Balkan Studies

[Uncorrected Page Proofs] -- Montgomery, David W. 2019. "The Hardest Time Was the Time without Morality": Religion and Social Navigation in Albania. In Everyday Life in the Balkans, edited by David W. Montgomery. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 265-277.

Since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement on December 14th in Paris 1995, the political but also general social scene of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been overwhelmed with the issues of reforms and changes in regard to the Constitutional settlement agreed in Dayton. The Bosnian-Herzegovinian everyday reality that the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina face with on a daily basis stands as an unquestionable witness to the necessity of the Constitution changes, which was adopted as an integral part of a Peace Agreement which only or most important goal was to "end the war". After the cessation of armed conflict, the large number of B&H administration, overlapping of competencies, inconsistency of internal structure (one part (entity) functions on the "republican model" while the other on the "federal"), and above all the reality of everyday life, as well as the challenges encountered by the citizens of B&H imposed as a necessity changes of the Constitu...

Con questa preziosa analisi Carlo Pallard tratteggia un vivace e puntuale disegno della storia più recente di questo complesso Paese, del suo tormentato percorso verso la modernità. Un cammino segnato da colpi di stato riusciti e da altri falliti, da processi riformatori e da regressioni autoritarie. Da aperture laiche e da chiusure tradizionaliste dell'ideologia islamica. Chiarisce quello che è stato il ruolo reale del potere militare nella vicenda storica della Turchia. Ruolo che spesso in Occidente è stato equivocato e addirittura mitizzato. Getta una luce sui passaggi cruciali della storia repubblicana della Turchia la cui corretta conoscenza è di fondamentale importanza per interpretare con fedeltà, senza distorsioni, anche questa fase politica transitoria dalle prospettive incerte per il futuro del paese. La Turchia, da quello che appare nei media è un paese di cui si parla molto, ma di cui si conosce molto poco... e si scrive altrettanto poco, in particolare in Italia. Ragion per cui il lettore in questo saggio troverà una utile e fedele chiave interpretativa dell'evoluzione del complesso quadro politico della Turchia dal 1960 ad oggi, utile soprattutto per comprendere quella che sembra essere la parabola discendente dell'era di Erdoğan e del suo partito.

(Dalla prefazione di Mariano Giustino)

The local festival dedicated to the Anniversary of the Vision of Agia (Saint) or Osia (venerable, blessed, saint) Pelagia is celebrated on the Greek island of Tinos and is dedicated to one of the most recent Orthodox saints, Agia Pelagia, a nun who was sanctified in 1971. After the great Greek War of Liberation (1821) broke out, the pious nun Pelagia had several mystical visions which lead to the finding of the miraculous icon of the Annunciation. According to the tradition, Pelagia repeatedly saw, in her visions, the Panagia (Virgin Mary), who ordered her to start digging to find her icon. In 1823, the icon was unearthed in the field where it had remained for about 850 years. “Pelagia’s Vision” is celebrated annually on 23 July. During the festival the church housing her skull next to her cell in the monastery of Kekhrovouno, where she had the visions, is particularly important.
Based on a presentation of this festival and some other relevant rituals from Greece where I have conducted fieldwork, the article will explore some aspects of the way myths are important when re-presenting the past in the Greek context both, earlier and today.

Keywords: Method, Myth/s, Gender, Greece, Festivals

This study concerns itself with the first Imperial Envoy Gerard Veltwijck (ca. 1500—1555), who negotiated with the Ottoman Sultan Süleymān. Using newly discovered as well as recently published sources, it will focus on the part this diplomat of Charles V played in the negotiations with the Sublime Porte and on the considerable problems the French King and his representatives in Istanbul experienced during the talks. The Most Christian King thus became a victim of his ambivalent foreign policy while his alliance with the Sultan experienced a severe crisis. Finally, this study tries to demonstrate the impact of a diplomatic sojourn in the Levant for the envoy, as such a mission was very often followed by a considerable and far from only financial reward.

Прва историографска синтеза о Смедереву и смедеревском крају у Првом светском рату. Књига је заснована на вишегодишњим научним истраживањима архивске, музеолошке и друге изворне грађе, као и до сада непознате стране и домаће старије мемоаристике. У креирању књиге, у великој мери коришћени су новији историографски резултати савремене  домаће, али и стране науке. Узимајући све у обзир, ова књига, по количини обрађене грађе, темама које су у њој обухваћене, као и методолошким приступом, представља значајан искорак у досадашњем проучавању Првог светског рата Смедерева и околине. Књига коју представљамо јесте прегледна, на научним основама заснована монографија у којој ће како стручна, тако и шира јавност наћи одговоре на многа питања из домена завичајне историје Првог светског рата.

With all the turmoil and conflict taking place around the world, it is often tempting to think of the Western Balkans as yesterday’s problem. While it is true that the prospect of armed conflict has diminished significantly over the past two decades, there are still issues that contribute to a broader sense of instability. Until recently, three major issues undermined the region’s path towards ‘normality,’ whatever that may mean in the current international environment. The first, and most intractable of these is Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even though it has been over 20 years since the 1995 Dayton Agreement ended the vicious and bloody war in the country, Bosnia remains deeply divided. The second issue is Kosovo. The February 2008 unilateral declaration of independence remains a source of deep divisions, both regionally and internationally. Last, and truly least, was the so-called Macedonia name issue. Although viewed by many outsiders as a somewhat bizarre, if not wholly ridiculous, issue, the effects of the dispute were anything but laughable. It led to the wholesale corruption of the Macedonian state and impeded the general process of Euro-Atlantic integration in Southeast Europe. And yet, after 25 years, the issue has finally been resolved.

The book discerns the rise and survival of Vladimir Putin as leader of Russia. The book will be relevant for those interested in Balkan and East European politics. To add, the book also reveals the secret relationship between the two super powers Russia and United States.

The book focuses on the breakup of the Yugoslav Federation and wars that followed viewed through the comic art in the local and international press. War propaganda and political discourse are examined and placed in the larger historical context of this conflict. The study reveals that Yugoslav cartoonists anticipated, as early as 1984, the disintegration of the country and were forecasting armed conflict in 1989. Using print media and comic art as a primary source of investigation, the author has presented the mental representation of the war as seen in press cartoons, both chronologically and thematically. A representative sampling of some 400 cartoons (out of a database of almost 7’500) and dozens of interviews undertaken with political cartoonists in the 1990s are quoted in the book as a primary source.

A 2017 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

In this volume, Elisabeth Fraser shows that artists and the works they created in the Mediterranean during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were informed by mutual dependence and reciprocity between European nations and the Ottoman Empire. Her rich exploration of this vibrant cross-cultural exchange challenges the dominant interpretation of European relations with the East during the period, revealing a shared world of fluid and long-sustained interactions.

Voyagers to and from the Ottoman Empire documented their journeys in prints, paintings, and lavishly illustrated travelogues; many of these helped define Europe’s self-identified role as heir to Ottoman civilizations and bolstered its presence in the Islamic Mediterranean and beyond. Fraser finds that these works illuminate not only how travelers’ experiences abroad were more nuanced than the expansionist ideology with which they became associated, but also how these narratives depicted the vitality of Ottoman culture and served as extensions of Ottoman diplomacy. Ottomans were aware of and responded to European representations, using them to defend Ottoman culture and sovereignty. In embracing the art of both cultures and setting these works in a broader context, Fraser challenges the dominant historiographical tradition that sees Ottoman artists adopting European modes of art in a one-sided process of “Europeanization.”

Theoretically informed and rigorously researched, this cross-cultural approach to European and Ottoman art sheds much-needed critical light on the widely disseminated travel images of the era—important cultural artifacts in their own right—and provides a fresh and inviting understanding of the relationships among cultures in the Mediterranean during an era of increasing European expansionism.
ISBN: 978-0-271-07320-0

İÇİNDEKİLER
ÜÇÜNCÜ BÖLÜM
ARNAVUTLUK
1. Analysis on Existing Ottoman Heritage Buildings inside
Fortress Walls of Elbasan City
Brunilda BASHA–Zafer SAĞDIC 09
2. Arnavut Edebiyatında İslâm Dini Yansımaları ve
Söylemsellik Modelleri
Nysret KRASNİQİ-Abdulla REXHEPİ 33
3. Theofan Stilian Noli’nin Arnavut Ortodoks Kilisesi’ne
Katkıları
İlir RRUGA 49
BOSNA-HERSEK
4. Balkan İslâm’ının Beyaz Perdeye Yansıması: Yücel
Çakmaklı’nın Kanayan Yara Bosna Filmi Üzerine Felsefi
Değiniler
Rıfat ATAY-Merve KESENCİ 73
5. Boşnaklarda Arap Dili Öğretimi -Mahiyeti ve KronolojisiSeyfettin HARUNİ 93
6. Surviving Elements of "Tradition" in the Bosnian Family-A
Contribution to Understanding the Anthropology of the Family
Amel ALİĆ 117
SIRBİSTAN VE KARADAĞ
7. Balkanların Sırbistan Bölgesindeki İslâm ve İslâmî Eserlerin
Akibeti
Eyüp SALİH 1416
8. Novi Pazar’da Din Eğitiminin Özellikleri ve Biçimleri
Emina SADIKOVIĆ 159
9. Sırbistan’ın Sancak Bölgesindeki Medreseler ile Türkiye’deki
İmam-Hatip Liselerinin Eğitim Müfredatları Yönünden
Karşılaştırılması
Yakup YILMAZ-Yasin YAYLA 171
10.Ülgün Şehri ve Yakın Çevresindeki Osmanlı Dönemine Ait
Arap-Osmanlı Harfleriyle Yazılan Mezar Taşları ile İlgili Genel
Bir Değerlendirme
Ali BARDHİ 183
KIRIM VE ROMANYA
11.Cengiz Dağcı’nın Romanlarında Siyaset: Hüzün ve Acının
Bir Toplumu Oluşturması
Celal TÜRER 197
12.Romanya ve Aşağı Tuna Avrupa Bölgesinde Geçmişten
Bugüne Türk Miraslarının Canlandırma ve Koruma Mücadelesi
Gülten ABDULA NAZARE 211
DÖRDÜNCÜ BÖLÜM
KUZEY MAKEDONYA
13.Osmanlı Döneminde Makedonya’da Yetişen İlim Adamları
Hüseyin ALGÜL 235
14.Kuzey Makedonya’daki Osmanlı Medreseleri ve Üsküp
Mefail HIZLI 253
15.Üsküp Meddah Medresesi ve Kapatılmadan Önce Yetişen
Müderrisler
Süleyman BAKİ 269
16.İştip Kazası’nın Tarihi ve Etnik Yapısı (XIX. Yüzyıl)
Bilal RUSHİD 293
17.Osmanlı Döneminde Makedonya Kratova’da Eğitim
Kurumları
Hasan TELLİ 3077
18.Osmanlı Kesriye’sindeki Eğitim Kurumları: Bir İcmal
Murat ÇELİK 325
19.Makedonya’daki Müslümanlarda Ölüm ile İlgili Belli Başlı
İnanç ve Adetler
Mensur NUREDİN 351
KOSOVA
20.Sırbistan’ın Kosova’daki Arnavut Müslüman Nüfusunun
Etnik Temizlik Politikası
Fehari RAMADANI 359
21.Müslüman Engelli Gençlerde Dini İnancın Psikolojik Etkisi
(Kosova Örneği)
Feim GASHİ 377
22.Bir Hudut Kazasında Toplumsal İlişkiler ve Yönetim
Politikaları: Gilan/Gjilan ve Asayiş Sorunları
Seda ŞAHİN AHMETAJ 405
BEŞİNCİ BÖLÜM
YUNANİSTAN, BATI TRAKYA VE TRAKYA
23.Yunanistan, Dimetoka Seyit Ali Baba (Kızıl Deli Sultan)
Tekkesi ve Velâyetnamesi
Kazım SARIKAVAK 423
24.XV. Yüzyılın Ortasında Batı Trakya’da Bir Osmanlı Nahiyesi:
Ferecik
Cengiz PARLAK 433
25.İslâm’a ve Orduya Köprü: Uzunköprü
Yılmaz BÜKTEL 461
26.Balkan Muhacirlerinin Dinî-Siyasî ve Kültürel Kimliğine
Dair Bazı Tesbitlerin Tekirdağ Örneğinden Hareketle Sunumu
Cüneyt ÖZVARDARLI 4798
BULGARİSTAN
27.Osmanlı Dönemi Bulgaristan’ında Kurulan Dârulhadislere Genel Bir
Bakış
Mustafa CANLI 491
28.1189 Numaralı Hurûfât Defteri Kayıtlarına Göre Şumnu’daki
Vakıf Kurumları
Habibe KAZANCIOĞLU 505
29.Bulgaristan’da (1933-1934) Yayımlanan Medeniyet
Gazetesi’ndeki Hadis Yazıları Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme
Alparslan KARTAL 529

In the Western Balkans, as elsewhere around the world, governments took extraordinary measures to effectively contain the spread of COVID-19, measures that entailed serious restrictions to individual freedoms. They also introduced extra powers that upset the ordinary division and balance of governmental power. In this context, several analysts have expressed concern that the authoritarian trend observed in the region during the last decade will become further entrenched. The worst fear, that some of the Western Balkan leaderships may retain extraordinary powers indefinitely, has not been confirmed. However, constitutionally prescribed procedures were disregarded and the operation of formal and informal mechanisms of checks and balances ignored. The article argues that the ease with which the Western Balkan leaders removed any checks and controls over their rule raises the valid question of how they may deal with future circumstances which may endanger their power.

Historians have long regarded Maurice Tiberius as the last Roman emperor who struggled to restore the stability of the Balkan provinces. This essay argues that a major financial crisis is responsible for the downfall of Maurice and the collapse of the Danube frontier after 602. Maurice inherited a depleted treasury and a war conducted on two fronts, in the Balkans and the East. A careful analysis of the emperor’s monetary policy during his long reign reveals a chronic shortage of cash, which the emperor tried to solve through a series of unsuccessful reforms. The body of coin finds from the Northern Balkans shows an abrupt decline in the coin supply during the second decade of Maurice’s reign, when Roman armies were once again active in the Danube region. The state’s inability to provide adequate supplies and regular payments to the soldiers led to the mutiny of 602. The emperor’s decision to force his army to spend the winter in enemy territory was simply the last straw that broke the soldiers’ loyalty to the emperor.

The United Kingdom is still keen to express rhetorical support for EU enlargement, but its overall attitude towards the dossier, and its ability to shape the Union’s policies in this area, have been dampened by an increasingly hostile immigration debate, coupled with rising Euroscepticism and growing support for the UK Independence Party. To be sure, all political parties in the country have become increasingly hard-line on the subject of immigration, so that the freedom of movement within the EU has been conflated with the arrival of people from outside the European Union. In addition, the question of whether the United Kingdom will leave the EU has arguably weakened the weight of its views on new members and its influence on the Balkan region. To the extent that there is a strong and specific British interest in the accession of the Balkans, it is narrowly focused on Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as on the interrelated paths of Serbia and Kosovo. Beyond that, there are no underlying historical, cultural or economic factors driving Britain’s commitment to the European perspective of the Balkan region.

El presente trabajo hace foco en el constructivismo ruso y cómo esta idea llega al territorio de los Balcanes para ser asimilada y reinterpretada. También se hará hincapié en el rol de la revista Zenit y su lugar dentro de la escena cultural del ’20 para la formación del zenitismo y las vanguardias en los Balcanes. Por otra parte, se va a presentar a Srečko Kosovel y se analizará su manifiesto ‘Al mecánico’ –Mehanikom- como texto fundamental de las vanguardias en la región.

The chapter deals with the white spots in the biography of the Czech ethnographer Karel Chotek (1881-1967), especially his relation to the Balkans as a source of research inspiration, Chotek's definition of Slovak Culture as a special complex, different from the cultural area of Bohemia and Moravia, and above all it deals with Chotek's Balkan expedition from the beginning 30´s, for whose results he received the Order of St. Sava, III. class, yet it´s material documentation, allegedly deposited in the Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences, remain ut to now still unknown.

This paper presents an initial assessment of the results of a four month research project studying the Ultras 1 groups in BiH. This research contributed to the Bosnia & Herzegovina Resilience Initiative (BHRI) Programme (implemented by the International Organization for Migration-United Nations , funded and closely coordinated with the U.S. Agency for International Development-USAID) aiming to reduce the threat of violent extremism in BiH and to counter extremist efforts to deepen or exploit community tensions.

Müşavir Paşa’nın anılarında Osmanlı devletiyle resmi anlamda dost ve müttefik olan bir ülkenin temsilcisi olarak gelen askeri bir uzmanın yaklaşımını görüyoruz. Bize Kırım Harbi öncesi ve sonrasındaki Osmanlı devlet yapısı, ordu, maliye, gelenekler, ıslahat çalışmaları konusunda ayrıntılı bir rapor sunuyor. Tam da bir müşavirin yapması gerektiği gibi. Fakat onunki alışılmış bir duruş değildir. Dışarıdan bir bakışla, yaşanan olumsuzlukları eleştirmekten geri durmuyor. Bu da kitabın en yararlı özelliğini oluşturuyor. Ne yazık ki bu rapordan Osmanlı bürokrasisi pek faydalanmışa benzemiyor.

Rad se bavi atmosferom među studenskom mladeži u Hrvatskoj u vrijeme trajanja Prvog i Drugog balkanskog rata. Na temelju postojeće relevantne literature, onovremenih brošura i memoarskih tekstova, te izvora privatne naravi, proučava se odnos pojedinih studentskih grupa prema zbivanjima na Balkanu. Obzirom da je studentski politički pokret u Hrvatskoj početkom 20. stoljeća bio razjedinjen, tako je i odnos pojedinih grupa prema zaraćenim stranama bio drugačiji. Ipak, u vrijeme Prvog balkanskog rata opće oduševljenje pobjedama slavenskih saveznika protiv turske vlasti dovelo je do kratkotrajne homogenizacije studentskog mišljenja u vezi saveznica, što je pratilo opću političku atmosferu u Hrvatskoj. To oduševljenje bilo je uzrokovano dijelom teškom političkom situacijom u zemlji (komesarijat), a dijelom i snažnom srpskom propagandom. Ipak, razočarenje je nastupilo već u doba Drugog balkanskog rata kada nestankom slavenske sloge, splašnjava i zanos barem jednog dijela studentske mladeži u vezi južnoslavenskog ujedinjenja.

The short brief analyses the new dynamics in the new EU legislature on EU enlargement to the Western Balkans, its impact on the EU’s perspective to North Macedonia, and the role of the Assembly of North Macedonia in pushing for the country’s European perspective.