Converging National Ideas and Diverging National Aspirations: Orthodox Greeks and Bulgarians in 19th century Constantinople (original) (raw)
This article offers a comparative approach to two antagonistic national ideas, the Greek and the Bulgarian. It highlights one of their converging aspects, which was adopted by members of the Greek Orthodox and the Bulgarian communities after the Crimean War (1853-1856). Espousing the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire and the perpetuation of the status quo in the Balkans, they opposed the political principle of Balkan nationalism, as well as the concomitant irredentist aspirations of the Greek nation-state and the revolutionary plans of the proponents of Bulgarian political emancipation. Moreover, each side employed similar arguments, albeit in the context of a different national perspective: the Bulgarians considered this option to be the best way to safeguard their Bulgarianness against the assimilatory efforts of the Greeks, while the Greeks believed it was the only possible option that would protect their ethnic identity against the threat of Pan-Slavism. In this way, the former instigated by Stoian Chomakov condemned the armed uprising in Crete in 1866 and declared obedience to the Sultan, whereas the latter sharply deprecated the unification of the Bulgarian Principality with the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia in 1885, in a series of articles published in the newspaper Neologos. The advocates of non-aggressive nationalism combined with pro-Ottoman manifestations belonged to the political and economical elite of their respective communities and were closely affiliated with the Ottoman state. In other words, they related their social status and economic prosperity to the fate of the Empire. The paper aims to draw the profile and compare the views of the Bulgarian and Greek Ottomans, focusing on the cases of the Bulgarian national leader Stoian Chomakov on the one hand and the Greek newspaper Neologos on the other.
Sign up for access to the world's latest research.
checkGet notified about relevant papers
checkSave papers to use in your research
checkJoin the discussion with peers
checkTrack your impact
Related papers
2014
The 19 th century in southeastern Europe is usually referred to as the age of nationalism. As has already been said, the traditional Ottoman millet system, in which religious communions existed inside the dominant Muslim state, was replaced step by step by independent national states. Serbia, Greece, Romania, Montenegro and Bulgaria appeared on the map of Europe during the 19 th century. The armed struggle of these nations followed a preliminary period of awakening of national consciousness. The historical memory of the medieval kingdoms of Serbia and Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire contributed to this process. For the Greeks the more recent memory of Byzantium fanned by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and their dominant position among the Orthodox populations of the empire paved the way for nationalism. Inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution and romantic European philhellenism, as well as by the material resources of the Greek diaspora in Russia, this historical memory developed into the Great idea (Megali idea), i.e., uniting all Greek lands into one kingdom. The revolution of 1821 and the formation of an independent Greek state was the first step in that direction.243 The situation with the Bulgarians was different. Up to 1393 the Patriarchate of Tyrnovo was the spiritual centre for Bulgarians. During the Ottoman period, the Archbishop of Ohrid was the head of the Bulgarian people, but in 1767 his seat was subsumed under that of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.244 The national self-consciousness of the Bulgarian people was by the end of the 18 th century in decline; the Bulgarian language was used in remote areas only, while the townspeople readily adopted the Greek language and culture. After the publishing of Istorija Slavenobulgarskaja (The History of the Bulgarian Slavs) by Monk Paisii, the nationalistic revival of the Bulgarian people began.245 Bulgarian nationalism was to a great extent
Ethnic Relations vs. National Interests: Liuben Karavelov and the Greeks
Treti Mezhdunaroden Kongres po Bulgaristika. Sekciia Istoria i Arheologiia , 2014
The diffusion of national ideology in the Balkans in the 19th century had a decisive impact on the traditional social structure of the Ottoman Empire, which was based on religion. The Christian Orthodox millet was gradually replaced by several ethnic communities, which established their distinctive ethnic character mainly on common origins, common historical past and traditions and common language. The eventual outcome of this process was the formation of national identities and the emergence of national aspirations. In this context religious ties weakened and the relations among ethnic groups developed according to national interests. This stance also affected the attitudes of the ethnic Self towards the ethnic Other, who was categorized as a friend/ally or an enemy/opponent accordingly. The present paper aims to show the interaction between national priorities and the perception of the ethnic Other focusing on Liuben Karavelov and his views about the Greeks. Despite his negative comments against the Greeks Karavelov considered them as friends until 1872. He sought their co-operation in a common Balkan armed uprising against Ottoman rule and their participation in the creation of a Balkan federation, which he envisaged. In the end of 1872, however, due to the proclamation of the Bulgarian Church as schismatic by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, he reformed his plans and declared that the Greeks were enemies of both Bulgarians and Slavs.
Between Greek Nationalism and Ottomanism : Contested Loyalties of Ottoman Greeks in the Periodicals
The modern Greek identity is mostly known for the attachment to the Greek state. However, the identification of the significant number of Greek Orthodox people that used to live in the Ottoman Empire remain unobserved. This study sets the question of the Ottoman Greek identity formation by considering its’ role in the wide prism of the Ottoman imperial space. The thesis argues that during the Tanzimat period in Ottoman Empire started a process of Ottoman Greek identity formation which would intersect both the imperial and the communal levels. The perception of Ottoman Greek identity was mainly developed along with the attitudes of community toward the imperial power centers, Patriarchate and Sultan, and the Greek Kingdom. In order to investigate this identity perception and the common loyalty of Ottoman Greeks, discourse and content analysis of two leading periodicals of that time, Konstantinoupolis and Thraki, were employed. Hence, the main outcome of the research indicates that after the Bulgarian schism, the trans-ethnic Christian solidarity gradually transformed to an Ottoman Greek one. Important finding of the research also shows that in the process of forging an imperial identity for the Ottoman Greeks Anatolia played crucial role as fatherland.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.
Related papers
Historein, v. 19, n. 1, June 2020. ISSN 2241-2816., 2020