ottoman Empire fell behind the price increases.

“Olen su sõbra sõber ja su vaenlase vaenlane” – Vene riigi ja Krimmi khaaniriigi diplomaatilised suhted Ivan Julma valitsemisajal

The Russo-Turkish stand-off, which began under Ivan IV the Terrible, was largely motivated by the rising imperialism and ambitions of Muscovy, which the no less ambitious Ottoman sultans, who in turn were expanding their Ottoman Empire, wished to oppose in order to maintain and extend their influence also in the Black Sea, Caspian regions and the Caucasus, where Russian troops were slowly ‘infiltrating’ and to which Moscow’s foreign policy was also increasingly turning its attention. Tsar Ivan IV conquered and destroyed all the Tatar states (including Astrakhan, Kazan, the Siberian Khanate, the Nogai Horde), with the exception of Moscow, which was increasingly subjected to the Russian occupation. Although he eventually achieved military supremacy over Crimea, Ivan IV was unable to subdue Crimean Khanate. In order for Crimea to survive, the Crimean Khan had to accept in the 1580s that Crimea, already formally a vassal of the Ottomans since 1474/1475, would become even more dependent on the Ottoman Empire. This article examines Ivan the Terrible’s eastern policy ambitions, as well as Muscovy’s relations with the khanates, especially the Khan of Crimea, and the diplomatic correspondence between the rulers (the Khan of Crimea and Ivan IV). In addition to excerpts from the letters of the various khans and the Russian tsar’s replies, we present commented translation into Estonian of a letter of 1572 from the Crimean khan Devlet-Girei to Ivan the Terrible, about a year after his raid on Moscow and just after the Battle of Molodi in the summer of 1572. More recently, the history of Russo-Tatar-Turkish relations has shown that the existence of the Crimean Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries depended to a large extent on the support of the Turkish Sultan, and that eventually, after a series of Russo-Turkish wars (often involving Crimea), the Russian Empire absorbed the Crimean Khanate. Admittedly, this took place 200 years after the death of Ivan IV, in 1783, when the Russian Empire was ruled by Catherine II. However, it was Ivan IV who laid the foundations for the conquest of the Tatar lands, and this was only the first episode in a series of Russian-Turkish wars and the Russian-Turkish confrontation, which in fact continues to some extent to this day.

The Role of Artisans in the Circumcision Festival of 1675 During the Reign of Sultan Mehmed IV

In 1675, the Ottoman state held an imperial festival (sur-ı hümayun) in Edirne to celebrate the military achievements, the circumcision of the sons of Sultan Mehmed IV (r. 1648-1687) and the marriage of his daughter. Drawing from seventeenthcentury official and non-official sources concerning the festival, this essay focuses mainly on the role of the artisans. It shows how the practices of the artisans at the festival resembled those of the army artisans who, too, paraded at the initial stage of the military campaigns. However, rather than the mere theatrical aspects of the guilds’ pageantry, it emphasizes other yet multiple functions of the artisans. In particular, showing the role of the Istanbul and Edirne guilds in front of and behind the stage, this essay argues that they not only benefited from participating in such events but also bore their burdens as they provided various services, labor, and funding. In this regard, it also pays attention to the other side of the coin where not only artisans but also other actors were involved. To this end, after a brief introduction, this essay focuses on the day-to-day parades of the artisans, the practices of gift-giving, the burdens and benefits of the festival for the different classes, and finally its military tone by considering the actively involved artisans and their auxiliaries.

From Ottoman Outreach to Modern Connections: Türkiye-Malaysia Relations

Southeast Asia was known to the classical Islamic world as a region of trade and burgeoning local Muslim communities from the earliest decades of the Islamic era. By the 16th century direct diplomatic connections were established between the local communities and the Ottoman Caliphate and this significant historical relationship is crucial for understanding the dynamics between the Western and Eastern Islamic worlds. Relations persisted until the First World War, after which the Republic of Türkiye emerged as the successor to the Ottoman Empire and interactions were more limited until Malaysia’s independence in 1957, after which a new phase of relations began, and by the 1990s, the relationship between Malaysia and Türkiye had rebounded. This study aims to explore the historical and contemporary relations between Turks and Malays based on primary sources, including Ottoman and Turkish archives, as well as Bahasa Melayu and English materials.

Чеченцы и ингуши в Османской империи во второй половине XIX в.: процессы эмиграции и реэмиграции

The mountain peoples of the North Caucasus were forced to relocate to the Ottoman Empire in the mid-19th century as a result of the Russian Empire's deliberate strategy. The High Porte was also highly interested in relocating the highlanders to its domain. The article examines the process of Chechen and Ingush return to their homeland from the Ottoman Empire. The author focuses on the difficulties encountered by the re-emigrants, describ-ing the ways the highlanders resettled back home. In spite of the fact that resettlement flows con-tinued throughout the 1860s. The active phase of Chechen and Ingush emigration took place in 1865. Statistical data shows that the process of Chechen and Ingush return to their homeland was not widespread because there were no organized activities on the part of the Ottoman and Russian empires. Overall, it was a rather piecemeal, chaotic and spontaneous process that lasted through-out the 19th century. Some highlanders still managed to return to their former places of residence; others were settled in remote regions of the Russian Empire. However, many were forbidden to return to their homeland. In addition, the position of the official authorities of the two countries was quite clear – their return was undesirable. Those who remained in the Ottoman Empire subse-quently formed the basis of today's Vainakh diasporas in Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. The study is based on materials from the Russian archives.

Северокавказцы в Османской империи до эпохи мухаджирства: формы проникновения и особенности интеграции/элитизации

The article is based on both published and unpublished Turkish sources and modern, mainly for-eign, historiography, examines the ways and channels of the early (pre-muhajir) penetration of ethnic North Caucasians into the Ottoman Empire and the features of their integration into local society. Particular attention is paid to elucidating the factors and mechanisms of the formation, reproduction and functioning of the Caucasian (Circassian, Abkhaz, West Georgian, Daghestani) elite groups and strata of slave and non-slave origin and their place in the structure of state power and social life of the Ottoman Empire in the classical and postclassical periods of its history. An attempt was made to examine the nature of this community’s ethnonational identity, which demonstrated a certain resistance to assimilation as well as the potential to maintain some aspects of its original cultural profile for an extended period of time. The involvement of Istanbul’s “Cir-cassian” elites in developing and implementing the Porte’s Caucasian policy, as well as launching the enormous exodus of highlanders from the Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire in the mid-19th century, appears insignificant.

Source Analysis of Turkism in the Balkan Languages

The connection of Turkic tribes with the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula has a long history. With the conquest of the Ottoman Empire, the influence of the Turks on the countries living in the Balkan region increased, and this situation led to significant changes for the Balkan peoples. Words of Turkic origin in the Balkan languages became the basis for the study of Turkic influence in the Balkans. Researchers should first of all determine from which language Turkic vocabulary was introduced. The term “Orientalism” is widely used by linguists to define words and phrases from any Eastern language (Turkish, Arabic, Persian). First, since orientalism entered the Balkan languages through the Ottoman Turkish language, which was spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire and its territories, many researchers used the term “Turkism” to denote the characteristics of the way of life of the eastern countries. When linguists of the XVIIIXIX centuries defined the term “Turkism”, they relied on a small number and insufficient information about the origin of Eastern words. The purpose of this study is to make a detailed description and detailed analysis of the words that have entered the Turkic language in the Balkan languages. The research focuses on Romanian, Serbian, and Albanian languages, where the most Turkic words can be found.

Turkish folk songs in Greek musical collections of the late Ottoman era

During the late Ottoman period, there was a great deal of interest in folk culture. After all, this was a period when the various ethno-religious communities of the Ottoman Empire began to form national states, such as Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Serbia. At the same time, the Ottoman state turned its attention to the Turkish people and began to shape the Turkish national identity in order to create a sense of unity among the Turkish-speaking Muslim community. In this effort to cultivate the national identity of the people, religion and folk culture were fully exploited. This study examines the musical collections published by the Greek Orthodox Christian community of the Ottoman Empire, specifically the Efterpi (1830), Pandora (1843), Mecmua-yı Makamat (1856 & 1872-1873), Kallifonos Sirin (1859 & 1888) and Music Journal (1896) editions. These collections were printed in Istanbul and addressed to Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians. They consist mainly of Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical music, Greek secular music, and some Greek folk songs. Interestingly, the collections additionally include Ottoman music and Turkish folk music. It should be noted that the main language of the collections is Greek, and some Karamanlidika, and the musical transcriptions have been written down in Byzantine notation. This paper presents data on these transcriptions. The songs are transnotated from Byzantine notation to Turkish staff notation. 3 of these transnotations are presented here. After this process, different results are obtained regarding the way the songs were transcribed by the Rum musicians in comparison to their transcriptions by Turkish musicians of a later period.

Pitfalls of Sovereignty: Romanian State Building on the Eve of Independence from the Ottoman Empire

ABSTRACT The present article explores the trials and tribulations of the Romanian state in building viable institutions and acquiring independence in the latter half of the 19th century. Starting from a flurry of diplomatic exchanges on the eve of the Russian-Turkish war (1877–1878), which were aimed at securing experienced General Staff officers for the young Romanian army, this article shows how intimately interconnected the domestic and international dimensions of state building were for such fledgling states and explores the inversely proportional relationship between Krasner’s notions of sovereignty – legal-international and Westphalian. The article thus proposes a more institutional-oriented approach to state building in South-Eastern Europe and seeks to bring the state and the pragmatics of its creation back into a discussion of independence and sovereignty in the region.

The Mudros Armistice. The Armenian Question and British Diplomacy

The Ottoman Empire came out of World War I defeated. The representative of Great Britain signed the armistice agreement with the Turks in the port of Mudros on the Greek island of Lemnos. With that, the Turks were subject to capitulation. The terms of the Mudros armistice also had an impact on the Armenian Question. During the war, the Turks organized the Armenian Genocide and the Armenian territories under Ottoman rule (Cilicia and 7 provinces of Western Armenia) were completely ethnically cleansed. Out of 2.5 million Ottoman Armenians, 1.5 million were killed and 1 million became refugees. The task of this study is to demonstrate how Cilicia was immediately liberated from the Turks by the agreement of Mudros and the Armenians were able to return to their homeland, but Western Armenia was not liberated, which led to the emergence of the Kemalist nationalist movement and the failure of the Armenian Question. The article covers the negative consequences of the conditions of the Mudros armistice in the failure of the Armenian Question. The problem has never been considered from this point of view by historiography. Analyzing facts, the article shows that it was due to the intrigues of British imperialist diplomacy, which was directed primarily against France. However, it also aimed to block Russia’s way from the Caucasus to the south. The British tried to achieve their far-reaching goals through another power – the United States. The work mostly refers to archival materials and documents, also drawing on some studies related to the topic. The article is built on comparative and critical analysis, observing the principles of objectivity and historicity. Many representatives of Western and Russian historiography have addressed the Franco-British contradictions over the Ottoman heritage. Armenian historians have also referred to some aspects of the issue in question. In the study, facts previously published for different purposes are presented in a new way. The problem was set to show the influence of the British far-reaching aims on the Armenian Question.

‘Imperial Germany's Push to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean: A Strategic Imperative of Weltpolitik’

With the extension of the Berlin-Baghdad Railway and Germany's search first for naval coaling and later for radio station locations, the strategic usefulness of footholds in the Persian Gulf region came to the fore. Reliable communication with the African colonies and warships of the East Asian Cruiser Squadron in the expanse of the Indian Ocean was essential. With the allied Ottoman Empire regional expansion aimed to create a wedge to split the British Empire. Disruptive activities in Persia and Afghanistan aimed to pressure India and distract Britain. This places German strategy in the region in a significant world-political context leading up to the First World War.