CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Volaric, Klara |
|---|---|
| Title | Carigradski glasnik: A Forgotten Istanbul-based paper in the Service of ottoman Serbs, 1895-1909 |
| Summary | In this thesis I plan to analyze Serbian irredentist actions through the establishment of Carigradski glasnik (Constantinople’s Messenger), an Istanbul-based Serbian periodical aimed at audiences in Ottoman Macedonia, a region which Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian countries claimed as their own national territory and which soon became a political arena for spreading national propaganda campaigns aimed at convincing the Slavic-speaking Orthodox population of their respective Greek, Serbian, or Bulgarian nationhood. However, the intention of Serbian diplomatic circles, and therefore of Carigradski glasnik, was not to undermine Ottoman sovereignty but rather to act in accordance with it. Unlike Bulgaria, which fostered revolutionary activities in the region from 1895 in order to sever Ottoman Macedonia from the Ottoman Empire and eventually annex it, Serbia calculated that it was in its best interest that Macedonia remain within the Ottoman Empire. Namely, Serbia as a latecomer had to consolidate its position in the region and for this needed an ally to keep Ottoman Macedonia within Ottoman borders. The main aim of Balkan irredentist campaigns was to induce a sense of a nationhood into the local Slavic-speaking population. This was also the goal of Carigradski glasnik. This paper propagated Serbian nationhood and fought for the establishment of a Serbian millet and essentially it was inducing nationhood from above, propagating Serbianness as envisioned by its editors and Serbian diplomats. For Carigradski glasnik the presence and sense of Serbian nationhood among the local population in Ottoman Macedonia was well-defined. Namely, Ottoman Serbs knew they were Serbs. However, as many scholarly works on Ottoman Macedonia show, nationhood in Ottoman Macedonia was far from well-defined and the local population exhibited a-national and fluid identities. Nevertheless, I argue that this fluidity does not necessarily imply the lack of nationhood, as studies generally suggest. Rather, this depends on how nationhood is defined: as a substantial entity or a changeable form of practice. |
| Supervisor | Esmer, Tolga |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/volaric_klara.pdf |
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