THE LEVANTINES: COMMERCE & DIPLOMACY
The Levantine Heritage Foundation 1st International Conference | Istanbul | 3-5.11.2014
PROGRAMME & PARTICIPANT INFORMATION
The Levantine Heritage Foundation www.levantineheritagefoundation.org
Follow us at #LevantineHF
Cover image Credit: George Galdies
Layout Kalliopi Amygdalou
Printed by Net Copy Center, Istanbul
This publication was made pos- sible with funds by Karavan Travel Turkey www.karavanturkey.com 2 Contents
Welcome Note by the Chairman of 5 the LHF Organizers 7 Practical Information 11 Venues and Maps 12 Programme 17 Abstracts & Speakers’ Biographies 23 City Tours 48 Side Events 49
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Welcome to the from troubled parts of Europe. Others came as diplomats and ship- First International ping agents, bridging the interfaces LHF Conference in between the major trading nations Istanbul of the world and the cities of the Levant. Our research is on every aspect of their culture, includ- ing genealogy, cuisine, architec- ture, economic history and gen-eral culture. Cities were the great epicentres of Levantine life and business – Salonica, Alexandria, Beirut, Jaffa, Aleppo, Smyrna and Constantinople, as they were called then. And so it is very fitting that Welcome to the first academic this first conference takes place in conference organised by the Le- modern Istanbul, the historic hub of vantine Heritage Foundation. The them all. programme for “The Levantines: Commerce and Diplomacy” is very The LHF carries out its charita-ble diverse and I hope that both speak- mission by bringing together ers and delegates will have a academics, both professional and stimu-lating three days. amateur, to share their research on these historic communities and As this is the Levantine Heritage to make it accessible. Indeed, the Foundation’s first major public LHF was founded on the back of the event, let me outline what the we success of the remarkable collection are aiming to achieve. The Levan- of Levantine family testimonials put tine Heritage Foundation (LHF) is a together by our Charity Secretary, charity set up in the UK in 2010 Craig Encer, and preserved on the with the aims of promoting educa- website www.levantineheritage. com. tion and research on the history and We are most grateful to Craig for his cultural heritage of the Levan-tine huge contribution. communities, preserving that heritage and making it accessible The LHF’s ambition is to build on for future generations worldwide. that founding archive of material. We plan to collaborate with aca- So who were the Levantines? The demic partners in Turkey and else- Levantines were people, some of where to discover more information Western European origin, whose on the Levantines and their contri- long-term domicile was in the Eastern butions to historic economies and Mediterranean within the former societies. We intend to build an boundaries of the Ottoman Empire. online digital library of material that Many came to the Levant to seek preserves this research for public their livelihoods in various ways, as benefit. Where physical documents traders, builders, farmers, miners and objects need safe storage, we and even as soldiers and government plan to acquire collections and find officials of the Ottoman them a permanent home with an Empire. Some came as refugees institution that researchers and the 5 public can access. And we will continue to organise events where research can be shared and dis-
cussed, and where the people who enable our mission can meet and discover new collaboration opportu-nities and friendships.
None of this would be possible without the supporters of the LHF. I have been struck by the great inter- est and generosity of our sponsors and donors. Our major supporters are listed in this programme and I wish to thank them wholeheart-edly here and to encourage you to take note of them. There are also many individual members who have made donations of time, money and The English materials in support of our mission Chaplaincy and whom I would like to thank Istanbul as well. I am deeply grateful for all our supporters’ generosity and hope that we can honour them by succeeding in our ambitions to grow the Levantine Heritage Foundation into a charitable organisation that makes a significant contribution to education and research.
I would also like to thank our hosts, the British Consulate-General and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Istanbul, who have provided their splendid facilities and the support of their teams for this conference.
I hope you enjoy the conference and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible.
Quentin Compton-Bishop Chairman The Levantine Heritage Foundation
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Organizers region. This led him to become one of the founding Trustees and the first Chairman of the Levantine Her-itage Foundation with its charitable mission to promote education and research in the history and cultural heritage of
the Levant and to sup-port its preservation for the benefit of future generations.
Craig Encer lived and worked in Turkey most of his life and in doing so was often reminded of the ves- tiges of the rich multicultural past, evident in diverse aspects of life LHF Board there, from architecture to cuisine, Quentin Compton-Bishop to stories told to him by old people (Chair-man) in the back-streets of Beyoglu. Of- Craig Encer (Secretary) ficial history, as in most countries, Philip Mansel (Trustee) has always ignored that mixture to Jonathan Beard (Trustee) provide a nation-based narrative George Galdies (Trustee) that led to widespread misconcep- Axel Çorlu (Trustee) tions of the contributions of mi- Osman Öndeş (Trustee) norities, not least the Levantines. Kalliopi Amygdalou (Trustee) This desire by Craig to go deeper into the stories of the past led to a Local Organizing Committee personal research that stretched Jonathan Beard (Trustee) from local libraries to cemeter-ies, to Zeynep Cebeci Suvari chatty descendants and the then Emin Saatçı often overlooked academic Osman Öndeş (Trustee) researchers, over the late 1990s. Kalliopi Amygdalou (Trustee) The website was born initially in Nuri Çolakoğlu 2004, merely to share the findings on Levantines, possibly the most Web design & Digital Archive misunderstood of the minorities of Craig Encer (Trustee) the Levant. As this website created slowly but surely its own followers, Quentin Compton-Bishop is a who subsequently became con- former diplomat, Middle East tributors, the wheel of creating an specialist, entrepreneur and now CEO accessible database for reference of Warwick Ventures, which and inspiration began to turn. With commercialises research from the the encouragement of friends, the University of Warwick. Researching idea of bringing together contribu- his Levantine family background, tors, academics, community mem- which includes Izmir and Beirut, led bers and the general public grew, him to the Levantine Heritage inter- and the first Symposium took place est group and its many dedicated in Izmir, in November 2010. Craig is academic and amateur researchers, currently the secretary of the Le- and into the history of the Levant vantine Heritage Foundation. He 7 still updates the website through He is currently researching “The liaising with contributors and is impact of Levantines on happy to be contacted on all as- Liquorice root, cotton and pects of this on-going work. tobacco trade.” Jonathan Beard lives in Istanbul and London. Dr Philip Mansel FRHS is a historian of France and the Middle George Galdies worked in Brit-ish East, particularly interested in the Government Service as British Vice- Levant. His books include Sultans in Consul in Turkey, which he left in Splendour: Monarchs of the Middle 1974 to take up commercial posi- East 1869-1945, Constantinople: tions with international companies, city of the World’s Desire (1995), making fuller use of his typically Le- Paris between Empires (2001) and vantine linguistic and interpersonal Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe skills. He semi-retired in 2001 and on the Mediterranean (2010), the continued being active world-wide, first history in English of Smyrna, having founded his own company. In Alexandria and Beirut in the mod-ern 2008 he initiated an international age. Its themes include coexist-ence gathering of Levantines, which between Muslims, Christians and led to the Levantine Symposium of Jews; relations between the Ottoman Izmir in October 2010. Fired by this Empire and the powers success he promoted the idea of of Europe; and the political im- writing a Lexicon of Smyrna’s portance of cities. He has lived in Vocabulary. Work started in 2010 in Paris, Istanbul and Beirut, lectures in collaboration with Alex Baltazzi and the UK and abroad and is cur-rently George Poulimenos, whom he had writing a life of Louis XIV and a met during the Symposium. history of Aleppo. In 2012 he won A Lexicon of Smyrneika was pub- the London Library Life in Literature lished in June 2012 with academic award. He is a Fellow of the Institute endorsements. The book reflects the of Historical Research, London, and a multi-cultural facetted life in Smyrna founding trustee of the Levantine up to the mid- 20th cen-tury. He is a Heritage Foundation. For further keen contributor to the forum which information see www. emerged from what is now the philipmansel.com ‘www.levantineheritage. com’ website. George is one of the original Jonathan Beard was born in Bei- founders of the London-based rut, Lebanon, of a Levantine Levantine informal group who meet family of British extraction. He and dine regularly, and which led to received his education in England the formation of The Levantine and Swit-zerland where he Heritage Foundation. developed his love for winter sports and moun-taineering . After university he joined the Ca- Born in Izmir, Turkey, to a Levantine toni group, a shipping and trading (Italian/Greek/French/Armenian) enterprise. He was elected to the family, Dr. Axel Corlu has a B.A. in board in 1990 and has served as Political Science and Public Admin- chairman since 2004. He has held istration from Bilkent University, an numerous positions in business and M.A. in History from Bilkent Univer- other associations. sity, and a Ph.D. in History from 8 Binghamton University (State Uni- (Greece), ‘Internationale Journal versity of New York). Since 2002, des Transports’ (Swiss). His lat-est he has taught history courses at published books include Moda’lı Binghamton University (SUNY), Vitol Ailesi [The Whittall family of SUNY-Cortland, University of Mary Moda] and Vapur Donatanları ve Washington, and Georgia Gwinnett Acenteleri Tarihi [The history of College, on the U.S., the Ottoman Shipping Agencies], dealing with Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the, mostly Levantine, shipping the Middle East, as well as brokers of the Ottoman period. thematic courses such as History of War-fare and History of Food. Dr. Born in Chios, Greece, Dr Kalliopi Corlu currently teaches history at Geor-gia Gwinnett College, as Amygdalou holds a Diploma in Ar- Assistant Professor of History. chitecture from the National Tech- nical University of Athens (2009). His current research into the history During her undergraduate degree she and sociology of food is shaping up studied for a semester as an Erasmus into an article titled “Going to War student at Istanbul Tech-nical over Baklava and Cheese?: Food as University. She completed an MSc in Identity in the Eastern Mediterra- Culture and Society at the London nean, 1912-Present”, while another School of Economics (2010) and article in military history is on its subsequently she pursued doc-toral way, titled “An Elaborate Fiction: the Myth of the ‘Western Way of War’ in studies in Architectural History and the Context of Byzantine and Theory at the Bartlett School of Ottoman Warfare”. His aca-demic Architecture, University Col-lege profiles can be found at usg. London (2014). Her doctoral academia.edu/AxelCorlu and www. research, titled ‘A tale of two cities in ggc.edu/about-ggc/directory//axel- search of a new identity: The politics corlu. of heritage and modernisa-tion in early 20th-century Izmir and Dr. Corlu lived in upstate New York Thessaloniki’, was funded by the from 1999 to 2012, and after a 2- Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit year stint in Virginia, now resides Foundation (2011-2013) and by the with his family in Atlanta, Georgia. Foundation for Education and Eu- Osman Öndeş was born in Istan- ropean Culture (IPEP, 2010-2011). bul in 1931. He studied at Ankara Kalliopi lived in London from 2009 to University, Faculty of Political Sci- 2013 and is now based in Izmir. ences and at the Turkish Naval Academy. As a first-class naval Emin Saatçi was born and brought officer he served in Maryland USA, up in Western Thrace, Greece.He England, and for 2 years in Malta. studied English in Scotland. He Upon retiring from the navy in 1972 spent his main working life at The he worked as freelance writer, British Council in Istanbul. He was producing both novels and research a founding member of Cornucopia articles on diverse subjects. He Magazine. He has been reading worked as Turkey correspondent for Classical History and leads private many foreign periodicals such as tours to Classical sights on the ‘Lloyd’s of London Press’, ‘Informa’, South West coast of Turkey and ‘Seatrade’, ‘Shipbroker’, ‘Naftiliaki’ Western Turkey. 9 After obtaining a master’s degree consultant with his own company, from the Pontifical Gregorian Uni- New Media Company, working in versity in Rome, Zeynep Cebeci the field of corporate communica- Suvari attended Bosphorus Univer- tion and producing content for sity’s history department. Mrs. Su- vari-ous internet sites. vari has been working on her Ph.D. He is involved in a number of NGOs – thesis on the Italian community of currently serving as board member at Istanbul in the late Ottoman TAIK (Turkish American Business period. She previously taught in Ca Council), TUSIAD (Turk-ish Foscari University of Venice and Businessmen and Industrialists’ Bosphorus University in Istanbul. Association), the Istanbul Arts & Mrs. Suvari lived in Damascus in Culture Foundation, the Istanbul 1999-2000 and studied Arabic. Modern Arts Museum and Con- temporary Istanbul. He is a Board Member of the International Council Nuri M. Çolakoğlu has been work- of Paley Media Center, New York, ing as a journalist & broadcaster and Advisory Board Member of The media executive since 1969. Born in Performance Theatre, London, and Izmir in 1943, he graduated from Chief Strategy Officer for Turkey of Robert College and took his BA in the World Economy Forum, International Relations from the Geneva. He has three children and school of Political Sciences, Ankara . two grandchildren. He has held positions in Turkey and abroad. Starting with TRT, the Turkish public broadcaster, he went on to work for German news agency DPA, Swedish TV, German radio WDR, daily Aydınlık, BBC World Service, and Daily Mil- liyet. Upon his return to Turkey he was appointed as the news editor of Milliyet, and then moved to become the Deputy General Manager of TRT. Since 1991 he has been involved in launching a number of private TV channels such as Show TV, Cine 5, news channel NTV, business news channel CNBC-e, Kanal D in Romania and Fenerbahce TV. He launched a total of ten TV stations. He served as President and CEO of CNN Turk. For a while he served on the board of Dogan Media Group, managed their production company ANS and later became the President of Dogan Media International work-ing as coordinator for print media and TVs and external relations. He is now working as a media 10
Practical Information By participating in the First Inter- national LHF Conference you grant LHF the right to use your name, photograph and biography for such purposes. Photographing, audio recording and videotaping a pres- entation or speaker is prohibited
without the presenter’s prior written consent. You will be asked to fill such a form at Registration in order to allow us to videotape or audio record your presentation.
Registration Registered participants will receive their badge and conference booklet at the Registration Desk.
Membership Information If you wish to support our ongoing work, we would be grateful for any donations to our charity Levantine Heritage Foundation. Payment can be taken online through this page: http://levantineheritagefoundation. org/become-a-member.html This will make you a member and you will be the first to be informed of our future activities.
Insurance Registration does not cover insur- ance. Please arrange your own travel and personal insuranve. The organizers will not be liable for ac- cidents, theft and property damage, or for delays and/or modification of the program due to unforseen circumstances.
Photographs / Videos LHF will take photographs and videos during the First International Conference and reproduce them in the LHF news materials whether in print, electronic, or other media, including LHF website. 11
Venues and Maps and culture. For this purpose the Institute organizes Italian language and culture courses; supports initiatives concerning Italy and its cultural, artistic and scientific life; offers a book and a video library; provides information and documen-
tation about Italy, as well as advice and guidelines concerning Italian universities for students who wish to continue their education in Italy. During the year, the Italian Institute of Culture in Istanbul organizes a wide series of events such as con- Monday, Nov. 3rd and ferences, film screenings, concerts Tuesday, Nov. 4th and exhibitions. BRITISH CONSULATE- GENERAL (PERA HOUSE)
The magnificent Pera House in Monday, Nov. 3rd | SIDE EVENT Istanbul, built as the British Em-bassy CRIMEAN MEMORIAL CHURCH to the Ottoman Empire in 1844, is now home of the British Consulate- The Crimean Memorial, dedicated as General Istanbul. It houses a range of Christ Church, remains a unique British Govern-ment organisations piece of neo-Gothic architecture in including Con-sular and Visa the Republic of Turkey. Deconsecra- operations, Political and Prosperity tion in 1972 and subsequent der- teams, the British Council, and UK eliction were followed by renewed Trade and Invest-ment (UKTI), use in 1991 and reconsecration charged with boosting trade between in 1993. Over the past 20 years the the United Kingdom and Turkey. To sanctuary and nave have been find out more about doing business used exactly in the way G E Street with Turkey see the UKTI Website: would have conceived for http://www.ukti.gov. traditional western liturgy. On re- uk/pt_pt/export/countries/europe/ opening the Memorial, the altar southerneurope/turkey.html or con- was successfully built and the tact the British Chamber of Com- sanctuary was ar-ranged as the merce in Turkey on: http://www. architect had planned it. bcct.org.tr/ A traditional English Service takes place there every Sunday. The nave has been flexibly used as a venue for Wednesday, Nov. 5th the church’s primary school project ITALIAN INSTITUTE OF for refugee children. Around CULTURE IN ISTANBUL 600 pupils have been taught Math- ematics, Music, English, Art, Latin, The Italian Institute of Culture in and History over the years. The Istanbul is the official Italian gov- nave is also used occasionally for ernmental institution dedicated to concerts, exhibitions, and lectures. the promotion of Italian language The undercroft provides the 12 church with a hostel for adult male refugees being processed by the UNHCR in Ankara. Normally 7 men can be accommodated. In the past 20 years well over 2,000 have been accommodated. The Crimean Memorial serves a national need to commemorate men who died in the Crimean War and at Gallipoli; a spiritual need as a place of worship in Turkey where new churches are almost impossible to build; and a welfare need in an area from which Turkey falls desperately short. Over the past few years a series of Crimean Memorial Lectures has been hosted. These have raised al- most 20,000 pounds some of which have been recently used in saving the three apexes between the west and the east ends of the church. Currently the church is proceeding with the more radical restoration of the crumbling tower, before rais-ing funds for the rest of the church masonry.
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1. British Consulate-General (entrance from Refik Saydam Street) | 2. Italian Institute of Culture in Istanbul | 3. Divan Restaurant
2. Italian Institute of Culture in Istanbul | 4. Crimean Church
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MON 3 NOV | Pera House (British Consulate - General)
08.30 Registration (tea & coffee provided) *Participants are advised to arrive early, as getting through security takes a long time.
09.55 Welcome by Leigh Turner, HM Consul-General and DG UKTI Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus
10.0 Opening remarks by Philip Mansel (Institute of His- torical Research, London)
10.10 - 12.40 Keynote session | Ball Room Chair: Philip Mansel (Institute of Historical Research, London)
(10.10) The Istanbul Memories Project – research into con- viviality within a multiethnic and multicultural imperial metropolis Richard Wittmann (Orient-Institut Istanbul)
(10.50) Liberalism, empire, and port- cities Çağlar Keyder (SUNY - Binghamton and Boğaziçi Uni-versity, Istanbul)
(11.30) From factory to consulate. Commerce and diplomacy in the making of a Levantine urbanity Paolo Girardelli (Boğaziçi University, Istanbul)
(12.10) Q&A
12.40 Lunch (provided) & Levantine Food History Event | Palm Court & Ball Room 17 14.00 - 15.50 Session 1: Nationalities in the Levant | Ball Room Chair: Philip Mansel (Institute of Historical Research, London)
(14.00) ‘Men and women of Pera, that nation of polyglots, are chirping away like our Mazurians and Krakowians…’: Levantine-Polish contacts in Late Ottoman Istanbul Paulina Dominik (Orient-Institut Istanbul)
(14.20) Living the Levantine Dream: Romanian residents in Constantinople around 1900 Silvana Rachieru (University of Bucharest)
(14.40) The Ancient Levant and Modern Chiote Tradition John Freely (Boğaziçi University, Istanbul)
(15.00) A Dalmatian Levantine Success Story: The ‘Zellich’ Print House in Galata, Constantinople Vjeran Kursar (University of Zagreb)
(15.20) Q&A
16.30 Drinks reception at the Crimean Memorial Church. Welcome by The Rev. Canon Ian Sherwood OBE *sponsored by Jonathan Beard, Chairman of the Catoni Group **Private event open only to participants registered for the conference
TUE 4 NOV | Pera House (British Consulate - General)
08.30 Registration (tea & coffee provided)
09.30 - 11.40 Session 2: Culture, Space & Society | Ball Room Chair: Axel Çorlu (Georgia Gwinnett College)
(09.30) Beerbrewers, Architects, and Railway Workers: The Role of European Immigrants and Levantines in In-novation in the Ottoman Empire Malte Fuhrmann (Ruhr University Bochum) 18 (09.50) The Levantine world through the eyes of Italian travellers in “Costantinopoli” between the 19th and early 20th Centuries Luca Orlandi (Istanbul Technical University)
(10.10) The Levantine contribution to the revivalist aesthetic of late nineteenth-century Constantinople Alyson Wharton (Mardin Artuklu University)
(10.30) Guatelli Pasha and the Levantine musical life of 19th century Pera Emre Aracı, Author, researcher and historical musi-cologist
(10.50) Italian Levantines. The Italian community of Istan- bul, 1860s – 1920s Sakis Gekas (York University, Toronto)
(11.10) Q&A
11.40 Lunch (provided) | Palm Court Levantine Histories Roundtables | Ante Room Family Histories | Moderator: Quentin Comp-ton- Bishop, (Levantine Heritage Foundation, Chairman) Present and Future of the Levantines | Moderator: Jonathan Beard (Levantine Heritage Foundation, Trustee)
13.00 - 15.10 Session 3: Diplomacy and Governance | Ball Room Chair: Malte Fuhrmann (Ruhr University Bochum)
(13.00) A Levantine of Trabzon in the early 19th Century, Pierre Dupré and the French Consulate of Trabzon (1803-1820) (in Turkish)
Özgür Yılmaz (Gümüşhane University)
(13.20) Levantine Dragomans and Intra-Imperial Space in Nineteenth Century Istanbul Frank Castiglione (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
19 (13.40) Allies or enemies? : Local Governors of the Hamid- ian Era through the Eyes of British Consuls Funda Aditatar (Izmir Institute of Technology)
(14.00) British Consulates and Levantines in the first half of the 18th century (in Turkish) Hakan Yazar (Hitit University, Çorum)
(14.20) An [Italian] British Levantine Consul in Cyprus: An- tonio Vondiziano (1799-1844) (in Turkish) Mehmet Demiryürek (Hitit University, Çorum)
(14.40) Q&A
15.10 - 17.00 Optional walking tours (prior registration required) Tour 1: Galata and Pera, by Emin Saatçi Tour 2: Pangaltı and Şişli Cemetery, by Erhan İşözen
19.30 Dinner at Divan restaurant (prior registration re-quired) * sponsored by Ömer Koç, Chairman of TEV (Türk Eğitim Vakfı)
WED 5 NOV | Italian Institute of Culture in Istanbul
09.30 Registration (tea & coffee provided)
10.00 - 11.30 Roundtable: Towards a Critical Reappraisal of Cosmopolitanism Chair: Vangelis Kechriotis (Boğaziçi University and RCAC, Koç University, Istanbul)
(10.00) Cosmopolitanism and its discontents Αrus Yumul (Istanbul Bilgi University)
(10.15) Cosmopolitan Commitments: Artistic Networks and the Invention of Cultural Authenticity in the Late Ottoman Empire Ahmet Ersoy (Boğaziçi University, Istanbul) 20 (10.30) Cosmopolitanism vs Nationalism in the Port-cities at the end of the Ottoman Empire : Elective Affinities Vangelis Kechriotis (Boğaziçi University and RCAC, Koç University, Istanbul)
(10.45) Riffing It: "Constan Town's" Transnationalism through 1920s Jazz Culture Carole Woodall (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs)
(11.00) Discussion
11.30 - 11.50 Coffee Break
11.50 - 14.00 Session 4: Education and Commerce Chair: Caroline Finkel (The University of Edinburgh)
(11.50) The role of schools in preserving identity and lan- guage in the Italian Community of Istanbul Anna Lia Proietti Ergün, (Yildiz Technical University) & Verner Egerland (Lund University) (12.10) Double-sided agents of modernisation: Catholic Schools in the Adrianople Province Ümit Eser (School of Oriental and African Studies, London)
(12.30) The Tubini family and their Properties in Istanbul Zeynep Cebeci Suvari (Boğazici University, Istanbul)
(12.50) The Levant Postal Services in the Ottoman Empire (in Turkish) Taner Aslan (Aksaray University)
(13.10) The Role of Levantines in Uşak's Carpet Industry and Trade and the first Levantine Company in this field: Cardinal & Harford Sadık Uşaklıgil (Carpet manufacturer) and İlkay Talu (ALSA Makina San. Ltd)
(13.30) Q&A
21 14.0 Lunch (provided)
15.20 - 17.10 Session 5: Levantines and the Ottoman Empire Chair: Kalliopi Amygdalou (Izmir Institute of Tech-nology)
(15.20) Capitulations in Ottoman-French Trade Relations (in Turkish) Ayşin Şişman (Gedik University, Istanbul)
(15.40) Levantine Confectioners of the Capital (in Turkish) Jülide Akyüz Orat (Kafkas University)
(16.00) European Doctors and Ottoman Diplomats: Levan- tines in 19th-Century Ottoman Medicine and Inter-national Quarantine Debates Madeleine Elfenbein (University of Chicago) & Molly Laas, (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
(16.20) Exploring the Levantine heritage of Rhodes: The eventful life of Dr. Johannes Hedenborg (1886- 1865), Swedish vice-consul, author and traveller. Eric Bruns (MA, Utrecht University, current PhD independent researcher in Leiden)
(16.40) Q&A
17.10 Closing remarks by Axel Çorlu (Georgia Gwinnett College)
17.30 Closing of the conference by Quentin Compton- Bishop, Chairman of the Levantine Heritage Founda-tion
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Abstracts & Bios understanding of late Ottoman soci- ety in its full richness and complex- ity.
Dr. Richard Wittmann earned his PhD in History and Middle Eastern Studies (Harvard University, 2008). He is currently the Associate Direc-
tor of the Orient-Institut Istanbul, a German academic research institute of the Max Weber Foundation. His current research focuses on self- Keynote Speeches narratives as sources for the study of the late Ottoman period. He For Philip Mansel’s biographical coordinates the international and note please see p.8. interdisciplinary research project Istanbul Memories and is the co- The Istanbul Memories Pro-ject editor, with Prof. Christoph Herzog – research into conviviality (Bamberg University), of a new within a multiethnic and multi- publication series, Self-narratives of cultural imperial metropolis the Ottoman Realm: Individual and Richard Wittmann Empire in the Near East (Ashgate, UK). As a consequence of the political changes following World War I, the Ottoman Empire and its capital city Liberalism, empire, and port- Istanbul have been treated cities by many historians as an intrinsic Çağlar Keyder part of Turkish national history. The international Istanbul Memories Port-cities were the creations of the Research project (www.istanbul- huge increase in trade and capital memories.org), coordinated by the movements during the nineteenth Orient-Institut Istanbul aims to century. This ‘first globalization’ was study the multicultural and mul- institutionalized under British tiethnic realities of the Ottoman hegemony within an ‘imperialism of capital during the 19th century free trade’ and facilitated by the gold by focusing on the life narratives, standard. While world trade exploded autobiographies, diaries and other in volume and value, port-cities, forms of self-referential writing, through which global commerce was produced by the city’s residents in a organized, naturally became the variety of languages including, nodes of the new world economy. among others, Greek, Armenian, Britain and France made certain that Ladino, French, and German. By colonial states and weak empires making the voices of its diverse such as the Chinese and the Ottoman inhabitants heard and accessible to allowed port-cities a degree of the public through collecting and autonomy, often guaranteed under discussing these neglected primary extraterritorial arrangements for sources, we hope to contribute to a their denizens. The Levantine more inclusive and adequate population in the 23 rapidly expanding port-cities of the environments, is in itself derived Ottoman Empire became prominent from Latin “inter-positum”, mean-ing in the economy and the social life of precisely “placed between”. Between these cities. Their prosperity ended land and sea, between the residential and numbers dwindled as port-cities areas of the city and its harbor, were eclipsed with the demise of between the permanence and British hegemony, collapse of the institutions of urban life and the Empire, and the reversal of globali- volatility, the ever-changing ex- zation following World War I. perience of maritime and commer- cial enterprise. From the Venetian Çağlar Keyder teaches at Boga-zici fattoria to the factorerie or factory of University and at SUNY-Bing-hamton. French and English usage, from the He has published several articles and pandokeion to the funduq and the books on the historical sociology of fondaco, from the Ottoman han to the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, and the wakala and the okelles on the contempo-rary transformation surrounding Place des Consuls in of Turkish soci-ety. In his research he Alexandria, from the verhanes of attempts to relate national and Izmir to the French St Pierre han at regional change to world-historical Galata, a sort of common frame-work of space, discourse and prac-tice developments. His best known works seems to link together these sites of include State and Class in Turkey: A exchange and encounter. Outside the Study in Capitalist Development Levant (but in con-nection with its (1987), and the articles he historical/spatial dynamics) the contributed to a col-lection he edited, famous “Thirteen factories” Istanbul: Between the Global and the developed outside the walls of Local (1999). Canton in the 18th and 19th century, and combined the functions and the socio-political dy-namism of From factory to consulate. Com- heterogeneous spaces, displaying merce and diplomacy in the Chinese, European and Levantine making of a Levantine urbanity features. They were similar in Paolo Girardelli function, and in their hy-brid constitution and socio-cultural In this lecture I would like to survey positioning, to the many Levantine the formation and the functioning of sites evoked above. Amitav Gosh’s Eastern Mediterranean spaces where literary account of Canton before the commerce and diplomacy developed first Opium war, along with some in close connection. Urban historical images of the fac-tories, environments like Galata, Izmir, help us imagine how these spaces - Alexandria and Beirut, all in-cluded not only in east Asia but in the important districts and sec-tions Levant as well - may have been lived whose architectural fabric was and experienced. inherently transitional, placed “in The 13 factories of Canton were de- between”, and exposed to an inten- stroyed by the Opium wars, as were sified regime of material, symbolic the old okelles of Alexandria by the and political exchange. The origin of British bombardment of 1882. The the word “entrepôt”, which could be verhanes and the Rue des Francs of used to describe many such İzmir were erased by the late 24
19th century development of the European history, as well as be-tween quays, and ultimately by the fire and visual-cultural and socio-po-litical riots of 1922. Only St Pierre Han in dynamics, is one of his main Galata, among the examples I concerns. In 2005-06 he was Aga consider, is a still standing wit-ness, Khan Fellow for Islamic Architecture however dilapidated, of these spatial at MIT, where he conducted a re- and historical complexities. What little search on the relation between di- remains physically of this rich multi- plomacy and space in 19th century cultural heritage should be valorized Istanbul. This experience resulted in and restored with ap-propriate his major long term project on the international projects and “Landscapes of the Eastern Question” interventions. But also what has (also supported by the Graham already disappeared can be recov- Foundation for Advanced Studies in ered and remembered culturally, the Visual Arts), which re-considers through the efforts of scholars like diplomacy, interna-tional relations the colleagues and friends who are and the making or unmaking of participating in this meeting. identitarian boundaries across the east-west divide from Paolo Girardelli is an architectural a spatial, architectural and and urban historian, with research visual perspective. and teaching experience in the field Since 2009, Paolo participated in of Euro-Mediterranean and Ottoman the J.P. Getty Trust « Connecting interactions, XVIII to early XX cen- Art Histories Initiative », and in turies. He completed his PhD at the the spring 2013 he was chercheur University of Naples in 1996, with a invité at INHA (Institut national dissertation on the Italian pres-ence d’histoire de l’art, Paris). He was in the urban and architectural history recently invited to deliver a con- of late Ottoman Istanbul. His ference at the Palais de France in graduate seminars and main Istanbul for the Journées euroepée- publications focus on the produc-tion nnes du patrimonies. of space and images in multi-cultural contexts, problematizing the relation between architecture and “Levantine” identities. Since his appointment as a member of the History Department of Bogaziçi Uni-versity in 2000, he has contributed actively to the development of a Graduate Program of studies in Art, Architectural History and Visual Cul-ture. He participated in over forty international scholarly meetings, and published on indexed journals since 1995.
Paolo collaborates closely with scholars of diverse background, aiming to bridge geographical and disciplinary gaps. Blurring the boundaries between Ottoman and 25
Session 1: Nationalities in the This presentation focuses on the Levant interactions between Polish émigrés and the Levantine community of Istanbul. The personal narratives ‘Men and women of Pera, that – memoirs, diaries and private cor- nation of polyglots, are chirp- respondences – of the émigrés are ing away like our Mazurians revealing of their mutual contacts. and Krakowians…’: Levantine- It is clear that thanks to the shared Polish contacts in Late Ottoman Roman Catholic religion, Levantines Istan-bul were the group of the late Ottoman Paulina Dominik society with whom Poles felt the greatest affinity. It was a common Following the final partition of the practice for Polish émigrés to marry Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Levantine women. We learn from (1795) by Russia, Prussia and Aus- the memoirs that Levantines not tria, the Ottoman Empire became only learnt Polish easily but also one of the key destinations for the immediately shared their husbands’ Polish political émigrés. Poles fled to love for Poland and hatred for Rus- Istanbul hoping for Ottoman sup-port sians. Mixed marriages certainly in their efforts to regain inde- contributed to the émigrés’ integra- pendence. As Polish services were tion into Ottoman society. openly welcomed in various spheres Meanwhile, Levantinization was by the Ottoman dignitaries, their regarded as a considerable threat main space of activity stretched from to the distinctive Polish national Galata through Pera up to identity on the Bosphorus. Conse- Pangaltı. When Michał Czaykowski quently, as soon as Poland aka Mehmed Sadık Pasha (1804- regained independence in 1918, it 1886) tried to demonstrate in his became popular to send children to memoirs how numerous Poles Warsaw and Cracow to study. concentrated in Pera during the Given the particular dynamics of Crimean War (1853 – 1856), he the mutual contacts, this referred to the Polish chief Roman- presentation aims to shed light on tic poet Adam Mickiewicz’s Lady different dimensions of interactions Twardowska ballad: “Streets and between the Istanbul Levantine cafés are filled with Poles. They community and Polish émigrés. eat, drink and play cards, just like in the ballad on Twardowska. They Paulina Dominik received her almost destroy Pera.” Throughout Bachelor of Arts from the University the nineteenth century the Levan- of Oxford, where she studied Turk- tine quarters of today’s Istanbul ish and Persian. In 2013 she was were centre of the Polish social and awarded an MSt in Oriental Stud-ies political life. Polish shops, ateliers, from the same institution. Her cafés and canteens could be found Master’s programme was dedicated at every step in Pera and Galata. both to Ottoman/Turkish and Polish Meanwhile many of the Polish sol- history and literature. Currently diers who joined the Crimean War she is based in Istanbul where she on the Ottoman side, built wooden is carrying out research on the houses in Pangaltı in the aftermath Polish political émigrés in the 19th- of the conflict. century Ottoman Empire. 26 Paulina Dominik is part of the tinople were often assimilated with Orient-Institut Istanbul’s interna- members of the Levantine com- tional and interdisciplinary project munity, due to the similarities and “Istanbul Memories”. Within the sometime confusions concerning scope of the project she works on their status. The community was the personal narratives of Late Ot- both multi-ethnic and multi-reli- toman Istanbul written in Polish. gious. My presentation will address Her academic interests cover Late few of the aspects concerning the Ottoman history, Polish history in interactions between those two the post-partition period, Eastern communities and will try to answer European Orientalism, Ottoman some questions concerning the Occidentalism and Orientalism in identity of Romanian subjects in the literature and press. Levantine environment.
Silvana Rachieru is Assistant professor at the Faculty of His-tory, Living the Levantine Dream: University of Bucharest. Since 2006 Romanian residents in she has been working at the Constan-tinople around 1900 Romanian Cultural Institute in Is- Silvana Rachieru tanbul (2006-2007 project coordi- nator, 2007-2011 deputy director, The presentation will focus on the 2011-present director). She holds an relations of the Romanian commu- MA in History (1998, Central nity in Istanbul with the Levantine European University Budapest) and community around 1900, as part of a received a PhD in History (2010, broader history of foreigners living in University of Bucharest) on the top-ic Constantinople. The history of the of Romanian-Ottoman Relations modern Romanian commu-nity, between 1878-1908. She is special- protected by an independent state ist on social and diplomatic South- that was represented by dip-lomatic East European modern history, with a missions, has its beginning in the special interest in the history of the autumn of 1878, after the arrival of Ottoman Empire during “the long the first official Romanian diplomatic 19th century”. She has over 30 representative to the Porte, Dimitrie published articles in Romania and Bratianu. From that moment on the abroad on the Romanian-Ottoman Romanian residents in the Ottoman diplomatic relations after 1878, Empire were under the protection of on the Ottoman perspective with an official author-ity and acquired the regards to the modernization of the status of the foreign subjects in the Old Kingdom of Romania, and on empire. Due to different reasons, modern gender history in Romania. only in 1918 She gave presentations at over a consular convention was signed 35 international conferences and between Romania and the Otto-man congresses, and public speeches at Empire, convention which was of Bilkent University (Ankara), direct interest for the Romanian Sabanci University (Istanbul), the community in the Ottoman Empire French Institute for Anatolian because it had the role of stipulat- Studies Istanbul, etc. She has ing its status and rights. carried out research in Turkey, Romanian subjects in Constan- France, Greece and Hungary. 27
The Ancient Levant and Modern two years of World War II he served Chiote Tradition in a commando unit in the Pacific and John Freely China-Burma-India theaters of war. He has a PhD in physics from New Greeks from the island of Euboea York University and did post-doctoral were the first westerners to begin studies in the history of science at All trading with the Levant. Late in the Souls College, Oxford. Since 1960 he ninth century BC they established a has been professor of physics at trading colony at Al-Mina on the es- Bosphorus University in Istanbul. He tuary of the Orontes River, on what is has published more than 50 books, now the Turkish side of its border most of them on Turkey and the with Syria, south of Antakya, Greek Eastern Mediter-ranean. His most Antioch. The site was excavated in recent book is 1936 by Sir Leonard Woolley, who Homer, A Travellers’ Guide. considered it to be an emporium in direct competition with the Phoeni- cians to the south. Al-Mina served as an entrepôt for cultural influ-ences A Dalmatian Levantine Success that accompanied trade with Urartu Story: The ‘Zellich’ Print House and the shortest caravan route to in Galata, Constantinople Assyrian cities of upper Mesopotamia. Vjeran Kursar Through Al-Mina and Greek traders in Cyprus, the Phoe-nician alphabet was Among thousands of European im- transmitted to Euboea and mainland migrant workers that were attracted Greece in the eighth century BC, as to the Ottoman capital during the well as to the Euboean colonies in 19th century by business oppor- Sicily and Italy. It is possible that the tunities, Dalmatians represented Phoenician alphabet arrived in Greece a significant part. The majority of during the lifetime of Homer, whose Dalmatians represented the so- Iliad and Odyssey may have first called maritime proletariat (O. J. been written down at that time, Schmitt) – sailors, manual which is why they were preserved workers, or maids. Few of them, and not lost in the night of time. however, managed to achieve the dream and succeed in the Levant. Homer almost certainly was Antonio Zelić from Brela provides a from Chios, where a bardic guild good example of a Dalmatian known as the Homeridae flourished Levantine dream-come-true story. up into historic times. The Homeric After arrival in Istanbul in 1840, tradition still flourishes in Chios, as Zelić found employment at the lith- in the folk song Kato Sto Yialo, ographic print house of the French which was set to music by the Chi- Henri Cayol, the first of its kind in ote composer Mikis Theodorakis as the Ottoman Empire. In 1869, he Varka Sto Yialo, which helped keep opened his own lithographic print Greek spirits alive during the dark- house named “Zellich and Sons” est days of the Junta dictatorship. (A. Zellich et fils). His descend-ants continued the enterprise with great John Freely was born in New York success, and the “Zellich” Print in 1926. He left school at 17 to join House, now known as “Zellich the US Navy and during the last Brothers” (Zellich frères), became 28 one of the most renowned in the fields of interest are Early Modern Empire. The Zellich Brothers won History of the Balkans and the Ot- recognition due to the high quality toman Empire, Legal and Cultural of their products, such as newspa- History of the Ottoman Empire, pers, almanacs, numerous books, Islamic Law, Islamic Studies, Ethnic as well as postcards and post-ers. and Confessional Relations in the They received many Ottoman and Balkans. international awards for their He has participated in 9 scientific achievements and services, conferences (7 of them internation- includ-ing medals conferred by the al). He is a member of the Croatian Pope, the Persian shah, and the National Committee for Historical Serbian king. Sciences (HNOPZ), the Interna- The Zellich family mastered the art of tional Committee for Pre-Ottoman lithography, one of new tech-nologies and Ottoman Studies (CIÉPO), and imported from the West, and played member of the Executive Commit- an important role in the transfer of tee of International Association of this technology into the Ottoman Social and Economic History of the state. However, after the Ottoman Empire (IAOSEH). He was circumstances that had attracted a script writer and scientific advi- European immigrants changed in the sor in several documentary films 1920s and 1930s, the Zellich family, produced by Croatian Television, following the example of others, including “Croats on the Bosphorus” abandoned the business and (script writer with Vesna Miović), and eventually most of its members left “Zelić – Printers to the Empire” the city in which it made its fame. (script writer).
Vjeran Kursar was born in 1975 in Zagreb, Croatia. He graduated with a double major in History and Turkish Studies from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb (2003). He got his MA in Ottoman History from Bilkent University, Ankara (2007). In 2010 he graduated with Ph.D. thesis entitled “Non-Muslims and the functioning of a premodern multiconfessional society in Otto- man Bosnia (1463 – ca. 1750)” at the Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. He is work- ing as instructor and researcher at the Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. He teaches classes on Ottoman history at the Department of History and Depart- ment of Turkish Studies. His main 29
Session 2: Culture, Space and notably, brewers that pioneered Society beer in the Ottoman realm from the 1830s onwards. For Axel Çorlu’s biographical Members of more established Le- note please see p.8. vantine families such as Alexandre Vallaury or Raymond Charles Pere played an important role by study- Beerbrewers, Architects, and ing architecture abroad and then Railway Workers: The Role pursuing a career in their native of European Immigrants and towns of Izmir and Istanbul, while Levantines in Innovation in the the local Kraemer dynasty set the Ottoman Empire contemporary standards for Malte Fuhrmann leisure practices and prestige by founding the leading hotel and first regular cinema in Izmir. Traditional historiography has in- Even when innovation was intro- terpreted the milieus of European duced by large-scale investors, as immigrants and Levantines in the in the case of the railways, the Ottoman major cities as connected construction and operation necessi- to international trade and lacking tated a large immigrant workforce. impact on local Ottoman society. These immigrants mixed with local The publications of the last ten society both at the workpace and years have decisively changed that beyond, as the numerous intermar- impression, as scholarship now riages by railway workers indicate. sees them more as an integral part By contrasting these various of Ottoman society. However, apart modes of interaction, the from a few families dominating the presentation aims to give a local economy of Izmır/Smyrna, broader picture of the Levantines’ it still remains to be determined and Europeans’ impact on Ottoman what the impact of Levantines and society and the longterm effects on European immigrants on Ottoman the societal fabric. society was. This presentation will focus on the Malte Fuhrmann studied History role immigrant Europeans and and Balkan Studies at the Free members of locally established Le- University Berlin. He completed his vantine families played in establish- Ph.D. there on German cultural ing new crafts and technologies in the colonialism in the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman port cities. In contrast to He has worked as a researcher at common assumptions, many cul-tural Zemtrum Moderner Orient Berlin and technical innovations were and Orient-Institut Istanbul and has initially not imported by the Porte or taught at Fatih, Bogazici and Turk- foreign big business, but were ish-German University in Istanbul. introduced on the initiative of lower He is presently acting as professor or mıddle class immigrants from for the cultural history of the Medi- Austria-Hungary, Germany, Switzer- terranean at Ruhr University Bo- land, or other more Western Euro- chum. He has published extensively pean countries. These include the on 19th century port cities, focusing postcard printing service by Max on the Europeanization process in Fruchtermann in Pera and, most Istanbul, Izmir, and Salonica. 30
The Levantine world through environment in which they lived and the eyes of Italian travellers in the architecture they built, the “Costantinopoli” between the languages they spoke and so on, 19th and early 20th Centuries showing a sense of curiosity and Luca Orlandi sometimes admiration for their hab- its, and their daily life, as well as The aim of this paper is to present their religion, traditions and cus- descriptions of the Levantine world toms among the Muslim Turks. made by some Italians travellers Within this framework, this pres- who spent, for several and entation will focus, in a chrono- different reasons, a period in the logical manner, on some Italian Ottoman capital city. protagonists who brought back to With this purpose, the period be- Italy a different interpretation of tween the 19th Century and the the Ottoman world, thanks also to beginning of the 20th Century has the knowledge of those Levantine been chosen and analyzed, show-ing communities. how several Italian ‘eyes’ and ‘voices’ could describe at that time the Luca Orlandi is an architect and an differences but also the points of architectural historian. He gradu- contact between the West and the ated from the Faculty of Architec- ‘Orient’. Through the compre-hension ture at University of Genoa (Italy); of the ‘others’, the Levan-tine world he obtained a PhD in 2005 from the itself was unveiled under their eyes, Polytechnic of Turin (Italy), within giving new points of view to the programme: History and understand the complexities of such a Critique of the Architectural and world, always in balance between Environmental Heritage. East and West. He lives in Istanbul where he teach- Written impressions in form of books es History of European Architecture, or travelogues left by Ital-ian History of Landscape Architecture, travellers, ambassadors and Contemporary Architecture and diplomats, journalists, artists and Italian Architecture as Assistant draughtsmen, who visited Istanbul in Professor in the Department of the above-mentioned period, have Architecture at Istanbul Technical left to us a primary source to University. understand the social and politi-cal He often participates in lectures, transformations in the Ottoman seminars and workshops in other Empire. Reading those travelogues universities and his fields of in-terests today, provides us with an indispen- cover several topics like sible tool to understand the epochal contemporary Italian and Turkish changes which occurred in the Otto- design and architecture; world con- man Empire, the relations between temporary architecture; Ottoman the minorities and the core of the architecture and Sinan; Travelogues state, and the way of living in one of in the Orient. the most interesting and cosmo- politan capital city in the world. Moreover, through their detailed and accurate descriptions, many travellers witnessed and discovered the world of the ‘Frenks’: the urban 31
The Levantine contribution to the nineteenth-century Ottoman the revivalist aesthetic of Empire and Armenian church late nineteenth-century build-ings. Constan-tinople Alyson Wharton Guatelli Pasha and the Levan- This paper will look to the works tine musical life of 19th of Levantine architects, artists, century Pera decorators and other creative ac- Emre Araci tors working in nineteenth-century Constantinople to identify their “Gen[eral] Guatelli-Pasha, whose particular role in the formation of death at the age of eighty-four is the revivalist aesthetic that was to announced from Constantinople, had dominate architectural production far more than half a century been in the second half of the century. Director of the military music to the The high degree of input of Levan- various Sultans of Turkey and he held tine individuals working on imperial the rank of General of Divi-sion. He works undertaken by the Balyan was a native of Parma, and […] family and on the delegations to succeeded, as Musical Adviser to the the international expositions, such Sultan, Giuseppe Donizetti, brother of as Pietro Montani, has often been the composer of “Lu-cia””, reported stressed in the past. However, The New York Times on 22 April 1900 these assertions are not always after the death based on evidence but rather on of the Sultan’s much-liked Italian assumptions that these ‘foreign- bandmaster. Giuseppe Donizetti ers’ would have better knowledge and Callisto Guatelli shaped the of European revivalist styles than musical life of Levantine Pera in the local ‘men of practice’ such as the 19th century and through the Armenian Balyan family. This latter’s chequered life Emre Aracı paper therefore sets out to gauge rediscov-ers the hybrid sounds of more accurately the original the Otto-man capital. contribu-tion of these Levantines through pinpointing what united Emre Araci is a Music histo-rian, and dif-ferentiated them, their composer and conductor. He works and their approach to studied music at the University of revivalism, from their Greek, Edinburgh, where he received his Armenian and Turkish colleagues. BMus (Hons.) and PhD. His CDs include European Music at the Alyson Wharton is Assistant Pro- Ottoman Court, War and Peace: fessor in the Department of History of Crimea 1853-56, Bosphorus by Art, Mardin Artuklu University, Moonlight and Istanbul to London, Turkey. She received her PhD in 2012 also released as compilations under from SOAS, University of London, the titles of Invitation to the Se-raglio which will be published in book form (Warner Classics) and Euro- as Architects of Constan-tinople: the Ottomania (Brilliant Classics), which Balyan Family and the History of received praise from The Gramo- Ottoman Architecture (IB Tauris, phone. He is the author of various 2014). She has published articles on books, all published in Turkey: Armenian architects in Ahmed Adnan Saygun (2001), 32 Donizetti Pasha, Master of the Sul- communities and communal life tan’s Music (2006), Naum Theatre and not just about the Italians of (2010), Kayıp Seslerin İzinde [In Istanbul. The paper also explores the search of Lost Sounds] (2011), relations between Italy and the Yusuf Agâh Efendi, The first Turk-ish Ottoman Empire in the early 20th Ambassador in London (2013) and century, focusing on issues that Elgar in Turkey (2014). In 2012 dominate the correspondence of the Ankara State Ballet premiered Embassy, such as the investment Murad V, based on Aracı’s libretto projects of the Balkan railway from and research on the life and original the Danube to the Adriatic. The compositions of one of the most records examined provide a unique productive composer sultans of opportunity to study also the ex-tent the Ottoman Empire. Based in the of jurisdiction that Embassy courts United Kingdom since 1987, Dr exercised, given that Ital-ian Emre Aracı continues his research nationals were not tried in an under the patronage of the Ottoman court. The issue has been Çarmıklı family / Nurol Holding Inc. explored in the context of British rule in Egypt but not for Istanbul, especially from the point of view of a Italian Levantines: The Italian European community. The court community of Istanbul, 1860s records are detailed and provide – 1920s information about the age, origin, Sakis Gekas occupation / employment, the term of sentence and of course the crime This paper uses the Italian Con-sulate they were accused of and commit- Correspondence, the Ital-ian ted. The paper aspires to contribute Commercial Court and notary papers to the history of migration in the from the Italian Embassy, held at the Mediterranean, focusing on groups Ottoman Bank Archives and Research other than the well-studied ones and Centre, to explore the following provide a history of late Otto-man issues: the character of inter- Istanbul through the networks and communal relations between Italians relations between Italians, Ottomans and other residents of and Greeks, among other groups. Istanbul and specifically the crea- tion of modern institutions such as schools, hospitals, orphanages and Sakis Gekas is Associate Profes- other charitable institutions, which sor and Hellenic Heritage Founda- will be compared with the tion Chair of Modern Greek His- communal organization of other tory, teaching Modern Greek and ethnic groups, such as the Greeks Mediterranean History at York of Istanbul. The paper uses the par- University, Toronto. He has pub- ish records of the Galata Levantine lished articles on the economic and community to identify the relations social history of the Ionian Islands between the Levantine ‘Italians’ and under British rule and is currently the newcomers, and relations completing a history of the Ionian between Italians and other commu- State, forthcoming by Berghahn nities in Istanbul (Greeks). Books in 2015. He recently pub- The parish records go back to 1740 lished ‘Class and cosmopolitanism: and are more about the Galata the historiographical fortunes 33
of merchants in Eastern Mediterra- Session 3: Diplomacy and nean ports’, Mediterranean Histori- Gov-ernance cal Review 24, 2 (2009): 95-113, and was co-editor of a special issue For Malte Fuhrmann’s biographi- in the European Review of History cal note please see p.30. 18, 4 (2011), ‘A Colonial Sea: The Mediterranean, 1798-1956’. A Levantine of Trabzon in the early 19th Century, Pierre Du- pré and the French Consulate of Trabzon (1803-1820) Özgür Yılmaz
The French Revolution and the invasion of Egypt created a crisis period in Ottoman-French rela-tions and also stopped the French trade initiatives in the Black Sea which dated from the 17th century. However, in 25 July 1802 with the Treaty of Paris, the French were also given the right to trade in the Black Sea. Hence, France added the Black Sea to its privileges. With the 2nd and 3rd articles of the treaty, France obtained the right to appoint consular agents on various points of the Black Sea. In this context, by a decision of 21 September 1802, a general consulate (commissaire général) in Sinop and two consular agents (sous- commissaire) in Tra-bzon and Ereğli, dependent to the consulate-general of Sinop, were established. Although the Sinop and Ereğli consulates closed in 1812, Pierre Dupré’s sous-commissaire at Trabzon was transformed into a general consulate in the same year. Hence, Pierre Dupré became the founder of the French Consulate of Trabzon which remained for nearly 150 years in the city. Pierre Dupré,a timber merchant from Carcassonne, had been ap- pointed to Arta by the French Am- bassador in Istanbul (Descorches) in the third year of the the French Revolution Calendar. There 34 he played an important role in the France, he focused especially on relations between France and Ali French consular archives re- Pasha of Tepelena. Later, he was lated to the history of Trabzon assigned as commissioner to Trevi-za and the Black Sea Region. In his and Vonizza by General Gentile. Due Ph.D.dissertation, he mainly used to his commercial background, he French consular archives and was appointed to Trabzon as showed the importance of foreign commercial commissioner in 1802 by sources in the city history studies of Bonaparte. Pierre Dupré stayed in the 19th-century Ottoman Empire. Trabzon until his death in 1822. In He has also studied travelogues as his long consular mission in Tra-bzon another source of Ottoman urban Dupré was the only source for the history in the 19th century. He French Foreign Ministry about, not published some articles on early only developments in the Ana-tolian 19th-century French consular coasts, but also internal and external organisation in the Southern Black affairs in Trabzon, Erzurum and Sea region; on French trade and Caucasia. This paper aims to present economic interests in Trabzon and the consular activities of Dupré in its region; on the Caucasian Migra- Trabzon according to his consular tion of 1864; on the administrative correspondence with the French structure of Trabzon, and on Arme- Foreign Ministry, found in nian and Greek communities in the archives in Paris and Nantes. region. He presented his research at national and international sym- Özgur Yilmaz was born in Trab- posiums. zon in 1978. He completed middle and high school education in Of. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Levantine Dragomans and Karadeniz Technical Univer-sity, Intra-Imperial Space in Nine- Faculty of Arts, Department of teenth Century Istanbul History in 2002 and an MA from Frank Castiglione Karadeniz Technical University, Institute of Social Sciences, with a A prolific family of translators and thesis on “Trabzon According to interpreters, the Pisanis supplied Western Travellers (1808-1878)”, in the British Embassy in Istanbul with 2006. He received his Ph.D. in successive generations of drago- history from the same institute with a mans throughout the eighteenth dissertation titled: “Trabzon in the and nineteenth centuries. Alongside Period of Tanzimat”, in 2012. From their duties at the embassy, mem- 2003 to 2012 he worked at Karad- bers of this family were active in eniz Technical University, Faculty the Levantine and Latin-Catholic of Arts, Department of History, as community of Pera, and built their research assistant. Since 2012 he social networks through marriage continues his academic life in the alliances with other families there. University of Gumüşhane. The Pisanis straddled the political, His research interests focus on the social, and confessional boundaries social and economic life of 19th between two empires, all of which century Ottoman cities, especially were interconnected in the Ottoman Southern Black Sea ports. After one imperial capital. In following some year of doctoral research in of the activities of members of 35
this family in the nineteenth cen- Allies or enemies? : Local Gov- tury, this paper examines how the ernors of the Hamidian Era Pisanis negotiated their status be- through the Eyes of British tween the Ottoman Empire and the Consuls British, integrated into the Ottoman Funda Aditatar imperial structure, and the tech- niques they used to move beyond a Having established a widespread seemingly liminal status in an Islamic consular network in the Ottoman empire. To do so, it em-ploys the Empire, the British Empire had a conceptual framework of intra- significant influence in the Ottoman imperial space to analyze the space lands. The Treaty of Berlin (1878) that some Levantine drago-mans, obliged the Ottoman Empire to carry and the Pisanis in particular, out `reforms` in Anatolia and the occupied in the Ottoman imperial British Empire reinforced this capital. Intra-imperial space refers to influence in its capacity as the con- the zone in between the impe-rial troller of these reforms. Through this power that the dragomans served, treaty the Sultan was commit-ted to and the Ottoman one that they were the British government to make the born into. Combining empirical reforms needed for the good evidence from The Na-tional Archives governance and well-being of the (Kew, London), the Prime Ministry Christians and other subjects in Ottoman Archives, and the archives Anatolia. The Ottoman Government of the Santa Maria Draperis Catholic encountered difficulties in applying Church (Istanbul, Turkey), with these reforms because of the insuf- theoretical literature on empire, I ficient number of trained bureau-crats argue that this intra-imperial space and law enforcement officers, and provided a political, economic and also because of the lack of will-power legal position that benefited the to finance them. On the other hand, Pisani family of dragomans in the British Government adopted a Istanbul. policy of building pres-sure on the Ottoman Empire for the Frank Castiglione is a Ph.D. Can- implementation of reforms through didate in the Department of Near the local governors, and of monitor- Eastern Studies at the University of ing the willingness and success of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he local governors via its consuls. This studies the political and social his- case brought about interaction and tory of the Ottoman Empire in the mutual transformation in almost nineteenth century. He received every area in the provinces, within a Master of Arts degree in Arabic, the context of the Hamidian era, Persian, and Turkish Languages which heralded the collapse of the and Cultures from Leiden Univer- empire, and within the process of the sity, the Netherlands, and a second birth of new Turkey. The aim of this Master of Arts degree in Globaliza- paper is to identify the instanc-es of tion Studies at McMaster interaction and transformation of the University, Canada. Ottoman provincial admin-istration and administrators and to understand the development of Ot-toman public administration. Local governors were considered to be 36 either friendly or hostile in the The English founded the Levant eyes of Her Majesty’s consuls, Company in 1592, with the aim depend-ing on the expectations of of regulating its commercial rela- British politics with regards to the tions with the Levant. From this socio-economic and political issues year onwards, the company had the of the time. This research looks for monopoly on trading in the name of an answer to the question of how England in the Mediterranean and Anatolia’s administrative, political, within the whole Ottoman ter-ritories. economic and social history was The Levant Company had the shaped. In addition, the general lo- authority to appoint the English cal governor profile of Hamidian era ambassador in Istanbul and the is derived from the consular reports consuls in other Ottoman cities. The covering professional character fundamental responsibility of the analyses of provincial administra- consuls was to defend the rights and tors. The research is based on Izmir commercial interest of their subjects. British Consul reports. Consuls were appointed by the Ottoman Sultan’s berats at the Funda Aditatar received her Ph.D. English ambassador’s request. In this from Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey present research, the berats given to in 2011. Her research area is urban the consuls and some reg-isters in history, social and economic history the Ottoman Prime Ministry Archive of the late Ottoman provincial areas will be examined. In addi-tion to this, and also computational history. which Ottoman cities had English She has published papers in inter- consuls or vice-consuls will be national journals and presented at determined. The study also aims at international congresses. She is revealing how the English consuls currently working on the project defended the Europeans’ or the ‘A Data Analysis and Visualization Levantines’ rights and how the Work on the 19th Century British consuls handled the process when a Consulate Reports’ (Izmir Institute judicial or commercial matter related of Technology Scientific Research to their nation arose. Project, 2014-2015). She is a lec- turer at Izmir Institute of Technol- Hakan Yazar was born in Artvin, ogy, Department of General in 1990. He studied History at Kirik- Cultural Courses since 2000. kale University from 2007 to 2011, and wrote a thesis on Slave Trade and Slave Markets in the Ottoman Empire. After his Bachelor’s degree, British Consulates and Levan- he pursued a master’s degree in tines in the first half of the History (2014) at Yildirim Beyazıt 18th century University, Ankara, with a thesis on Hakan Yazar the English in the Ottoman Empire
in the first half of the 18th century. England, in the reign of Elizabeth, He is Phd candidate and he has in 1580, gained the right to trade been working at Hitit University as within the Ottoman Empire a research assistant since 2012. thanks to the ahidnâme hümâyun or ca-pitulations and soon later founded an embassy in Istanbul. 37
An [Italian] British Levan-tine Roundtable: Towards a Critical Consul in Cyprus: Antonio Reappraisal of Cosmopolitanism Vondiziano (1799-1844) Mehmet Demiryürek For Vangelis Kechriotis’s bio- graphical note please see p.39 Cyprus was an important trade centre both in the Venetian and Ottoman periods. It was one of the Cosmopolitanism and its first places where a consulate was discon-tents opened within the context of the Αrus Yumul capitulations, granted by the Ottoman Empire to foreign states to This paper presents the ways in promote trade. Following the which cosmopolitanism, as a form of capitulations granted to England in public sociability, was practiced and 1580, an English consulate was sustained in Pera, and discuss-es its established in the beginning of the decline in the nationalistic context of 17th century. Throughout the 18th the 20th century. century the English consulate Arus Yumul is a Lecturer at Is- continued its activity through the tanbul Bilgi University, Department of consuls that served there. The last Sociology. She received her PhD from consul to be appointed in the 18th Oxford University, Department of century (1799) was a Levantine of Sociology. She is the co-editor of Italian origin, living in Cyprus, several books, and the author called Antonio Vondiziano. Serv- of articles on nationalism, racism, ing for 42 years, he supervised the discrimination and minorities. business of English merchants on the island, addressed the needs of English travellers that visited Cosmopolitan Commitments: Cyprus and was himself also in- Artistic Networks and the In- volved in trade. This research aims vention of Cultural Authenticity to uncover information that will in the Late Ottoman Empire contribute to the putting together of Ahmet Ersoy Vondiziano’s biography, and to evaluate his commercial activities. This study concentrates on late Ot- The primary sources used were toman artistic/intellectual networks found at the Ottoman Archive and engaged in defining a modern and the Cyprus Court Records. nativist discourse on cultural authenticity in the Empire. From the Mehmet Demiryürek is Professor 1870s onward, initial attempts were at the History Department of Hitit made, mainly under state patronage, University. He received his masters to reformulate the Ottoman dynastic and doctoral degrees from Dokuz tradition in art and architecture as Eylül University. His academic local heritage, conceived in the form inter-ests focus on the history of of a grand Cyprus and modern history. narrative consonant with nationalist templates. The proponents of this emergent nativist discourse, which survived into the early Republican period as “nationalized” official
38 teleology, can be categorized (eds), (Budapest: Central European mostly as hyphenated Ottomans, a University Press, 2010) and Archi- diverse coterie with multiple and tecture and the Late Ottoman His- shifting allegiances: Ottoman- torical Imaginary; Reconfiguring the Armenians, -Greeks, -Levan-tines, Architectural Past in a Modernizing naturalized-Frenchmen or Empire (forthcoming from Ashgate superwesternized-Ottomans. These in 2015). artists, intellectuals and bureau-crats belonged to a cast of Constan- Cosmopolitanism vs National- tinopolitan elites who could draw ism in the Port-cities at the end upon different cultural systems of the Ottoman Empire : Elective and switch effortlessly between local Affinities and global cultural codes. The Vangelis Kechriotis standard cosmopolitan stereo-type associates these transcultural Because of the participation of groups with allegedly elitist, mar- individuals of different ethnic ginal, and politically uncommitted backgrounds, joint ventures among modes of existence, detached from professionals, businessmen and bu- the assumed “core” of Ottoman reaucrats in the last decades of the culture. Disputing the projection of Ottoman Empire have often been such constraining visions of identity taken as proof of the multi-faceted, over the Ottoman artistic field, this even cosmopolitan character of study aims to understand the local these societies, port-cities being attachment and status of these the most typical cases. Yet it was “embedded cosmopolitans,” who occasionally the powerful impact of were motivated by complex pat-terns nationalism, as one of the faces of of allegiance, and acknowl-edges modernization, that reinforced this them as vital and legitimate agents colorful image of human coexist- in the shaping of late Ot-toman ence. Dwelling upon examples from cultural transformation. Its broader Smyrna and Salonica, this paper aim, therefore, is to pro-pose a more will ask whether nationalism and diffuse and multifocal vision of cosmopolitanism refer to inherently mainstream late Ottoman culture, opposed sets of practices or, on the with a new emphasis on its contrary, whether they triggered “transnational and translational” encounters that problematize the aspects. conditions of urban experience dur- ing the period under study. Ahmet Ersoy received his PhD from Harvard University, Depart- Vangelis Kechriotis has received ment of the History of Art and Ar- his Ph.D. from the Program of Turk- chitecture, He is associate professor ish Studies, University of Leiden, the at Bogazici University, Department Netherlands. His research inter-ests of History. His publications include: focus on late Ottoman imperial Discourses of Collective Identity in ideology; political and cultural his- Central and Southeastern Europe tory, public history, Christians and (1775-1945): Texts and Commen- Jewish communities, and national- taries, vol. III, Ahmet Ersoy, Van- ism in the Balkans. He has pub-lished gelis Kechriotis and Maciej Gorny many articles related to
39 these topics, among others at Studies at the University of Colo- the Mediterranean Historical Re- rado, Colorado Springs. She has view (2009), History of the Family published in the journal Compara- (2011), Historein (2011, 2014). He is tive Studies of South Asia, Africa, a member of the editorial com- and the Middle East, for several mittee of the journals Historein and ABC-CLIO projects, and has pub- Toplumsal Tarih as well as member lished translations of period of the Board of the History Founda- sources on social dancing and the tion (Tarih Vakfı). Since 2007, he has modern woman in 1920s Istanbul. been an Assistant Professor, Cur-rently, she is working on her Department of History, Boğaziçi forth-coming book titled The University, Istanbul, Turkey, where Decadent Modern: Cocaine, Jazz, he is also sponsored by the Onassis and the Charleston in 1920s Foundation. He is currently a senior Istanbul, and is part of a Turkish- fellow at the Research Center for US collaborative transmedia-docu- Anatolian Civilizations in Istanbul. mentary project based on early jazz in Istanbul. Riffing It: “Constan Town’s” Transnationalism through 1920s Jazz Culture Carole Woodall
This paper takes the abbreviated version of Constantinople, “Constan Town,” as penned by U.S. writers, as the starting point to look at the city’s emerging 1920s jazz culture. I focus on migratory elements to the city, including U.S. amateur musician sailors as well as touring black American jazz musicians. My stance for the roundtable focuses on the distinctly transnational ele-ment attached to jazz culture that (1) plots post-Armistice Constantin- ople in a much larger trans-cultural dialogue around meanings of jazz, and (2) shifts the emphasis away from cosmopolitanism as a descrip- tive, historically contextualized, and ethical project by isolating what is at times attached to cosmopolitan-ism.
G. Carole Woodall is an assistant professor of Modern Middle East history in the Departments of His- tory and Women’s and Ethnic 40
Session 4: Education and identity for nearly 900 years Com-merce (Misir di Lusignano, 1990). The focus of this presentation will be the role played by the Italian schools Caroline Finkel is an Ottoman in Istanbul in the mainte-nance of the historian who has lived in Istanbul language heritage and therefore the for many years. She is the author of national identity and an intimate Osman’s Dream. The Story of the connection with the motherland Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923. She is (Iacobellis 2007, Ortaylı co-director of the Akker-man 2007). In this presentation there Fortress Project (http://www. will be a small historical excursus akkermanfortress.org). She is on the education of the Italian com- currently fascinated by the travels of munity in Istanbul since the foun- Evliya Çelebi, the early part of whose dation of what would be described 1671 pilgrimage journey she and as a “study group” by the Società colleagues have re-enacted and Operaia, in 1864 (Iacobellis 2007, established as a cultural route with Pannuti 2006, 2007); since then, accompanying guidebook: The Evliya many Italian Schools were opened Çelebi Way (co-authored with Kate and unfortunately closed because of Clow, with Donna Lan-dry; the demographic trends of the http://cultureroutesinturkey. Community, and, also because of com/c/evliya-celebi-way/). She is a political decisions on foreign me- committee member of the Culture dium Italian schools following the Routes Society of Turkey (http:// Lausanne Treaty in 1923. cultureroutesinturkey.com/c/). As a conclusion, we will present and Together with Nick Hobbs and Suha comment the data testifying a re- Ülgen, she is preparing a book of cent revitalization of the interest of 20km day-walks in the environs of the Community for Italian language Istanbul (https://www.facebook. medium schools. com/hikingistanbul).
Anna Lia Proietti Ergün received The role of schools in preserv-ing her Ph.D. in Foreign Language identity and language in the teaching from Venice University Italian Community of Istanbul (Ca’Bembo). She additionally holds Anna Lia Proietti Ergün & an MA in Teaching Italian as a Verner Egerland Second Language from the same university. She is a faculty mem- Italian language has always played a ber at Yıldız Technical University, very important role in the com- Foreign Languages Department. mercial, cultural and political life, at She has published on intercultural first in the Ottoman Empire, and in education, on bilingualism and the the Republican time afterwards. teaching of Italian, among other (Karakartal, 2002, 2003, Ortaylı, 2007, Zuccolo, 2011) The prestige of Verner Egerland is Professor in the language they spoke may be one Romance Languages at Lund Uni- of the reasons that contributed so versity. He received his PhD from that the small and fragmented Lund University in 1996. He has Italian community maintained its carried out research in Venice, 41
Padova, Rome and Florence and Despite the fact that many Catholic he has served as a referee for sev- orders increased their activities in eral international reviews, such as Adrianople province in the second Studia Linguistica, Nordic Journal of half of the 19th century, they would Linguistics, Neuphilologische Mit- not attract the attention of the Greek teilungen, Transaction of the Philo- Orthodox (Rum) communi-ties. Still, logical Society, Arena Romanistica. the schools founded by the Catholic missions functioned as a magnet drawing even the Ortho-dox who did not intend to change their religious Double-sided agents of modern- affiliation. In other words, the isation: Catholic Schools in the Catholic schools kept an important Adrianople Province place in the education of Christian Ümit Eser communities. Moreover, the ecclesiastical conflict between the The Catholic missionary efforts in Ecumenical Patriarchate of Con- the Ottoman Empire date back to stantinople and some Slavic-speak- the beginning of the 17th century. ing clerics provided a fertile ground Except for Istanbul, the Catholic for the establishment of Catholic missions served in the provinces of educational institutions. Adrianople, Salonica, and Monastir These schools contributed to the in the Balkan provinces. The First modernisation process of the Ot- ‘Uniate’ Bulgarian-speaking com- toman Christian communities. munity came into being in Kılkış Their graduates, who were familiar (Kukush in Bulgarian and Kilkis with the ideological movements in in Greek) in 1859. At the same Europe and acquired occupational time, the relation between the skills in such schools, constituted Catholic Bulgarians and the Or- the newly emerging well-off group thodox community of Istanbul was of the Ottoman Christian strained. Due to the rising tension communi-ties. On the other hand, in the Ottoman capital, the Bulgar- European ideas and currents, ian Catholic community moved its particularly na-tionalist ideologies, centre from Istanbul to Adrianople had the means to reach the in 1869, and St. Elias Church was students in these schools. inaugurated as the episcopal church of the city. The Oblate Sisters of After completing high school educa- Providence also ran the hospital tion in Izmir, Ümit Eser studied dedicated to St. Louis and a girls’ History and International Relations/ school in Adrianople, while Les European Studies at the Middle East Filles de la Charité d’Agram (Sis- Technical University in Ankara. In ters of Charity of Zagreb), female 2009, he earned an M.A. de-gree branch of St.Vincent de Paul or-der, from the History Department at established St. Hélène College Sabancı University where he worked there. In the suburban area, a as a teaching assistant at the same boys’ school was operated by the time. Currently, Mr. Eser is a Ph.D. As-sumptionists. Moreover, there candidate at the School of Oriental was a Resurrectionist college and and African Studies (SOAS), church, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, in University of London. His research the same city. interests include the 42 transition from the Ottoman members of the local and other Empire to the Republic of Turkey, foreign Christian families, they modern Balkan history, and nation- formed a hybrid culture. This family building and minorities in Turkey. had numerous properties through- out the city. I will be documenting these properties and their present situation. The Tubini family and their Properties in Istanbul For Zeynep Cebeci Suvari’s bio- Zeynep Cebeci Suvari graphical note please see p.10 There were around 14,000 Italians living in Istanbul in 1906. Some of them have been living here for a long The Levant Postal Services in time, and some of them were very the Ottoman Empire recent immigrants with the intention Taner Aslan of temporary residence. They were from various social classes and In various periods the Ottoman State ethnicities and each had a unique granted commercial and po-litical experience of Istan-bul. If you were a privileges to European states, called foreigner and you wanted to have any capitulations. One of the most type of trans-action related to important and prominent out-comes property, you had to bring a letter of the capitulations was the from your embassy as a proof of your foundation of ‘Levantine Postal Ser- identity and your citizenship. In order vices’. As a result of these privileges to receive the Western states acquired license to this document called ‘ilmuhaber’, open and operate postal services in Italians had to address a petition various places of the empire. With to their embassy, specifying the Austria leading the way, Ger-many, details of the property and of their England, France, Italy, Rus-sia, transaction. The petitions also give Poland, Romania and Greece biographical data as to their geneal- benefited from this privilege.This ogy and to their origins, their age, project, which was born out of and profession sometimes. As such, necessity given the fact that the they are very valuable sources Ottoman state had not established a regarding the Italians of Istanbul. The modern communication network on its documents that are used in this paper lands, served an important need in are these petitions written by Italians the beginning, but increas-ingly living in Istanbul. The petitions start became a profitable business, and led from 1873, the year Italians were to competition between the European allowed to own prop-erty and end states. This paper, which studies the with 1910, before the Italo-Turkish foreign postal services, which war. In this paper peti-tions influenced greatly the cor- addressed by the members of the respondence and postal transfer Tubini family will be presented. They in the Ottoman State for over 300 were one of the most promi-nent years, examined documents found Levantine families of Istanbul. at the Ottoman Archive and hopes Although they had Italian origins, to offer a new perspective in the through marriage with the field. 43
Taner Aslan is Assistant company. Before OCM, there was Professor at Aksaray University. Cardinal & Harford Ltd. (established He received his Ph.D from Gazi in 1792), the first Levant company University in Ankara in 2006. His for carpet trading. The firm was publications focus on the period of started by a merchant of Smyrna, Constitu-tional Monarchy, on the Mr. William Tomlinson. In this talk, Committee of Union and Progress the story of Cardinal and Harford and on the early Turkish Republic. will be discussed along with impres-sions of a trip to Uşak by company managers during 1875.
The Role of Levantines in Uşak’s Sadik Usakligil was born in Uşak in Carpet Industry and Trade and 1946. His father and three more the first Levantine Company in generations of great-grandfathers this field: Cardinal & Harford were all Uşak carpet manufacturers. Sadık Uşaklıgil & İlkay Talu He completed primary and second- ary education in Uşak. Although he Uşak is a small city located in studied political sciences in Middle Western Anatolia with a popula- East Technical University in Ankara, tion of approximately 200,000. after graduation, he took over his The world-famous “Uşak Carpet” father’s carpet manufacturing busi- originates from this city, and had ness. During his working life he become famous since the 16th travelled almost all of the carpet century. Especially during the 19th producing centers of the world. Last and early 20th centuries, the city year Mr. Uşaklıgil left working life, reached its apogee in terms of hand- and is now enjoying retirement. woven carpet production. The large majority of woven carpets were Ilkay Talu was born in Gaziantep. exported to European coun-tries, After his graduation from Ankara particularly UK, and also the USA, by University, he studied Chemical some established Levantine Engineering at The City College of companies. During these years, the New York where he pursued doc- city gained a great income and this toral and post-doctoral research. affected city-life permanently. For He is now residing in Uşak. Before example, Uşak was the first electri- settling in the city, he worked at cally lit town of Ottoman Empire in pharmaceutical and food Anatolia (early 1900s). Also, in the companies for more than 10 years. early 20th century, high demand for He has intellectual interest in hand carpet yarn led to the installation of woven rugs, particularly Uşak and three yarn spinning factory by Hereke rugs. wealthiest families of Uşak. Howev- er, mechanization of manual labor brought intense concerns about unemployment and therefore, one of the first workers’ uprisings took place (1908). The biggest company on carpet trading was Oriental Car-pet Manufacturers Co. (OCM), but this was not the first established
44
Session 5: Levantines and the Konsolos Arzları ve Bunlara Dair Ottoman Empire Hükümler’, under the supervision of Professor Nejat Göyünç. She pursued doctoral studies at Afyon Kocatepe For Kalliopi Amygdalou’s bio- University (Social Scienc-es Institute, graphical note please see p. 9 2006-2011). Her Ph.D. thesis was titled ‘Osmanlı-Fransız İlişkileri 1740- 1789 (Konsolos Arzlarına Göre)’. She Capitulations in Ottoman- started work-ing as an instructor on French Trade Relations Revolution History in 1994, at Afyon Ayşin Şişman Kocatepe University, moved to the Uşak Fac- The political and diplomatic rela-tions ulty of Education in 1996, in 2009 to of France and the Ottoman Empire in the Faculty of Science and Litera-ture the XVIIIth century covered the at Uşak University, and finally in 2012 economic and cultural fields, and to Gedik University, Faculty of most important of all, trade. Consuls Economic and Social Sciences, appointed on Ot-toman territory and Department of Political Science and the capitula-tions granted to France Public Administration. She has co- by Ottoman Sultans were the basis of authored a book and published in these relations. Protecting the national and international journals. personal rights, properties and interests of their citizens were the main roles of the consuls who were Levantine Confectioners of the appointed in the ports outside Capital Istanbul; they also had to oversee Jülide Akyüz Orat the implemen-tion of capitulations. Our aim in this study is to evaluate The Ottoman Empire possessed a social, cultural, religious, commercial capital with a diversity that mirrored and economic developments in the its mixed world. It reflected all the Ottoman Em-pire, and Ottoman- various cultures and populations that French relations, through French it encompassed. One of the important consuls’ reports. It will also show the strands of this diversity were the non- degree to which the central Muslim foreigners of the past, the government, and the consuls, were Levantines of the time. Levantines aware of the needs and rights of mirrored their multi-strands with minority groups. varying trades includ-ing ‘colourful confectionary’. Levantines became part of the living Ayşın Şişman was born in Uşak in fabric of Ottoman society, whether 1972. After completing primary and they were foreign nationals or Otto- secondary education there, she man nationals. Commerce was the entered the History Teaching prime factor in forming this close Department of the Balıkesir Necati- relationship between the state and bey Faculty of Education, Uludağ community. With the help of trade University, in 1989. In 1993 she concessions the Ottoman Empire had pursued postgraduate studies and become one big market and Le- carried out her masters disserta-tion, vantines became the big players in titled ‘Türk-Fransız İlişkilerinde this arena. This was the natural 45 outcome of this process. However tions that would protect sovereignty in the eyes of the state and socie- as well as public health. ty, this group were seen as one of We focus on several figures of providing a service. These Istanbul European origin who played pivotal confectioners with the trade they roles in these negotiations, ex- performed were seen as part of amining their distinctive positions as soci-ety, one providing a benefactor intermediaries between Otto-man role, extending greatly their and European state interests. ‘Levantine’ designation. Among these figures are physi- cians of Italian descent, such as Jülide Akyüz Orat was born in the Bartoletti and Gerolamo Castaldi, city of Kars, Turkey, 9-6-1970. She and the French-born doctor An- graduated in 1991 from Ankara Uni- toine Fauvel. By studying their lives versity (Faculty of Language, His-tory and careers, we aim to bring into and Geography, Department of focus the personal and professional History). In 2003 she received her identities of Levantines in Istanbul Ph.D. from Ankara University, Insti- in the mid-nineteenth century, and tute of Social Sciences, Department to illuminate the global circulation of Modern History. She became As- of medical ideas within the context sociate Professor in 2008 and Pro- of international diplomacy. Through fessor in February 2014. She cur- our study of these figures, we also rently teaches at Kafkas University, aim to emphasize the role played Faculty of Science and Literature, by Levantines as advocates of Ot- Departmetn of History. toman state interests. We argue that it is a mistake to regard these figures as simply or even as pri- European Doctors and Ottoman marily “European;” instead, we will Diplomats: Levantines in 19th- make a case for their belonging to Century Ottoman Medicine and a tradition that is distinctively International Quarantine De- Levan-tine, and in that sense bates particularly Ottoman. Madeleine Elfenbein and Molly Laas Molly Laas is a doctoral candidate in the Program of the History of This paper explores the pivotal role of Science, Medicine, and Technol-ogy Levantine doctors in both Ot-toman at the University of Wisconsin- public health institutions and Madison. Her dissertation is an international diplomacy in the mid- intellectual history of nutrition and nineteenth century, arguing for their dietetics in the nineteenth century, importance as both doc-tors and focusing on the trans-Atlantic circu- diplomats. Amidst a series of global lation of scientific ideas about diet, cholera outbreaks in the 1850s and and their incorporation into 1860s, Ottoman quarantine policy people’s daily lives. became an international battleground for European states vying for control Madeleine Elfenbein is a doctoral over the movement of goods and candidate in the Department of Near people through Ottoman territories. Eastern Languages and Civili-zations For their part, Ottoman state at the University of Chicago. Her representatives sought to develop a dissertation is on the Young Ot-toman set of institu- movement of the 1860s and 46 1870s and its relationship to Proust. Since 2011 he is prepar-ing a broad-er currents in nineteenth- PhD thesis about the Flem-ish century political thought. traveller colonel B.E.A. Rottiers at Leiden University. In 2007 Erik Bruns published a history book and Exploring the Levantine herit- history based educational method for age of Rhodes: The eventful life Dutch schools and in 2010 he of Dr. Johannes Hedenborg published a cultural and histori-cal (1886-1865), Swedish vice- guide for the town of Rhodes. In con-sul, author and traveller 2009 he founded and became the Eric Bruns first president of the Rhodes International Culture & Heritage The historiography of Rhodes as a Society, an NGO which focuses on Levantine town is in its infancy and developing awareness, promotion the precise extent of its Euro- and study of the diverse cultural pean community and its role in the heritage and history of Rhodes. Erik wider Levantine context remains to Bruns lives alternately in Apeldoorn, a large extent unclear. Rhodes was The Netherlands and Rhodes, a Levantine town, yet a minor one Greece. and of secondary importance. Nevertheless, the Rhodes Levantine community, albeit small, counts several figures and names of inter-est and importance, transcending the local Rhodian environment. Best known among them is Sir Alfred Biliotti (1833-1915) but there are others, of equal interest, whose biographies are less known. One of them is the forgotten Swedish physician Johannes Hedenborg who choose Rhodes as his permanent domicile after an eventful life of travels and work in Istanbul and Alexandria. In my presentation I intend to shed light on the eventful life of Hedenborg, a Levantine by choice and an eminent Swedish scholar, in relation to Rhodes as a Levantine town.
Erik Bruns (Utrecht, The Nether- lands, 1971) studied History and History of Art at the University of Utrecht. In 1996 he received his MA degree in Political History with a thesis exploring the image of 19th century French elites in A la re- cherche du temps perdu by Marcel 47
City Tours Giovanni Battista Pancaldi. Itiner- ary:
. Papa Roncalli Street . Latin Catholic cemetery in Pangaltı . Artigana di Pieta building . The streets which are still inhab- ited by some of these families
. The streets which were inhabited once by the families Rotondo, Giudici, Genovesi and Dapei . Saint – Esprit Church
Information about the professions practiced by Levantines will also Galata Tour | Emin Saatçi be given.
The tour around the historic area of Erhan Işözen graduated from the Galata will include Santa Maria Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts in Church, Narmanli Han, Galata Mev- 1980. He has worked on architec- levihanesi, Galata Tower, the British tural, urban and restoration pro-jects Prison, St. Piere Church, Komando for the last 30 years. Such are the Stairs, the Ottoman Bank, St. Paul Ortaköy Square, Küçük Bebek and St. Domenic (Arap Camii), and Square, Levent Square, the Ortaköy Rustem Pasha Han-Kurşunlu Han. Cultural Center, the Uğur Mumcu monument, the Nişantaşı-Teşvikiye John Freely’s book ‘Strolling Urban Design Project, etc. He has Through Istanbul’ will be consulted. published works on Üsküdar, Taksim and Beyazit Squares, the Basilica For Emin Saatçi’s biographical Cistern, Ortaköy Square, the archi- note please see p.9 tect Vedat Tek, and Hüsrev Gerede, among other topics. He is a GS Congress Member, Mem- Pangaltı Tour | Erhan İşözen ber of ÇEKÜL Foundation Advisory Board, Honorary Member of TAÇ In 1839 the Edict of Gulhane pro- Vakfı (Foundation for Protection of claimed that all the citizens from Historical Monumental Environ- various religions and nations liv- ment and Touristic Values), Member ing in the Ottoman Empire would of the TDY Advisory Board (Tour-ism be equal. This made Istanbul an Investors Association), and ideal place to settle for foreign- a Founding Member of Toplumsal ers who were looking for jobs and Tarih Vakfı (Social History Founda- for better life conditions. Sisli and tion). He has been nominated Pangaltı are two of the quarters that twice for the Aga Khan Award for emerged with the settlement of these Architecture. foreign immigrants in mid-19th century. It is believed that the name Pangaltı derived from the name of an Italian immigrant called 48
Side Events experience and knowledge on diverse topics such as family busi-nesses, business partnerships and employment, inheritance, education trends, language, the Levantine house, family and gender relations, community life, property owner-ship,
the image of the community, Levantine social events (arts, cul- ture, sport), current problems, the diaspora and Levantine communi-ties outside the Levant, etc. Levantine Histories Roundables Monday 3rd November Levantine Food History Event
On the first conference day, to-wards This event will feature Dr. Axel Cor- the end of the lunchbreak, we invite lu and Ingrid Braggiotti, author of our participants to join two informal Mutfak Tarihinin Levanten Tarifleri / discussions: about Levantine Traditional Recipes of the Levantine Family Histories (moderated by Cuisine. Dr. Corlu will outline the Quentin Compton-Bishop) and about academic field of food history, and the Present and Future of the emphasize the place and contribu- Levantines (moderated by Jonathan tions of the Levantines in this field, Beard). Apart from fostering new before introducing Mrs. Braggiotti, connections within the community, who will make a dual-language these roundtables will allow (Turkish-English) presentation based participants to share their on Levantine food.
The Levantine Heritage Foundation www.levantineheritagefoundation.org [email protected]
The Levantine Heritage Charitable Foundation is a non-profit association with a con-stitution prepared and adopted according to the guidelines of The Charity Commis-sion for England and Wales. Trustees: Quentin Compton-Bishop, Craig Encer, Dr Philip Mansel FRHS, Jonathan Beard, George Galdies, Dr Axel Çorlu, Osman Öndeş, Dr Kalliopi Amygdalou
49 Notes
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