Turkish-Serbian relations began at the end of the 13th century, when troops consisting of the Serbs joined the Byzantine troops in their conflict with the Turks. After the crossing of Ottoman troops into the land of Rumelia, Ottoman-Serbian relations became more intensive. This period ended with the Ottoman conquests of Serbia, with the conquest of the capital of Smederevo on May 19, 1459. Relations between the Ottoman Empire and Serbia developed dually between an atmosphere of peace brought about by the agreements concluded until the final conquest, and the conflicts due to the Ottoman policy of conquest in the Balkans, the Serbs’ desire to remain independent, and the support of the Hungarians and Karamanids. However, after the conquest of Belgrade in 1521, the waters calmed and the space for socio-cultural and economic interaction opened, until the beginning of the 19th century, at which point, uprisings and interventions for Western states determined the course of relations between the two societies. As the result of living together for nearly 400 years, the two cultures interacted on multiple levels, and consequently, an important topic of discussion for this volume is the relationship between the two nations during that time period.
The dimension of Ottoman/Turkish-Serbian relations took a new frame after the French Revolution. The First Serbian Uprising that had started on February 4, 1804 under the leadership of Karađorđe opened the way to the independence of Serbia. Finally, with the Berlin Treaty of 1878, Serbia gained its full independence. The Ottoman Empire started to establish diplomatic relations with Serbia immediately after Serbia gained its independence according to the Berlin Treaty. In this context, the first embassy was opened in Serbia at the beginning of 1879 and Hüseyin Hüsnü Sermed Efendi was appointed as the first ambassador. The good relations that started during the reign of Abdülhamid II ended with the Balkan wars. Relations were interrupted during World War I while the two countries were on different sides. Relations between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes established after the war and the Government of the Republic of Turkey were re-established with the 1925 Peace Agreement. Founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal known as Atatürk and Yugoslav king Alexander I were personal friends and the cooperation flourished on many fields. These relations have continued to develop up to the present day, although there have been problems from time to time.
The Balkan History Association invites historians, political scientists, and other interested researchers to explore the diplomatic, political, social, and economic dynamics of Turkish-Serbian relations from the Ottoman period until the beginning of the Second World War. We welcome papers related to the following topics: Role and importance of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Ottoman Empire; Serbian princess at the Ottoman Court; Process of conversion of the Serbian population to Islam; Serbs in the Ottoman army and administration; Land division and taxation system; Migrations; Historical demography and changes of the family structure; Sufism and its influence; Syncretic culture and forms of art; Everyday life; 18th century – century of wars for Serbia; Struggle for the independence; Historical documents regarding Serb-Ottoman relations, their provenance, diplomatic form and research value; Republic of Turkey and Kingdome of Yugoslavia: political, social and cultural relations; Status of the Ottoman cultural artefacts in Serbia today.
Submission procedure
The volume will be published by Peter Lang (in the series “South-East European History”). Original manuscripts should be prepared following the editorial guide of the publisher, available on their website, especially “Style Guidelines – British English” and “Submission Guidelines“. You can see the chapters of this open access volume to understand how manuscripts should be edited. Manuscripts must not have been published, submitted for publication or available on the internet elsewhere. Interdisciplinary work is particularly welcome. Please submit your proposal, including the title of your manuscript, an abstract (up to 300 words), and an author’s biography (up to 100 words) to all editors. The abstract should include the research question and purpose, the approach and main ideas, results of the research and a basic description of the sources used (archival documents, secondary sources etc.). No figures, tables, footnotes, or endnotes should be included in the abstract. Articles should not exceed 8,000 words in length including footnotes and references (reference list or bibliography). The volume may contain up to 20 black-and-white images.
Deadlines
June 15, 2023: Submission of proposals to editors
June 19, 2023: Notification of accepted proposals
September 5, 2023: Receipt of final papers for peer review
September 26, 2023: Revised chapters re-submitted to editors
Editors
Abidin Temizer (Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University), abitem@gmail.com
Ema Miljkovic Petrovic (University of Belgrade), emiljkovic.1967@gmail.com
Christopher Lamont (Tokyo International University), clamont@tiu.ac.jp
Cristina Ioniță (Balkan History Association), cris.ionita.tina@gmail.com
Please circulate this call for papers among your colleagues and other potentially interested scholars.