Category: Europe

Was Romania part of the Ottoman Empire?

Yes, Romania was part of the Ottoman Empire for a significant portion of its history. The region that is now Romania was under Ottoman rule for several centuries, starting in the late 14th century and lasting until the 19th century.

The Ottoman Empire began to expand into the Balkans in the late 14th century, and by the early 15th century, it had established control over various territories in what is now Romania. Wallachia and Moldavia, two of the three historical regions that make up modern Romania (the third being Transylvania), came under Ottoman suzerainty, meaning they had to pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire and were subject to Ottoman influence.

While Wallachia and Moldavia were technically under Ottoman control, they also retained a degree of autonomy and had their own local rulers (voivodes) who governed with a degree of independence, provided they paid tribute and maintained loyalty to the Ottoman Sultan.

Transylvania, on the other hand, was not directly ruled by the Ottomans but was often caught in the struggle for influence between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy.

Although Romanians will deny this information saying that they were never Ottoman citizens and they had their own citizenship even before their independence, their claim was not recognized by the Ottoman Empire and neither by any state as a matter of fact.

During the XIXth century, when modern diplomacy did not recognize any relationship of vassality and suzeranity between states as in the Middle Ages, Moldavians and Wallachians were considered as special subjects (citizens) of the Ottoman Empire. As far as international and Ottoman law was concerned, this means that they had Ottoman citizenship and the Ottoman Law of citizenship of 1869 applied to them. Any child born from a Moldavian or Wallachian father and mother or just from the father was by jus sangvinis also considered an Ottoman citizen and was issued an Ottoman passport. Any foreigner naturalized on Moldavian or Wallachian soil also became Ottoman citizen. All this till Romania gained its independence in 1878.

When a Romanian was traveling within the Ottoman Empire outside of the provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, in their own minds they were a foreigner, but as far as Ottoman authorities were concerned, they were an Ottoman national travelling in their own country, even if they were in Constantinople, Damascus or Tunis. Romanians also like to call their country before their independence as United Principalities but again, they had no international status as “principalities” and officially they were just provinces (memalik-i mahruse) of the Ottoman Empire.

August 28, 2023
How many Turks lived in Balkans
How many Turks lived in Balkans (approximately) before the Ottoman Empire collapsed and Turks/Muslims living there were forced to migrate or slaughtered?

(Muhacir refugees escaping from the 1912–1913 Balkan war waiting at the quay of Ottoman İstanbul)

There’s no exact or approximate estimate pertaining to how many Turks lived in the Balkans before the Ottoman Empire collapsed. However, over a period of a few centuries, especially after the Ottoman Empire lost almost all its territory during the Balkan War of 1912-13 and World War I, many Turks/Muslims in Europe were forced to migrate to the Ottoman Empire. Around 10 million, to be precise. An estimated 25% to 33% of Türkiye’s 85 million population descend from these refugees who were called ‘Muhacir¹’ (transl. refugees). Millions of these people were either persecuted, exiled, or killed².
1. Muhacir – Wikipedia ↩︎
2. Persecution of Muslims during the Ottoman contraction – Wikipedia ↩︎
August 19, 2023
Will Turkey and Greece go to War?

Discover the centuries-old conflict between Greece 🇬🇷 and Turkey 🇹🇷! Territorial disputes, historic rivalries, and access to resources fuel this tension. Could it lead to Europe’s next war? Find out now!

August 17, 2023
The Russia – Africa Summit: what Moscow has to say

The Russia-Africa Summit, to be held on July 27-28 in St. Petersburg, is supposed to follow the agenda of the previous meeting in 2019 and promote a global dialogue between the countries of the African continent and Moscow. However, the conflict in Ukraine and recent events around it have shifted the focus of the agenda. Apart from plans to look at prospective areas for cooperation, African politicians have prepared a number of questions for the Kremlin. Among them is how long the Russia’s military operation is going to keep affecting the well-being of their countries which are already far enough from being prosperous. Moscow promises to give its partners the necessary clarifications, and in some cases even compensate for the costs.

By holding the first Russia – Africa Summit in 2019, Moscow expected to start long-term and systemic relations with the continent and encouraged African leaders to discuss cooperation in various fields. However, with the international mainstream media accusing Moscow of inspiring the global food crisis and a number of countries breaking the trade and economic relations with Russia, this year the Summit’s main card will be played around the grain deal.

Meanwhile, prior to the meeting in St. Petersburg, Ali al-Moselhi, the Egyptian Minister of Internal Trade and Supply said that Cairo was dissatisfied with Russia’s withdrawal from the deal with the UN on the grain export. Zambian Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo also expressed concerns, saying that the grain deal was “a lifeline for the most countries in need”, and its termination would result in serious consequences. The Summit participants will likely try to convince Moscow to reconsider its decision and release Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea ports. After all, regardless of potential recipients and volumes of the Ukrainian grain supply, it is important that its presence on the world market contributed to decreasing prices for this product. Russian President Vladimir Putin on his turn assured his African partners that Moscow is able to replace Ukrainian grain either on favorable terms or even at no charge at all since a record high harvest is again expected this year in Russia.

Should Russia keep its promise, this gesture will be far beyond generous. Unprecedented sanctions that have been imposed on Moscow since the start of the military operation in Ukraine and are being tightened with each new package, have also a negative impact not only on Moscow, but on other countries, including Africa. Common trade routes are being frozen, so are most of international transactions which keeps many regions away from lifesaving supplies of food and resources.

One of the decisions could be the case of China. Having built a sustainable economy, Beijing has switched to non-dollar transactions with many countries including Russia. The Russian economy has also demonstrated sustainability and a relative growth despite harsh sanctions and the military operation that requires big costs. By staying independent from external resources and goods it is high time for Moscow to develop new paths for international partnerships.

July 27, 2023
Russia develops long-term ties with UAE and Turkey in a highly polarized world

Russia’s largest economic forum (SPIEF) held in St. Petersburg on June,14 – June, 17 has resulted in strengthening ties with the two strategic partners – the UAE and Turkey.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, while on a working visit to Russia, held a meeting with Vladimir Putin at the SPIEF.

“I am pleased to be here today with you, your Excellency, and we wish to build on this relationship and we put our trust in you to do so,” Sheikh Mohammed told Putin.

According to Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, “for the UAE, this is a “calculated risk” it is willing to take, part of the Gulf nation’s policy of de-escalation and dialogue in an increasingly polarized world”.

“This polarization has to be broken”, – he added. “[UAE President] meets a lot of Western leaders, it is also important for him to hear from President Putin to be able also to support the international community’s collective effort, in order to go beyond the current polarization,” Gargash said.

Meanwhile, Alexey Sazanov, Russia’s Finance Minister Deputy, said that Moscow is now seeking new opportunities to strengthen economic and trade ties with UAE, Turkey and Malaysia. Among highly debated issues is a dialogue to make double taxation agreements with these countries more flexible.

At the beginning of 2022, the UAE Ministry of Finance announced the introduction of federal corporate income tax at a rate of 9% from June 1, 2023 for medium and large businesses. For companies with a profit that does not exceed 375,000 dirhams ($102,000) per year, the rate remains zero. The changes also did not affect charitable organizations, investment funds, state corporations and enterprises engaged in the extraction of natural resources.

Meanwhile, Turkey received the Russia’s SPIEF delegation in Istanbul in May, 2023.

During the meeting, SPIEF Director Alexei Valkov, Professor Ahmet Kasim Khan and IC Holding CEO Murad Bayar made presentations, discussed Russian-Turkish economic relations, strategic cooperation and investment opportunities.

“Today, diplomatic and trade relations between Russia and Turkey reflect a long-standing friendship that persists despite the prevailing political circumstances. It is especially worth highlighting the economic potential of Russian-Turkish relations, which represents significant commercial opportunities in the market,” said Professor Ahmet Kasym Khan.

June 18, 2023
Am I speaking Turkish here?

Did you understand what your Italian friend meant when he/she told you: “Am I speaking Turkish here?”

When in Italy during a conversation a person can’t get their point across they attribute ironically the resistance of the interlocutor to lack of understading of what has been said, and Turkish here stands for an incomprehensible language. The origin of the idiom is clearly due to the contacts among people around the Mediterranean and the difficulties often arising in the practices of trade (particularly in the Levant). This clearly shows when the sentence is heard in the same context but Turkish is replaced by Greek and Arabic (other languages commonly spoken in the Levant).

Notable exception is the phrase “Do I speak Ostrogoth?”, which means the same but is clearly suggestive of the disconcert and confusion of the Italians after the fall of the Roman Empire, when Germanic populations began to spread uninvited in the country.

Source: Giorgio Bellini from Italy

May 25, 2023