B3. OTTOMAN STUDIES (15th-19th cent.)

The programme of Ottoman Studies at the INR/NHRF revolves around two axes:

1. Study of the settlement pattern, demographic dynamics and economic activities of populations in the Ottoman Empire, which lived in regions that are now territory of the Greek State. The programme also participates in research on the history of diet, collaborating with the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation (PIOP), and participated in research on the history of wine in Greek space, with the scientific team ΟΙΝΟΝ ΙΣΤΟΡ? (2000-2008). The program's main concern remains the edition of and commentary on Ottoman sources as preparation for a corpus.

2. Study of the area of Cappadocia. The programme focuses on aspects of the culture of its Greek inhabitants from the fifteenth century until the Exchange of Populations. This year in collaboration with the Yildiz Teknik Univesity, the programme organizes an International Workshop on Karamanlidika, Armeno-Turkish, Hebrew-Turkish and Aljamiado Texts in the Ottoman Empire (Istanbul, 4 June 2010- Programme - Poster). Karamanlidika Studies. From 2011, Evangelia Balta takes part in the Intensive Ottoman and Turkish Summer School (Cunda / Alibey Adasi) and in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Μustafa Oguz is preparing for publication in 2012 an edition of the Ottoman surveys of Cappadocian regions.

In April 2010, the Τurkish Cultural Foundation awarded a grant in the amount of $ 25,700 to Dr. Evangelia Balta in support of a research project initiated in 2009. The research project seeks to indentify and publish Ottoman archival materials on Karamanlica / Karamanlidika publications, that is, books, magazines, newspapers and other printed matter which were published in Turkish written in the Greek alphabet during the period between the early 1800s and the beginning of the 20th century. The project's immediate aim is the publication of a scholarly volume (entitled ''Histories of Karamanlis and Karamanlidika Prints'') which will deal with aspects of the history of the Turkophone Orthodox populations and the Karamanlidika prints from a variety of viewpoints, according to the provenance of the sources (Ottoman, Greek and Western sources). The project's long-term aim is to collect information on Karamanlidika prints which will result in a revised and enhanced edition of the Karamanlidika Bibliography. Dr. Nurdan Safak, Ayse Kavak and Dr. Raif Ivecan are members of the project team.

The programme collaborates with:

a. external research fellows on issues of common interest and accommodates their research. Included in this framework of collaborations are the programme to create the corpus of Ottoman inscriptions in Greece (CIOG-Corpus Inscriptionum Ottomanicarum Graeciae) and the series of seminars on Ottoman Epigraphy, organized by Dimitris Loupis. For details see Ottoman Epigraphy

b. In addition, the program has research collaborations with professors of the University of Marmara (Istanbul) and graduate teaching collaborations with the University of Hacettepe and Bilkent (Ankara), as well as Sabanci University (Istanbul). The program hosts and collaborates with Turkish professors who come to Greece and the National Research Foundation in order to pursue their research. The program also includes educational training of Turkish students. In 2006-2007, it hosted two graduate students Filiz Yasar (doctoral dissertation: Chios in the Ottoman fiscal registers) and Elif Bayraktar (doctoral dissertation: The institution of the Orthodox Church in the 17th c.). In 2008, Suleyman Emre Sunu was trained in the program (doctoral dissertation: Labour movement in Thessaloniki during the Mesrutiyet-regime). In 2009-2010, Filiz Yasar was hosted with a scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation (ΙΚΥ) and the Foundation for Education and European Culture (IPEP). In 2010, Senhaz Sismanoglu was hosted, a graduate student from Bogazici University whose dissertation topic dealt with Karamalidika texts. In 2010-2011, Gurer Karagedikli (Bilkent University) was hosted, who was working on a dissertation concerned with the Jewish community in Adrianople/Edirne in the 18th century. The last two students were awarded scholarships from the Turkish Cultural Foundation. From 2010, the Ottoman Studies Program collaborated with the Turkish Cultural Foundation, which undertook to pay for the scholarships which allowed the above-mentioned students to be trained at the National Research Foundation.

Programme director: Evangelia Balta, Research Director

Researcher: Dimitris Loupis, External Research Fellow