TANZIMAT in the PROVINCE: NATIONALIST SEDITION (FESAT), BANDITRY (EŞKİYA) and LOCAL COUNCILS in the OTTOMAN SOUTHERN BALKANS (1840S to 1860S)
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TANZIMAT IN THE PROVINCE: NATIONALIST SEDITION (FESAT), BANDITRY (EŞKİYA) AND LOCAL COUNCILS IN THE OTTOMAN SOUTHERN BALKANS (1840s TO 1860s) Dissertation zur Erlangung der Würde einer Doktorin der Philosophie vorgelegt der Philosophisch-Historischen Fakultät der Universität Basel von ANNA VAKALIS aus Thessaloniki, Griechenland Basel, 2019 Buchbinderei Bommer GmbH, Basel Originaldokument gespeichert auf dem Dokumentenserver der Universität Basel edoc.unibas.ch ANNA VAKALIS, ‘TANZIMAT IN THE PROVINCE: NATIONALIST SEDITION (FESAT), BANDITRY (EŞKİYA) AND LOCAL COUNCILS IN THE OTTOMAN SOUTHERN BALKANS (1840s TO 1860s)’ Genehmigt von der Philosophisch-Historischen Fakultät der Universität Basel, auf Antrag von Prof. Dr. Maurus Reinkowski und Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yonca Köksal (Koç University, Istanbul). Basel, den 05/05/2017 Der Dekan Prof. Dr. Thomas Grob 2 ANNA VAKALIS, ‘TANZIMAT IN THE PROVINCE: NATIONALIST SEDITION (FESAT), BANDITRY (EŞKİYA) AND LOCAL COUNCILS IN THE OTTOMAN SOUTHERN BALKANS (1840s TO 1860s)’ TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………..…….…….….7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………...………..………8-9 NOTES ON PLACES……………………………………………………….……..….10 INTRODUCTION -Rethinking the Tanzimat........................................................................................................11-19 -Ottoman Province(s) in the Balkans………………………………..…….………...19-25 -Agency in Ottoman Society................…..............................................................................25-35 CHAPTER 1: THE STATE SETTING THE STAGE: Local Councils in Theory and Practice -Theory: Institutional Development……............................................................................36-44 -Practice: Daily Realities --Istintaknames (Interrogation Protocols): Ordinary People Facing the Councils....................................................................................................................................44-52 --Mazbatalar (Council Reports): ---Dealing with Taxation in Selanik............................................................52-59 ---Mediating in Homicide Cases.................................................................59-62 -Conclusion………………………………………..……………… ………...……..62-63 CHAPTER 2: ACTORS REPRESENTING THE STATE: The Men Sitting in the Councils: The Case of Selanik.................................................................................................68-74 3 ANNA VAKALIS, ‘TANZIMAT IN THE PROVINCE: NATIONALIST SEDITION (FESAT), BANDITRY (EŞKİYA) AND LOCAL COUNCILS IN THE OTTOMAN SOUTHERN BALKANS (1840s TO 1860s)’ -Appointed Bureaucrats and Corruption……………………………………………74-84 -Socio-Economic Profile of the Elected Local Notables..................................................84-99 -Granting Honorary Titles to Muslim Notables………………….…………..….…99-101 -Non-Muslim Notables: Silent Participants or Active Agents?.....................................101-104 -Stefanos Tattis: A Greek-Orthodox Notable Narrated Through his Grandson…..104-112 -Conclusion: (Dis-) Empowering of Local Agents?……………………..…...……113-115 CHAPTER 3: ACTORS REFUTING THE STATE: Bulgarian Nationalists Tried in the Local Councils for Sedition (Feşat)……………………………….…………….…116-118 -First Local Uprisings in the 1860s……………………………………….….……118-130 -Defence Discourses: From Multiple to Homogenized Motives..................................130-135 -Nationalism as Connectivity.............................................................................................135-146 -The Role of the Bulgarian Diaspora................................................................................146-148 CHAPTER 4: ACTORS REFUTING THE STATE: Greek Nationalists Tried in the Local Councils for Sedition (Feşat) -First Local Uprisings in 1854 in the Provinces of Yanya, Manastır and Selanik…….149-161 -A Follow-Up Uprising in 1866 by Leonidas Voulgaris.................................................161-167 -A Greek Club in Manastır in 1860……………………………………….……….167-181 -Nationalist Printing in Bulgarian and Greek Language under Trial……………......182-193 -Conclusion: Was Nationalism Popular during the Tanzimat?…………........….…..193-199 CHAPTER 5: ACTORS CHALLENGING THE STATE: Bandits (Eşkiya) Tried in the Local Councils -Bandits, Theft and Nationalism.......................................................................................200-206 -Defending Banditry in Court............................................................................................206-220 -Relations with Authorities……………………………………….………..……..220-225 -Relations with Local Populations.....................................................................................225-228 -Conclusion: Fighters With(-out) a Cause?......................................................................229-231 4 ANNA VAKALIS, ‘TANZIMAT IN THE PROVINCE: NATIONALIST SEDITION (FESAT), BANDITRY (EŞKİYA) AND LOCAL COUNCILS IN THE OTTOMAN SOUTHERN BALKANS (1840s TO 1860s)’ CHAPTER 6: THE STATE’S ANSWER TO MOBILIZATION FROM BELOW -A. Dealing with Nationalist Sedition (Fesat)…………………………......………..232-233 --The Province’s Share: Administration of Justice by the Local Councils.....233-250 --The Centre’s Share: The Supreme Council (Meclis-i Vala) and the Sultan’s Verdicts……………………………………………………………………...…..250-270 -B. Dealing with Banditry (Eşkiya)………………………………………….…….270-271 --The Province’s Share: Administration of Justice by the Local Councils….271-279 --The Centre’s Share: The Supreme Council (Meclis-i Vala) and the Sultan’s Verdicts………………………………………………………………………….279-284 -Conclusion…………………………………………………………..………….285-287 CONCLUSION…………………………………………...…………………….288-300 APPENDICES -Appendix 1 (to Chapter 2): List of Members of the Local Councils of Selanik…..301-311 -Appendix 2 (to Chapter 6): The Members of the Various Local Councils Referred to in Chapter 6…………………………………………………………………..…….312-320 -Appendix 3 (to Chapter 6): The Punishments at a Glance…………………….….321-323 BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................................324-343 LIST OF TABLES -Table 1 (Chapter 1): Ethnic/Religious Distribution of Salonican Households, 1844- 45……………………………………………………………………………….....…..56 -Table 2 (Chapter 1): Distributions of Annual Occupational Incomes of Household Heads within Ethnic/Religious Groups in Selanik, 1844-45………………………...………….56 -Table 3 (Chapter 1): Distribution of Poll Tax Paid by Non-Muslim Salonicans, 1845………………………………………………………………….………………..57 -Table 4 (Chapter 1): Members of Various Local Councils of Rumeli According to an Imperial Decree of 1840………………………………………....………………….64-65 5 ANNA VAKALIS, ‘TANZIMAT IN THE PROVINCE: NATIONALIST SEDITION (FESAT), BANDITRY (EŞKİYA) AND LOCAL COUNCILS IN THE OTTOMAN SOUTHERN BALKANS (1840s TO 1860s)’ -Table 5 (Chapter 1): Members of the Local Councils According to Official Stipulations………………………………………………………………......……..66-67 -Table 6A (Chapter 2): Short List of the Appointed Members of the Local Councils of Selanik………………………………………………………………………...….……76 -Table 6B (Chapter 2): Short List of the Elected Members of the Local Councils of Selanik……………………………………………………………………...………77-78 LIST OF ARCHIVE SAMPLES -Archive Sample 1 (Chapter 1): Sample of an Interrogation Protocol……………....…....47 -Archive Sample 2 (Chapter 1): Sample of a Council Report…………………........…..…53 LIST OF PHOTOS -Photo 1 (Chapter 2): Stefanos K. Tattis, a Greek-Orthodox Notable of Selanik…..........107 -Photo 2 (Chapter 3): Photo Found in the Hands of a Defendant, Depicting Bulgarian Nationalists in Belgrade……………………………………........…………………….140 6 ANNA VAKALIS, ‘TANZIMAT IN THE PROVINCE: NATIONALIST SEDITION (FESAT), BANDITRY (EŞKİYA) AND LOCAL COUNCILS IN THE OTTOMAN SOUTHERN BALKANS (1840s TO 1860s)’ ABSTRACT This study explores the dynamics of the triangle between subordinate groups- local notables / local councils and the Ottoman sovereign during the period of the Tanzimat reforms, with a spatial focus on the Ottoman southern Balkans, that is, on the provinces of Selanik, Yanya, Manastır and Tuna. The focus is on the voices of subordinate Ottoman subjects, such as peasants, all kinds of artisans, local teachers and printers, and their interactions with the Ottoman state during the Tanzimat. To this aim, this thesis elaborates on the local councils, a novel institution founded during the Tanzimat in several provinces and provided with extensive administrative and judicial functions. Several penal cases of nationalist sedition (fesat) and banditry (eşkiya) adjudicated by these courts are being analyzed, by focusing on the men sitting in these novel courts, on the final punishments inflicted upon the defendants through Sultanic decrees (irade), as well as, especially, on the testimonies made by ordinary people and passed on to us today through a valuable, yet still undiscovered, Ottoman archival source, that is, the istintakname (interrogation protocol). Overall it is being argued that despite claims of the Ottoman sovereign to increased forms of governmentality and centralization, state-subject relationships were based on patterns of negotiation still during the Tanzimat. Indeed, defendants were willing to distort and adjust their descriptions of their deeds in the courtroom, while the sovereign was willing to inflict diminished punishments on the defendants in lieu of winning their loyalty to the Ottoman Empire. 7 ANNA VAKALIS, ‘TANZIMAT IN THE PROVINCE: NATIONALIST SEDITION (FESAT), BANDITRY (EŞKİYA) AND LOCAL COUNCILS IN THE OTTOMAN SOUTHERN BALKANS (1840s TO 1860s)’ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS