by Ottoman Odyssey- Travels Through a Lost Empire (retail) (epub)
I’ve started to feel guilty about contacting my friends in Turkey – any links to a blacklisted person are toxic. The result is a much more intense form of isolation than the physical distance from Turkey, especially when that distance is minimized. Yet what I found in Lesbos was that the view of Ayvalik was a constant reminder that Turkey is more than the sum of its depressing headlines. It was a reminder of the country’s natural beauty and its potential for normality and peace – I could see the same sleepy fishing villages and olive groves as in Lesbos, just across the water.
‘The past is a foreign country,’ writes L. P. Hartley in the Go-Between.57 Looking across at the Turkish coastline from Lesbos is like being physically confronted by a memory – it is the recent past, the cruellest distance of all. In Lesbos, I began to consider from a personal perspective the questions I’d started thinking about during my travels: where or what is your homeland? Is it where you were born, where you grew up or where you choose to live? Is it where your ancestors were born? Is it a promised land or a forsaken one? Do you claim it or does it claim you?
Some question whether it exists at all. In Inhale and Exhale in 1936, the writer William Saroyan, born in California to Ottoman-born Armenians, claims that diasporic identification is more real than geographic identification: ‘There is a small area of land in Asia Minor that is called Armenia, but it is not so. It is not Armenia. It is a place. There are only Armenians, and they inhabit the earth, not Armenia, since there is no Armenia. There is no America and there is no England, and no France, and no Italy. There is only the earth.’58
If we believe this, it makes a mockery of those who decide to return to what they imagine to be their ‘homeland’, but I’m not sure I do believe it. There is an interdependence between geography and culture which is strong enough to last millennia, as the Jewish people and their relationship to Israel will testify – whether real or imagined, that relationship shapes people’s identity. Homeland is where the collective heart is, and all the turmoil contained therein – and sometimes, that is a place, not just a concept. In the absence of Turkey, my adult home, I returned to Cyprus, where my earliest memories were formed. Why? I cannot define exactly the emotional connection between geography and identity, but it is there, like a sharp-edged object in the dark. The physical existence of a homeland, the touch and smell of it, has an unexpectedly strong resonance for those whose cannot access it – as Nazim Hikmet found, puffing away on his dwindling stores of Turkish tobacco in exile. Reminders of the physicality of a place bring our past experiences back to life.
‘Some Christians took a leaf or a flower or even an insect or a feather or a handful of earth because they wanted something from their native land,’ wrote Louis de Bernières in Birds Without Wings.59
My grandmother kept a relic of the olive groves she had owned in Cyprus before the war: a large glass jar filled with dried leaves she had collected from the trees just before she left. Occasionally she would take one out and burn it to ward off evil spirits, a superstitious practice repeated frequently enough that, over the course of my childhood, my mother had to collect new leaves on our trips back to the island, to replenish the slowly emptying jar. The brittle feel of the thin, slightly curled leaves was a necessary luxury for my homesick grandmother. The jar also became a kind of totem for me as a child – there was something shamanistic about its contents, little shards of a distant place that my grandmother would destroy, one by one, with great ceremony. As the tip of each leaf smouldered and glowed, a curl of smoke would release its smell, the most evocative sense of all. Over time I realized that, in destroying the leaves, she was in fact keeping her memories of home alive. After my grandmother’s death, my mother has taken to burning them, and I am the one who must replenish the jar.
Timeline of Countries
TURKEY
1299 Ottoman Empire established in Söğüt, north western Anatolia, by the Oghuz tribal leader Osman
1453 Mehmet II captures Constantinople, defeating Emperor Constantine XI and ending the Byzantine Empire.
1839–1876 Tanzimat reforms, leading to the short-lived 1876 constitution
1908 Young Turk Revolution restores constitutional monarchy
1914–1918 Young Turks side with Germany in WWI
1919–1922 War of Independence led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha against Greek troops supported by the Allies
1922 Victory of Turkish forces and Abolition of the Sultanate; Mehmet VI is exiled to Malta
1923 Republic of Turkey established by Mustafa Kemal Pasha
1928 Modernisation of the Turkish language and introduction of the Latin script
1934 Mustafa Kemal Pasha is named ‘Atatürk’ – Father of the Turks – by the Turkish Parliament, which also passes the Surname Law and introduces women’s suffrage
1955 Istanbul pogrom against religious minorities, leading to a significant exodus, especially of Greeks and Armenians 1960, 1971, 1980 Coups d’état, various
1989 Application made to join the predecessor of the European Union, the European Economic Community
2002 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan comes to power in general elections
GREECE
1458 Capture of Athens by Ottoman forces
1579 Cyclades islands officially annexed by the Ottoman Empire having been under vassal status since the 1530s
1669 Crete ceded to Ottoman control from the Venetians at the end of the Cretan war
1821 Simultaneous national uprisings in Macedonia, Crete, Cyprus, and the Peloponnese
1821–1832 Greek War of Independence; Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt fights on behalf of the Ottomans against Greek uprising but is unsuccessful after Russia, Britain and France intervene on the Greek side
1834 Athens chosen as the capital of the newly independent Greek state
1920 King Alexander bitten by a pet monkey and dies
1923 Exchange of minorities between Turkey and Greece
1939–1945 Greece fights Italy and is partly occupied by Nazi forces
1946–1949 Greek civil war, fought between the Western-backed government and the Greek Communist Party, won by the government
1981 Greece becomes tenth member of the European Union
DODECANESE ISLANDS
1522 Rhodes falls to Suleiman the Magnificent
1830 Excluded from the new kingdom of Greece
1912 Occupied by Italy after the outbreak of the Italian-Turkish war over Libya
1923 Turkey renounces territorial claims
1943 Italy surrenders to the Allies
1943–1945 Germany occupies the islands after defeating the Allies in the Dodecanese campaign, before eventually surrendering to the British in May 1945
1947 Formally united with Greece as part of the peace treaty with Italy
CYPRUS
1570 Passed from Venetian to Ottoman control
1878 Sultan Abdul Hamid II leases Cyprus to Great Britain in exchange for British support for the Empire
1914–1925 British protectorate
1925–1960 British crown colony, growth of Greek and Turkish nationalist movements
1960 Cyprus achieves independence. Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first president, leading a mixed parliament of Greek and Turkish Cypriots
1974 Greece-backed coup followed by Turkish invasion of the north, civil war and internal displacement
1974–present day Island divided between the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and the Republic of Cyprus
2003 Border opens, island remains divided despite calls for unification
2004 Republic of Cyprus joins the European Union
BOSNIA AND HERCEGOVINA
1463 The kingdom of Bosnia falls to Ottoman control
1482 The region of Herzegovina falls to Ottoman control
1566 Mehmet Pasha Sokolovic orders construction of the bridge on the Drina, Visegrad
1878 Treaty of Berlin hands occupation and administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Austro-Hungarian empire
1914 Archduke Franz Fe
rdinand assassinated by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Prinkip in Sarajevo, leading to the outbreak of WWI
1918–1941 Following the defeat and collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croat and Slovenes emerges (from 1929 renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia)
1941–1945 Invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia by Nazi Germany and its allies. Josip Broz Tito leads Communist resistance against the Nazis
1945–1992 The Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia
1990 Yugoslav wars break out leading to disintegration of Yugoslavia
1995 The Bosnian War, fought between Serb, Croat and Bosniak forces Tito dies War ends with the Dayton Agreement, enforced by NATO, and Bosnia and Herzegovina continues as independent state
SERBIA
1346 The Serbian Empire established by King Stecan Dušan “The Mighty”; territory included most of the Balkans
1355 King Stefan Dušan captures Adrianople (modern Edirne)
1369 Sultan Murad I captures Adrianople and makes it the capital of the Ottoman Empire
1389–1459 The Ottoman Empire expands into Serbian territory
1521 Belgrade captured by Suleiman the Magnificent, Christian subjects exported to Constantinople
1801 Renegade janissaries declare the Sanjak of Smederevo (central Serbia) independent of the Ottomans, and after two Serbian uprisings the semi-independent Principality of Serbia is established in 1817
1882 Kingdom of Serbia established
1912 First Balkan War–Ottoman forces defeated by the Balkan League (an alliance of the Kingdoms of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro)
1941–45 Serbia occupied by Axis forces
1989 Serbian nationalist Slobodan Miloševič becomes President of Serbia
KOSOVO
1389 Ottoman and Serbian armies both annihilated at the Battle of Kosovo. Murad I stabbed to death by a Serbian knight who had pretended to defect
1455–1912 Kosovo under Ottoman control, until the First Balkan War
1876–1878 Serbian-Ottoman war; tens of thousands of mainly Albanian Muslims flee from the Serbian province of Niš to Kosovo
1878 League of Prizren unites Albanians across the Empire in struggle for autonomy
1912 First Balkan War leads to greater Serbian control; many Albanians leave
1915–1916 Occupied by Bulgarian and Austro-Hungarian forces
1918 Allied victory grants control back to Serbia
1941–1945 Occupied by Axis powers (mainly Italian-controlled Albania)
1945–1989 Tensions between Kosovan Albanians and Yugoslav authorities
1990 Kosovan Albanians proclaim the Republic of Kosovo
1990–1999 Kosovan War
1999 UN Security Council places Kosovo under NATO control
2008 Kosovo declares independence from Serbia
BULGARIA
1393 Second Bulgarian Empire falls to Ottomans after Battle of Nicopolis
1878 Northern Thrace incorporated into the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia under the Treaty of San Stefano
1885 The semi-autonomous Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia unites with Bulgaria
1908 Bulgaria declares itself an independent state
1912 Defeat in Second Balkan War
1914–1918 Fights with Central powers against the Allies
1922 Thrace divided between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey at the end of the Greco-Turkish war.
1941 Bulgaria sides with Axis powers
1944 Monarchy abolished
1946–1989 One party people’s republic
1989 Collapse of Eastern Blok, exodus of ethnic Turks to Turkey
2007 Joins European Union
MACEDONIA
1395 Ottoman victory at Battle of Rovine establishes the Sanjak of Ohrid
1392 Ottomans capture Skopje, the capital, and occupy Macedonian territory
1903 Following a nationalist movement, Macedonian-Bulgarians revolt unsuccessfully against Ottoman rule
1913 Following Ottoman defeat in the Balkan Wars, territory of Macedonia annexed by Serbia and named South Serbia
1915 Bulgaria gains control of Macedonia until end of WWI, when it reverts to Serbian control; Bulgarian books banned, clergy and teachers expelled
1929 Macedonia forms part of the new Kingdom of Yugoslavia
1941–1945 Occupied by Axis powers
1963 Renamed the Socialist Republic of Macedonia following renaming of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
1991 Declares independence and does not participate in the Yugoslavian wars of following decade
2018 Agreement signed with Greece to change name from the ‘FYRM’ (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) to ‘Republic of North Macedonia’
ARMENIA
1639 Western Armenia becomes part of the Ottoman empire after the Ottoman-Persian war
1829 Russia gains sovereignty of Eastern Armenia in the Treaty of Adrianople following the Russo-Turkish war of 1828–1829
1917 Russian advance into Western Armenia as part of the Caucasus campaign halted following the Russian revolution
1918 Caucasus campaign fought between the Ottoman Empire and Russia terminated by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Caucasus campaign between the Ottoman Empire and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia terminated by the Treaty of Batum, which declares the independence of the First Republic of Armenia
1920 First Republic invaded by both Turkish and Soviet forces
1922–1990 Armenia under Soviet control
1991 Armenia declares independence
LEBANON
1516 Selim I defeats the Mamukes of Egypt and gains control of Lebanon and Syria (later considered part of Greater Syria)
1516–1917 Lebanon allowed to operate fiefdoms under feudal system; the Druze and Maronites emerge as most powerful rival sects
1635 Overambitious local ruler Fakhr-al-Din II executed on the orders of Sultan Murad IV
1839–1841 Egyptian-Ottoman War; Muhammed Ali Pasha sends his son Ibrahim to occupy Lebanon
1840 Britain helps Sultan Abdulmejid I regain control of the region; Abdulmejid I appoints the Maronite leader Bashir III as Emir of Mount Lebanon, ushering in a period of sectarian conflict
1914–1918 Arab nationalist movement crushed by Young Turks
1916 Execution of twenty-one Arab nationalists in “Martyr Square” in Beirut, ordered by Cemal Pasha
1918 Ottoman Empire loses Greater Syria along with other territories in WWI defeat. Unofficial French control until mandate established in 1923
1923–1943 French Mandate of Lebanon
1926 Lebanese Constitution outlines equal rights for Christians and Muslims
1943 Independence and establishment of ruling troika
1948 – present day Conflict with Israel, including Israeli occupation 1982–1985, and 2006 war
1975–1990 Lebanese Civil War; Syrian occupation
PALESTINE and ISRAEL
1516 Selim I gains control of the Greater Syria region
1880 Jewish immigration from Europe begins as part of the Zionist movement
1917 Balfour Declaration promises British support for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine; soon after, British take Jerusalem
1922 British mandate of Palestine
1947 After the Holocaust and end of WWII, UN pass resolution to partition Palestine and award Jewish state; civil war follows
1948 Arab-Israeli War fought between Jordan and newly formed state of Israel
1967 Six Day War, during which Israel establishes settlements on Palestinian land
1987–1993 First Palestinian Intifada
1988 Declaration of State of Palestine
2000 Second Intifada; Israel builds wall
Present day Israeli occupation of Palestinian land illegal under international law
Notes
Introduction: Sultans Old and New
1. www.turkiye.gov.tr.
2. ‘E Devlet soyağaci sorgulama hizmeti ufuk açti!’ Hurriyet, 19
February 2018.
3. Anderson, Benedict (1983). Imagined Communities: Reflections of the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, p .86.
A Historical Note: Classified Infidels
4. Mansel, Philip (1995). Constantinople: City of the World’s Desire. New York: St Martin’s Press.
5. ‘The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods’ (1996). The Cambridge History of Iran Vol. 3(2), ed. Ehsan Yarshater. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6. Lewis, Bernard (2014). The Jews of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p.28.
7. Zubaida, Sami (2015). ‘Sectarianism in Middle East Polities’. Routledge International Handbook of Diversity Studies, ed. Steven Vertovec. Oxford: Routledge. p. 195.
8. ‘Alevi Dedesinden, Cumhurbaşkani Gül’e 3. Köprü Ricasi’ Haberler, 24 July 2013.
9. Zachs, Fruma and Bawardi, Basilius (2005). ‘Ottomanism and Syrian Patriotism in Salim al-Bustani’s Thought’. Ottoman Reform and Muslim Regeneration, ed. Itzchak Weismann and Fruma Zachs. New York: St Martin’s Press, p.114.
10. ‘Nation and tribe the winners’ Economist, 22 April 1999.
Turkey: Heart of the empire
11. ‘Gezi Parki’nin yani başindaki Ermeni mezarliği’ Agos, 26 August 2011.
12. The Cambridge History of Turkey Vol 2, The Ottoman Empire as a World Power 1453–1603’. ed. Suraiya N. Faroqhi and Kate Fleet (2013). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.379.
13. Seyahatname extract (VI 48a34) in Dankoff, Robert (2004). An Ottoman Mentality: The World of Evliya Celebi. Boston: Brill.
14. Seyahatname extract (123) in Dankoff. An Ottoman Mentality.
15. ‘Lady Montagu and the introduction of inoculation’ Wellcome Library blog, 25 May 2016
16. Taken from a letter from Lady Mary Montagu, Pera, 16 March 1717, to Lady Rich. The Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, (1825) London: J. F. Dove.
17. Mazower, Mark (2005). Salonica: City of Ghosts. London: Harper Collins, p.II.
18. Al-Sabouni, Marwa (2016). The Battle for Home: The Memoir of a Syrian Architect. London: Thames and Hudson, p.31.
19. Ibid. p. 67
20. ‘Mardin’de kilise Diyanet’e devredildi’ Sözcü, 24 June 2017.
21. Maalouf, Amin (2000). Balthasar’s Odyssey. New York: Arcade Publishing. p.226.
