Some studies in Russian on the Ottoman empire

Turcologica 1986, a Festschrift presented to A.N. Kononov on his eightieth birthday (Leningrad: Nauka Press for the Institute of Oriental Studies in the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, 1986; 303 pp.).

I. Ye, and Yu A. Pyetrosyan, on the periodization of the ‘era of reforms’ in the Ottoman Empire (pp.219–24).

Yuri A. Pyetrosyan, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Soviet (now Russian) Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, also contributes a brief, but useful paper on the Turkish emigrant press in the early twentieth century (pp.225–9).

Kh. M. Ibragimbyeyli and N.S. Rashba, entitled Osmanskaya Impyeriya v pyervoy chyetvyerti XVII vyeka: sbornik dokumyentov i matyerialov, The Ottoman Empire in the First Quarter of the 17th Century: A Collection of Documents and Materials (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1984; 214 pp.).

A.A. Vitol's Osmanskaya Impyeriya (nachalo XVIII v.), The Ottoman Empire at the Beginning of the 18th Century (Moscow: Nauka Press for the Institute of Oriental Studies in the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, 1987; 136 pp.).

V.P. Grachyev's Balkanskiye vladyenya Osmanskoy Impyerii na rubyedzhye XVIII‐XIX vv. (vnutryennyeye polodzhyeniye, pryedposilki natsional'no‐osvobodityel'‐nikh dvidzhyeniy), The Balkan Domains of the Ottoman Empire at the Meeting Point of the 18th and 19th Centuries: Internal Situation, the Preconditions of National Liberation Movements (Moscow: Nauka Press for the Institute of Slavonic and Balkan Studies in the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, 1990; 200 pp.).

M.T. Boddzholyan has written on Ryeformi 20–30‐kh gg. XIX vyeka v Osmanskoy Impyerii, The Reforms of the 1820s and 1830s in the Ottoman Empire (Erevan: Academy of Sciences of Soviet Armenia Press, 1984; 156 pp.).

Osmanskaya Impyeriya: systyema gosudarstvyennogo, upravlyeniya, sotsial'niye i etnoryeligiozniye problyemi. Sbornik statyey, The Ottoman Empire: System of Government, Administration, Social and Ethno‐Religious Problems. A Collection of Articles (Moscow: Nauka Press for the Institute of Oriental Studies in the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, 1986; 253 pp.).

Osmanskaya Impyeriya: gosudarstvyennaya vlast’ i sotsial'no‐politichyeskaya struktura, The Ottoman Empire: State Power and Socio‐Political Structure (Moscow: Nauka Press for the Institute of Oriental Studies in the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, 1990; 338 pp.).     

The alla franca dandy; modernity and the novel in the late 19th-century Ottoman Empire

ABSTRACT

In the late 19th-century Ottoman novel, an iconic character draws attention: the alla franca dandy; a man who admires the Western culture to the point of mindless imitation, and who stands aloof from his own society as he condemns the Ottoman/Islamic culture in aesthetical terms. He was born out of the Ottoman intellectuals’ ideas of and anxiety over Westernization, who sought to modernize the society without subverting the traditional foundations. As the Ottoman/Islamic and Western cultures collided, the alla franca dandy figure became the embodiment of Westernization gone astray and served the intellectuals’ objective to educate the masses by setting a bad example to be avoided. However, though the alla franca dandy figure was brought forth, in this manner, to circumscribe the proper limits of modernization, he ironically evolved, through the novels of different authors, to express individualistic attitudes, and put forth a modernist critique of the Ottoman/Islamic tradition as the intellectuals’ epistemological assumptions eroded and the society’s present is questioned and problematized as in need of intervention.     

The state and the stray dogs in late Ottoman Istanbul: from unruly subjects to servile friends

The present article situates the systemic efforts to annihilate stray dogs within the wider picture of Ottoman modernizing reforms in the nineteenth century. The period under investigation witnessed an increasing desire on the part of the modern Ottoman state to control and reform disenfranchised human and animal groups, which were believed to jeopardize public order, security and hygiene. These groups – beggars, orphans and the unemployed – were identified as actors irreconcilable with the modern image that the reforming bureaucracy and modernizing elites sought to project. In the face of increasing challenges from European powers, they were the epitome of underdevelopment and backwardness. Ottoman elites and official authorities therefore proposed and implemented institutional measures in the form of forced labor, reformatories or deportation to reform the conditions of these groups, segregate them from the greater public and discipline them. In the modern period, along with the proposals that called for the removal of dogs, modernizing intellectuals and professionals proposed alternative plans to render non-human animals beneficial to human needs and the modern state's expectations.     

Political Marriage: The Sons-in-Law of the Ottoman Dynasty in the Late Ottoman State

Under the influence of popular history, recent historiography on the Ottomans has focused mainly on such subjects as the influence of women on politics and indirectly on issues of the harem. However, such a focus indicates limited information and an insufficient number of studies on the sons-in-law in the dynasty of the late Ottoman state. The purpose of this article is to develop a theoretical framework concerning sons-in-law in the dynasty of the late Ottoman state period by collating the related but limited references in the historical sources. In this context, such issues as the policy of marriage in the Ottoman dynasty, the status of the dynasty sons-in-law, and the privileges they had are studied in terms of the late period of the Ottomans. Thus, the study's major purpose is to discuss the late Ottoman history in the light of such an important but ignored subject.     

Ottoman apprentices and their experiences

Abstract

In this article, I analyze craft and trade apprentices in the late Ottoman Empire in order to add a new dimension to the existing literature on guilds and artisans. Rather than presenting an ideal picture, I discuss the apprentices' actions and experiences, which I argue did not take place in isolation.

First, I briefly discuss Ottoman guilds and artisans, including a literature review, define and explain both the system of apprenticeship and who apprentices were.

After focusing on the dialectical relationship between the upper and lower ranks, which presented itself through the authority - obedience or autonomy - disobedience relationship, I explain how the lower rank attempted to gain autonomy. I also question whether guild harmony was real or not and explore how some apprentices changed the direction of their life path, away from mastership to something else entirely. The hidden and unhidden resistance of apprentices will be shown through acts of theft, assault with a knife, and absconding, and through survival strategies which included running away. In the final part of the article, I describe how new institutions filled the gap left by the traditional guild system, which had been on the decline since the nineteenth century.     

Bulgarian studies on the Ottoman Empire and Turkey

Chez les voisins de l'Afghanistan: l'Asie Centrale Soviétique (Moscow: Progress Press, 1983; 174 pp.)

’Islamskiy faktor’ v myedzhdunarodnikh otnoshyeniyakh v Azii, ‘The Islamic Factor’ in International Relations in Asia (Moscow: Nauka, 1987; 192 pp.)

Islam v SSSR: osobyennosti protsyessa syekularizatsii v ryespublikakh Sovyetskogo Vostoka, Islam in the Soviet Union: Characteristics of the Secularisation Process in the Republics of the Soviet East (Moscow: Misl’ Press, 1983; 175 pp.)

Oktay Efyendiyev's Azyerbaydzhankoye gosudarstvo Syefyevidov v XVI vyekye, The Azerbayjanian Government of the Safavids in the 16 Century (Baku: Elm Press for the Institute of History in the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbayjanian Soviet Republic, 1981; 308 pp.)

Kavkaz i Sryednyaya Aziya vo vnyeshnyey politiki Rossii: vtoraya polovina XVIII – 80ye godi XIX v., The Caucasus and Central Asia in the Foreign Policies of Russia: From the 18th Century to the 1880s (Moscow: Moscow University Press, 1984; 328 pp.)

Zapiski o Bukharskom Khanstvye, Notes on the Khanate of Bukhara (Moscow: Nauka Press for the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, 1983; 150 pp.).

M. Annanyepyesov's Ukryeplyeniye Russko‐Turkmyenskikh vzaimootnoshyeniy v XVIII‐XIX vv., The Consolidation of Russo‐Turkmenian Mutual Relations in the 18 and 19 Centuries (Ashkhabad: Ilim Press for the Institute of History in the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmenian Soviet Republic, 1981; 267 pp.).

G. Kh. Saparova's Revolyutsionniy komityet Turkmyenskoy SSR kak Pyerviy visshiy organ gosudarstvyennoy vlasti ryespubliki, The Revolutionary Committee of Soviet Turkmenistan as the First Supreme Body of Political Power of the Republic (Askhabad: Ilim Press for the Institute of History in the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmenian Soviet Republic, 1981; 132 pp.).

I.V. Pogoryel'skiy's Istoriya Khivinskoy ryevolyutsii i Khoryezmskoy Narodnoy Ryespubliki 1917–1924 gg., History of the Revolution in Khiva and the Popular Soviet Republic of Khorezm, 1917–1924 (Leningrad: Leningrad University Press, 1984; 228 pp.).

Kh. Sh. Inoyatov's Narodi Sryednyey Azii v bor'bye protiv intyervyentov i vnutryennyey konterryevolyutsii, The Peoples of Central Asia in the War with the Interventionists and with Domestic Counter‐Revolution (Moscow: Misl’ Press, 1984; 464 pp.).

Basmachyestvo: vozniknovyevniye, sushchnost’, krakh, The Basmachi Movement: Rise, Nature and Downfall (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981; 246 pp.)

Basmachyestvo: pravda istorii i vimisyel’ fal'sifikatorov, The Basmachi Movement: Historical Truth and Fabrications of the Falsifiers (Moscow: Misl’ Press, 1986; 256 pp.).

M. Syeytakova, entitled Obraz Russkogo chyelovyeka v Turkmyenskoy Sovyetskoy prozye, The Image of the Russian Person in Turkmenian Soviet Prose (Ashkhabad: Ilim Press for the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmenian Soviet Republic, 1981; 57 pp.)

A.K. Rzayev, entitled Azyerbaydzhanskiye vostokovyedi XIX vyeka: ochyerki, Azerbayjanian Orientalists of the 19 Century: Essays (Baku: Elm Press for the Institute of Oriental Studies in the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbayjanian Soviet Republic, 1986; 141 pp.)

Tatarskaya lityeratura i publitsistika nachala XX vyeka, Tatar Literature and Journalism of the Early 20 Century (2nd edition, Kazan: Tatar Book Press, 1983; 352 pp.).

Azat Akhmadullin's Gorizonti Tatarskoy drami: lityeraturno‐kritichyeskiye stat'i, The Horizons of the Tatar Drama: Papers of Literary Criticism (Kazan: Tatar Book Press, 1983; 216 pp.)

R. U. Amirkhanov's Tatarskaya dyemokratichyeskaya pyechat’ (1905–1907 gg.) The Tatar Democratic Press, 1905–1907 (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1988; 190 pp.).     

Infanticide in Nineteenth Century Ottoman Society

This article examines a largely overlooked topic in scholarship on Ottoman history and discusses the cases of the murder of infants in Ottoman towns and cities. Based on archival findings, the article asks questions such as: what were the motivations behind child murder, who carried out this act, who were the victims, what were the methods used, and how extensive was it in the Ottoman society? The nature of this crime also forces us to problematize the available documentation and hence the article also discusses the nature of the sources that offer us a glimpse of the infanticide cases. It demonstrates how social status and gendered hierarchies in Ottoman society intermingle in infanticide cases and the choice to murder babies as a means of birth control. In sum, this article discusses the links between child murder and poverty, illegitimacy, and, most important of all, the experience of being a lonely, single, and poor woman in Ottoman society.     

Slovak Perceptions of the Ottoman Legacy in Eastern Europe

In recent years there has been much debate about whether the activities of missionaries were an act of religious altruism or a medium of cultural expansion and a preparation for political involvement. The American expedition occurred during the early years of modern Western – as yet mainly British, French and Russian – penetration of the Ottoman realms. The immediate effect was to draw the East into the rapidly expanding capitalist world economy while containing the ambitions of rival powers in order to prepare for the Sublime Porte's ultimate dismemberment. This phase of missionary activity represented something extraordinary, because the Americans were attempting to impose their kind of Christianity, namely, Protestantism, on communities which had been Christian well before the Christian American identity came into being. This article examines the formation of the American Protestant missionaries' activities in Anatolia; missionaries' evaluations of events within the Empire, and their relations with the Armenians will be the focus of the analysis. In other words, attention will be drawn to how the missionary enterprise fostered Armenian nationalism by introducing Western political ideals and promoting Armenian cultural identity through education and the press discussed. Rather than examining the Armenian Question, this paper will trace the genesis of Armenian nationalism through the Boards' Protestant Anatolia vision.     

The Ottoman Ceremony of the Royal Purse

Churchill's Secret War: Diplomatic Decrypts, the Foreign Office and Turkey by Robin Denniston. Stroud: Sutton Publishing; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. Pp.xv + 208, bibliography, index, illustrations. £25.00 (hardback).

The Kurdish Question and Turkey: An Example of a Trans‐state Ethnic Conflict by Kemal Kiri?ci and Gareth Winrow. London and Portland: Frank Cass, 1997. Pp.xvi + 237, bibliography, index. £32.50 (hardback); £17.50 (paperback).

The Army and the Creation of the Pahlavi State in Iran, 1910–1926 by Stephanie Cronin. London: Tauris Academic Studies, 1997. Pp.vii + 296, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. £39.50.

Religious Radicalism in the Greater Middle East edited by Bruce Maddy‐Weitzman and Efraim Inbar. No.4 in the Cass Series on Political Violence. London and Portland: Frank Cass, 1997. Pp viii + 264, index. £29.50 (hardback); £12.99 (paperback).

Indigo in the Arab World by Jenny Balfour‐Paul. London: Curzon Press, 1997. Pp.xx + 283, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. £45.00.

Languages of Dress in the Middle East edited by Nancy Lindisfarne‐Tapper and Bruce Ingham. London: Curzon Press, 1997. Pp.196. £12.99.