In the International Balkan Symposium, where 14 papers were presented for 2 days at ILEM, Balkan historiography was discussed within the framework of historical sources and historians with a focus on the Balkan basin.
The symposium, which was planned to cover the periods of Ancient Greece, Rome, Byzantium, Ottoman Empire, nation states, 20th and 21st centuries, brought together different sources on Balkan historiography and created a holistic picture around different narratives of this geography. From the archives of states to the private sphere of travelogues, it was brought to the agenda how the Balkan geography was received and then how it was transferred to the present day. After the papers, problematic issues of Balkan historiography were discussed in the discussions enriched with questions.
Held on September 30-October 1, the program started with welcoming speeches. Subsequently, fourteen papers were presented in seven sessions over the course of two days, addressing various areas of Balkan historiography from an in-depth perspective. These papers explored the sources of historical studies on the one hand and modern official historiography on the other. The symposium, which opened the possibility of looking at historical sources comparatively, looked at the Balkan historical narrative from the Ancient Greek period to the Ottoman period. From Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname to Byzantine texts, traces of Balkan history were traced in a wide field. Problematic areas of Balkan historiography were discussed by combining different narratives of the Balkan geography.
In the first session, moderated by Sevba Abdula, Umut Başat presented his paper titled “Turks and the Balkans in Seljuk Period Byzantine Sources” and Mehmet Hacısalihoğlu & Neriman Ersoy Hacısalihoğlu presented their papers titled “Power and History in the Balkans: History Textbooks”.
In the second session, moderated by Halil İbrahim Erol, Özgür Kolçak presented his paper titled “Ottoman Hungary: Hungarian Provinces in Ottoman Narrative Sources (1526-1716)” and Bahadır Bakkaloğlu presented his paper titled ‘Evliya Çelebi'de Balkans’.
In the third session moderated by Sedad Beslija, Levent Kayapınar and Sevba Abdullah discussed their papers titled “Turks and the Balkans in Byzantine and Ottoman Sources” and “Power and History in Serbia: Historiography after 1990”, respectively. The first day of the symposium ended here.
The second day started with the fourth session moderated by Levent Kayapınar. Mustafa Hamdi Sayar presented “Historical Sources and Historians on Balkan Geography: Ancient Greek and Roman Period” and Ayşe Kayapınar presented her papers titled ‘Balkans in XVIth Century Ottoman Sources’.
In the fifth session, Sedad Beslija's “Sources of Historical Studies on Bosnia and Herzegovina (1790-1918)” and Milena Petkova's “Bulgarian Historical Sources and Historians” were moderated by Mehmet Hacısalihoğlu.
In the sixth session, which started after the lunch break, Maria Vasilikiotu presented “The Rights of Other ‘Neighboring’ Tribes According to Byzantine Texts” and Ognjen Krešić presented “Historical Sources and Historians in Serbia during the Long 19th Century”, moderated by Ayşe Kayapınar.
In the seventh and final session, moderated by Neriman Ersoy Hacısalihoğlu, Amir Duranovic presented “A Brief Overview of Modern Historiography in Bosnia-Herzegovina” and Kasım Hızlı presented “A Controversial Issue in Balkan Historiography: Who Brought the Ottoman Empire into the 93 War?”.
The closing session of the symposium hosted in-depth discussions covering the papers presented. In the evaluations, the importance of current studies on the historiography of the Balkan Basin and suggestions for future studies were made. As the symposium organized by the Academic Studies Association (ILEM) came to an end, it was announced that a comprehensive work on the historiography of the Balkan Basin, including the articles presented, will be published.
With the support of the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) and with the contributions of Fettah Efendi Association, YTU Center for Balkan and Black Sea Studies (BALKAR), Sarajevo University Center for Historical Studies, Ankara University Faculty of Language, History and Geography and Istanbul University Center for South East European Studies, the symposium made a comprehensive and important contribution to the historiography of the Balkan basin.
