To my family MODERN GREEK ENLIGHTENMENT AND 19 TH CENTURY GREEK NATIONALISM The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University by Murat Önsoy In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS BILKENT UNIVERISTY ANKARA June 2005 I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in International Relations. --------------------------------- Assistant Professor Hasan Ünal Supervisor I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in International Relations. --------------------------------- Assistant Professor Nur Bilge Criss Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in International Relations. --------------------------------- Assistant Professor Emel Oktay Examining Committee Member Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences --------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Erdal Erel Director ABSTRACT MODERN GREEK ENLIGHTENMENT AND 19 TH CENTURY GREEK NATIONALISM Murat Önsoy M.A., Department of International Relations Supervisor: Doc. Dr. Hasan Ünal June 2005 This thesis analyzes modern Greek enlightenment and 19 th century Greek Nationalism, in the light of nationalism theories. It confronts with the process of Modern Greek enlightenment which took place within the lands of the Ottoman Empire and the Greek nationalism which was the second phase of the modern Greek enlightenment. The thesis argues that the lands where today Greeks live had been invaded and settled by various ethnic groups. As a result it lost its ethnic ties with the ancient Greeks. Modern Greeks are not the descendants of ancient Greeks as they accept. Modern Greek national identity is a constructed one and Greek nation which is a mixture of different Balkan Orthodox people such as Slavs, Albanians, Macedonians and Bulgars. Greek Nation was built within the Ottoman Millet system by the help of the European Philhellenes and Greek intellectuals. This assumption is based on Fallmayer theory which suggests that ancient Greeks had disappeared completely and the modern Greeks were merely descendants of Slavs and Albanians. Keywords: Modern Greek enlightenment, Greek Nationalism, Ottoman millet system, theories of nationalism. iii ÖZET ÇAĞDAŞ YUNAN AYDINLANMASI VE 19. YUZYIL YUNAN MİLLİYETÇİLİĞİ Murat Önsoy Yüksek LisansUluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Hasan Ünal Haziran 2005 İşbu Tez, çağdaş Yunan aydınlanması ve 19. yüzyıl yunan milliyetçiliğini milliyetçilik teorileri ışığında tetkik etmektedir. İş bu tezde Osmanlı İmparatorluğu topraklarında cereyan eden modern Yunan ayaklanması ve ikinci safhası olan Yunan milliyetçiliği incelemektedir. Modern Yunanlılar’ın bugün yaşadığı topraklar tarih boyunca birçok etnik grup tarafından istila edilmiş ve yönetilmiştir. Bütün bu istilaların sonunda Yunanlılar antik Yunan ile olan etnik bağlarını yitirme noktasına gelmişlerdir. Çağdaş Yunanlılar’ın antik Yunanlılar’ın torunları olduğunu tezi doğru değildir. Çağdaş Yunan kimliği sonradan oluşturulmuş bir kimliktir ve Yunan ulusu Slav, Arnavut, Makedon ve Bulgar gibi çeşitli insan gruplarından oluşur. Bu varsayım Fallmayer’in: antik Yunanlılar’ın tamamen yok olduğu ve Çağdaş yunanlıların Slav ve Arnavut kökenli insanlardan oluştuğu tezine dayandırılmaktadır. iv Anahtar kelimeler: Çağdaş Yunan aydınlanması, Yunan milliyetçiliği, Osmanlı Millet sistemi, milliyetçililk teorileri. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In my master studies at Bilkent, I have had the privilege of been supported from many persons, to whom I am deeply grateful. First I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Hasan Ünal, for his kind support from the very first days I expressed my interest to study at Bilkent, and until the conclusion of my master studies. His thorough academic knowledge and guidance enabled me to successfully deal with my MA thesis, while his friendly attitude made me feeling confident about my work. I am also very grateful to Ass. Prof. Nur Bilge Criss and Ass. Prof. Emel Oktay, for giving me the honor and pleasure by their participation in the examining committee, and for very useful comments and suggestion on my thesis. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to my family. My father Prof. Dr. Rifat Önsoy and my mother Gülsen Önsoy who put my education in front of everything, my aunts Prof.Dr. Birsen Önalp, Türkan Önalp and Nurşen Çatal, my uncle Ertuğrul Önalp, my grand mother Emine Önalp and my girlfriend Tuğba Özden. I am particularly grateful to my professors and colleagues at Hacettepe University. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...........................................................................................................iii ÖZET.....................................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.....................................................................................vi TABLE OF CONTENTS......................................................................................vii INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL APPROACHES AND DEFINITIONS OF NATIONALISM 1.1Ethnic Group, Nation, Nationality and Nationalism…………………………..4 1.1.1 Theories and Definitions about Nationalism……………………..…….4 1.1.1.1 Nation…………………………………………………….………6 1.1.1.2 Nationalism………………………………………………..…….. 7 1.1.1.2.1 Emergence of Nationalism……………………………….8 1.1.1.2.2 Theories of Nationalism………………………………….12 CHAPTER II: GREEK ENLIGHTENMENT:CREATING A NATION WITHIN AN EMPIRE 2.1 Origins of the Greeks…………………………………………………………18 2.1.1 Origins of Greeks: Assimilation of Different Groups into Greekness................…………………………………………………………19 2.1.1.1 Slav Settlements and their assimilation………………...…....19 2.1.1.2 The Vlach, the Francs and their Assimilation ……………....20 2.1.1.3 Turks and their Assimilation…….…………………………..20 2.2 The Survival of Greek Civilization vii 2.2.1 Survival of Greek Civilization of the Roman Conquest and Byzantine………………………………………………………………...22 2.2.2 Theory: Byzantine and Emergence of Greek National Consciousness……………………………………………………………27 2.2.3 Survival of Greek Civilization in the Ottoman Empire….....……………...28 2.2.3.1 Greeks Under Ottoman Rule…………………………………………28 2.2.3.2 Ottoman Millet System, Orthodox Millet and the Role of the Greeks.33 2.2.3.3 The Orthodox Millet ………………………………..………………..37 2.2.3.4 The Role of the Greeks in Ottoman Administration…………………43 2.2.3.5 The Economic and Intellectual Progress of Greeks………………….46 2.2.3.6 Greek Civil Society in the Ottoman Empire……..…………………..47 CHAPTER 3: GREEK ENLIGHTENMENT and EMERGENCE of NATIONALISM 3.1 Greek Printing and Press…………………………………………………......51 3.2 Greek Education…………………………………………………....................55 3.3 National awakening and reinvention of history in the Greeks..………………56 3.3.1 Criticisms to Greek Enlightenment…………………………………59 3.4 Rediscovery of the Ancient Past……………………………………………...60 3.5 Greek Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire…………………………………...68 3.6 Debates Over the Name of the new Nation…………………………………...69 3.7 Ideologs of the Greek Nationalism…………………………………………...70 3.7.1Rigas…………………………………………………………………….71 3.7.2 Korais…………………………………………………………………..74 3.7.3 Kapodistrias………………………………………………………........78 viii 3.7.4 Katartzis…………………………………………………………….....79 3.7.5 Ipsilantis and Friendly Society.……………….……………………....80 CHAPTER 4: NATION BUILDING in GREECE AFTER the REVOLUTION 4.1 Transfer of Identities from one imagined community to the other:...…81 4.2 The Erosion of Orthodoxy from the Greek Identity………………..…82 4.3 The Process of Nation Building in accordance with the New Greek Identity…………………………………………………………….….86 4.3.1 Consolidation of State Formation in Greek Territories after Nation Building...................................................................................................89 4.4 The Reinvention of History……………………………………..…….92 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………...........……93 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………..…….……96 ix INTRODUCTION Only a few nation states existing today have a long and continuous existence like the Greeks. Unlike the Chinese who have race and culture or the Jews who have religion to bind them together, the Greeks have had no single, unchanging element of identity. 1 The emergence of Balkan nationalisms can be traced back to the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries corresponding almost to the same time as the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. There existed different cultures, languages and religions in the Ottoman Empire. They were organized under different groups called “ millet ” based on their religion. In the late 18 th century, when national identity became more important than religious one in peoples’ lives, the millet system, which had been limping, totally collapsed. Nationalist ideology earned legitimacy from the French Revolution of 1789 and spread all around Europe. It was carried to the Mediterranean through Napoleonic Wars, Orthodox Church, and Greek merchants. It spread all around the Empire and was welcomed especially by the non-Muslim Millets . Greeks or Millet-i Rum was one of the most important and influential millets within the Ottoman Empire. The Greek uprising of 1821 was the result of