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Tyranny illustrated: from petition to rebellion in Ottoman Vranje

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 December 2015

Cengiz Kırlı
Cengiz Kırlı*
Affiliation:
Boğaziçi University, Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, 34342, Bebek, İstanbul, [email protected].
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Abstract

This article traces the struggle of the people of Vranje to unseat their governor, Hüseyin Pasha, in the 1840s. It situates this struggle within the context of the Tanzimat reforms, one primary objective of which was to use financial and legal means to bring powerful local governors under the control of the central government. The case of Vranje, this article shows, provides a particularly colorful example to observe the disrupting effects of the center’s intervention in the provinces, to investigate the various dynamics and difficulties the center confronted in its attempt to control the periphery, and to understand the ways in which the new political discourse of the Tanzimat shaped local resistance. This article also traces the stages of political mobilization and dissent through the various strategies the people of Vranje employed, from petitioning to armed resistance, in order to fight perceived injustices.

Keywords

Ottoman EmpireTanzimatVranjeprovincial notablespetition.
Type
Articles
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 53 , November 2015 , pp. 3 - 36
Copyright
© New Perspectives on Turkey and Cambridge University Press 2015 

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Footnotes

Author’s Note: I would like to thank Aydın Babuna, Tolga U. Esmer, Nurçin İleri, M. Erdem Kabadayı, Berkay Küçükbaşlar, Tijana Krstić, Şevket Pamuk, Leslie P. Peirce, Milan Randjelović, Z. Umut Türem, and Deniz Yükseker for their help, suggestions, and comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.

References

References

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Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives (Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi, BOA)

A.AMD (Sadaret Amedi Kalemi Evrakı)

A.DVN (Sadaret Divan Kalemi Evrakı)

A.MKT (Sadaret Mektubi Kalemi Evrakı)

A.MKT.MVL (Sadaret Mektubi Kalemi Meclis-i Vala Evrakı)

A.MKT.UM (Sadaret Mektubi Kalemi Umum Vilayat Evrakı)

C.ADL (Cevdet Adliye)

C.DH (Cevdet Dahiliye)

C.HR (Cevdet Hariciye)

C.ML (Cevdet Maliye)

C.ZB (Cevdet Zabtiye)

HAT (Hatt-ı Hümayun)

İ.DH (İrade Dahiliye)

İ.MSM (İrade Mesail-i Mühimme)

İ.MTZ (04) (İrade Eyalet-i Mümtaze Bulgaristan)

İ.MVL (İrade Meclis-i Vala)

MVL (Meclis-i Vala Evrakı)

ML.VRD.TMT.d (Maliye Varidat Muhasebesi Temettuat Defterleri)

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