"The Political and Social Implications for the Ottoman Empire and Its Successor States of the Treaty of Berlin, 1878"
Thursday April 1 to Saturday April 3, 2010
Organizers: Peter Sluglett and M. Hakan Yavuz
The near total transformation of the Ottoman presence in the Balkans following the
Treaty of Berlin involved not only the destruction of a multi-ethnic polity but also
the widespread ethnic cleansing and the destruction of a number of indigenous Muslim
and Christian communities. Many historians identify the Treaty of Berlin as the beginning
of a new socio-political order in the Balkans in terms of the creation of several
homogenous nation-states. This workshop has two goals: to analyze the social and political
implications of the Treaty of Berlin; and to examine the role of the principal European
powers in the politics of demographic engineering.
The conference will examine the foreign policies of the major European powers on
the "Eastern Question" and the domestic politics of the Ottoman state during this
period.
Thursday, 1 April
7:00 - 8:30 PM
Reception/Dinner ~ Pierre Lassonde House
Friday, 2 April
9:00 - 9:10 AM
Opening remarks:
David M. Rudd, Dean
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Utah
9:15-11:45 AM
Panel I: Origins of the Congress of Berlin (1877-1878)
Discussant: Peter Sluglett, University of Utah
Engin D. Akarli, Brown University: "A Threshold in European Diplomacy and Ottoman Politics: The Berlin "Peace" Conference of 1878"
Frederick Anscombe, Birkbeck College, University of London: "On the Way Back from Berlin"
Mustafa Gencer, Abant Izzet Baysal University: "German policy at the Congress of Berlin"
Sean McMeekin, Yale University and Bilkent University: "Bismarck and the Ottoman Empire"
Tetsuya Sahara, Meiji University: "Victim oriented journalism and the Batak incident"
M. Hakan Yavuz, University of Utah: "The Conflict between Nationalism and Empire"
1:00-3:30 PM
Panel II: Impacts on the Ottoman State
Discussant: Feroze Yasamee, University of Manchester
Bayram Kodaman, Suleyman Demirel University: "The Hamidiye Light Cavalry Regiments Abdulhamid II and the Eastern Anatolian Tribes"
Edward Erickson, Marine Corps University: "Template for Destruction, The Congress of Berlin and the Evolution of Ottoman Counterinsurgency Practices "
Mehmet Hacisalihoglu, Yildiz Teknik University: "Muslim and Orthodox Resistance against the Berlin Peace Treaty in the Balkans"
Justin A. McCarthy, University of Louisville: "Ignoring the People: The Effects of the Borders Drawn at the Congress of Berlin"
3:45-6:15 PM
Panel III: The Origins of the Balkan State System
Discussant: Edward Erickson, Marine Corps University
Edin Radusic, University of Sarajevo: "Bosnia and Herzegovina in British policy from San Stefano Treaty to the Berlin Congress"
Miroslav Svircevic, Institute for Balkan Studies, Belgrade: "The Establishment of Serbian Local Government in the Counties of Nis, Branje, Toplica and Pirot after the Congress of Berlin"
Aydin Babuna, Bogazici University: "Berlin Treaty, Bosnian Muslims and Nationalism"
Isa Blumi, Georgia State University: "Agents of Post-Ottoman states: The Precariousness of the Berlin Congress Boundaries of Montenegro and how to define/confine people"
Yigit Yucel, Balikesir University: "Kosovo Albanians after the Berlin Congress"
Saturday, 3 April
9:00-11:30 AM
Panel IV: The Armenian Question
Discussant: Justin McCarthy, University of Kentucky, Louisville
Ragnar Naess, University of Oslo: "Polarization of Discourses and Quality of Dialogue"
Brad Dennis, University of Utah: "Reassessing the treaty of Berlin as a Catalyst for Peace and Violence between the Ottomans, Kurds, and Armenians in Eastern Anatolia"
Garabet K. Moumdjian, University of California, Los Angeles: "Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the Armenian Question Revisited"
Ahment Seyhun, University of Winnipeg: "Said Halim Pasha and the Armenian Reform of 1914"
Ara Sarafian, Gomidas Institute, London: "The Congress of Berlin and the Social Origins of the Armenian Question"
1:00-2:30 PM
Panel V: Population Movements and Ethno-Religious Cleansing
Discussant: Isa Blumi, Georgia State University
Irma Kreiten, University of Southampton: "Bare life: humanitarianism and ethnic homogenization in the Caucasus and the Balkans at the Congress of Berlin"
Mustafa Tanriverdi, Kafkas University, Turkey: "The Treaty of Berlin and the Tragedy of the Three Cities Emigrants "
Mujeeb R. Khan, University of California, Berkeley: "The Ottoman Eastern Question and the problematic birth of modern ethnic cleansing and humanitarian interventionism"
2:45-5:15 PM
Panel VI: Regional Powers and the "Eastern Question"
Discussant: Ahmet Seyhun, University of Winnipeg
Omer Turan, Middle East Technical University: "The Rhodope Resistance of 1878"
Feroze A. K. Yasamee, University of Manchester: "European Equilibrium or Asiatic Balance of Power? The Ottoman search for security in the aftermath of the Congress of Berlin"
Ilham Ryazev, University of Utah: "The Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78: Explaining the decision of Russia to start the war"
Gul Tokay, London-Istanbul: "A Reassessment of the Berlin Congress (1878-1880)"
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General Discussant:
Michael A. Reynolds (Princeton University)
Conclusion: Peter Sluglett (University of Utah). Editing and publishing.