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El Kuds | The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, Ottoman Years

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Image extracted from page 529 of Syrie, Liban et Palestine. Géographie administrative, statistique, descriptive et raisonnée., by CUINET, Vital. Original held and digitised by the British Library. 



The original uploader was عمرو بن كلثوم at Arabic Wikipedia - From File:Ottoman Asia (partial, 1893) 

Mavi Boncuk |


The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem (Ottoman Turkish: Kudüs-i Şerif Mutasarrıflığı‎; Arabic: متصرفية القدس الشريف‎), also known as the Sanjak of Jerusalem, was an Ottoman district with special administrative status established in 1872. The district encompassed Jerusalem as well as Bethlehem, Hebron, Jaffa, Gaza and Beersheba.[6] During the late Ottoman period, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, together with the Sanjak of Nablus and Sanjak of Akka (Acre), formed the region that was commonly referred to as "Southern Syria" or "Palestine".

The district was separated from Damascus and placed directly under Constantinople in 1841, and formally created as an independent province in 1872 by Grand Vizier Mahmud Nedim Pasha. Scholars provide a variety of reasons for the separation, including increased European interest in the region, and strengthening of the southern border of the Empire against the Khedivate of Egypt. Initially, the Mutasarrifate of Acre and Mutasarrifate of Nablus were combined with the province of Jerusalem, with the combined province being referred to in the register of the court of Jerusalem as the "Jerusalem Eyalet",[8] and referred to by the British consul as creation of "Palestine into a separate eyalet". However, after less than two months, the sanjaks of Nablus and Acre were separated and added to the Vilayet of Beirut, leaving just the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem.[10] In 1906, the Kaza of Nazareth was added to the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate, as an exclave, primarily in order to allow the issuance of a single tourist permit to Christian travellers. The area was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during World War I and a military Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA South) set up to replace the Ottoman administration. OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre. The military administration was replaced by a British civilian administration in 1920 and the area of OETA South was incorporated into the British Mandate of Palestine in 1923.

The political status of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was unique to other Ottoman province since it came under the direct authority of the Ottoman capital Constantinople.[5] The inhabitants identified themselves primarily on religious terms. The district's villages were normally inhabited by farmers while its towns were populated by merchants, artisans, landowners and money-lenders. The elite consisted of the religious leadership, wealthy landlords and high-ranking civil servants.

In 1841, the district was separated from Damascus and placed directly under Constantinople and formally created as an independent Mutasarrifate in 1872. Before 1872, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was officially a sanjak within the Syria Vilayet (created in 1864, following the Tanzimat reforms).

The southern border of the Mutasarifate of Jerusalem was redrawn in 1906, at the instigation of the British, who were interested in safeguarding their imperial interests and in making the border as short and patrollable as possible.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the idea that the region of Palestine or the Mutasarifate of Jerusalem formed a separate political entity became widespread among the district's educated Arab classes. In 1904, former Jerusalem official Najib Azuri formed in Paris, France the Ligue de la Patrie Arabe ("Arab Fatherland League") whose goal was to free Ottoman Syria and Iraq from Turkish domination. In 1908, Azuri proposed the elevation of the mutassarifate to the status of vilayet to the Ottoman Parliament after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution.

The area was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during World War I[6] and a military Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA South) set up to replace the Ottoman administration. OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre. The military administration was replaced by a British civilian administration in 1920 and the area of OETA South became the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine in 1923, with some border adjustments with Lebanon and Syria.






















Occupied Enemy Territory Administration Sectors in Syrian Vilahyets 1918

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Mavi Boncuk | Occupied Enemy Territory Administration Sectors in Syrian Vilahyets 1918

The Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA) was a joint British and French military administration over Levantine and Mesopotamian provinces of the former Ottoman Empire between 1918–20, set up following the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. The administration ended following the assignment of the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon and British Mandate for Palestine at the 19–26 April 1920 San Remo conference.

Following British and French occupation, the region was split into three administrative sub-units, which varied very little from the previous Ottoman divisions. OETA South, consisting of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre, OETA North (later renamed OETA West) consisting of the Ottoman sanjaks of Beirut, Lebanon, Latakia and a number of sub-districts, and OETA East consisting of the Ottoman Syria Vilayet and Hejaz. But, success of Turkish War of Independence, Maraş, Antep and Urfa sanjaks of former Halep Eyalet remained in Turkey after 1921. Also, Antakya and İskenderun kazas of Halep Sanjak in one were separated as the Republic of Hatay in 1938. The republic joined to Turkey in 1939.

When the British forces occupied Ethiopia, Libya and other Italian colonies during World War II, the OETA was revived as the administrative structure by which the British governed these territories. In Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie was allowed to return and claim his throne, but the OETA authorities ruled the country for some time before full sovereignty was restored to Ethiopia.

Military administrators
OETA South

Field Marshal Edmund Allenby (Dec. 1917 – June 1918)

When Allenby first assumed command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force he quickly joined the army in the field leaving the political and administrative problems related to the Egyptian Mandate to a Government appointee with a suitable staff. The area of formerly Ottoman territory now under occupation also required management, and with the approval of the Government, Allenby appointed a Chief Administrator for Palestine. He divided the country into four districts: Jerusalem, Jaffa, Majdal and Beersheba, each under a military governor. Under this administration the immediate needs of the people were provided for, seed grain and live–stock were imported and distributed, finance on easy terms was made available through the Army bankers, a stable currency was set up and postal services restored. Allenby insisted that while military administration was required it was to remain his responsibility. 

 Allenby in Picot's presence,severely reprimanded Ali Rid'a al-Rikabi, Chief Administrator of O.E.T.A. East, for the obstructive and even hostile attitude of his administration toward the French. “Nothing can be more harmful to Arab interests,”

Major General Arthur Wigram Money (June 1918 – June 1919)
Major General H.D. Watson (June 1919 – Dec. 1919)
Lieutenant-General Louis Bols (Dec. 1919 – July 1920)

OETA East



Rida al-Rikabi


Ali Rida Pasha al-Rikabi (Arabic: علي رضا باشا الركابي‎) (1864—25 May 1943), was the First Prime Minister in modern Syria,[1] also Prime Minister of Jordan. 

During the last phase of Ottoman rule in the Middle East, al-Rikabi occupied prominent positions. After the Ottoman Turks departed from Arab lands in 1918, he formed the first cabinet in the history of Syria under Prince Faisal, third son Sharif Hussain of Mecca. Later, during two periods (1922 and 1924-1926) as Prime Minister in Jordan, al-Rikabi established Jordan’s administrative and financial system. He supported the Syrian revolt of 1925 against the French Mandate while he was Prime Minister of Jordan.

Ali Rida Pasha al-Rikabi came from a Damascene family whose ancestor had migrated from al-Rifa’i in southern Iraq during the seventeenth century. Al-Rikabi obtained his primary education at the Rushdiya Military School and completed Secondary school in Damascus also. His extraordinary performance at school earned him recommendations to be sent to the Military College in Istanbul, where he studied military engineering and graduated as the youngest in his class with the rank of Staff Major. He was later appointed military commander of the Ottoman army and deputy governor in Jerusalem. When the Ottoman Constitution was proclaimed in 1908 he was appointed Head of Special Branch in Istanbul. From there he was transferred to al-Medina al-Munawara where he was appointed Governor and Military Commander after being promoted to the rank of Major General. He then went on to Iraq as Military Commander in Baghdad and Governor of Basra.

On the eve of the First World the Ottoman Government consulted him, among other army commanders, about his opinion of Turkey’s participation in the war along the side of its German ally. Al-Rikabi advised the Ottoman Government to remain neutral in this European conflict because he was well aware of the poor condition of the Ottoman Army, its outdated weapons, insufficient ammunition and weak training. This advice led the ruling Triumvirate (Enver, Talat & Jamal), leaders of the Young Turks, to consider al-Rikabi a defeatist; so, he was dismissed into retirement from the army. Other officers and members of the Young Turks were enthusiastic in their drive to enter the war on the side of Germany, their friend and ally. When al-Rikabi returned to Damascus after his dismissal, Jamal Pasha appointed him Mayor of Damascus and Chief of Defences in order to utilise his knowledge and experience, while keeping him under close surveillance. Al-Rikabi preferred to accept these two positions to ward off suspicions, as he was in fact one of the founders of the first two secret organisations that planted the seeds of Arab Nationalism under Ottoman rule, namely ‘The Young Arab Society’ and ‘The Covenant Society’.

After the Arab Revolt (1916) and the Ottoman defeat by the British army, the Arab Army entered Damascus on October 1, 1918. Ali Rida al-Rikabi was appointed Military Governor and Chief of the Council of Directors (i.e. prime minister) of Syria under Prince Faisal son of King Hussain of Mecca. On 8 March 1920 the First Syrian Conference (representative body) announced Syria’s independence and proclaimed Faisal as King. Al-Rikabi became the first Prime Minister of Syria. From a base in Lebanon, the French Army under General Gouraud attacked the small Syrian volunteer force assembled in Maysaloon, defeated them, entered Damascus, proclaimed the French Mandate over Syria and Lebanon and forced King Faisal to leave Syria immediately.

When al-Rikabi left Jordan in 1926 he lived as a private citizen for a few years in Jerusalem and Haifa because the French banned him from entry to Syria for a few years before he could return to Damascus. In 1932 he coordinated efforts with King Faisal of Iraq, established the Royal Party and ran for President of Syria. The French heavily supported his rival and al-Rikabi lost the elections.

He spent the last ten years of his life in seclusion at home, under constant harassment from the French and their agents. His health soon began failing and he died a destitute man in May 1942.


(PICTURED) Rida Pasha al-Rikabi, commander of Ottoman troops in Jerusalem 

Rida al-Rikabi, a senior Syrian officer in the Ottoman Army, during the pre-WWI era. He defected from the Ottoman Army in 1916 and joined the Great Arab Revolt of Sharif Hussein. He fought in the Arabian Desert during World War I, and in 1918, entered his native Damascus and became the first Prime Minister of the Arab Government. In 1932, Rikabi nominated himself for the first presidential elections in Syria, running on a party ticket that pledged to restore the Hashemite crown to Syria. He was defeated against the independent, Mohammad Ali al-Abed, who became the first president of Syria.

Turkish Film Postings

Word Origin | Dekont

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Mavi Boncuk |

Dekont:"hesap dökümü" [ Cumhuriyet - newspaper, 1947]
1. bordro, dekont yazmak ve hesab yapmak from FR décompte;  discount EN indirim, iskonto,TR
 2. hesap dökümü from FR de+ compter  calculate EN; hesaplamak from Latin computare,  ricevimento IT;  extrait de compte relevé de compte  FR; Rechnungsauszug , Kontoauszug GE; statement of account[1] , receipt, abstract account, bank receipt, abstract of account, extract of account account abstract EN

[1] account (n.)
c. 1300, "counting," especially "reckoning of money received and paid, detailed statement of funds owed or spent or property held," from Old French acont "(financial) account, reckoning, terminal payment," from a "to" (see ad-) + cont "counting, reckoning of money to be paid," from Late Latin computus "a calculation," from Latin computare "to count, sum up, reckon together," from com "with, together" (see com-) + putare "to reckon," originally "to prune," from PIE root *pau- (2) "to cut, strike, stamp."

From the first often in plural form; sometimes in late Middle English accompt (see account (v.)). Meaning "course of business dealings requiring records" is from 1640s; hence "arrangement to keep money in a business, bank, etc." (1833), also "customer or client having an account" (1937). Money of account (1690s), that used in reckoning but not circulating as coin or paper, preserves the "counting" sense of the word.

From the notion of "rendering an account" comes the sense "statement answering for conduct" (mid-14c.) and the general sense "narration, recital of facts," attested by 1610s. Phrase by all accounts is attested from 1798. From the notion of "statement of reasons" comes on no account "under no circumstances" (1704). Also from c. 1300 in reference to answering for one's conduct, especially at the Last Judgment. Meaning "estimation, consideration," especially in the eyes of others, is from late 14c.

On account in the financial sense "as an item to be accounted for at the final settlement" is from 1610s, hence on account of in the general sense "for the sake of, in regard to, in consideration of" (1640s, originally upon account of). Also on (my, your, etc.) account "on (one's) behalf." To give accounts "prepare or present a statement of funds and property" is from mid-15c; the older term was cast accounts (mid-14c.); to take account of originally was to make an inventory; take into account "take account of" is from 1680s.

The spellings accompt, accomptable, etc. are artificial forms used, not prevailingly, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They are now obsolete, or nearly so, though accompt and accomptant may still be used in the formal or legal style. The pronunciation has always conformed to the regular spelling, account, accountable, etc. [Century Dictionary]

account (v.)
c. 1300, "to count, enumerate," from Old French aconter "to enumerate; reckon up, render account" (Modern French conter), from a "to" (see ad-) + conter "to count, tell" (see count (v.)).

Meaning "to reckon for money given or received, render a reckoning," is from late 14c. Sense of "to explain, justify" (c. 1300) is from notion of "present a detailed explanation of money, etc. held in trust." Transferred sense of "to value, to estimate" (to account as belonging to a certain class of quality) is from late 14c. Intransitive sense of "to render an account of particulars" is from late 14c.; hence transitive sense "give an explanation" (1670s, usually with to before a person and for before a thing).


In later Old French partly re-Latinized as acompter (Modern French accompter), hence late Middle English accompten. Related: Accounted; accounting.

Word Origin | Marka

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A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others, although trademarks used to identify services are usually called service marks. The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, a voucher, or on the product itself. For the sake of corporate identity, trademarks are often displayed on company buildings. 


Lowenbrau claims to have the oldest continuously used trademark in the world 

1383 Stella Artois – claims continuous use of its mark since 1366

United Kingdom: 1876 – The Bass Brewery's label incorporating its triangle logo for ale was the first trademark to be registered under the Trade Mark Registration Act 1875. 

Mavi Boncuk | 

Marka: Mark EN [1] [ Ahmed Vefik Paşa, Lehce-ı Osmani, 1876] marka: Nişan, pusula, alamet. "... kumarhane fişi" [ Ahmed Mithat, bu mahalde marka denilen şey kemikten veya fildişinden mamul tavla pulu gibi şeylerdir ki bazıları bir veya yarım mecidiye irae ederek...] from FR marque işaret, damga, ticari alamet from GE markō işaret, özellikle sınır işareti IE marg. 

[1] mark (n.1)
"trace, impression," Old English mearc (West Saxon), merc (Mercian) "boundary, sign, limit, mark," from Proto-Germanic *marko (source also of Old Norse merki "boundary, sign," mörk "forest," which often marked a frontier; Old Frisian merke, Gothic marka "boundary, frontier," Dutch merk "mark, brand," German Mark "boundary, boundary land"), from PIE root *merg- "boundary, border."

The primary sense is probably "boundary," which had evolved by Old English through "sign of a boundary," through "sign in general," then to "impression or trace forming a sign." Meaning "any visible trace or impression" first recorded c. 1200. Sense of "line drawn to indicate starting point of a race" (as in on your marks ...) first attested 1887. The Middle English sense of "target" (c. 1200) is the notion in marksman and slang sense "victim of a swindle" (1883). The notion of "sign, token" is behind the meaning "numerical award given by a teacher" (1829). Influenced by Scandinavian cognates.

mark (n.2)
"unit of money or weight," late Old English marc, a unit of weight (chiefly for gold or silver) equal to about eight ounces, probably from Old Norse mörk "unit of weight," cognate with German Mark, probably ultimately a derivative of mark (n.1), perhaps in sense of "imprinted weight or coin." Used from 18c. in reference to various continental coinages, especially. the silver coin of Germany first issued 1875.

mark (v.)
"to put a mark on," Old English mearcian (West Saxon), merciga (Anglian) "to trace out boundaries," from Proto-Germanic *markojan (source also of Old Norse merkja, Old Saxon markon, Old Frisian merkia, Old High German marchon, German merken "to mark, note," Middle Dutch and Dutch merken), from the root of mark (n.1).

Influenced by Scandinavian cognates. Meaning "to have a mark" is from c. 1400; that of "to notice, observe" is late 14c. Meaning "to put a numerical price on an object for sale" led to verbal phrase mark down (1859). Mark time (1833) is from military drill. Related: Marked; marking. Old French merchier "to mark, note, stamp, brand" is a Germanic loan-word.


Istanbul Declaration on Al-Quds

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ISTANBUL: Leaders from the the world’s main pan-Islamic body on Wednesday urged the international community to recognise East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital after US President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. The emergency summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul said it declared “East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine” and invited “all countries to recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital,” according to the final statement.

Wednesday’s summit was hosted by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan who has bitterly criticized the United States, a NATO ally, for its stance on Jerusalem. The city, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is home to Islam’s third holiest site and has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in an action not recognized internationally. Erdogan: We are going to support the Palestinian cause and their rights. The protection of Jerusalem and its historical legacy is important for the whole international community.


“Firstly the Palestinian state must be recognized by all other countries. We must all strive together for this,” the top Turkish diplomat, Mevlut Cavusoglu , said. “We must encourage other countries to recognize the Palestinian state on the basis of its 1967 borders with East Jerusalem [al-Quds] as its capital.” 


On Tuesday, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, reaffirmed the position of the European Union, saying East Jerusalem, which hosts the al-Aqa Mosque compound, shall become the capital of a Palestinian state and the western part of the city shall go to Israel as part of a so-called two state solution. “We have made it clear that we will continue to respect the international consensus on Jerusalem [al-Quds], as Europeans, including the relocation of our embassies until the final status of Jerusalem [al-Quds] is resolved through direct negotiations between the parties,” she added. 

Mavi Boncuk | The Extraordinary Islamic Summit, on 13 December 2017 in Istanbul, called on the United States of America to revoke its decision to recognize Al-Quds as capital of Israel, affirming its condemnation and rejection of this decision and the US President’s announcement to relocate the American embassy in the city.

In its Final Communiqué, the Summit held the US administration fully responsible for any repercussions of it refusing to disavow this unlawful decision, taking it as a clear desertion by the US administration of its role as peace broker. The Summit also dismissed the decision as a gift to Israel for its continuous renouncement of agreements and blatant breach to international legitimacy.

The call was also for the OIC Member States to impose political and economic restrictions on States, officials, parliaments, companies and individuals recognizing Israeli annexation of Al-Quds Al-Sharif, or engaging in any form with measures aimed at perpetuating Israeli colonization of the occupied Palestinian territories.

On the need to internationalize peace, the Communiqué called on international actors to promote a multilateral political process, to resume an internationally sponsored, credible process to achieve lasting peace based on the Two-State solution.

Speaking at the Summit, OIC Secretary General Dr Yousef Al-Othaimeen stated that the Extraordinary Summit bears acute significance particularly as to the centrality of the cause of Palestine and Al Quds for the entire Muslim Ummah, considering the US administration’s unilateral decision a downright aggression on the city’s sacrosanct identity and Arab character.

He further said the OIC uncompromisingly rejects the US move as an act which constitutes a clear violation of international law, deals a heavy blow to international relations and runs counter to the spirit of the UN Charter and relevant UN resolutions. By taking this move, Al-Othaimeen added, the US are breaking the international consensus regarding the political, legal and historical status of Al-Quds Al-Sharif.

The Organization called on the Arab Muslim world to join efforts, regionally and worldwide, to harness all the diplomatic means available to counter such measures and face up to the US unilateral decision rejected by most of the world countries.

Film | Arîn by Mizgin Mujde Arslan

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Mavi Boncuk |
Original Title: Arîn
UK/ 2017/ 10:40 min

Director: Mizgin Mujde Arslan
Producer: Lisya Yafet
Production Company: Blue art
Cinematography: Ozgur Karakaya
Scriptwriter: Mizgin Mujde Arslan
Editor: Amy Hamilton and Guray Varol
Music Composer: Naz Nazli Alatli
Language: Kurdish, English
Main Cast: Esra Ugurlu

Synopsis
Solin is a pregnant Kurdish woman living in London with her old dad. Her dad gets lost without knowing a word of English. Solin is chasing after the only thing he managed to describe a clock tower. The search slowly reveals traumas from the recent history of Kurdish people. 

Director’s Biography
Mizgin Arslan was born in a small village near Mardin, Turkey. Having worked as a journalist for six consecutive years, she began to shoot her own short films and documentaries, which mainly focus on women, the elderly and immigrants.

Filmography
2013 Asya 
2013 Houses With Small Windows
2012 I Flew You Stayed
2006 The Last Game

Turkey | UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists

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Mavi Boncuk |

Turkey

The Arts of the Meddah, Public Storytellers[1]
The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony
Karagöz and Hacivat
Âşıklık tradition
Traditional Sohbet meetings
Kırkpınar oil wrestling festival
Semah, Alevi-Bektaşi ritual
Ceremonial Keşkek tradition
Mesir Macunu festival
Turkish coffee culture and tradition
Ebru, Turkish art of marbling
Flatbread making and sharing culture: Lavash, Katyrma, Jupka, Yufka
Traditional craftsmanship of Çini-making
 

Nawrouz, Novruz, Nowrouz, Nowrouz, Nawrouz, Nauryz, Nooruz, Nowruz, Navruz, Nevruz, Nowruz, Navruz ( Afghanistan Azerbaijan India Iran Iraq Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Pakistan Tajikistan Turkey Turkmenistan Uzbekistan) Spring celebration, Hıdrellez ( Macedonia Turkey) 

Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding 
Whistled language

For the curious: 

Mediterranean diet
(In 2010, Italy, Spain, Greece and Morocco were the first to be recognised, but on December 4, 2013, Portugal, Cyprus and Croatia were also recognised by UNESCO.)

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Mugham
Art of Azerbaijani Ashiq
Traditional art of Azerbaijani carpet weaving in the Republic of Azerbaijan
Craftsmanship and performance art of the Tar, a long-necked string musical instrument
Traditional art and symbolism of Kelaghayi, making and wearing women's silk headscarves
Copper craftsmanship of Lahij
Dolma making and sharing tradition, a marker of cultural identity

Armenia

Duduk and its music
Armenian cross-stones art. Symbolism and craftsmanship of Khachkars
Performance of the Armenian epic of 'Daredevils of Sassoun' or 'David of Sassoun'
Lavash, the preparation, meaning and appearance of traditional bread as an expression of culture in Armenia
Kochari, traditional group dance

Greece

Know-how of cultivating mastic on the island of Chios
Tinian marble craftsmanship
Momoeria, New Year's celebration in eight villages of Kozani area, West Macedonia, Greece
Rebetiko

[1] The meddah or story teller played in front of a small group of viewers, such as a coffeehouse audience. The play was generally about a single topic, the meddah playing different characters, and was usually introduced by drawing attention to the moral contained in the story. The meddah would use props such as an umbrella, a handkerchief, or different headwear, to signal a change of character, and was skilled at manipulating his voice and imitating different dialects. There was no time limitation on the shows; a good meddah had the skill to adjust the story depending on interaction with the audience.

Meddahs were generally traveling artists whose route took them from one large city to another, such along the towns of the spice road; the tradition supposedly goes back to Homer's time. The methods of meddahs were the same as the methods of the itinerant storytellers who related Greek epics such as the Iliad and Odyssey, even though the main stories were now Ferhat ile Şirin or Layla and Majnun. The repertoires of the meddahs also included true stories, modified depending on the audience, artist and political situation.

The Istanbul meddahs were known to integrate musical instruments into their stories: this was a main difference between them and the East Anatolian Dengbejin.

In 2008 the art of the meddahs was relisted in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

EU Watch | MAM Needs Justice

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EU Watch | MAM Needs Justice

Mavi Boncuk | A Turkish-Iranian gold trader whose prosecution in Manhattan drew sharp criticism from Turkey has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the American authorities with the help of fugitive Gulenists ( One Gulenist wearing t shirt with the word HERO during trials).

Istanbul Declaration On “Freedom For Al Quds”

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Istanbul Declaration On “Freedom For Al Quds” Extraordinary Islamic Summit Conference Istanbul, Republic Of Turkey 24 Rabi' Awwal 1439 Ah 13 December 2017 Oic Extraordinary Summit Istanbul Declaration On “Freedom For Al Quds”  SOURCE PDF 

  Mavi Boncuk |

1. We reject and condemn the US Administration's unlawful statement regarding the status of Al Quds.

2. Just like the fact that Israel’s decision to annex Al Quds and its actions and
practices therewith are never accepted, we declare that this statement is identically null and void from the point of view of conscience, justice and history.
We invite all members of the UN, the EU and the international community to remain committed to the status of Al Quds and all related UN Resolutions.

3. We emphasize that it will never be possible to give up on the aspiration to a sovereign and independent State of Palestine on the basis of the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital; which we regard as a prerequisite for peace and security in the region.

4. We declare that we will act in cooperation and coordination to protect the cause of Palestine and Al Quds in the international arena, especially in the UN.

5. We declare that we will mobilize support in the name of entire humanity to strengthen the State of Palestine and its institutions in every field.

6. We call upon all countries which have not yet recognized the State of Palestine, which was declared in 1988 in Algeria as the result of the will of the Palestinian people to live freely, to take this vital step. Recognition of the State of Palestine has now become essential in order to achieve balance for the prevalence of common sense and conscience in the region in the wake
of recent developments. While we reaffirm that we recognize the State of Palestine, we invite the whole world to recognize East Jerusalem as the occupied capital of the State of Palestine.

7. We are of the opinion that, for the defense of the Palestinian cause, it is essential under current conditions to achieve Palestinian reconciliation without further delay on the basis of mutual respect, trust, compromise and a full sense of national solidarity. We reiterate our support in this regard.

8. We invite the Trump Administration to reconsider its unlawful decision that might trigger chaos in the region and to rescind its mistaken step.

9. As the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, we reaffirm our full support for our each and every Palestinian brother particularly the President of the State of Palestine, His Excellency Mahmoud Abbas in their struggle for an independent and sovereign Palestine, with Al Quds as its capital.

Sykes Picot Agreement Map

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Mavi Boncuk | 

Sykes Picot Agreement Map an enclosure in Paul Cambon's letter to Sir Edward Grey, 9 May 1916

Book | Frontline Turkey: The Conflict at the Heart of the Middle East

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Frontline Turkey: The Conflict at the Heart of the Middle East’ by Ezgi Başaran (IB Tauris, 224 pages)


Turkey is on the front line of the war which is consuming Syria and the Middle East. Its role is complicated by the long-running conflict with the Kurds on the Syrian border - a war that has killed as many as 80,000 people over the last three decades.

In 2011 President Erdogan promised to make a deal with the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), but the talks marked a descent into assassinations, suicide bombings and the killing of civilians on both sides. The Kurdish peace process finally collapsed in 2014 with the spillover of the Syrian civil war. With ISIS moving through northern Iraq, Turkey has declared war on Western allies such as the Kurdish YPG (People's Protection Unit) - the military who rescued the Yezidis and fought with US backing in Kobane.

Frontline Turkey shows how the Kurds' relationship with Turkey is at the very heart of the Middle Eastern crisis, and documents, through front-line reporting, how Erdogan's failure to bring peace is the key to understanding current events in Middle East.

Journalist, Istanbul and St Antony's College, Oxford University Programme on Contemporary Turkey Coordinator, SEESOX ezgi.basarankarli(at)sant.ox.ac.uk. 

Ezgi Basaran made her name covering the Kurdish conflict - reporting 'on the ground' in the fight between ISIS, the YPG, the PKK and the Turkish state. After accepting the offer to write a daily column on Turkish foreign affairs, she became the youngest ever editor of Turkey's Radikal, the biggest centre-left news outlet in Turkey, and the first woman to hold the role. After facing government censorship when covering the breakdown of the Kurdish talks, she resigned. Radikal was shut down by the government a month later - an unprecedented event which made headlines worldwide. She is currently an academic visitor at St Antony's College Oxford. She has nearly 1 million twitter followers, and extensive 'name-recognition' in the field of Turkish politics and journalism. This would be her first book in English.  Follow @ezgibasaran

Imprint: I.B.Tauris
Publisher: I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd.

Hardback
ISBN: 9781784538415
Publication Date: 29 Sep 2017
Number of Pages: 224
Height: 216
Width: 135
Illustrations: 2 maps

Mavi Boncuk |



Review by WILLIAM ARMSTRONG william.armstrong@hdn.com.tr

This year has seen a flurry of “state of Turkey” books appearing in English. With such a rapidly changing news agenda it is difficult to write anything of length that remains relevant. And with so many books on present-day Turkey appearing in English, it is becoming increasingly hard for authors to distinguish their books from the avalanche of other work.

Ezgi Başaran’s “Frontline Turkey” focuses mostly on the country’s long-running conflict with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Specifically, it centers on the development and collapse of the peace process between the two sides, officially ongoing from 2013 to 2015. The chaos unleashed after the failure of those talks is inseparable from the wider authoritarian descent that has gripped Turkey.

Frontline TurkeyBaşaran was editor-in-chief of the now defunct Radikal newspaper during the peace process. She has focused on the Kurdish question as a Turkish journalist for more than a decade, “interviewing almost all of the prominent figures who have shaped the course of the Kurdish movement in Turkey.” The issue, she argues, still “has the power to either make or break the country.”

The book’s major contribution to the English-language literature is its blow-by-blow account of how the peace process - which many hoped would put an end to a three-decade conflict that has killed over 40,000 people and ruined countless more lives - developed and collapsed. Amid rising ultra-nationalism, xenophobia and political meltdown, it is almost surreal to recall that not so long ago a peace deal between the Turkish state and the PKK seemed to be in sight.

Ironically, it was developments in Syria that pushed Turkey to both start and end the peace process. As Başaran describes, Ankara was keen to resolve the problem before the 100-year-old Kurdish issue became entangled with spillover from the war in Syria. However, as the situation across the border spiraled out of control –Syrian Kurdish cantons expanding with the tacit approval of the al-Assad regime - the peace talks in Turkey were brought to breaking point. Turkey equated the PKK affiliates in the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) with ISIS, while the PKK accused Ankara of directly supporting ISIS. The atmosphere became steadily more toxic.

Başaran suggests that if Turkey had continued its peace process while also helping the YPG against ISIS, “there might have been a viable plan for a truce in Syria, and both Turkey and the Middle East would now be safer and stronger.” But this is wishful thinking. In retrospect, Ankara’s ditching of peace talks and bid to roll back Kurdish gains in Syria look sadly inevitable. The fault-lines were there all along. Başaran describes how during a delegation’s visit to jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in February 2013, Erdoğan and Öcalan’s “red lines” on Syria were irreconcilable. “MP Sırrı Süreyye Önder passed on a message from Erdoğan, which said ‘he would come to an agreement with [Öcalan]. But there is only one red line: Syria. He said he would not allow a Kurdish entity to be established like the one in northern Iraq.’ Öcalan stopped him short and replied: ‘You tell him that we will not allow Kurds to remain in a centralized Syria, and that is our red line,’” she writes, quoting minutes from the meeting.

Also crucial was President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s bid to shift Turkey to an executive presidential system. that the government would not receive the necessary support from Turkish nationalists while the peace process was ongoing. The June 2015 election saw unprecedented gains for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), it also saw a nationalist backlash benefiting the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which registered its highest share of the vote since 1999. In the subsequent snap election of November 2015 - after the peace process collapsed and amid fierce fighting in the southeast and sweeping curfews – the AKP regained its losses and rose nearly 10 percentage points. Erdoğan had learned a bitter lesson, and the right-wing front between the AKP and various other nationalists started to be consolidated.

The PKK also carries responsibility for the failure of peace talks. It believed the HDP’s success at the ballot box meant support for the PKK. “On the contrary,” writes Başaran, “it meant support for the peace process, for a ceasefire and for the HDP’s rhetoric on democracy and equality.” The PKK believed it had mandate to stir urban war and turn southeastern Turkey into another northern Syria – part of a wider political project plan. After stocking up on weapons during the peace process, its urban fighters were more than happy to declare war once talks collapsed. “The PKK thought it could declare certain districts in Diyarbakır, Hakkari and Şırnak autonomous, as the PYD/YPG had done in northern Syria,” writes Başaran. This was a deadly mistake. The masses did not rise up to join young urban fighters, and Turkey’s crackdown crushed rather than escalated the uprising.

The network of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen has been central to events in Turkey over recent years. And Başaran is one of the few people who have consistently been proven right on the issue. Years ago she was targeted by the Gülenists for pointing out contradictions in evidence in the Ergenekon and Balyoz cases of the 2000s, when the AKP and Gülen were still arm in arm. In “Frontline Turkey,” she gives a solid account of the Gülenists’ rise and the AKP-Gülen rift, sparing no punches for either side.

An honest campaign to expose Gülenist wrongdoing and investigate how they infiltrated the state was necessary after the July 2016 coup attempt. But such a probe was politically impossible for the AKP and Erdoğan. “A lawful purge of the Gülenists who were more loyal to Gülen than the state would have to involve the AKP echelon that had given them ground in the first place … This would reveal the true nature of the AKP-Gülen alliance, which Erdoğan could not afford to be made public,” Başaran writes. As a result, we have today’s law of the jungle free-for-all.

The cover of “Frontline Turkey” is carries an admiring quotation from veteran Middle East reporter Robert Fisk, but don’t let that put you off. Başaran’s judgement is generally sound. She proposes that the Kurdish issue is overwhelmingly a question of rights, arguing that “there is no doubt that the Kurdish problem may be solved in an environment where individual rights and freedoms are fully respected and enhanced.” Rights violations have certainly determined the issue for many years, but it too simple to suggest that addressing them can be a silver bullet. Indeed, the PKK has itself played a significant role in preventing a freer climate from emerging; military and personal interests have built up among PKK commanders, as well as its rank and file, hugely complicating any attempted solution.

A sense of siege, fueled by conspiratorial paranoia, has taken an iron grip in the minds of the government in recent years. In its view, all setbacks on the march to national greatness are the work of dark forces bent on destroying President Erdoğan and therefore the country. These convictions are now shaping policy calculations and herald a very dark coming few years.

“Frontline Turkey” does an excellent job of charting how the country reached this precipice, weaving into a cohesive whole the disparate strands of the Gülen movement, the Kurdish issue and deepening authoritarianism. It is required reading for all English-language observers of Turkey. Follow the Turkey Book Talk podcast via iTunes 

here, Stitcher here, Podbean http://turkeybooktalk.podbean.com/, or Facebook here, or Twitter here.

Deep Fried Dough | From Lokma to Ponçik, Pişi to Sufganiyah

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Mavi Boncuk |

Lokma (Turkish), loukoumades (Greek: λουκουμάδες, singular λουκουμάς, loukoumas), zalabyieh (Arabic: زلابية), or bāmiyeh (Persian: بامیه)—see etymology below—are pastries made of deep fried dough soaked in syrup, chocolate sauce or honey, with cinnamon and sometimes sprinkled with sesame or grated walnuts. The Turkish word lokma means "mouthful" or "morsel", from Arabic لقمة luqma (plural luqmāt). Lokma is called sfingi (σφίνγοι) by the Greek Jews, who make them as Hanukkah treats[1]. The tradition is claimed to have been originated by the Romaniotes.

Lokma in the form of a dessert is made with flour, sugar, yeast and salt, fried in oil and later bathed in syrup or honey. Lokma is first described as part of Turkish cuisine in the 9th century Kara-Khanid Khanate. It was cooked by palace cooks in the Ottoman Empire for centuries and spread to the cuisines of the former countries of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, Middle East and the Caucasus. While in the former Ottoman countries such as Iraq and Greece it is an ordinary dessert, it has a ceremonial meaning in Turkey and is generally not consumed as an everyday dessert. Traditionally 40 days after someone passes away, close relatives and/or friends of the deceased cook Lokma in large quantities and serve to neighbours and passersby. People form queues to get a plate and recite a prayer for the soul of the deceased in return after eating the Lokma.

Lokma in Greece and Cyprus, called loukoumades, are commonly spiced with cinnamon in a honey syrup and can be sprinkled lightly with powdered sugar. While some claim that Lokma is a traditional Greek dessert with roots in deep antiquity, disagreement exists over the likelihood of the claim and which historical Greek honey-cake is the supposed ancestor of the modern lokma, whose present name is borrowed from Turkish. 

The candidate most frequently mentioned as being prepared with hot oil is enkrides, which is described along with other postulated ancestral honey-cakes.

Pişi (Bişi, Kabartlama) Boortsog, called pişi or tuzlu lokma (sour lokma) in Turkish, which is Lokma without any sweet syrup or honey, is a staple food for Turkic and Mongolian cuisines. 

Various other kinds of fried dough with syrup are found in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and South Asia, from the Italian struffoli (the most similar in preparation to lokma) and zeppole[2] to the Indian and Pakistani jalebi and gulab jamun. A version called لقمة القاضي luqmat al-qādi (judge's Lokma or judge's mouthful) was described by al-Baghdadi in the 13th century and continues to be made in Arab countries. Perhaps the oldest documentation of a related but not identical dish is in the tomb of Ramses IV, where something more like jalebi is shown being prepared. Later, the Ancient Greek enchytoi consisted of a cheese-and-flour dough squeezed into hot fat, then covered with honey. 

A fragment from Callimachus  has been used to argue the supposed antiquity of lokum and a connection to the ancient Olympics by, among others, The Washington Post. Various assertions have also been made regarding ompne (Ancient Greek: ὄμπνη) in the text means, in the plural form, "sacrificial cakes made of grain and honey". Other sacrificial cakes, often called popanon (Ancient Greek: πόπανον) being ancestral to loukoumades; however, the only thing that is clear about them is that they were made from grain and honey.

A dish very similar to lokma is described by Archestratus, a Greek poet from Sicily, was enkris (Greek: ἐγκρίς, plural ἐγκρίδες)—a dough-ball fried in olive oil, which he details in his Gastronomy; a work now lost, but partially preserved in the Deipnosophists of Athenaeus, which mentions enkris thirteen times, in various inflected forms. 

The most complete description of it in the Deipnosophists is a passage that reads:

πεμμάτιον ἑψόμενον ἐν ἐλαίῳ καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο μελιτούμενον, μνημονεύει αὐτῶν Στησίχορος διὰ τούτων

χόνδρον τε καὶ ἐγκρίδας ἄλλα τε πέμματα καὶ μέλι χλωρόν.

There are cakes, also, called ἐγκρίδες. These are cakes boiled in oil, and after that seasoned with honey; and they are mentioned by Stesichorus in the following lines:—

Groats and encrides, And other cakes, and fresh sweet honey.

It is also mentioned in preserved fragments of Aristophanes's Danaids and Pherecrates's Crapataloi,Stesichorus, and Antiphon

This word is also used in the Greek Septuagint to describe the manna eaten by the Israelites in the Book of Exodus

καὶ ἐπωνόμασαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Μαν ἦν δὲ ὡς σπέρμα κορίου λευκόν τὸ δὲ γεῦμα αὐτοῦ ὡς ἐγκρὶς ἐν μέλιτι

And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
And also in the Book of Numbers,
«καὶ διεπορεύετο ὁ λαὸς καὶ συνέλεγον καὶ ἤληθον αὐτὸ ἐν τῷ μύλῳ καὶ ἔτριβον ἐν τῇ θυΐᾳ καὶ ἥψουν αὐτὸ ἐν τῇ χύτρᾳ καὶ ἐποίουν αὐτὸ ἐγκρυφίας, καὶ ἦν ἡ ἡδονὴ αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ γεῦμα ἐγκρὶς ἐξ ἐλαίου»
And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.

Also, there may be a connection to the ritual feeding of the victors at ancient Olympia. Aristotle and other ancient writers refer to kharisioi plakoi or plakonta (χαρίσιοι πλάκοι, πλακούντα), translated as "(thanksgiving) cakes or "(gift) cakes".These were offered to the victorious athletes in a highly ritualized ceremony along with the kotinos wreath. No recipe survives.

This ethereal treat harks back to ancient Persia, medieval German woodcutters, and the Ottoman Empire.

The technique of deep-frying foods originated in the Mediterranean in the 5th Century BCE. The most commonly used oil was olive oil. As traders took this art to Persia, cooks poured batter into the hot oil, and then immersed the fritter in a syrup of rosewater and sugar. In the 15th Century CE elaborate wooden molds were carved in Europe for shaping gingerbread cookies. Both the mold carving and gingerbread baking were controlled by guilds. In the 18th Century CE the wood was replaced by tin, and shaped cookies were democratized. Everyone could bake their own fancy cookies! The cooks of the Ottoman Empire brought all these traditions together to create a beautiful fritter called demir tatlisi. They dipped iron molds in the shape of flowers in batter and deep-fried them. A warm syrup of sugar, water, and lemon was allowed to simmer on the side. After all the cookies were fried, they were dipped in the syrup and served. Visiting European diplomats brought these recipes to Europe, where they were adopted. Scandinavia fell in love with the flower cookies, calling them Struva. The syrup was replaced with powdered sugar. When the British discovered them, they named them rosettes. You may surprise your Hanukkah guests with beautiful flower shaped fritters.

A sufganiyah (Hebrew: סופגנייה or סופגניה‬; plural, sufganiyot: Hebrew: סופגניות‬, pronounced [ˌsuf.ɡan.iˈah] SOOF-gah-nee-AH, [ˌsuf.ɡan.iˈot] SOOF-gah-nee-OHT, Arabic: سوفغنية‎) is a round jelly doughnut eaten in Israel and around the world on the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. The doughnut is deep-fried, filled with jam or custard, and then topped with powdered sugar. At Hanukkah, Jews observe the custom of eating fried foods in commemoration of the miracle associated with the Temple oil.

The Hebrew word sufganiyah and Arabic word sfenj derive from the words for sponge (sfog, Hebrew: ספוג‬; isfanj, Arabic: إسْفَنْج‎).
There is a long North African history besides the Jewish tradition of associating sfenj (the smaller, deep-fried donuts) with Hanukkah. In Israel, where Central and East European Jews mingled with North African Jews, the Yiddish ponchkes (similar to the German Berliner, the Polish pączki, or the Russian ponchik) became part of this tradition.

Gogoși are Romanian sweet pastries similar to filled doughnuts. Gogoși is the plural form of the Romanian word gogoașă. Gogoși are pieces of dough shaped into a flattened sphere that are deep-fried in oil and optionally dusted with icing sugar. They have no hole and are often filled. Gogoși fillings include chocolate, apricot jam, strawberry jam or cream cheese. Gogoși are believed to date back to Classical antiquity, when Romania was a province of the Roman Empire. They may be related to the sweet dough balls included as aliter dulcia (another sweet dish) in the Roman recipe collection Apicius.

A Berliner Pfannkuchen (Berliner for short) is a traditional German pastry similar to a doughnut with no central hole, made from sweet yeast dough fried in fat or oil, with a marmalade or jam filling and usually icing, powdered sugar or conventional sugar on top. They are sometimes made with chocolate, champagne, custard, mocha, or advocaat filling, or with no filling at all.

The yeast dough contains a good deal of eggs, milk and butter. For the classical Pfannkuchen made in Berlin the dough gets baled, deep-fried in lard, whereby the distinctive bright bulge occurs, and then filled with jam. The filling is related to the topping:[citation needed] for plum-butter, powdered sugar; for raspberry, strawberry and cherry jam, sugar; for all other fillings, sugar icing, sometimes flavoured with rum. Today the filling usually is injected with a large syringe or pastry bag after the dough is fried in one piece.
Today berliners can be purchased throughout the year, though they were traditionally eaten to celebrate on New Year's Eve (Silvester) as well as the carnival holidays (Rosenmontag and Fat Tuesday). A common German practical joke is to secretly fill some Berliners with mustard instead of jam and serve them together with regular Berliners without telling anyone.

The terminology used to refer to this delicacy differs greatly in various areas of Germany. While called Berliner Ballen or simply Berliner in Northern and Western Germany as well as in Switzerland, the Berliners themselves and residents of Brandenburg, Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony know them as Pfannkuchen, which in the rest of Germany generally means pancakes; pancakes are known there as Eierkuchen ("egg cakes").

In parts of southern and central Germany (Bavaria), as well as in much of Austria, they are a variety of Krapfen (derived from Old High German kraffo and furthermore related to Gothic language krappa), sometimes called Fastnachtskrapfen or Faschingskrapfen to distinguish them from Bauernkrapfen. In Hesse they are referred to as Kräppel or Kreppel. Residents of the Palatinate call them also Kreppel or Fastnachtsküchelchen ("little carnival cakes"), hence the English term for a pastry called "Fasnacht"; further south, the Swabians use the equivalent term in their distinctive dialect: Fasnetskiachla. In South Tyrol, Triveneto and other parts of Northern Italy, the food is called kraffen or krapfen, while in the southern parts it can be referred as bomba or bombolone
In Slovenia, it is (Trojanski) krof; in Croatia krafni; in Bosnia, and Serbia krofne. In Poland they are known as pączki, in Ukraine as "pampushky". in the Czech Republic as kobliha. In Hungary, it is called bécsi fánk.[2] The pastry is called Berlinerbol in the Netherlands and boule de Berlin in Belgium, hillomunkki or (glazed) berliininmunkki in Finland, berlinerbolle in Norway, šiška in Slovakia, and gogoși in Romania. In Denmark it is called "Berliner". In Turkey they're known as Alman Pastası (German Pie). All of these are essentially identical preparations.
In English-speaking countries, berliners are a type of doughnut usually filled with jam, jelly, custard, or whipped cream. In South Australia, however, the Kitchener bun is a Berliner cut on the side for the filling of jam and cream.[citation needed]

In Anglophone North America, the most common term for the jam- or jelly-filled pastry is "jelly doughnut". The name is somewhat misleading, since the jam or jelly used is specially made with less pectin, so that it does not "set" like jams and jellies manufactured for table use but has a consistency comparable to Bavarian cream. The cream or custard-filled varieties usually also feature chocolate icing and are sometimes called Bavarian cream or Boston cream doughnuts (the latter name from its resemblance to Boston cream pie). The Boston cream doughnut has been designated the official state doughnut of Massachusetts.

In Ontario and the prairie western provinces of Canada, as well as parts of the Midwest and West in the US, such a round jelly- or custard-filled doughnut is commonly called a "bismark" or "bismarck" (after Otto von Bismarck), while a filled bar doughnut is called a "long john", and usually contains pastry cream, custard, or whipped cream, but can also contain a jelly filling. Other Canadian terms include "jambuster" in Manitoba, and "Burlington bun" in Nova Scotia.

In Portugal, Berliners are slightly bigger than their German counterparts. They are known as bolas de Berlim (lit. Berlin ball), and the filling is always an egg-yolk based yellow cream called creme pasteleiro (lit. confectioner's cream). The filling is inserted after a half length cut and is always visible. Regular sugar is used to sprinkle it. They can be found in almost every pastry shop in the country. Such versions are also found in Latin American countries with German descended populations, such as in Mexico (berlinesas), Chile (Berlín), Uruguay, and Argentina (bola de fraile or suspiro de monja or berlinesa), where it is filled not only with custard (called "Crema pastelera"), but also with jam (especially red ones), dulce de leche, or manjar blanco. In Brazil, berliners are called sonhos (dreams) and traditionally filled with yellow cream (called simply creme). Some modern variants are filled with doce de leite (a type of milk jam), goiabada, or a mix of chocolate and doce de leite.[citation needed]

In Israel, a version of the pastry called sufganiyah (Hebrew: סופגנייה) is traditionally consumed during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Traditional sufganiyot are usually filled with jam and covered with powdered sugar. Although, many other modern variants exist as well.

In Finland, berliininmunkki (lit. Berlin's doughnut) is a commonly consumed pastry, although unlike a traditional Berliner, this variant has pink caramel colored frosting on top as opposed to regular or powdered sugar.
Pączki are deep-fried pieces of dough shaped into flattened spheres and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. Pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing, glaze or bits of dried orange zest. A small amount of grain alcohol (traditionally, Spiritus) is added to the dough before cooking; as it evaporates, it prevents the absorption of oil deep into the dough. The common opinion is that the ideal pączek is fluffy and at the same time a bit collapsed, with a bright stripe around – it is supposed to guarantee that the dough was fried in fresh oil.

Ponçik: Ponçik TR. 1930ies from RU. Diminutive. Deep fried sweet dough.

Rusia: ponchiki (пончики, пончик, ponchik) or pyshki ( пышки). There are two types of ponchiki – ones with a hole in the middle, and ones without. The ones without a hole can also have filling inside.The ones with a hole were the Moscow type, hence the name – Moskovskie ponchiki, and the ones without were the St. Petersburg type.
Ukraine: pampushky (Ukraynaca: пампушки). he Ukrainian word pampukh comes via Polish pampuch (a kind of thick dumpling or steamed doughnut) from German Pfannkuchen ("pancake").Similarly to English "pancake", the latter derives from Pfanne ("pan") and Kuchen ("cake"). The diminutive form pampushka is used more frequently than the basic form. Pampusky are made of yeast dough from wheat, rye or buckwheat flour. Traditionally they are baked but may also be fried.[3][4][5][6] Savoury pampusky have no filling. They are usually seasoned with garlic sauce and often served as a side dish with red borscht or yushka.[3][5][6] Sweet pampushky may be filled with fruits, berries, varenye, povydlo or poppy seeds, and topped with powdered sugar.
Czechya: koblihy
Lituania: spurgos

Slovakia: šišky
Polish: pączki

Although they look like German berliners, North American bismarcks or jelly doughnuts, pączki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar, yeast and sometimes milk. They feature a variety of fruit and creme fillings and can be glazed, or covered with granulated or powdered sugar. Powidl (stewed plum jam) and wild rose hip jam are traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including strawberry, Bavarian cream, blueberry, custard, raspberry, and apple.

Pączki have been known in Poland at least since the Middle Ages. Jędrzej Kitowicz has described that during the reign of August III, under the influence of French cooks who came to Poland, pączki dough was improved, so that pączki became lighter, spongier, and more resilient.

Although they look like German berliners, North American bismarcks or jelly doughnuts, pączki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar, yeast and sometimes milk. They feature a variety of fruit and creme fillings and can be glazed, or covered with granulated or powdered sugar. Powidl (stewed plum jam) and wild rose hip jam are traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including strawberry, Bavarian cream, blueberry, custard, raspberry, and apple.

Pączki have been known in Poland at least since the Middle Ages. Jędrzej Kitowicz has described that during the reign of August III, under the influence of French cooks who came to Poland, pączki dough was improved, so that pączki became lighter, spongier, and more resilient.

The Polish word pączki is the plural form of the Polish word pączek  Pączek itself is a diminutive of pąk (English: plant bud).


[1] Hanukkah is celebrated by lighting the hanukkiya to commemorate the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem during the Judean victory over Syrian-Greek forces 22 centuries ago. As a tribute to the small jar of oil used in the temple service that miraculously lasted for eight days, Jews developed a custom of eating foods fried in oil—Ashkenazim eat potato pancakes called latkes; in Israel, donuts called sufganyot are consumed; and Sephardic Jews enjoy bumuelos, fried dough drizzled in honey or topped with powdered sugar and the bumuelo is even mentioned in the 
Ladino translations of the Bible.

Pictured: A Hebrew and Ladino edition of the Torah published in Vienna, 1813. (Courtesy of Congregation Ezra Bessaroth).

Like many Jewish foods, the bumuelo takes on many names and forms throughout history as a result of translational nuance and the intersection of diverse culinary customs. In Ladino alone, it is known as bunuelo, bonuelo, binuelo, bimuelo, bumuelo, binmuelo, birmuelo, burmuelo, or bilmuelo. A similar dish popular in the former Ottoman Empire is known in Turkish as lokma, in Greek as loukoumades, among the Romaniote Greek Jews as zvingous, and in Arabic as awamee. In his Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, Gil Marks notes that in medieval Spain, Christians considered bunuelos to be a sign of Muslim or Jewish cooking. In many Spanish-speaking countries today, the buñuelo is a popular sweet dough treat at Christmas.

The Jewish concept of the bumuelo can be traced back to the story of the manna in the desert, in the Biblical books of Exodus and Numbers. In Ladino editions of the Torah, this miraculous food is described in the book of Numbers (11:8), as tasting like “cake in oil” (leshad ha-shamen), and in Exodus (16:31) the taste of the manna is said to have been “like sapihit in honey” (ke-sapihit “כְּצַפִּיחִת”). Sapihit is often translated into English as a “wafer.” A similar word, sapahat, is a flat or broad shape, and it also means a jar that holds oil — a satisfying literary connection to the story of Hanukkah. The problem with the word “sapihit” is that it only appears once in the Bible, with no other reference points to help us understand the context.

But by 1547, Ladino Bibles were translating sapihit as “bunuelo.” Later translations follow suit with various alternate spellings.

How did this ancient word come to be translated as bunuelos, and are they the same bumuelos we know and love today? For this we turn to other ancient sources, where we find connections not just to bumuelos, but also to the other Hanukkah treats: sufganiyot (doughnuts) and levivot (latkes).

Beginning with the Aramaic translation of the Torah, sapihit is rendered as “iskeretvan.” In the Mishna (Challah 1:4) and in the Talmud (Pesahim 37a) this word is modified to iskaritin where it is used as example of one of the types of dough exempt from the obligation to set aside a portion known as challah. Another category of exempt dough is sufganin, which bears a resemblance to the Modern Hebrew word for Hanukkah treats, sufganiyot or doughnuts and to the popular Moroccan version known as sfenj.

In the 10th century, the luminary Saadia Gaon, in his Arabic translation of the Torah, identifies sapihit with the Arabic katayef, a sweet dessert traditionally eaten by Muslims during Ramadan. In his commentary to the Torah, Saadia explains the term sapihit as levivot, meaning fritters or pancakes. (In modern-day Israel, levivot means latkes, the Ashkenazi-inspired potato pancake, but it can refer to bimuelos among Sephardic Jews, too. Levivot, however, did not become potato pancakes until recently; in Saadia’s time they would have referred to a dough pancake. For the Biblical mention of levivot, see 2 Samuel 13.)

Maimonides’ father, Rabbi Maimon ben Yosef, who lived in 12th-century Spain and later fled to Egypt, writes that on Hanukkah “it has become customary to make sufganin, known in Arabic as alsfingh…this is an ancient custom, because they are fried in oil, in remembrance of

[God’s] blessing.” Sufganin forms the basis of the modern-day Israeli sufganiyot phenomenon.
During the 14th century in Provence, the custom to eat sweet desserts during Hanukkah was also cited by Rabbi Kalonymus ben Kalonymus “[The women] bake the dough and make different kinds of tasty food from the mixture…and above all they should take fine flour and make sufganin and iskaritin (bumuelos) from it.”

By exploring our sources for this culinary tradition in the Sephardic Studies Digital Library, we can see how bunuelos—and the multiple, contested spellings of the term—made their way across the Sephardic diaspora.

binuelos-1-sefer-heshek-shelomovenice-1588-st00419_0026

A page from Sefer Heshek Shelomo, courtesy of Richard Adatto.

According to the first Ladino translation of the Torah printed in Hebrew characters and published in Istanbul in 1547, the manna, which God provided to the children of Israel, tasted like bunuelo in honey. Gedalia Cordovero — the son of the famous kabbalist Moshe Cordovero — edited a glossary of non-Hebrew words in the Torah and translated them into Ladino. In 1588, this Sefer Heshek Shelomo was first published in Venice, and according to the anonymous author, the word sapihit is translated as binuelos or benuelos.

In 1739, the Ladino Bible translations published by Abraham Asa in Istanbul, and later by others in Izmir and Vienna, all describe the taste of this heavenly food as “binmuelo kon miel.” [Constantinople, 1738; Vienna 1813; Izmir, 1837; Constantinople, 1873 and 1905.] In contrast, Rabbi Jacob Huli, in his famous biblical commentary written in Ladino, Sefer Me-am Lo’ez, offers an additional spelling, stating that manna tasted like bilmuelos.

“I yamaron kaza de Yisrael a su nomre magna; i el komo simiente de kolantro, blanko, i su savor komo bunuelo kon miel.” [Istanbul, 1547]. OR

“I la kaza de Yisrael yamo su nombre man; i era komo simiente de kolantro, blanko; i su savor komo binmuelo kon miel.” [Istanbul, 1873]

In summary, according to Sephardic sources going back to the 16th century — with clear links pointing back to the first century CE — the bumuelo is associated with sapihit, the taste of manna during the Israelites’ wanderings in the desert. Over time, bumuelo itself wandered into Hanukkah history, along with sufganiyot (sufganin) and latkes (levivot), as oily treats commemorating the Hanukkah miracle. Today in Seattle it is commonly pronounced burmuelo or birmuelo. However you pronounce it, we can all agree that it is indeed a heavenly food.

“Savoriad i ved ke Ashem es bueno, bienaventurado el varon ke se avrega en el temed a Ashem.” Taste and see that Hashem is good. Happy is the man that takes refuge in Him. – Psalms 34:9 

SOURCE: http://jewishstudies.washington.edu/sephardic-studies/manna-from-heaven-bumuelos/ 





[2] Zeppole, or also known in Sicily as Sfingi. Zeppole with a filling are traditionally made for St. Joseph's Day which falls on March 19 and which in Italy is also Father's Day. However, a variety of Zeppole without creams are also enjoyed at Christmas time. Zeppole can be made in a variety of ways: without any cream, filled with custard cream or filled with a ricotta cream also known as Cannoli Cream. Zeppole are a great treat for kids to make on a cold night around Christmas time. A zeppola (plural: zeppole; also called "frittelle" in northern Italy) is an Italian pastry consisting of a deep-fried dough ball of varying size but typically about 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter. This doughnut or fritter is usually topped with powdered sugar, and may be filled with custard, jelly, cannoli-style pastry cream, or a butter-and-honey mixture. The consistency ranges from light and puffy, to bread- or pasta-like. It is eaten to celebrate Saint Joseph's Day, which is an Italian holiday. Zeppole are typical of Italian cuisine, especially that of Rome and Naples. They are also served in Sicily, Sardinia, on the island of Malta, and in Italian-Canadian and Italian-American communities in Canada and the United States. Zeppole are known by other names, including Bignè di San Giuseppe (in Rome), St. Joseph's Day cake, and sfinge.


St. Joseph is credited with saving Sicily from a severe drought during the Middle Ages. When rain came at last, the Sicilians celebrated by preparing a lavish feast, starting an enduring tradition. St. Joseph’s Day celebrations always feature an array of sweets, because Joseph is the patron saint of pastry chefs. However, zeppole probably didn’t originate until much later. Some sources credit the pastry’s creation to the Neapolitan convent of Santa Patrizia in the 16th century, and note that they were popularized by baker Pasquale Pintauro, who sold them on the streets of Naples each March 19 during the early 19th century. In Istria, Croatia this pastry is called blenzi in the Croatian speaking places and zeppole in the Italian-speaking places.They are always topped with sugar either powdered or coarse. The custom was popularized in the early 19th century by Neapolitan baker Pasquale Pintauro.

2017 | Turkish Box Office

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Compared to 2016, Ticket sales are up 22.0%  and Box Office receipts are up  25.9% (841.998.458 TL| US$ 220.451.916). 

Top 10 films had 40.74% of ticket sales.

All time Box Office Ranking of Turkish Films
12017 | Recep İvedik 57.437.050
22014 | Recep İvedik 47.369.098
32013 | Düğün Dernek6.980.070
42012 | Fetih 14536.572.618
52015 | Düğün Dernek 2: Sünnet6.073.364
62017 | Ayla4.994.033
72009 | Recep İvedik 24.333.144
82008 | Recep İvedik4.301.693
92006 | Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak4.256.567

102004 | G.O.R.A.4.001.711


Mavi Boncuk |
(Turkish Films in BOLD)
RANKFILMDIST.RELEASE20172017
DATEBOX OFFICETICKETS
1Recep İvedik 5CGV.16.02.1785.986.157 TL7.437.050
2AylaWB.27.10.1759.684.862 TL4.994.033
3Çalgı Çengi İkimizPin..06.01.1732.540.648 TL2.798.016
4Hızlı ve Öfkeli 8UIP.13.04.1731.761.048 TL2.656.286
5Aile ArasındaCGV.01.12.1732.147.008 TL2.466.579
6Yol ArkadaşımCGV.27.10.1721.263.402 TL1.895.330
7Olanlar OlduCGV.20.01.1721.349.434 TL1.810.568
8Karayip Korsanları: Salazar'ın İntikamıUIP.26.05.1719.814.542 TL1.529.857
9MoanaUIP.20.01.1716.632.809 TL1.337.112
10Kolonya CumhuriyetiCGV.21.04.1712.826.614 TL1.114.318
11Çılgın Hırsız 3UIP.25.08.1712.603.532 TL999.234
12Logan: WolverineTME.03.03.1711.560.432 TL901.706
13Şirinler: Kayıp KöyWB.07.04.1710.143.259 TL840.13
14Arabalar 3UIP.16.06.179.791.421 TL829.462
15Thor: RagnarokUIP.27.10.1711.437.088 TL795.596
16MumyaUIP.09.06.1710.179.938 TL793.593
17Transformers 5: Son ŞövalyeUIP.23.06.179.882.490 TL785.055
18Maymunlar Cehennemi: SavaşTME.14.07.179.631.541 TL769.457
19Dağ 2CGV.04.11.168.857.940 TL738.069
20Tatlım TatlımCGV.17.03.178.732.297 TL726.99

Cholera Plague and Malaria Epidemics

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Plague Epidemic in Smyrna, 1765

Author(s) : Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T. (5/25/2002)
Translation : Velentzas Georgios

For citation: Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T., "Plague Epidemic in Smyrna, 1765",
Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor
URL:

Επιδημία Πανούκλας στη Σμύρνη, 1765 (10/6/2007 v.1) Plague Epidemic in Smyrna, 1765 (9/11/2009 v.1) 

1. Onset and Spread of the Epidemic

The major plague epidemic broke out in the spring of 1765. The first victims appeared in Moschonisia. The plague spread to Adramytti, Smyrna and the nearby ports of Çesme and Kuşadası. In particular, in the city of Smyrna the epidemic had catastrophic consequences: all European shops were closed down. The wealthy inhabitants and the subjects of European countries fled to the surrounding suburbs, mainly Burnova and Buca, while the poor moved to the mountains.

The squeeze in the city and the high temperature contributed to the spread of the epidemic. In May the epidemic was at its peak, while in June several houses had been abandoned. The great earthquake of July 11 made things worse for those who remained in Smyrna.1

2. Precautionary Measures

Nobody was allowed to enter the suburbs unless they had successfully undergone the thorough medical examinations. At the entrance to Buca there was a military sentry box, where medical examinations and disinfection were carried out. During the epidemic, vinegar was widely used, because it was the major disinfectant of the time used for food and various items, mostly coins.

According to travellers, the consequences of the epidemic for the Muslims were more catastrophic because they took fewer precautionary measures.2

3. The End of the Epidemic

The epidemic stopped between August 10 and 15; the people returned to their houses and resumed their activities. There must have been approximately 20,000 casualties in the city.

1. See Ambraseys, N.N. – Finkel, C.F., The seismicity of Turkey and adjacent areas: A historical review, 1500-1800 (Istanbul 1995) p. 136.

2. See the excerpt from the itinerary of the traveller Richard Chandler cited by Σολομωνίδης, Χ., Η ιατρική στη Σμύρνη: Ασκληπιεία, σχολές, το Γραικικό Νοσοκομείο, επιδημίες, γητειές, γιατροσόφια, γιατροί, φαρμακεία (Athens 1955) p. 60. Chandler blames the "Muslim fatalism" for this behaviour. On the other side, Panzac, D., ‘La peste a Smyrne au XVIIIe siecle’, in Panzac, D., Population et santé dans l’Empire ottoman (XVIIIe - XXe siècles), (Istanbul 1996) p. 36, considers that the religious prohibition of the departure of Muslims from the area where the epidemic broke out aimed mainly at confronting the spread of the epidemic.

Cholera Epidemic in Smyrna, 1831

Author(s) : Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T. (11/27/2002)
Translation : Velentzas Georgios

For citation: Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T., "Cholera Epidemic in Smyrna, 1831",
Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor

Cholera Epidemic in Smyrna, 1831 (11/9/2009 v.1)

Επιδημία Χολέρας στη Σμύρνη, 1831 (10/6/2007 v.1)

1. Onset and Spread of the Epidemic

A cholera epidemic broke out in Smyrna in late September 1831.1 The epidemic was particularly active until early October among the Jews of the city, because their quarter was very densely populated. There were many Jewish victims. Then the epidemic spread to the Orthodox quarters neighbouring the Jewish district. The epidemic was at its peak between October 3 and November 17. That was the period when it spread all over the city.2 Most of the victims were Muslims rather than Orthodox and Armenians. There were few European victims, as their hygiene conditions were better.

2. Preventive Measures

Panic prevailed in Smyrna. Lots of people left the city, while the wealthiest families sought shelter in neighbouring villages. The shops were closed and, as a result, commerce was paralysed. The workers remained unemployed. The inhabitants who remained in Smyrna gathered in churches, mosques and synagogues to pray.

Those who followed sanitation rules were not infected. The inhabitants tried to tackle the epidemic by receiving the treatment recommended by the doctors. They tried to keep the icy limbs of the patient warm and prepare poultices of camomile, mint and sage for them. The Orientals preferred willow leaves, drops of laudanum, ether and enemas with opium.

It is reported that approximately 8000 people sickened in Smyrna, 5000 of whom died. Half of the victims were Muslims.3

1. Τσακύρογλους, Μ., Χρονικόν της εν Σμύρνη Χολερικής επιδημίας (Smyrna 1893), p. 12.

2. Τσακύρογλους, Μ., Χρονικόν της εν Σμύρνη Χολερικής επιδημίας (Smyrna 1893), p. 12.

3. H.A. ‘La cholera dans le Levant en 1831’, L’Hellenisme contemporain 1(Septembre-Octobre 1947), p. 451. A different opinion is expressed by Τσακύρογλους, Μ., Χρονικόν της εν Σμύρνη Χολερικής επιδημίας (Smyrna 1893), p. 12, who estimates the number of those who fell sick at 17,000 and the number of the casualties at approximately 6000-7000.

Plague Epidemic in Asia Minor, 1835-1849

Author(s) : Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T. (7/30/2002)
Translation : Velentzas Georgios

For citation: Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T., "Plague Epidemic in Asia Minor, 1835-1849",
Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor
URL:

Επιδημία Πανούκλας στη Μικρά Ασία, 1835-1849 (10/6/2007 v.1) Plague Epidemic in Asia Minor, 1835-1849 (10/26/2009 v.1) 

1. Geographical Spread and Duration

Epidemic diseases were quite common in the Ottoman Empire. One of the most serious epidemics, definitely the best documented thanks to the accounts of foreign travellers as well as official documents, was the plague that struck the empire in the first half of the 19th century.

The catastrophic epidemic first appeared in 1834-35 in Egypt, where, according to a British traveller, it killed approximately 200,000 people.1 In Cairo only there were 5000 victims.2 The way in which the epidemic broke out and the measures taken to prevent it from further spread are not known. The most common precautionary measure at the time was quarantine, that is, the preventive isolation of people, animals and goods in restricted areas in ports and entrances to the cities. However, although the measure of quarantine was implemented, it did not produce the desired effects in the case of Egypt.

According to the reports of the French consul in Trebizond, there were cases of the epidemic in the city already from July 19, 1835. Neither the reasons nor the way in which the epidemic was spread to Trebizond are known. The spread of the epidemic to the city was so great that until August 24 of the same year 154 people died out of the 205 cases. Most of the victims were Muslim inhabitants of the city.3 The first cases in Constantinople (Istanbul) appeared in 1836. The traveller Hamilton, who was in the Ottoman capital in November and December of that year, reports that there had already appeared several cases of the epidemic in the city. It is reported that for six months the number of the weekly victims in Constantinople ranged between 6000 and 8000, which, although an iflated number, points at the seriousness of the situation.4 During the epidemic between 25,000 and 30,000 people died.5

The inhabitants of Smyrna, which maintained close commercial relations with the capital, were in readiness. However, despite the precautions, possibly in early 1837, the disease spread to Smyrna, perhaps by two Greek travellers who arrived there with a steamship.6 The disease inflicted the city and between 15,000 and 16,000 people lost their lives.7 By June 1837, the epidemic was spread to the southeast. According to Hamilton, every day in Ilghun, near Ladik (Laodicea Katakekavmeni), 8 to 10 cases appeared and, as a result, 670 houses of the city were completely deserted. The epidemic struck equally heavily in Kara Ağaç, where more than the half of the population died. Then the plague struck the entire administrative district of Antalya. The disease must have been less sweeping as it proceeded towards Asia Minor mainland. For example, several people were infected at Çankırı (central Asia Minor), while in the wider area around the city no cases were reported.

It seems that in the same year the disease was spread from Asia Minor to mainland Greece, as there is evidence about a plague epidemic in Poros Island of the Saronic Gulf in 1837 and Thessaloniki.

There is important information about the spread of the epidemic to the eastern part of Asia Minor provided by two English antiquarians, W.F. Ainsworth, responsible for an excavations in Kurdistan, and C. Fellows, who in 1839 published the account of a journey he made to Asia Minor at the time. According to the former, in December 1838 a case of plague appeared on the ship carrying him from Constantinople to Trebizond, which made the passengers of the ship disembark and continue the voyage by land.8

In 1838 Trebizond asked for medical assistance from Constantinople to deal with the disease, which was becoming more serious; an Ottoman doctor arrived along with two European colleagues.9 As it spread to the east, the disease also struck the regions of Samsun (Amisos), Armenia and Haimaneh, thus perturbing the Ottoman authorities of Safranbolu, who assigned a European doctor with the task of investigating the spread of the blow.10 There were also cases in the district of Batum, as well as in other cities of the Pontus like Kastamonu.11

As for the same region and period, Fellows reports that in the district of Phrygia, near Lake Ascania, he saw open graves that were going to accept the recent victims of the plague. According to Ainsworth, on March 19, 1839, the plague struck the wider area of Ankara. He also believes that the epidemic spread because there had been an epidemic that had decimated the cattle, the sheep and the goats in rural areas. The peasants, instead of removing or cremating the animals, left them moulder in the settlements, out of religious prejudice or fear, and thus were created the foci of infection that facilitated the spread of the epidemic . In the Turkmen village of Çaltis, the traveller saw a native lying on the road, with obvious marks of the disease on his body.12

In April of the same year, Fellows visited the region of Miletus, where the fishermen informed him that they were in quarantine because of the disease. Moreover, the commercial centre of Kuşadası was isolated because of the epidemic.13 Although the main foci of the disease had been under control until the late 1839, according to consular reports of 1840 from Trebizond, the plague was still killing people in the city and the wider area, while foreign doctors continued offering their medical assistance. It was not until 1849 that the references to the epidemic and its victims had stopped. It seems that the epidemic in the empire lasted about 15 years.

2. Cause and Consequences of the Disease

The poor sanitary conditions, congestion in the cities and the increased commercial transactions were some of the factors that made the spread of the plague easier. In Constantinople at the time, people used to say that all evils, such as cold, fog, plague and the Russians, came from the Black Sea.14 However, the fact that the early cases appeared in Egypt does not justify this claim. The pilgrims could also have been infected by the disease, as they travelled from Asia Minor to Mecca and other holy places via Syria.15 Commercial networks must have been one of the main reasons for the spread of the epidemic, as, according to travellers, the disease frequently broke out aboard ships carrying goods and passengers as well as at commercial stations. The ignorance of rural populations as well as their prejudice contributed greatly to the quick spread of the disease, as they left the dead animals moulder unburied, for fear of removing them, thus creating more serious foci of infection. Lastly, quarantine was not always efficient.

Commerce was the sector directly influenced by the spread of the disease, as several commercial stations and harbours were in quarantine, which obstructed commercial transactions.16 Of course, there were also severe local demographic consequences, for in some cases the population was decimated, as it happened at Ilghun, where the keys to 670 deserted houses were handed in to the authorities.

As a matter of fact, it was clear that the disease struck the inhabitants of the empire regardless of their economic or social position. The case of the ağa of Ilghun, who abandoned the settlement after the death of his daughter, should be mentioned.

1. Bowring, J., Observations on the Oriental plague and on quarantines, as a means of arresting its progress (Edinburgh 1838) p. 13.

2. Panzac, D., Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda Veba (1700-1850) (İstanbul 1997) p. 184.

3. Panzac, D., Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda Veba (1700-1850) (İstanbul 1997) pp. 172-173.

4. Hamilton, W., Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus and Armenia with some account of their antiquities and geology, vol. 2 (London 1842) p. 1.

5. Panzac, D., Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda Veba (1700-1850) (İstanbul 1997) p. 183.

6. Hamilton, W., Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus and Armenia with some account of their antiquities and geology, vol. 2 (London 1842)  p. 2.

7. Panzac, D., Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda Veba (1700-1850) (İstanbul 1997) p. 183.

8. Ainsworth, W.F., ‘Notes on a journey from Constantinople, by Heracleia, to Angora in the Autumn of 1838’, Journal of Royal Geographical Society 9, part 2 (1839) pp. 216-276.

9. Panzac, D., Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda Veba (1700-1850) (İstanbul 1997) p. 225.

10. Ainsworth, W.F., Travels and Researches in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Chaldaea and Armenia, vol. 1 (London 1842) p. 47.

11. Ainsworth, W.F., Travels and Researches in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Chaldaea and Armenia, vol. 1 (London 1842) pp. 48, 84.

12. Ainsworth, W.F., Travels and Researches in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Chaldaea and Armenia, vol. 1 (London 1842) pp. 137, 146.

13. Fellows, C., A journal written during an excursion in Asia Minor (London 1839) pp. 264-274.

14. Curzon, R., Armenia: a year at the Erzeroom and on the frontiers of Russia, Turkey and Persia (London 1854) p. 2.

15. Bowring, J., Observations on the Oriental plague and on quarantines, as a means of arresting its progress (Edinburgh 1838) p. 21.

16. The title of the study carried out by Bowring, J., is characteristic: Observations on the Oriental plague and on quarantines, as a means of arresting its progress (Edinburgh 1838).

Plague epidemic in Erzurum, 1840

Malaria epidemic in Samsun, 1842

Cholera Epidemic in the region of Smyrna, 1848

Author(s) : Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T. (12/10/2001)
Translation : Nakas Ioannis

For citation: Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T., "Cholera Epidemic in the region of Smyrna, 1848",
Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor
URL:

Επιδημία χολέρας στην περιοχή της Σμύρνης, 1848 (12/19/2008 v.1) Cholera Epidemic in the region of Smyrna, 1848 (1/23/2009 v.1) 

1. Spread of the epidemic

The cholera epidemic initially came from Trebizond, from where it passed to Istanbul (Constantinople). Then it appeared at Çeşme from a military unit which had come from Constantinople on 1st June 1848; 44 soldiers died in their camp. From Çeşme it gradually reached many villages of the area of Smyrna. Jewish families from Çeşme moved to Bunarbaşı (today Pınarbaşı), a village near Smyrna, from where the epidemic spread into the city. By the beginning of July the cholera had reached Kırkağaç.

2. The epidemic in Smyrna

In Smyrna the epidemic appeared on 12th July 1848 and lasted until 6th October of the same year. Until the 3rd September the epidemic was at its peak. From the 3rd until the 18th of September its cases were sporadic. Approximately 2,000 people died in Smyrna,1 mainly women. From the Christian quarters, those of St Dimitrios and St Aikaterini were more afflicted by the epidemic, since they had narrow streets traversed by streams of filthy water and low houses which were not well ventilated. The greatest part of the inhabitants found refuge in the nearby villages and islands.

1. Solomonidis reports that the cholera’s victims were 1,200 Ottomans (i.e. Muslims), 702 Greek Orthodox, 295 Jews, 125 Europeans and 105 Armenians. See Σολομωνίδης, Χ., Η ιατρική στη Σμύρνη: Ασκληπιεία, σχολές, το γραικικό νοσοκομείο, επιδημίες, γητείες, γιατροσόφια, γιατροί, φαρμακεία (Athens 1955), p. 64. Tsakiroglou gives the following numbers concerning the victims: Muslims 900, Orthodox 600, Armenians 40, Catholics 160, Jews 250, in total 1,950. He does not mention the Europeans as a separate category. See Τσακίρογλου, Μ., Χρονικόν της εν Σμύρνη χολερικής επιδημίας (Smyrna 1893), p. 15.

Cholera Epidemic in Smyrna, 1854

Author(s) : Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T. (12/10/2001)
Translation : Nakas Ioannis

For citation: Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T., "Cholera Epidemic in Smyrna, 1854",
Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor
URL:

Επιδημία χολέρας στη Σμύρνη, 1854 (12/19/2008 v.1)Cholera Epidemic in Smyrna, 1854 (1/26/2009 v.1)

1. Appearance and spread of the epidemic

In early June of 1854 an epidemic of cholera broke out in Smyrna, which lasted until the end of November of the same year. The epidemic came from Marseilles.

The first cases appeared in the military prison of the lazaretto outside Smyrna. Most of the patients were male; until the 15th July it is reported that 10 people had died. 

The epidemic reached its peak in the beginning of August. Most of the cases were amongst the Orthodox. The majority of the inhabitants left the city and headed for the nearby villages and islands. More than 150 people died in Smyrna.1 The epidemic mostly afflicted people over 50 years old. After the 8th October the inhabitants gradually returned to the city, but cases were documented even in the beginning of November.

2. Measures against the epidemic

To face the epidemic the dimogerontia (council of elders) of Smyrna addressed every doctor of the Orthodox community and made sure they offered free care to the patients. To deal with the epidemic more effectively the areas where Orthodox dwelled were divided into ten peripheries. One or two doctors were appointed in each of them. For the information of the inhabitants of the city an article2 was published in the Greek newspaper Amaltheia, which listed ways to protect from the disease.

1. Solomonidıs reports that the victims of the cholera reached the number of 172 people, out of which 28 were Muslim, 81 Greek-Orthodox, 49 Jews and 12 Europeans. Amaltheia newspaper informs us that only 154 people died. See Σολομωνίδης, Χ., Η ιατρική στη Σμύρνη: Ασκληπιεία, σχολές, το γραικικό νοσοκομείο, επιδημίες, γητείες, γιατροσόφια, γιατροί, φαρμακεία (Athens 1955), p. 65; Η Αμάλθεια (Smyrna, 9th July-15th November 1854).

2. See Η Αμάλθεια (Smyrna, 25th July 1854).

Cholera Epidemic in Smyrna, 1893

Cholera Epidemic in Smyrna, 1893 - has not been published yet Επιδημία χολέρας στη Σμύρνη, 1893 (19/12/2007 v.1)
Cholera epidemic that came from Marseilles and afflicted Smyrna in 1893.


Cholera Epidemic in Smyrna, 1913

Author(s) : Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T. (11/27/2002)
Translation : Velentzas Georgios

For citation: Shariat-Panahi S. Mohammad T., "Cholera Epidemic in Smyrna, 1913",
Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor
URL:

Επιδημία Χολέρας στη Σμύρνη, 1913 (10/6/2007 v.1) Cholera Epidemic in Smyrna, 1913 (11/11/2009 v.1)

1. Onset of the Epidemic

In mid-July 1913, a plague epidemic broke out in Smyrna. It was not the only epidemic disease that struck the city that period, as the inhabitants were suffering from the smallpox broken out in early February 1913.

2. Spread of the Epidemic

The plague was spread to Smyrna by Muslim refugees from Macedonia. The first cases appeared at Başοturak. Immediately after the meeting of the sanitary committee, the region of Başοturak started to be disinfected and the inhabitants were taken to 40 tents at Kızılçulu on the mount Pagus (Kadifekale). The hospital of contagious diseases in the quarter of Tepecik was used as a quarantine station. The Municipality of Smyrna asked the vilayet authorities to approve a credit of 5000 liras in order to fight the plague. On July 20, the steamship ‘Magda’ coming from Thessaloniki and Kavala with about 700 Muslim refugees from various regions of Macedonia was forbidden to enter the harbour of Smyrna.

3. Precautionary Measures

The sanitary service imposed measures on food and water. Coffee shops and wine shops had to use boiled water. The municipality stopped the water supply in the Upper quarter and the people suffered from water shortage. The supreme council (meclis) of the vilayet decided that the waters of the spring Osman Ağa or Vezir Suyu should be examined. The surfaces of the streets, where problems had appeared, were whitewashed. About 500 Jews were removed and settled in tents, on the hill of Katiboğlu, near the city, where they remained in isolation. The civil health inspectorate ordered that all infected inns and hotels should close down; their operation would be allowed only after their disinfection and medical examination. Several butchers and grocers had to close their shops because they did not adopt the sanitary measures.

On July 24, Smyrna was divided into eight sectors so that the patients could be better treated; the sanitary supervision was undertaken by 101 doctors. On July 25, the diocese issued a decision that assigned the parishes with the task of collecting money for the purchase of whitewash and disinfectants, while in case of emergency the ecclesiastical funds were summoned to make their contribution. The circular letter also ordered that the disinfections of roads and other places should be supervised and the families should be informed about the application of measures.

The section for infectious diaseases of the English hospital opened on July 29, but it accepted only foreign subjects. On July 31, following a medical examination, several shops and inns of the Jewish quarter were closed down. The huts of the Muslim porters in the area of Zekiye inns were burned, because they had become foci of infection. In order to prevent the epidemic from spreading, the authorities placed guards in all the houses that had been infected by the disease and banned contact with the residents.

4. Τhe Victims

The Chief Rabbi of Smyrna died of the disease on August 17. Most of the victims in August died between the 15th and the 21st of the month, thus making a total of 23 casualties. On September 7, following a decision of the diocese, the beginning of the school year was put off because of the seriousness of the epidemic. Vaccination started on September 13. The doctors Koutouvalis, Logothetis and Husni Bey were responsible for vaccinating the inhabitants. The diocese issued a new decision on September 17 and ordered that school classes should start the following day. On September 22, the municipality decided that a disinfector should be used for sanitising items such as the furniture of the people who moved from one quarter to another, old clothes, etc., before they were sold in the market of Bit Pazar. Because the students, out of fear for the epidemic, did not go to school, on September 22, the metropolitan asked them to return to their classes; he added that the plague was in decline and they had nothing to worry about. No more cases of the disease appeared in the city from late September onwards and, finally, the epidemic was eliminated in early October. During the epidemic in Smyrna, there were 284 cases resulting in 166 deaths.1

1. Αμάλθεια, October 3, 1913. Solomonidis (Σολομωνίδης) reports 300 cases, which resulted in 181 deaths; see Σολομωνίδης, Χ., Η ιατρική στη Σμύρνη: Ασκληπιεία, σχολές, το Γραικικό Νοσοκομείο, επιδημίες, γητειές, γιατροσόφια, γιατροί, φαρμακεία (Athens 1955), p. 74.






Famine in Asia Minor, 1873-1875

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Mavi Boncuk |
Famine in Asia Minor, 1873-1875

Famine in Asia Minor, 1873-1875 - has not been published yet
Λιμός στη Μ. Ασία, 1873-1875 (14/10/2005 v.1)

In 1873, a famine appeared in Central Asia Minor, which lasted until 1875. The basic causes of the famine was the drought of 1873 and the subsequent harsh winter. The spreading of the famine resulted in the abandonment of villages and in the paralysis of the economy of many cities. The severe famine struck a wide region in central Anatolia, killing at least 150,000 people. During the disaster, the American Protestant missionaries, already settled in Anatolia since the early decades of the nineteenth century, created effective networks of charity and saved many lives distributing relief and feeding thousands of peasants and townsmen.

See also: The Famine in Asia-Minor: Its history, compiled from the pages of the "Levant herald" 
Hardcover: 102 pages
Publisher: Isis Press (1989)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9754280134

ISBN-13: 978-9754280135


Paul Lange (1857 – 1919)

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Mavi Boncuk |

Paul Lange (October 12, 1857 – December 2, 1919) was a German musician, teacher, orchestra and choir leader living and working in Istanbul. Lange "europeanized" Turkish military music and was one of the pioneers to bring German and European classical music to the Ottoman capital in the years between 1880 and 1920.

Lange was born in Kartzow, Prussia, the descendant of an old Prussian teacher family. He was trained at the teacher's college in Neuruppin to become a school teacher. He graduated from that college in 1879 with honors. Because of his high musical skills, he was then admitted to the "Royal Academic Institute for Church Music" in Berlin, where he received training as church organist.

In 1880, Lange moved to Constantinople, where he assumed a position as music teacher at the German School (Alman Lisesi) as well as organist of the Chapel of the German Embassy.

Subsequently Lange also became music teacher at various other institutes of higher education in Constantinople, including several Greek and Armenian high schools (lycées) as well as American colleges such as Robert College and American College for Girls.

Lange became a successful piano teacher and subsequently also formed his private conservatory, which however had to declare bankruptcy after two years. He transformed an existing Italian orchestra into a large German-style symphony orchestra with which he conducted the first performances ever of Beethoven symphonies and Wagner operas in the Ottoman Empire, with enormous success.

Finally, during his visit to Constantinople in 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had already appointed him a "Kaiserlicher Musikdirektor" in 1894, became aware of Lange and helped him gain a position as head of a naval military orchestra of the Ottoman Navy. Subsequently, he took over several other military ensembles, before finally being appointed Director of the Sultan's music after the revolution in 1908. Since then Lange carried the Ottoman Court title "Bey". As a member of the Ottoman court, Lange was allowed to stay in Istanbul by the Allied Military Administration when all other Germans and Austrians were deported from the city. When Lange died in Üsküdar, Ottoman Empire, in December, 1919, he received a state funeral, and the British Embassy chaplain performed the funeral at Feriköy Protestant Cemetery. However, his widow and his youngest daughter, who had stayed with him in Istanbul, were deported to Germany only a few months later in May 1920.

The German-American conductor Hans Lange (assistant of Arturo Toscanini in New York City, later conductor at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, best known for numerous recordings with the Wagner soprano Kirsten Flagstad) was the oldest son of Paul Lange.

Paul Lange was a close friend of fellow German lecturer Dr Friedrich Schrader, also faculty member at Robert College in the 1890s.

References

John Freely, A History of Robert College: Yapi Kredi, Istanbul; 1st edition (July 2000), ISBN 978-975-08-0238-6 (mentions Paul Lange as teacher at the American College for Girls in the 1890s)
Schlegel, Dietrich: Paul Lange Bey – Ein deutscher Musiker im Osmanischen Reich, Mitteilungen der Deutsch-Türkischen Gesellschaft, 115(12/1992), S. 36-47
Emre Araci: Paul Lange Bey: in: Memleketimiz Dersaadet (Daheim in Konstantinopel), Pagma Verlag, Nürnberg, 2014, ISBN 978-3-9810758-5-4, S. 165-184 (in German and Turkish)
Authority control
WorldCat Identities VIAF: 10604116 GND: 116704659

The Feriköy Cemetery (Feriköy Mezarlığı) is a burial ground situated in Feriköy quarter of Şişli district on the European part of Istanbul, Turkey.

In memoriam | Münir Özkul (1925 –2018)

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Veteran actor Münir Özkul died on Jan. 5 at the age of 93. Özkul had been suffering from a respiratory disease and dementia since 2003 and had been treated in his home in Istanbul for a long time. 

Speaking to press members, his daughter Güner Özkul said her father had been having health problems for a long time. 

“We have been ready for this day due to a lot of fake news in the media,” she said. 

Özkul said his funeral ceremony would be held on Jan. 7 or 8 at the Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage and his funeral would take place at the Teşvikiye Mosque. 










Mavi Boncuk | Münir Özkul (15 August


1925 – 5 January 2018) was a Turkish cinema and theatre actor. He has been awarded the title of "State Artist of Turkey". In 1972, he won a Golden Orange Award for Best Actor for his performance in Sev Kardeşim.

He completed his formal education at İstanbul Erkek Lisesi. Özkul starting his acting career at Bakırköy Halkevi theatre. Later he worked at Ankara State theatre and İstanbul Şehir theatre. He became famous after his role in Muhsin Ertuğrul's Fareler ve İnsanlar. From the 1950s onwards, he acted mostly in cinema. During the 1970s, he appeared in many films of the director Ertem Eğilmez like Hababam Sınıfı, Şabanoğlu Şaban, Mavi Boncuk, Banker Bilo, Namuslu.


Many of these films paired him with the actress Adile Naşit. Other films include Edi ile Büdü, Halıcı Kız, Kalbimin Şarkısı, Miras Uğruna, Balıkçı Güzeli, Neşeli Günler, Gülen Yüzler, Gırgıriye, Görgüsüzler, Mavi Boncuk, Bizim Aile, Aile Şerefi. In the 1980s, he acted in some television series such as Uzaylı Zekiye, Ana Kuzusu ve Şaban ile Şirin.

Özkul was awarded the honorary title “State Artist of Turkey” in 1998. In 2015, Özkul was one of the recipients of the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Awards, which are distributed every year by the state to Turkish and foreign artists and institutions that contribute and honor Turkish culture and art.

In 1972, he received the Golden Orange Award, known as the Turkish Oscars, for Best Actor in his performance in the Turkish movie “Sev Kardeşim” (Love, My Brother). 

During the 1970s, he appeared in many films by Ertem Eğilmez. 

He is best known in Turkey for his roles “Mahmut Hoca” in the cult comedy film series “Hababam Sınıfı” (The Chaos Class) and Yaşar Usta in the film “Bizim Aile” (Our Family), as well as many other films. 

Özkul has married four times and he has three children. His second wife was actress Suna Selen. In 1998, he was awarded the title of "State Artist of Turkey" by the Turkish Ministry of Culture. He has suffered from dementia since 2003.

In memoriam | Aydın Boysan (1921 – 2018)

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Mavi Boncuk |

Aydın Boysan (17 June 1921 – 5 January 2018) was a Turkish architect, academic, author and essayist.

Born in İstanbul , his father Esat was an accountant and his mother Nevreste was a teacher. After Pertevniyal High School he studied architecture in Academy of Fine Arts (later renameded as Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University). For 54 years (between 1945 and 1999) he served as an architect.



During this period he won many architectural design competitions both at home and abroad. The total area of his building designs was about 1,500,000 square metres (16,000,000 sq ft)

In 1954, he became the charter member of the Chamber of Architects. He also became the first secretary general of the chamber. Later he served as the representative of the chamber in İstanbul. Between 1957 and 1972 he taught in the İstanbul Technical University.

Aydın Boysan was a well known name in Turkish journalism. In 1984 he founded Bas Printing House and published essay books. His essays are mostly about his memoirs and humor. He was also a columnist. He wrote in Hürriyet for ten years and in Akşam for three years.

Publications

Humor

Paldır Güldür
Yangın Var
Umut Simit
Yalan, Oldu mu Ya!
Fısıltı
Dostluk
Aldanmak
Söylesem Bir Türlü.
Travel
Dünyayı Severek( Vol.I, II, III)
Yollarda
Uzaklardan
Fiction[edit]
Yıl 2046 Uzay Anıları,
Memoir
İstanbul Esintileri
Leke Bırakan Gölgeler
Yaşama Sevinci
Sev ve Yaşa
Damlalar
Zaman Geçerken
Aynalar,
Yüzler ve Yürekler
Felekten Bir Gün
İstanbul’un Kuytu Köşeleri
Neşeye Şarkı
Nereye Gitti İstanbul?
Ne Hos Zamanlardi

The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917

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Mavi Boncuk | The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 (Greek: Μεγάλη Πυρκαγιά της Θεσσαλονίκης, 1917) destroyed two thirds of the city of Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece, leaving more than 70,000 homeless.

The fire burned for 32 hours and destroyed 9,500 houses within an extent of 1 square kilometer. Half the Jewish population emigrated from the city as their livelihoods were gone. 

The lack of housing coupled with the unrest in the city caused many people, including the Jews, to migrate to other parts of the world including, France, Athens, and Palestine. Those that remained in the city were left homeless, sleeping in tents, or in temporary housing until the completion of the reconstruction of the city. This left many fire victims, the majority of them Jews and Muslims, without property since they were unable to reclaim and rebuilt what they lost. The city supervised the rebuilding of the burned buildings and many citizens victimized by the fires claimed that they were only given minimal compensation for their property and suffering, causing much havoc in the city which only worsened a few years later do to the compulsory population exchange between Greece and Turkey. As a result of the war in Asia Minor, Hellenization, the displacement of the population, and the Great Fire of Thessaloniki in 1917, a new, unfamiliar Thessaloniki was born.

Rather than quickly rebuilding, the government commissioned the French architect Ernest Hébrard[1] to design a new urban plan for the burned areas Thessaloniki and for the future expansion of the city. His designs are still evident in the city, most notably Aristotelous Square, although some of his most grandiose plans were never completed due to a lack of funds.


Thessaloniki was one of the largest and most modern cities in Europe by Balkan standards at the time of the fire. By European standards, the city's planning was chaotic and the unhygienic conditions that prevailed in the poorer areas were described as "unacceptable" by the government in Athens. The city's harbour was one of the most important centres of trade in the region. In 1912 the city, along with the biggest part of Macedonia and Epirus, was was occupied by Greece. The population of the city was essentially maintained: the larger part of the population were Sephardi Jews, followed by Greeks, Turks, Bulgarians, Roma and others.

As soon as World War I began in 1914, Greece officially maintained neutrality. With authorization by the Venizelos' government, Entente Forces had landed troops in Thessaloniki in 1915, in order to support their Serb allies in the Macedonian Front. In August 1916, Venizelist officers launched an uprising that resulted in the establishment of the Provisional Government of National Defence in the city, essentially dividing Greece into two sovereign states, one represented by Eleftherios Venizelos, and the other by King Constantine.






After King Constantine abdicated in June 1917, Greece was reunified again and entered officially the war with the Allies side.

Thessaloniki soon became a transit center for Allied troops and supplies, and the city filled with thousands of French and British soldiers, numbering up to 100,000. The population of the city at the time is dubious, with some sources claiming around 150,000 and others 278,000. French navy official Dufour de la Thuillerie writes in his report that "I saw Thessaloniki, a city of more than 150,000 people, burn".

See also: Selanik to Thessaloniki 

See also: Research article Building the Nation at the Crossroads of ‘East’ and ‘West’: Ernest Hébrard and Henri Prost in the Near East

[1] Ernest Hébrard (1875–1933) was a French architect, archaeologist and urban planner who completed major projects in Greece, Morocco, and French Indochina. He is renowned for his urban plan for the redevelopment of the center of Thessaloniki in Greece after a great fire in 1917. The majority of Thessaloniki was largely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1917. The Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos forbade the reconstruction of the city center until a modern city plan was approved. He commissioned Ernest Hébrard for the work, which the architect conceived and developed with the aid of the Greek architects Aristotelis Zachos and Konstantinos Kitsikis. The plan did away with the medieval and Oriental (Ottoman) features of Thessaloniki, preserved its Byzantine heritage, and transformed it into a city with boulevards and contemporary roadways, squares and parks. Hébrard taught at the National Technical University of Athens, and his work is well known in the architecture schools of Greece.

Architect Ernest Hébrard's urban plan for the rebuilding of Thessaloniki after the 1917 fire.

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