Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to analyze the steps that led to the Albanian independence in the early '900. Albania was a state under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and benefited from the protection of its Vilayets (regions) on the part of the empire. With the weakening of the Ottomans, Albanians were looking for a solution to their future and the only one who could save the last stronghold of the Ottomans was their independence from the empire. The methodology of this article is based on an exploration of archival sources and on the basis of an assessment of historical texts which deal with the question of the Independence of Albania.Keywords:
Independence
Ottoman Empire
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Albania was one of those countries whose physical and geographical position was tempting and favorable in the Western Balkans as well as South-Eastern Europe. Its position attracted many conquerors and empires through centuries who established their territorial and political hegemony. One of these was also the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire, not only a political and economic power of that time, but also with the purpose of following the policy of territorial expansion, it intensified its efforts not only in the Balkans but also in other regions. The conquering policy was mainly focused on the linguistic, educational, cultural and religious unification including even the income, economy, taxes, the assets of this place, going even further aiming the use of the political elite as well as Albanian and Balkan leaders, who were soon under the subjugation and in the service of the Empire. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s2p189
Unification
Elite
Ottoman Empire
Position (finance)
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One of the most important challenges that the Albanian State had to accept in the first decades of its creation, was the preparation and the approval of a legal framework that was supposed to place several public and social rules. The Albanians did not experience the humanist period from 14th to 16th century as other European populations, because it was interrupted by the Ottoman occupation. So the only governmental tradition which survived during this epoc were the Canons: The Canon of Leke Dukagjin (Kanuni i Leke Dukagjinit) and the Canon of Skanderbeg (Kanuni i Skenderbeut). Albania gained its independency from the Ottoman Empire, but still the country was ruled by Sheriat (Shariat from Arab, sariʿa, shari’a, sharyat), most of all because of the fact that there was not a national legal framework until 1930. After the proclamation of the Monarchy and the approval of its Statute (Constitution), started the work on the preparation of different codes; the crucial one: The Civil Code. This process was the first step for the Albanian Legislator to compare the secularity of the European legal framework to the Ottoman Empire one. In Albania, there was a such coexistence between the old empiric laws, the religious traditions and the tribal laws survived from the past; a mixed regime like the diversity of the population itself.
Proclamation
Legislator
Civil code
Legal History
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Successor cardinal
Ottoman Empire
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absence of civil society in Turkey was an inheritance from the Ottoman Empire, where political, economic and social power coalesced in the center. Continuity rather than change characterizes Turkish political culture. Ottoman political norms emerged and developed during the many centuries of the Empire. They persist today; affecting numerous aspects of contemporary Turkish politics. This article first presents an overview of the important milestones in Turkish history; from the foundation of the Ottoman Empire to the present. Second, it points out several lines of continuity in the Ottoman and the Republican political cultures. Third, it examines the impact of the Ottoman legacy on Turkish democracy. Finally; it addresses the question of why; until recently, continuity rather than change has characterized Turkish politics. The Ottoman Empire was founded at the end of the 14th century and reached its zenith in the 15th century. At the time, it was one of greatest empires of the world, stretching from the Caucasus to the Balkans to North Africa. From the second half of the 16th century until the end of the 19th century; the Empire slowly lost momentum, during what is now referred to as the Period of Decline. First, the territorial expansion of the Empire came to an end. Then, the Empire began to lose territory steadily. During this second period, the ruling institutions underwent changes as well. Among other things, the palace, at the apex of which stood the sultan, showed signs of losing its dominant position in the polity. Meanwhile, religious institutions and the military gained ground. In this second period, the Ottomans remained oblivious to the intellectual, economic and technological transformations that were taking place in Europe. Great efforts were made to revive the governmental structure of earlier centuries. Not surprisingly, this strategy did not prevent the Empire from losing further ground, literally and metaphorically, to its adversaries in Europe. Because of this decline, from the end of the 18th century onward, the Ottomans tried to reform first their public bureaucracy and then their military, the Janissary Corps, by emulating their counterparts in Europe. The Westernizing reformers faced stiff opposition from the Islamist traditionalists, and they were only partially successful. With the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the Westernizing reformers gained control over the country. Consequently, in the 1920s and 1930s, the founders of the Republic instigated a far-reaching cultural transformation to substitute enlightened reasoning for Islamic dogma. This period was followed by political transformations in the mid-1940s with the introduction of a multi-party democracy. The third important transformation in Republican Turkey came in the early 1980s, when the import-substitution economy was replaced with an export-oriented economy.(1) SOME DIMENSIONS OF THE OTTOMAN POLITICAL CULTURE The Ottoman state was formed by warriors who were opposed by eclectic popular culture, heterodox religious sects and threatening rival principalities.(2) Under such circumstances, keeping the realm together became the governing institutions' most critical concern, leading them to emphasize eternal vigilance against foreign enemies and the maintenance of law and order within the country Tursun Beg, Ottoman statesman and historian of the late 15th century, reiterated an Ottoman maxim: Harmony among men living in society is achieved by statecraft.(3) It was with this concern in mind that the ruling institution in the Ottoman Empire was called Askeriye (the military).(4) This imperative led the Ottomans to concentrate power in the hands of the sultan. Consequently, in the early Ottoman centuries, the Empire's political organization was marked by personal rule by the sultan. As a result, laws propounded by individual sultans were not considered permanent. …
Polity
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Author argues that by shifting from the Balkans-Middle East axis to the historical Greece-Turkey axis we could open broader terms for our discussion of the post-Ottoman space. He offers several reasons why this shift could be fruitful for discussions of 'religion, ethnicity, and contested nationhood in the post-Ottoman space.' He then discusses some of the dynamics of Greek War of Independence of the 1820s in light of the Turkish War of Independence a century later. In addition to the fascinating cases of particular nation-states in the process of formation and the master narrative of imperial reforms in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there were also multiple and persistently imperial processes to be examined. The chapter argues that the Greek and Turkish Wars of Independence, despite their extreme differences, contain important isomorphisms as well as causal connections that can lead to new insights on the creation of a post-Ottoman space. Keywords:Balkans-Middle East axis; Greece-Turkey axis; Greek War of Independence; Ottoman Empire; post-Ottoman space; Turkish war
Ottoman Empire
Independence
War of independence
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This article uses tools developed by conceptual history to examine what it might have meant for Ottoman officials in Istanbul to use the term Rum milleti during the Greek War of Independence. The revolution that started in 1821 has been seen as the first successful national uprising in Europe. It has long been ascertained that the Ottomans did not understand the national undertones that was seen in the declarations of the leaders of the Greek Revolution. Moreover, the Ottoman response to the eruption of this revolution has generally been examined in the context of Istanbul, Morea and the Danubian Principalities.
The goal of this paper is to broaden our understanding of the intellectual and spatial limits of the Ottoman response to the Greek War of Independence. It starts with an examination of the Ottoman response to the French Revolution and to the Serbian revolt of 1804 to follow the trajectories of the term millet. It points out to the limitations of the Islamic understanding of the revolts of subject populations by testing some intellectual tools that were used to surpass such limitations.
Independence
War of independence
Serbian
Ottoman Empire
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October 1912 brought dramatic developments in the Balkans, as Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece created an alliance with the intent to occupy territories of the Ottoman Empire. Offering a documented point of view, based on archives and other historical documents, this paper addresses some of the political and military developments of Balkans War, specifically in the Vilayet area of Kosovo, an autonomous territory within Ottoman Empire. Further on we address the Serbian military operations in Kosovo and Macedonia, where the majority of population was ethnic Albanian. In spring of 1912, the Albanian population of Kosovo started an overall uprising for liberation from the Ottoman Empire. Notwithstanding their will to fight together with other Balkan nations against the Ottomans, Albanians were not accepted within the alliance. This article addresses the crimes committed by Balkan armies, specifically Serbian army against Albanian civil population.
Montenegro
Serbian
Ottoman Empire
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Abstract
This thesis is based on a wide range of primary and secondary sources and explores British policy towards the development of the Albanian national movement and the parallel demise of the Ottoman Empire. It pursues three major objectives.
Firstly, it argues that during the period under discussion (1876-1914) Britain had only a limited involvement in the Albanian Question because of a lack of any major interest in Albania. This changed only during the various political crises and wars in the Balkans. In the context of such events, the British aimed to maintain the status quo in the region and secure their interests in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, mainly by preserving Ottoman rule. There was a significant difference between Liberal, Gladstonian views towards the
Balkans and Albania, and Conservative views, which were mainly created by Disraeli. British Liberalism had a long-standing influence on the way the Ottomans and the Albanians were viewed and showed partiality towards Christians in the region. The Albanians did not fit
neatly into this Liberal framework, namely due to their multi-religiosity and a certain liberal partiality towards Christians.
Secondly, this thesis argues that although Albanian nationalism was born in the early nineteenth century, it only grew significantly after 1878 as a result of the changes that were introduced by the San Stefano Treaty and the Congress of Berlin. Given the weakening of the Ottoman Empire, Albanian nationalist leaders believed that the Porte could not offer Albania sufficient protection against the territorial desires of neighbouring Balkan states like Greece, Montenegro and Serbia. Albanians therefore hoped to win British support and protection against the aggressive designs of their neighbours.
The third major objective is to analyse the role of the Albanian insurrections in 1908, 1909, 1911 and 1912, and other important events in the lead-up to the fall of the Ottoman Empire. This thesis argues that Albania achieved independence due to a number of interlinking factors: as a result of Albanian nationalism, as a consequence of the Balkan Wars, as a result of the fall of the Ottoman Empire and lastly also as a consequence of British involvement, as shown during the conference of London in 1912 where an Albanian national state was finally created.
Demise
Ottoman Empire
Peace treaty
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The 19th century was a century where the Balkans were reshaping by ideological and cultural polarisation. Until this century, the Ottoman Empire have maintained its multireligious, multilingual and multicultural structure without a problem. However in this century, the nationalist uprisings have caused a change in the Empires borders, leading to a Balkan region where Ottoman Empire has almost no presence. Notions that came with the French revolution such as freedom, motherland, nation and the policies of major European states have also affected the separation process. It would be possible to divide Ottoman foreign policy at the time into three eras. The first era is the time until 1865 was the time where the Empire was no longer unrivalled. The second era until 1878, was the era where the Empire guaranteed its territorial integrity and independence via Paris Peace Treaty in 1856. And finally the third era between 1878 and 1908 mainly focused on the balance policies to preserve its territorial integrity. In this era where the Empire was unsettled and vulnerable against interference the policies were based on integrity of the state. Ottoman state governors have tried to attune to the European system which was formed by 1815 Vienna Congress. They have seen internal and external administration as a whole and seeked for a new political culture and identity that can coexist with traditional and western values. They have tried activating the connective power of religion and use religion as a common bonding factor against attacks from Europe. As an external policy, a balance policy that works with the rising powers of the era and makes use of the adverse interests masterfully was being followed. After the 1877-1878 Ottoman Russian War, as a result of the immigration policies, the situation of the Muslim community was a determinant in the formation of new policies. Railways were used both as a tool of development and external policy. While keeping diplomacy in the foreground, blocks, polarisation and wars were avoided. These policies were not enough to save the state, however extended the life of it. This study primarily puts emphasis on notions related to nationalism. Furthermore it aims to explore the Balkan nationalism, which led to the end of the Ottoman Empire and characteristics of the Ottoman state policies at the time.
Territorial integrity
Independence
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XIX. Century, for Albanian geography is a period of irreversible. The source of the changes that took place in this century was the European states, which led to the beginning of a process involving not only the Albanian people but all the Balkan nations. In this paper, it is said that the period of the XIX. Century, the missionary activities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially in the territory of Albania. In addition, relations between Albania and the Ottoman Empire and the region, the political and cultural situation of the XIX.Century will be discussed. The religious and linguistic missions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with Catholic priests in Albanian geography will also be the subject of this work. Supports made by the Austro-Hungarian state to the Albanian State will be discussed in the discussion part of the research. In this paper, the information about the functioning of the Catholic Church will be examined in details. In addition, Latin alphabet and books introduced by the opening of Albanian schools and the Austro-Hungary Empire will also be evaluated in this paper.
Ottoman Empire
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