Tolerant Dimensions of Cultural Pluralism in the Ottoman Empire: The Albanian Community, 1800-1912

Tolerant Dimensions of Cultural Pluralism in the Ottoman Empire The AlbanianCommunity 1800-1912

George W Gawrych

International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol 15 No 4 (Nov 1983) pp 519-536

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Inr J Middle East Stud 15 (1983) 519-536 Printed in the United Stares of America

George W Gawrych

T O L E R A N T DIMENSIONS O F C U L T U R A L

PLURALISM I N T H E O T T O M A N EMPIRE

T H E ALBANIAN COMMUNITY 1800-1912

Scholars who have conducted research on the different peoples of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have as a general rule focused their studies on the process by which the various national minorities gained their independence from Turkish rule T o study this complex problem historians of the Balkans and of Middle Eastern countries other than Turkey have selected a methodological framework which seeks to analyze the nature of the struggles that led to the eventual emergence of nation-states such as Albania Greece Bulgaria and Syria Framing studies with this approach has encouraged scholars to eschew those sources of information which present a harmonious dimension to the relations among the different national and religious minorities For their part Ottoman and Turkish specialists have tended to exhibit a similar penchant for an ethnocentric perspective on Ottoman history they have been concerned mainly with the rise of Turkish nationalism and with the evolution of the Ottoman Empire into the Republic of Turkey Though publications of this predilection have contributed to a general understanding of certain aspects of Ottoman history they have also left for the historical profession a distorted picture of a politically polarized and culturally exhausted Ottoman society This society appears as a nebulous entity composed of many disparate and estranged cultures which received their separate cultural nourishment and ossification through the existence of seemingly hermetic communities defined by national and religious criteria

While tensions and even armed conflicts along communal lines existed in Ottoman society there was also a substantial degree of harmonious social interaction between individuals which transcended any religious and national boundaries In this paper 1 will focus on one minority-the Albanians-in order to demonstrate that in the last century of Ottoman history there were Ottomans who championed a modern notion of cultural pluralism in both theory and practice The main thrust here is to analyze those forces of integration that brought Albanians who possessed a national consciousness or sentiment into an identification with and a strong commitment to the larger Ottoman society This study deals with those Albanians who lived in Istanbul and in what is today Albania the Janina area of northwestern Greece western Macedonia and the

1983 Cambridge Universir Press 0020- 7438830405 19- 18 $250

520 George W Gawrych

Kosovo in Yugoslavia an area which 1 shall designate as the western Balkans in this paper

MULTILINGUALISM

It is virtually impossible to reach any scholarly consensus on the number of Albanians who lived in the Empire over the years 1800-1912 Ottoman census records during this period the first appearing in 1831 listed religious affiliation but ignored ethnic or national identification This omission presents modern scholars with an insurmountable obstacle in determining the exact number of individuals whose primary national identity would have been Albanian In the western Balkans Albanians belonged to Muslim Greek Orthodox and Catholic religious communities which included members from other minorities and this fact compounds the problem of formulating a method to arrive a t a reasonably accurate count of them Various estimates for these years place Albanians as constituting anywhere from over one to approximately three million inhabitants with Muslims Greek Orthodox and Catholics representing 70 20 and 10 percent of the total respectively

At the beginning of the nineteenth century despite the imperial governments official policy of recognizing religious rather than national groups many Al- banians harbored their own national sentiments J C Hobhouse Broughton an Englishman who along with Lord Byron visited southern Albania in 1809-1810 has left some valuable information on Albanian society Throughout the regions around Janina Berat and Tepedelen he could easily distinguish Al- banians from Turks by the formers distinct dress manners and language Much to his amazement these individuals readily identified themselves to him as Albanians whereas the members of other minorities tended to refer to themselves as either Turks o r ~ h r i s t i a n s ~ someMost local Muslims with whom he had conversation and here he probably meant both Turks and Albanians could speak Greek Furthermore many Albanians could even read and write in that language4 One outstanding example for this period of this regional multilingualism in the western Balkans was Ali P a ~ a (d 1822) a Muslim Albanian who was attempting to carve out for himself a petty state centered a t Tepedelen Ali Pava who personally met with Hobhouse and Lord Byron knew Albanian and Turkish and could speak Greek fluently5 Among the Greek attendants a t his court was a at one time the small circle of intimate friends and advisors had included a Greek beauty (and Ali Pavas mistress) a woman named Zofreni who apparently lost her life because of infidelity to her Albanian lord In addition to recording the presence of Albanian national sentiments not yet developed into a political ideology Hobhouse portrayed a degree of harmonious relations between Christians and Muslims as well as between Albanians and Greeks which fostered the cultural phenomenon of multilingualism in the western Balkans

This regional multilingual dimension of society in the western Balkans was not a feature unique to the early part of the nineteenth century but it remained a significant force for fostering an atmosphere of tolerance toward both religious

Cultural Pluralism and Ottoman Albanians 1800-1912 521

and cultural diversity into the twentieth century Within the last few years Turkish authorities in the Prime Ministers Archives of Istanbul have made available to foreign scholars an invaluable source on the Ottoman bureaucracy Sicill-i Umumi (the General Register) is a collection of 190 volumes of biographical material on over fifty thousand government officials-from a prime minister to a lower-level secretary in the provinces-whose lives spanned the last hundred years of the Empire Limited by time I was able to look a t only three randomly selected volumes and obtained information on the fifty-six officials who had been born in the western Balkans A vast majority of these individuals later served in various capacities in the region of their birth The earliest date of birth was 1239 H 1823 A D some officials born much later served into the Second Constitutional Period (1908-1920) The formative period in their upbringing ranging from age three to ten included the years 1825-1878

Because my concern here is to study the dynamics of pluralism in Ottoman society and culture I shall use Sirill-i Umumi t o quantify the language competence of these fifty-six officials In the western Balkans local Christians spoke (probably with few exceptions) Greek Albanian or a Slavic language (Serbo- Croatian Bulgarian o r Macedonian) as their native tongue whereas Muslims used either Turkish or Albanian in the home Those who were to some extent competent in Turkish and either Greek o r a Slavic language had crossed-in addition to national-religious boundaries to carry on regular dialogue with their neighbors Unfortunately Sicill-i Umumi failed to provide the religious affiliation of individuals From the names and biographical data it appears that five officials were Christians the remainder Muslims The breakdown of language competence is given in Table 1 From the data in Table 1 it is evident that forty-two out of fifty-six officials (75 percent) overcame local religious differences to learn the language of an individual from another religion Though the number of officials under consideration here represents too small a sample to reach any definitive conclusions concerning the scope and extent of regional multilingualism in the western Balkans these data point to the existence of cultural exchange among educated members of different religious and national minorities T o learn the language of ones neighbor certainly required a steady and continuous social interaction in which some borrowing of customs and values took place wittingly o r unconsciously This in turn reflected a degree of both religious and cultural tolerance

THE CONCEPT OF C U L T U R A L PLURALISM

Ottoman reforms of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by seeking both to increase central authority in the provinces and to further political integration of all peoples made imperative the need to affirm define and foster this tolerant feature of the cultural pluralism in the Empire First came the political and then the cultural aspects of the imperial doctrine to create a new order In the second quarter of the nineteenth century Sultan Mahmud 11 (1808-1839) developed the seminal idea of Ottomanism (Osmanlilik)which evolved into official government policy in the Tanzimat period (1 839- 1876) The Royal Rescript

--


TABLE 1 Language competence of western Balkan officials

Number of Officials Percent

Conipetence in the main spoken ianguages in the region Turkish Albanian Greek Slavic (listed as Slavic Serbian Bulgarian or Bosnian)

Competence accorcling to a cornhination ~ f l o c u l languages Turkish only Albanian only 3-urkish and Albanian Turkish Albanian and Greek Turkish Albanian and Slavic Turkish Albanian Greek and Slavic Turkish and Greek Turkish Greek and Slavic Turkish and Slavic

Source Ba~bakanltk A ~ ~ I v I Umumr Vols 1 4 and 45 SZCI-i

of the Rose Chamber promulgated immediately by Mahmuds successor in 1839 placed the imperial government officially on record as committed to the concept of equality a commitment which the Imperial Rescript of 1856 restated in even more forceful language As a political ideology Ottomanism came to mean that all subjects of the Empire regardless of origin and religion were Ottomans (Osmanlilar) united by their equality before the law and by their common citizenship This state ideology reflected the governments attempt to inculcate in every subject Ottoman patriotism directed toward the Empire and its ruling dynasty To foster the development of Ottoman patriotism among the various minorities the government opened new state schools with the expressed intention of attracting Muslim Christian and Jewish students it also sought to include increasing numbers of Christians and Jews in the emerging modern bureaucracy

Despite these efforts aimed at downplaying religious differences in order to cement various minorities under the umbrella of Ottomanism Ottoman statesmen remained committed to religious tolerance and they continued to give special legal status to select Christian and Jewish communities in the famous millet system Islamic tenets and Ottoman tradition demanded maintenance of this communal policy toward these subjugated People of the Book However concepts of nationality equality and fraternity without distinction of religious affiliation did weaken the place of religion in the formulation of government directives and programs This secular orientation in turn demanded a reevaluation of the nature of Ottoman society and culture By mid-century Ottoman Muslim writers began to sacramentalize cultural as well as religious pluralism as a salient feature of the


imperial system This shift thus represented a natural extension from religious to cultural tolerance as a doctrine given the governments drive to integrate politically all subjects under the principle of Ottomanism

In the first volume of his twelve-volume study of the Empire from 1774 to 1826 which he published in 1854 Ahmet Cevdet Paga (1822-1895) the great historian and Islamic jurist of Turkish origin presented the argument that the strength of the Ottoman state lay in its diverse cultural heritage For him the Ottoman nation (Osmanli milleti) was a great society because its people spoke many languages and because it selected the best talents customs and manners from among its various nations (milel-i mutenevvie) This powerful chemistry had regenerated the Islamic nation at a point in time when it had fallen into decay and the Turks had played the crucial role in this regeneratiom8 His analysis of Ottoman history and society although mainly concerned with Islam ascribed to cultural diversity a positive and creative function and hence it gave to Christians and Jews a positive role in the development of Ottoman culture Other Ottomans began to explore the contributions of minorities to the imperial culture and a number of Ottoman Albanians for their part were deeply involved in a cogent discussion of this issue by the early 1870s

$emsettin Sami Bey Frasheri (1850-1904) was one such Albanian who devoted his life to encouraging cultural tolerance and diversity in the Ottoman Empire Born of an Albanian Muslim landowning family from Frasher in southern Al- bania Sami Bey studied at the Greek gymnasium Zossimea in Janina a town located today in northwestern Greece His attendance at this Christian school was not an aberration for the time several wealthy Muslim families in Berat and Janina also sent their children to Zossimea for they considered this institution of higher learning the best in the region Among the prominent Muslim Albanians who attended Zossimea were Naim ~ r a s h e r i ~ Sami Beys older brother Ismail Kemal who became the first President of an independent Albania in 1912 and Mehmed Ferid Paga who served as Grand Vezir from 1903 to 1908 $emsettin Sami reported1y a brilliant student finished the eight-year school in seven years learning ancient and modern Greek French and Italian to complement his fluency in Turkish and Albanian Maintaining contacts with Ottoman Greeks upon his arrival in Istanbul where he initially worked for a brief period as a scribe in the government $emsettin Sami joined forces with a wealthy Greek merchant named Papadopoulis to found the newspaper Sabah (Morning) the longest-lived daily of the Empire (1876-1914) and it must be noted one of the most supportive of cultural diversity After eleven months with this paper Sami Bey returned to government service a profession which provided him with a steady income to support his prodigious research on Turkish and Albanian studies

In the field of Albanology Sami Bey created an alphabet (1886) for the newly developing literature wrote a grammar of the Albanian language (1900) published material in Turkish on Albanian culture and customs and even wrote under a pseudonym a political treatise in which he put forward his vision that Albania would one day be an independent nation During the years 1877-1881

524 George W Gawryc-h

he actively participated in Albanian cultural clubs that he had helped form with a number of other Albanians for the purpose of raising the national consciousness of his compatriots through the publication of newspapers and literary works in the Albanian language While Sami Beys activity in this area has earned for him a prominent place in Albanian national historiography his studies on Turkic languages and history have directly contributed to the development of Turkish nationalism Among his most famous publications in Turcology were a two-volume Turkish dictionary a treatise encouraging the simplification of the Ottoman language into the Turkish dialect spoken by most Turks and articles on pre-Ottoman Turkish culture and language

This dual avenue of research and publication-which contributed to the national awakening of both Turks and Albanians-may appear on the surface inconsistent paradoxical and schizophrenic but in actuality it represented the normal rhythm of life in the multinational Ottoman Empire with its multiple layers of self-consciousness identity and loyalty In a newspaper article published in 1878 Semsettin Sami delineated two abiding national loyalties in his personal life-one to the Ottoman Empire his general homeland (vatan-i umumi) and the other to Albania his special homeland (vatan-i hususi) This multiple identity represented a form of pluralism on a personal level while Sami Beys literary and scholarly output constituted a cultural and intellectual expression of the tolerant pluralistic dimension of Ottoman society and culture In his play Besa yahud Ahde Vefa (Pledge o f Honor or Loyalty to an Oath) $emsettin Sami attempted to deal directly with the complex issue of cultural pluralism from an Ottoman Albanian perspective The ideas expressed in this play the manner of its presentation on stage and the history of its performances reveal a great deal about the vitality of communal tolerance and cooperation in the late Ottoman Empire

In 1875 a year after the first performance of Besa in Istanbul Sami Bey published an introduction to it in which he clearly stated his reasons for writing the play

For a long time I have dreamed of writing a literary piece in order to depict some customs and morals of the Albanian people (Arnavut kavmi) not because I am one of their members but because I have witnessed [their] patriotic qualities which perhaps are suitable for [presentation] on stage such as patriotism sacrifice fidelity to oaths and low esteem for [ones own] lifel4

This desire to introduce the general public to Albanian culture and values carried with it for Sami Bey a keenly felt responsibility to strengthen Ottoman society as a whole According to him foreign values and morals (ahlak-i ecnebiye) had dominated Ottoman theater to the detriment of the Empires national values and morals (ahlak-i millive) Besa by implication was intended to fill this cultural void for it presented the morals and customs of the Albanian people who constitute an integral part of the great Islamic nation and who are members of the Ottoman polity1s Writing his play exactly twenty years after the publication of the first volume of Ahmed Cevdet Pagas history Semsettin Sami directly addressed the complex issue of cultural pluralism by presenting as an Ottoman Albanian those qualities of his own people which he felt could contribute to the


regeneration of Ottoman society and culture Let us look at the play in detail and see the major themes which Sami Bey developed for his Ottoman audience

The bare outline of Besa an Albanian word meaning pledge of honor was as follows Zubeyir a noble and proud Albanian highlander and his wife Vahide had a daughter named Meru~e who was in love with Recep her first cousin After discovering the mutual love of his two children Zubeyir agreed to a marriage Tragedy however hit the family before the marriage could take place On the wedding day Selfo an Albanian who lived in the nearby town of Borshi and who also loved Meruge kidnapped the girl for he knew her father would oppose their marriage In the process he killed Zubeyir because the father physi- cally tried to stop him in this dishonorable act Before his death Zubeyir enjoined Vahide to save Meruge and avenge his killing reminding her that family honor was at stake in this matter

While on her way to carry out this redemptive mission Vahide saved the life of an individual unknown to her This Albanian-Fettah Aga-turned out to be Selfos father who was returning home after having fought in the Ottoman army for twenty years Without mentioning any names Vahide unloaded her sorrow to Fettah Aga who quickly made a besa to save Meruge and avenge Ziibeyirs murder not knowing this meant killing his own son Upon finding out later the full implication of his besa even though many parental feelings argued against fulfilling this promise Fettah Aga reached the tragic conclusion that he had no real alternative but to kill Selfo After killing the young lad in his sleep Fettah Aga explained to Vahide Meruge and Recep what he had done The tragedy now entered another dimension-Fettah Aga being the killer of his son took his own life in revenge for Selfos death Before his own death Fettah Aga managed to enjoin his own mother who conveniently arrived on the bloody stage to accept Vahide as her own sister and Recep and Meruge as her own children The play ended with this moving reconciliation of the two families because Albanian justice had been carried out16

$emsettin Sami considered besa as an institution highly representative of ideal Albanian values and morals In his introduction to Besa the author clearly stated that Fettah Aga was the hero of the play This Albanian faithful to his word took the proper action in killing his son Besa was an object more sacred than compassion in general and parental love in particular The heros name shows the authors conviction that Fettah acted properly when he killed Selfo Fettah is one of the ninety-nine names of God in Islam and it denotes His moral excellence Besa a solemn agreement tied closely to a strong sense of honor and faithfulness transcended the social differences in Albanian society as represented in the person of Fettah Aga a townsman and Zubeyir a mountaineer In one scene Zubeyir made clear to Meruge the vital importance of honor (namus) to a highlander

My daughter The time span of this world consists of two periods Today we are alive in this world but tomorrow we no longer will exist It is honor which is permanent and which will be of use to us in both this world and the next only honor Property wealth goodness everything is nothing when compared to honor All these perish eventually Only honor remains It is a mistake-God forbid-to call someone a human being if he is without honor because it is honor that makes human beings human


This statement made by Zubeyir in the early part of the play helped explain the reason for Fettahs later decision to fulfill his besa and kill Selfo despite his deep parental love For him it was a question of honor being faithful to his word

$emsettin Sami made clear throughout his play often through subtle means that the high sense of morality and integrity exhibited by the main characters was a reflection of the best in Albanian national character Regional costumes worn by the actors and actresses reinforced the salient message that this play was about Albanians-their exemplary morals and values The word Albanian appeared three times in the story In the first instance when Selfo broke down to cry because he felt Meru~e was beyond reach Tepedelenli Demir Bey the local land magnate in the town of Borshi appealed to Selfos national pride as a means of eliciting composure from him he pointedly reminded him that You are an ~ l b a n i a n ~ The other two instances concerned Vahides imperative need to seek compensation in blood for the death of her husband and to save her daughter from Selfo as well To shirk these two responsibilities would have left an indelible stain on the family name and an unhealable wound on her own soul Vahide made clear twice in the play that as an Albanian woman (Arnavut karisi) she had to take revenge and free her daughter The message of the play was clear-characters with moral integrity and probity acted out of commitment to their homeland ie Albania and its noble traditions

Cementing ones heart and soul to the homeland however involved for Al- banians a continued loyalty to the multinational Ottoman Empire Sami Bey made this point very clear from Fettah Agas own thoughts and emotions which juxtaposed two distinct but for him inseparable homelands (vatan)

Twenty years What a long time It is [almost] a lifetime Oh Homeland sacred homeland How many times have I seen the homeland in my dreams Now I am finally in my homeland From this moment on 1 will not leave my homeland let my bones remain in my homeland How strange a situation it is that a human being leaves the place where he was born and raised and goes to another area a very distant one But the heart cannot leave-it hasnt the possibility A persons heart is always tied to his homeland I spent these twenty years outside of my homeland and wherever I found myself that place was my homeland Yes Trablus is our homeland the Danube is also our homeland If it hadnt been our homeland we wouldnt have spilt blood defending those places Neverthe- less man has another type of love to the place where he was born and raised and to those places where he spent his childhood and adolescence There is another charm on the horizon of the homeland Whenever an individual looks at a minute particle of the homelands soil an event of his childhood comes to mind The memory of those beautiful days of his youth creates a cheerful feeling in the heart21

This soliloquy delineated two distinct loyalties among Albanians-a patriotic devotion to the Ottoman Empire and a national commitment to the land of Albania the latter more implied than stated explicitly Both loyalties however complemented each other and Besa gave no indication of any tension between the two It rather struck a judicious balance between Ottoman patriotism and Albanian national pride

$emsettin Sami also addressed the problem of the relations between different national and social groups in the Empire This occurred in the dramatic scene where Demir Bey tried to convince Zubeyir to give his daughter to Selfo in


marriage Demir Bey let the shepherd know that for Selfo this marriage constituted a step down in social ranking When Ziibeyir promptly refused this request the Albanian notable reminded him that a man of his low status had to follow the wishes of his superiors In turn Zubeyir responded that in the face of the Padigahs law there remained no difference between himself and the bey When the local notable threatened the obstinate shepherd with imprisonment Ziibeyir appealed to the new order present in the Empire

At one time you could do such things but not today This is the era of the Glorious Tanzimat (Tanzimat-i Hayriye) Today our Padigah is one who takes great pains [to protect] our life (can)honor (irz)and property (mal) Those times which you know have passed they have passed23

This plea for honoring the Tanzimat a reform movement in which the government committed itself to the principle of equality of all subjects regardless of origin or religion appeared between those scenes which accentuated the theme of Albanian customs morals and values Thus Sami Bey presented here an indirect argument for the need of all Ottomans to respect cultural pluralism as an integral part of Ottoman reformism

An important but side issue in Besa concerned the role of women in Albanian and by extension Ottoman society During the Tanzimat period a number of Ottoman writers including $emsettin Sami began to discuss such themes as the position of women in society the problems associated with arranged marriages and the challenges confronting the family In Besa Sami Bey glorified women and showed a sensitivity to their vulnerable status in society For his audience he idealized the Albanian mountain woman who was freer than her counterpart in the town Ziibeyir upon learning of the mutual love between Recep and Meruge refused to hear any arguments from Vahide about letting their daughter marry Selfo Though recognizing Selfos bravery he opposed the marriage because of a deep concern for the comfort (rahat) of Meru~e Eventually a war would force townsmen like Selfo to leave home and fight in distant lands and these townspeople lived for this eventuality so that they could exhibit their military prowess Separation from the family could be up to twenty years the exact period of Fettah Agas wanderings Zubeyir considered this would be a cruel fate for his beloved daughter The girl had to remain in the mountains where she could maintain the dignity that rightfully belonged to her as a woman24 Vahide for her part exhibited the noble quality of bravery-in fact equal to that of a man-when she courageously set out to single-handedly save Meruge and avenge Zubeyirs death Her action reflected the Albanian ethos for she was both an Albanian and a mountain (dagli) woman25 In addition to ennobling displays of true courage Albanian highlanders both men and women highly valued their freedom a freedom which gave women some parity with respect to men26 This humanistic and idealistic portrayal of Albanian women supported the growing concern among some Ottoman intellectuals over the need for some form of emancipation of women in society

In Besa $emsettin Sami judiciously connected the presentation of Albanian customs and values to themes and issues of broader import Herein lay the strength beauty and appeal of the play It avoided polemical zeal with frequent


references to Albanians and their cultural separateness Rather the author took special care to develop Ottoman patriotic sentiments through the glorification of the Ottoman homeland and through the ennoblement of the policies of the Pad i~ah and the Tanzimat statesmen Many Ottomans could identify with both themes of Ottoman patriotism and local national sentiment Committed to the maintenance of the Empire these Ottomans also felt positive sentiment and attachment to the values and traditions of their particular nationality Sami Beys own cultural assertiveness on stage gave legitimacy to these sentiments it also helped Ottomans from other minorities become more sympathetic and understanding toward the Albanian people Sustained harmonious relations between minorities were essential if the Ottoman Empire was to remain a viable political entity for its subjects and this had to take place to a large extent on the spontaneous initiative of the people themselves rather than on the continuous urgings of political leaders The history of Besas performance on stage indicates that Semsettin Samis efforts toward enshrining cultural diversity found support from members of other minorities a fact which gave cultural pluralism in the Ottoman Empire an added dimension In other words there existed cross-communal support for the Albaniansattempts to assert publicly their national identity

CROSS-COMMUNAL SUPPORT

The production of Besa in Istanbul involved the famous Armenian director Agop Vartovyan (1840-1902) a convert to Islam who is known in Turkish history as Gullii Agop He had founded the first Ottoman language theater Tiyatro-i Osmani (Ottoman Theater) in Istanbul in 1867 In April 1874 he directed Besa using his repertory company which at that time numbered around twenty-six actors-nineteen Armenians and seven Turks-and eighteen actresses all Armenian Among the Christian Armenian actors were Tomas Fasulyeciyan (1842-1901) and Mardiros Minakyan (1837-1920) both of whom became excellent directors and producers in their own right Performances of Besa under Vartovyans direction continued into the following year28

After a hiatus of nine years Besa reappeared on stage in Salonica in 1884 this time under the direction of Tomas Fasulyeciyan who had been under the tutelage of Agop ~ a r t o v ~ a n ~ The height of Besas popularity on the Ottoman stage occurred during the Second Constitutional Period in particular the years 1908- 1912 already several years after Sami Beys death Different directors and various theaters in Istanbul were responsible for the revival of this play The Armenian Mardiros Minakyan an early collaborator of Vartovyan directed performances of Besa in 1908 and 1909 Ahmet Fehim the most famous director of Turkish background in the Ottoman period and Kel Hasan separately presented Besa to Istanbul audiences the former in 1908 and the latter in both 1908 and 1912 Furthermore the Repertory Company of the National Ottoman Theater performed the play in 1908 and it also appeared at the National Ottoman Stage in 191 Reviews of the play and responses from the audiences were generally very positive Abdulhak Hamid (1852-1927) a well-known poet and playwright ap- plauded Besa as a play that was contibuting to the development of an Ottoman theater by its portrayal of the customs and temperament of one of the Empires numerous peoples31


There were several reasons for this renewed interest in Besa The military coup of 1908 which overthrew the autocratic regime of Abdulhamid 11 ushered in a brief period of unprecedented freedom of speech and the press A direct and conspicuous result of this new intellectual atmosphere was a more open discussion of such controversial issues as the nature of Ottomanism the place of national identity within a plural society and the question of cultural rights for the different minorities of the Empire A number of Albanians taking advantage of the relaxation of government censorship established their own national clubs schools newspapers and presses to foster the development of national consciousness among their fellow compatriots Besa attracted these Albanians because of its positive and poignant portrayal of Albanian customs morals and values whereas the wider Ottoman public found favor with the plays commitment to Ottoman patriotism and cultural pluralism Albanian customs and values as a medium in which to discuss the nature of Ottoman society and culture lost their relevance when Albania became an independent nation-state in 1912 an event which left only a handful of Albanians in the Empire Hence Besa was not performed on stage in either the Ottoman Empire or Turkey after 1912 Until that date continued interest in Besa reflected that from an Albanian perspective Ottomanism meant an ability and an opportunity for Albanians to assert their cultural identity sometimes with the assistance of members from other nationali- ties in this case Armenians and Turks

Other Ottoman Albanians in addition to Sami Bey sought to develop Albanian national consciousness as well as foster appreciation among other Ottomans of the Albanian regenerative contributions to the Empire both past and present Derv i~ Hima for example was an Albanian from Struga who toward the end of 1909 established a newspaper called Arnavut (The Albanian) which he published in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul in both Albanian and Ottoman Turkish edi- tions The first issue of the newspaper outlined the founders goals

Our essential goal is to prepare the way for the enlightenment of our poor fellow country- men who live in a state of poverty and in an environment of ignorance and boorishness to raise their level of understanding and culture to foster among them an appreciation of their important place in relation to other Ottoman subjects and to encourage entente with those Ottoman subject^^

Derv i~ Hima considered it vital for Arnavut to strengthen reverence for our holy Albanian language and for our venerable nationality Albanians had to maintain and develop their separate identity one different from that of the Greeks Bulgarians Serbs Arabs Turks or ~ r m e n i a n s ~ ~ Derv i~ Himas views expressed here coincided with those of $emsettin Sami--Albanians needed to develop their own national consciousness share it with other minorities and feel an attachment to other Ottomans and to the Ottoman Empire all aspects of cultural pluralism in its tolerant form

In 191 1 Derv i~ Hima edited a book entitled Musavver Arnavut (Illustration of the Albanian) which he considered a complement to the activity of his news- paper34 This book contained a number of articles by different Albanians on important Albanian figures from the Ottoman past and on contemporary events in Albania For example one article-Albania in Ottoman History-presented a brief historical overview of the Albanian role in Ottoman history Its author


was Sureyya Bey an Albanian from Avlonya or Vlore which is located in southern Albania today Beginning his discussion with the appearance of the Turks in Albania Sureyya Bey criticized past Ottoman historiography for its failure to mention Albania from the period of Suleyman I (1520-1655) to 1621 The purpose of this short article only thirty-five pages in length appeared to be twofold First Sureyya Bey wanted to inform the general Ottoman public of the important contributions that Albanians have continuously made to the Empire They have served as Grand Vezirs Janissaries scholars etc Of Albanian origin the Koprulus a family which gave to the Empire several grand vezirs in the seventeenth century received special mention There was a second reason for writing this article Sureyya Bey wanted Albanians to maintain their separate identity within the multinational Ottoman Empire hence the stress on the conti- nuity in Albanian history This short article thus helped Derv i~ Hima in pursuing those goals outlined in the first issue of Arnavut it also conformed to the general thrust of $emsettin Samis studies on Albanian history language and culture3s

This cultural assertiveness on the part of Albanians found allies from other minorities I have already discussed the support given to Besa by a number of Armenian and Turkish directors In the nineteenth century several prominent Ottoman writers used Albanian characters customs or traditions to develop themes of Ottoman identity loyalty and nationality One excellent example was Namik Kemal (1840- 1888) who was of Turkish origin His Vatan veyahud Silistre (The Homeland or Silistria) was undoubtedly the most famous Ottoman play of the nineteenth century Performed on stage for the first time under the direction of Agop Vartovyan in 1873 Vatan was a story of the Ottoman struggle to defend the province of Silistria from an invading Russian army To present the message that Muslims needed to remain faithful to their religion Namik Kemal chose Islam as the name for the plays hero The main thrust of Vatan however was to help inculcate in the audience passionate Ottoman patriotism the words Otto- mans (Osmanlilar) and Ottomanism (Osmanlilik) appeared in highly emotional scenes with the intention of galvanizing public opinion into making a total commitment to defend the Empire at all costs To set the tone of Ottoman patriotism at the outset of the play Namik Kemal had Zekiye Hanim Islam Beys love open the first scene of Vatan dressed in an Albanian costume Her intermittent but forceful presence throughout the play reinforced the theme that all Ottoman subjects should feel a deep bond and loyalty to the ~ m ~ i r e ~ ~ In one sense Zekiye represented Namik Kemals subtle recognition of the Albanian sacrifice in defending Ottoman lands in the Balkans The author however eschewed developing the theme of cultural pluralism in this play

There was one Ottoman writer who did dwell on Albanian customs in order to address themes of imperial import Ahmed Midhat (1844-1912) a novelist historian and journalist of Turkish and Circassian background included such diverse peoples as Arabs Circassians Albanians and Turks in his many novels In 1889 for example he wrote a novel called Arnavutlar-Solyotlar (Albanians- Sulliotes) the plot of which centered around the love between Rustem Bey a young Muslim Albanian and Eftimi a Greek Orthodox Suli girl37 The Sulis were Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians who lived in the mountains northwest


of Preveze near the town of Margariti they had a reputation of being fierce fighters Through his characters Ahmed Midhat argued that Ottomanism was a tolerant concept it reflected the genuine attempt by the government to foster unity of thought among all Ottoman subjects while at the same time respecting the religion sect language and nationality (kavmiyet)of every citizen To support this argument of inherent tolerance in the state ideology he pointed to the important role that Greeks have played in both government and commerce38 The central story of the love between an Albanian Muslim man and a Greek Orthodox woman set in a geographical area close to $emsettin Samis birthplace served as an ingenious device for discussing the need for unity of thought across religious and national lines Such a love affair even to the point of leading to marriage was well within the realm of possibility For example Ismail Kemal who as mentioned earlier had attended Zossimea came to admire Greek culture and education In fact this admiration led him to marry a Greek woman later in life he even sent his children to Greece for further

Sensitive to minority problems Ahmed Midhat respected $emsettin Samis work for both men who knew each other were committed to Ottoman patriotism and cultural pluralism Ahmed Midhat paid the Ottoman Albanian a direct tribute when he assisted Tomas Fasulyeciyan in presenting on stage in Salonica three of Sami Beys plays including Besa as the first performances given by the Armenians newly founded repertory company40 This cooperative venture represented the best in the Ottoman plural society-individuals from various religious and national backgrounds coming together through constructive dialogue to provide a member of a different minority a platform for expressing his nation- alitys cultural distinctiveness Undertaken in 1884 this direct involvment with Besa served as a source of inspiration for Ahmed Midhat to write Arnavutlar-Solyotlar five years later he obtained at least part of his knowledge of Albania from $emsettin Samis life and work

Cultural propaganda between minorities thus sometimes created faithful con- verts The career of Kazim Nami Duru an Ottoman army officer of Turkish background illustrates that the positive effects of sensitive proselytizing by Al- banians continued right up to 1912 when Albania became an independent state Toward the end of the nineteenth century Duru became involved in the Com- mittee of Union and Progress (CUP) a secret society opposed to the autocratic rule of Sultan Abdulhamid 11 Transferred to Albania to serve as a reserve officer Duru along with a friend took the initiative to establish a branch of the CUP in Tirane in 1898 Several Albanian landowning notables of the area joined this branch One of them Refik Bey Toptani supplied Duru with copies of Ahmed Rizas journal Me~veret (Consultation) the semiofficial organ of the CUP in Paris Apparently unbeknown to Duru Refik Bey also maintained regular contacts with Albanian nationalist writers in Europe a correspondence that alluded to the presence of strong national sentiments among some Albanian members of the Tirane branch In fact these Albanians showed no reticence in speaking Albanian among themselves and they even began to teach the receptive Duru their native language Duru undertook this challenge partly in order to communicate with his predominantly Albanian reserve unit all of whom at the rank of corporal and below could speak only Albanian He later mastered the


new language in Berat another region heavily populated by ~ l b a n i a n s ~ Duru remained active in the CUP helping to revitalize the secret society in Salonica which remained the center of the organization until the outbreak of the Balkan Wars in 1912 In July 1910 while serving on the newspaper Rumeli published in Salonica Duru wrote an article firmly advocating the policy of governmental noninterference in Albanian attempts to develop a Thisnational l i t e r a t ~ r e ~ ~ stance reflected the continued existence and constructive impact of meaningful dialogue between individuals across communal lines into the twentieth century Durus initial utilitarian reason for learning the Albanian language had now turned into a humanitarian advocacy for Albanian cultural rights

COSMOPOLITANISM

The existence of cultural tolerance within the Empire carried for some Al- banians a European dimension-it encouraged the development of an intellectual climate conducive to an openness and receptivity on the part of Muslim Albanians to the Christian West Sicill-i Umumi contains evidence on this subject in con- nection with the language competence of the seven Muslim officials who knew one or more European languages in these cases French Italian or English Six out of seven government officials knew Albanian and all seven were competent in Greek with one individual also adept in a Slavic language Three Muslims could read and write in Greek two of whom had received a formal education in that language a t Zossimea This data though certainly very limited suggests that for Muslims a cordial relationship with Christian neighbors encouraged and reinforced an openness to contact with Europe and Europeans The scholarly activity of $emsettin Sami attests to the transformation of this latent potentiality into concrete thought and action

Like many reformers and writers of the Tanzimat era $emsettin Sami sought to regenerate the intellectual and cultural foundations of the Ottoman Empire through a measured and selective exposure of Ottomans to the West One area concerned Western literature and Sami Bey translated into Turkish six French novels including Victor Hugos Les Miserables His French-Turkish and Turkish- French dictionaries Dictionnaire Franqais- Turc ( 1885) and Dictionnaire Turc-Fran~ais(1898) provided Ottomans with an indispensable tool in learning French and then in reading publications in that language43 Kamus al-Alum or Diction-naire Universe1 dHistoire et de Geographic a six-volume encyclopedia on history geography and famous people was Sami Beys greatest work in exposing Ottomans to the West In the introduction to this magnum opus Semsettin Sami outlined his reasons for undertaking this massive project which required approximately ten years for completion (1889-1899) According to him the Islamic world lacked an up-to-date work on its own history and geography as well as on that of the rest of the world These two sciences were important for the development of civilizations and thus required the most current information Translating an encyclopedia from a European language was inadequate for such works emphasized Europe and gave minimal attention to the Islamic world According to Semsettin Sami Ottomans urgently needed a work well-grounded in their history and traditions as well Kamus a-Alum filled this informational deficiency


by providing special regard to famous Islamic and Ottoman individuals and countries but not at the expense of vital information on the This encyclopedia thus served a dual purpose-to disseminate knowledge on the West and to increase understanding of the Islamic and Ottoman pasts Because Ottoman history contained contributions made by many peoples Sami Bey found a place for his Albanians in this encyclopedia In the article Albanians (Arnavutlar) he praised Sultan Abdulhamid I1 for allowing the Albanian people (kavim) to establish their own schools and to use the Albanian language in publications According to him this laudable imperial policy would foster the creation of an Albanian national literature (edebiyat-i milliye) a necessary development for the preservation of the Albanian race (Arnavutlarin cinsiyeti) In this brief article $emsettin Sami credited Albanian Christians with much of the literary output and educational activities45

Several important pillars in $emsettin Samis thought reappeared in Kamus al-Alum a staunch loyalty to the Islamic and Ottoman foundations of Empire a firm belief in the national distinctiveness of Albanians a resolute commitment to cultural pluralism and an intellectual receptivity to Europe For his part Ahmed Midhat stood a counterpart to Sami Bey from another minority In addition to his novel on Albanians and his involvement in the revival of Besa Ahmed Midhat translated a number of French novels into Turkish and published among many other items books on Islam Ottoman history and universal history the latter in three volumes46 Both men linked together by common interests and a similar weltanschauung exemplified the best dimension of cultural pluralism in Ottoman society-an acceptance of cultural and religious differences within the Empire which nurtured a critical openness to the West In other words there existed for some Ottomans a direct relationship between a tolerant posture toward cultural pluralism in the Empire and a measured support for the continued exposure to Western values and thought as a means of helping to regenerate Ottoman society In his introduction to Besa for example $emsettin Sami attempted to justify Fettah killing Selfo by appealing to the work of Alexandre Dumas (the younger) entitled Le Regent Mustel in which a father had to kill his

47 own son

CONCLUSION

An integrative framework for the study of the Albanian community in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries results in the inclusion of tolerant and vital aspects of Ottoman society and culture in the last 125 years of the Empires existence This positive picture however forms only one side of a two-sided coin The last century of Ottoman rule in areas inhabited by Albanians certainly saw social tensions and armed conflicts caused by economic troubles and nationalist ideologies This explosive situation whenever it involved clashes along national or religious lines precipitated communal clashes and murder exacer- bating minority relations At the end of the nineteenth century growing numbers of Turkish intellectuals and officials began gradually to abandon Ottomanism for Turkish nationalism a development which alienated many non-Turks and which helped hasten the disintegration and dissolution of the Empire This harsh

534 George W Gawrvch

reality constitutes a n integral part of any comprehensive study of late Ottoman and Albanian history in other words there exists a danger of overemphasizing the harmonious relations between Albanians and other minorities

Certain qualifications need mention Multilingualism by itself did not neces- sarily indicate a widespread presence of mutual compassion and respect among individuals from different communities An Albanian could have learned his neighbors native tongue while still possessing an internal psychological state of subdued tensions repressed hatreds and harbored suspicions which sometimes found outward expression in intolerant actions toward members of other minorities Certainly many probably fell into this category Furthermore later negative experiences such as the murder of a relative or a social affront by a non-Albanian could nullify for an Albanian either Muslim or Christian any commitment to tolerance which had been based on positive cross-communal encounters of youth Moreover Albanian attempts at cultural assertiveness represented to a certain extent a defensive or negative motivation ie a need to preserve and foster Albanian national consciousness which some Albanians considered threatened by the growing nationalism of Ottoman Greeks Serbs Bulgarians and Macedonians and by the irredentist policies of neighboring Balkan states In this latter light the Albanian cultural revival reflected nascent and sometimes intolerant nationalism Some Albanians confronted with the distinct possibility of the eventual establishment of new rulers in Albania expressed the view that Albanias future independence would be the only way to avert this national tragedy This outlook however usually included genuine good will and a firm commitment to the Ottoman Empire and the career of $emsettin Sami illustrates this point Though such an attitude placed a restriction on loyalty to the Empire few if any commitments in life come without some personal reservations and latent tensions Finally Ottoman officials discouraged and even prohibited any cultural assertiveness with strong political overtones

The qualifications outlined above (and others can be made) have received ample attention in past scholarship However strong integrative and tolerant tendencies also existed in Ottoman society and culture and these require serious consideration by scholars who study minorities in the Empire That Albanian writers while asserting the cultural uniqueness of their community encouraged their fellow Albanians to maintain a firm loyalty to the Empire indicates the compatibility of Ottoman patriotism and Albanian national sentiment That a number of Albanians in government were competent in the languages of their neighbors alludes to the fact that cultural pluralism extended outside the very small circle of top Ottoman officals and Albanian intellectuals to include members of the general public who left no record of their thoughts on this subject In a later study 1 shall discuss the role of the Mevlevi order in fostering religious and cultural tolerance both among the elites and the common people That Albanians were able to contribute to the national consciousness of other minorities as well as receive assistance from them attests to the existence of meaningful dialogue and cross-communal support for the common endeavor to make cultural tolerance a growing reality in Ottoman society and culture In conclusion the continued presence of regional multilingualism the existence of a modern notion of cultural


pluralism the presentation of Albanian culture on stage and in literature the support given to this activity by members of other minorities and the apparent direct relationship between cultural and religious tolerance and the cosmopolitanism and internationalism among some educated Ottoman Albanians demonstrate the validity of studying the tolerant dimensions of late Ottoman history not only with respect to Albanians but with respect to other minorities as well Only such research will give proper credit to the contradictions complexities and vitality of late Ottoman society and culture

INIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE

THE SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FORT BRAGG

NOTES

J C Hobhouse Broughton A Journr~ Through Albania (Philadelphia 1817 New York 1971) p 28

lbid p 131 b bid p 35

41bid p 128 b bid pp 112-1 13

bid pp 98-99 b bid p 1 12 Ahmed Cevdet P a ~ a Tarih-i Crvclrt Vol I (Istanbul 1854) p 15 h e r Faruk Akun Semsettin Sami Islam Ansiklopedi~ I I (Istanbul 1970) p 41 1 he Mrmoirs oflsmail Kemal Brr edited by Somerville Story (New York 1920) p 17

Bajhakanlik A r ~ i v i Sicill-i Umumi Vol 45 p 346 Of the other 55 officials listed in this source two could read and write in Creek one of them had attended Zossimea

or general biographies on Sami Bey see Akun pp 41 1-422 Agah Sirri Levend $cvnsettin Surrri (Ankara 1969) and Kristo Frasheri Semseddin Sami Frasheri--ideologue du mouvement national albanais Sturliu Alhunicu 3 (1966) 95-1 10

asan an Kale$ Semsettin Sami Fraverinin Siyasi Ciiru~leri VII Turk Turih Kongresi (Ankara 1973) p 647

4~(emseddin)Sami Brvu Yuhurl Ahcle Vcfu (Istanbul 1292 Hicrii 1875) p 5 lbid pp 5-6 lbid pp 17- 180 There is an English translation of this play by Nelo Drilari called Plrclge of

Ifonor An Alhoniun Trugecl~ (New York 1945) This translation has numerous and serious mistakes Dri7ari used the Albanian translation by Abdul Ypi and he leaves the reader with the false impression that Brsu is highly Albanian in spirit when it actually has both an Albanian and an Ottoman tone Henceforth references to the play will be to the Ottoman original

171bid pp 11-12 bid p 39 191bid pp 97-98 lbid pp 120 122 lbid pp 128-129 -lbid p 105 lbid p 106 In his translation of these two important parts of the play Drizari made no mention

of the Padi~ahs law nor of the Tanzimat Instead Zubeyir said in the first instance Now there is no distinction between us and in the second Today everybody is independent There is no distinction whatsoever between us This translation left Zubeyirs argument based on a universal value rather than on recently promulgated Ottoman laws (See pp 67-68 of the reference cited in footnote 16)

lbid p 71


26An early scene in the play is one in which M e r u ~ e and Recep sing a song glorifying the beauty and freedom (hiirr) of mountain life in sharp contrast to that in the town Ibid pp 21-24

~ e t i n And A History of Theatre and Popular Entertainntent in Turkej (Ankara 1963-1964) p 69

~ e t i n And Tanzirnat tve Istihdat Diinerninde Tiirk Tiyatrosu 1839-1908 (Ankara 1972) p 455 In his brief description of Beso the author failed to mention that the play was about Albanian customs values and traditions (See pp 372-374)

29 Ibid p 455 10Metin And Me~rutij et Diinetninde Turk E~iatrosu 1908- 1923 (Ankara 197 I) p 293 3 I Levend p 67 This general assessment is based on the authors own recollections For Abdulhak

Hamids views see Ahmed Hamdi Tanpinar Ondokuzuncu Asir Turk Edebivati Tarihi 2nd ed (Istanbul 1956) p 564

3 2 Arnatwt 3 1 Kanunievvel 1325 331bid 34 D e r v i ~ Hima ed Musaver Arna~ur (Istanbul 1327 Hicri 191 1) It must be pointed out that

D e r v i ~ Hima was quite adamant and uncompromising in his Albanian nationalism By 191 1 many Albanians feared that Albania might be occupied by neighboring Balkan states Consequently Derv i~ Hima devoted his time and energy toward encouraging only Albanian national consciousness unlike Sami Bey who also had studied Turkish language and culture Independence for the Albanians was actually one year away

31Avlonyali Sureyya Bey Tarih-i Osmanide Arnavutluk in ibid pp 9-46 36 Namik Kemal Vutan Veyahud Silirtre (Istanbul 1308 Hicri l 1880) passint 17Orhan Okay Bat Mereni~eti Kar~isinto Ahmet MitN7ut Efencli (Ankara 1975) p 199 1 was

unable to obtain a copy of this novel and thus am dependent on Okays brief comments on and quotes from this novel

38 Ibid pp 262-263 391srnail Kernnl p 38 40And Tunzirnar ve Isribdar p 189 41 Kazim Nami Duru Arnawtluk rve Makedonva Hatiralarim (Istanbul 1959) pp 6 11-12 and

Irtihat ve Terakki Hatiralarint (Istanbul 1957) pp 6-8 12-13 For Refik Bey Toptanis Albanian national sentiments see Faik Bey Konitza Memoire sur le mouvement national albanais (Bruxelles January 1899) Haus-Hq=uncl Staatsarchi Politi~che Archi xiv 18 Albanien xii 2 p 81

1 2Duru Arnavutluk pp 19-20 37-38 and Ittihat ve Terakki p 43 41Akun pp 414-416 and Levend pp 203-205 44 Semsettin Sami Bey Frasheri Kanlus a-Alum Vol 1 (Istanbul 1889) pp 14-16 45 Ibid p 148 Sultan Abdulhamid eventually prohibited publications in the Albanian language 46Bernard Lewis Ahmad Midhat Enqclopedia qf lslarn 2nd ed Vol I (London 1960) pp 289-

90 and Sabri Esat Siyavusgil Ahmed Midhat Irlant Ansikoltetiti I (Istanbul 1950) pp 186-187 47Semsettin Sami Besa p 13

Inr J Middle East Stud 15 (1983) 519-536 Printed in the United Stares of America

George W Gawrych

T O L E R A N T DIMENSIONS O F C U L T U R A L

PLURALISM I N T H E O T T O M A N EMPIRE

T H E ALBANIAN COMMUNITY 1800-1912

Scholars who have conducted research on the different peoples of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have as a general rule focused their studies on the process by which the various national minorities gained their independence from Turkish rule T o study this complex problem historians of the Balkans and of Middle Eastern countries other than Turkey have selected a methodological framework which seeks to analyze the nature of the struggles that led to the eventual emergence of nation-states such as Albania Greece Bulgaria and Syria Framing studies with this approach has encouraged scholars to eschew those sources of information which present a harmonious dimension to the relations among the different national and religious minorities For their part Ottoman and Turkish specialists have tended to exhibit a similar penchant for an ethnocentric perspective on Ottoman history they have been concerned mainly with the rise of Turkish nationalism and with the evolution of the Ottoman Empire into the Republic of Turkey Though publications of this predilection have contributed to a general understanding of certain aspects of Ottoman history they have also left for the historical profession a distorted picture of a politically polarized and culturally exhausted Ottoman society This society appears as a nebulous entity composed of many disparate and estranged cultures which received their separate cultural nourishment and ossification through the existence of seemingly hermetic communities defined by national and religious criteria

While tensions and even armed conflicts along communal lines existed in Ottoman society there was also a substantial degree of harmonious social interaction between individuals which transcended any religious and national boundaries In this paper 1 will focus on one minority-the Albanians-in order to demonstrate that in the last century of Ottoman history there were Ottomans who championed a modern notion of cultural pluralism in both theory and practice The main thrust here is to analyze those forces of integration that brought Albanians who possessed a national consciousness or sentiment into an identification with and a strong commitment to the larger Ottoman society This study deals with those Albanians who lived in Istanbul and in what is today Albania the Janina area of northwestern Greece western Macedonia and the

1983 Cambridge Universir Press 0020- 7438830405 19- 18 $250



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Tolerant Dimensions of Cultural Pluralism in the Ottoman Empire: The Albanian Community, 1800-1912

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Transcript of Tolerant Dimensions of Cultural Pluralism in the Ottoman Empire: The Albanian Community, 1800-1912