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Daily Picture 26-Nov-09: Historic Houses Photo Collage

Valentin Mandache — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:01:33 +0000

Historic houses of Romania collage (©Valentin Mandache)

I composed the image above from 60 selected photographs taken during my fieldwork this year, mostly in Bucharest, but also Iasi (NE Romania) and Sinaia (the Transylvanian Alps). In my opinion the collage is extremely suggestive of the exuberant historic architecture found within the territory of Romania: a peculiar crossroad of Western, especially French, and Central European influences blended together on a Balkan background with old Ottoman echoes. I hope the pot-pourri of houses, decorations and ornaments, often painted in garish colours, would give you a more wholesome image of the vast field represented by Romania’s historic architecture. I also use a version of this collage for my Twitter page background, have a look here: http://twitter.com/historo

Dear Historic Houses of Romania readers,

I have a new website address for my bolg at www.historo.wordpress.com (domain name derived from ‘Historic Houses of Romania’), with an entirely new and dynamic look. I very much hope you will like the new format. All my old articles and images are also contained within the new site, so you should not have any problems in accessing them there. For one month between 1 Nov. ‘09 and 1 Dec. ‘09, I will post simultaneously, in order to avoid confusions and allow for a smooth transition, my forthcoming architectural history articles and images on both old (‘viapontica’) and new (‘historo’) sites. After that date www.historo.wordpress.com will become my sole active blog site dedicated to the Historic Houses of Romania.

Best regards,

Valentin

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

Daily Picture 26-Nov-09: Historic Houses Photo Collage

Valentin Mandache — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:33:54 +0000

Historic houses of Romania collage (©Valentin Mandache)

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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Kosovo – an captured independence

Ari Rusila — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:32:16 +0000

Free movement is one fundamental human rights not only in one’s own country but also abroad. While speaking about Balkans I earlier have highlighted (e.g. “Forgotten Refugees – West Balkans“) the situation of Serb refugees or IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) who can not return to their original homes in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Kosovo. The fear is restricting also movement of Serbs living behind barbed wire in Kosovo enclaves. Besides refugees and IDPs also ordinary citizens can have restricted movement depending which passport they hold.

Visa restrictions play an important role in controlling the movement of foreign nationals across borders. They are also an expression of the relationships between individual nations, and generally reflect the relations and status of a country within the international community of nations.

Now a discussion paper made by European Stability Initiative (ESI) poppet to my eyes describing visa regulations in Kosovo with quite surprising outcome – people from all ethnic groups living in province can go visa free only to five countries while even people with Afghanistan passport (ranked as country which has the least travel freedom in the world) can go to 22 countries visa free. And this happens in Europe, in region which is on the road to EU membership, in province where EU has squandered billions of Euro to build international standards.

On the table below I have collected data from Henley & Partners ‘Visa Restriction Index’ 2008. I included rankings of top and lowest three ranks, ranks of Balkan and BRIC countries. From ESI paper I added Kosovo province (Kosovo is part of Serbia according UNSC resolution 1244/99, the current status can be described as international protectorate).

Rank	Passport of country	Visa free access no
1	Denmark	157
2	Finland, Ireland, Portugal	156
3	Belgium, Germany, Sweden, USA	155
14	Slovenia	139
23	Brazil	122
25	Bulgaria	116
26	Romania	115
29	Croatia	108
53	Russia	60
62	Serbia, Montenegro	50
72	Bosnia-Herzegovina	40
75	India	37
76	Albania	36
79	China	33
87	Iran	25
88	Iraq	23
89	Afghanistan	22
90	Kosovo	5

In February 2008 Kosovo declared independence. France was the first EU member state to recognize the new state, followed by Germany, Great Britain, and all but five other EU member states (Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain). The new Kosovo passport, first issued by the Kosovo Government in July 2008, is currently one of the least useful travel documents ever designed. Its holders can travel to only 5 countries visa free: neighbouring Albania, Montenegro and Macedonia, Turkey, and Haiti.

Latest developments

In my earlier article “EU’s visa freedom dividing Balkans” I described how “European perspective” is applied different ways in West Balkans. Briefly of the five regional states involved in the visa-liberalisation process, Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro have been approved for visa-free travel within the EU, as of January 2010. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania have been told that they might receive EU visa-free status later. Kosovo, on the other hand, has not been included in the process, as five of the 27 members of the EU have not recognised Kosovo’s independence.

In December 2008 the EU dispatched a Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) to Kosovo. It currently fields more than 1,622 EU and 1,021 local staff (total: 2,643). With an annual budget of over Euro 200 million it is the biggest EU mission of its kind ever launched. Its objective is to assist the development of Kosovo’s security and judicial institutions.

Schengen process, unilateral declaration of independence and EULEX raised expectations among Kosovo Albanians. However after civil war and these events Kosovo anyway remains one of the most isolated places on earth. While looking backwards the near history of region the change is quite drastic – some 20 years ago citizens of Yugoslavia could travel relatively free anywhere.

In August 2008 Serbia started issuing biometric passports, an EU roadmap requirement. A lucky 7,141 Kosovars received one. But in 2009 the European Commission asked Serbia to stop the issuance to Kosovars until a specific ‘Coordination Directorate’ at the Ministry of the Interior in Belgrade would be set up as the only body authorised to provide Kosovo residents with passports. Since the issuing authority is always mentioned in passports, this would make the passports of Kosovo residents distinguishable – and exclude their holders from visa free travel. In June 2009 Serbia thus stopped issuing biometric passports to Kosovo residents (including Kosovo Serbs).

Today’s outcome is the Commission proposal to add Kosovo to the Schengen ‘Black List’ as a territory on whose status the EU cannot yet agree (i.e. under UN Security Council resolution 1244), next to the Palestinian Authority and Taiwan. And the Commission did not even mention the possibility of a visa liberalisation process for Kosovo.

More from my main source ESI document.

Some other peculiarities

The wording of the European Commission proposal of 15 July 2009 stresses that visa free travel for Kosovars constitutes an overwhelming security risk. In the words of the Commission:

Kosovo under UNSCR 1244/99 shall be added to Annex I of Regulation so that persons residing in Kosovo shall be submitted to the visa requirement. This proposal is motivated exclusively by objectively determined security concerns regarding in particular the potential for illegal migration stemming from and transiting through Kosovo under UNSCR 1244/1999. This is without prejudice to the current status of Kosovo under UNSCR 1244/1999.

This ’security risk’ idea, supported by some influential member states, would explain the Commission’s insistence on withholding visa free travel even from those Kosovo citizens equipped with new biometric Serbian passports – as opposed to withholding it from holders of Serbian biometric passports from any other country in the world (such as Bosnia and Herzegovina).

One other peculiarity related to country status visa freedom connection is the case of Taiwan. At this very moment, a serious visa dialogue between the European Commission and the Republic of Taiwan is under way. Taiwan has not been recognized by so much as a single EU member state. And yet, this is not seen as an obstacle. In mentioned Henley & Partners ‘Visa Restriction Index’ 2008 Taiwan has rank 54 and county’s passport holders can travel visa free to 59 countries.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is another strange example in Balkans. While most Bosnian Croats already have Croatian passports (with access to 108 countries) and since Republika Srpska residents can apply for and obtain Serbian passports (with access to 50 countries now and more 2010 after White list implementation), the Bosniaks with passport of Bosnia-Herzegovina can travel visa free only to 40 countries and will so far stay in Black list.

In Europe Pridnestrovie – aka Transnistria aka Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (PMR) – may be a country which passport has less use abroad than Kosovo passport as no country has recognised its independence. The region has practically been independent – if not recognized – state already over 17 years. Transdnistria has all statehood elements, more developed than e.g. Kosovo’s, its economy is relatively good with export to over 100 countries and it can manage without UN seat. The bright side of story is the fact that people living in Pridnestrovie however can use their Russian or Moldovan passports for travels abroad. More about Kosovo-Pridnestrovie comparison one may find from my article “Transnistria follow-up”.

Bottom line

In my earlier article “EU’s visa freedom dividing Balkans” I concluded following:

There is also well based arguments that the EU is isolating three mainly Muslim European states/regions – Albania, BiH and Kosovo – and Turkey as some in the EU fear the presence of such a large, Muslim community inside traditionally Christian Europe. Of course EU denies political aspects and highlights only the technical ones but from Balkan perspective the impression can differ.

Visa restrictions also are reflecting the political situation of the time e.g. some 20 years ago citizens of Yugoslavia could travel relatively free, but the breakup wars changed situation completely.

In Bosnia-Herzegovina the EU’s message now weakens already non-existent national identity and opposes EU’s earlier multi-ethnic ideals. In Kosovo some NGOs send a letter to EU where they state that Kosovo`s exclusion from the visa-liberalisation process threatens to transform Kosovo “into a ghetto without any way out”.
EU and international community have guided and supervised these regions towards “European standards”. So has EU failed with this task as those countries without outside supervision are getting visa-freedom earlier?

Sources of this article:

ESI Discussion Paper: Isolating Kosovo? Kosovo vs Afghanistan 5:22

European Stability Initiative (ESI) is a non-profit research and policy institute, created in recognition of the need for independent, in-depth analysis of the complex issues involved in promoting stability and prosperity in Europe. ESI was founded in June 1999 by a multi-national group of practitioners and analysts with extensive experience in the regions it studied.

Henley & Partners has analyzed the visa regulations of all the countries and territories in the world. It has created an index which ranks countries according to the visa-free access its citizens enjoy to other countries.

My earlier article “Visa rank and the western Balkans”

Daily Picture 25-Nov-09: Dilapidated Art Nouveau Window

Valentin Mandache — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:38:14 +0000

Exquisite end c19th Art Nouveau style window from a dilapidated, nearly ruined historic house, Lascar area, Bucharest. (©Valentin Mandache)

Dear Historic Houses of Romania readers,

Best regards,

Valentin

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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Daily Picture 25-Nov-09: Dilapidated Art Nouveau Window

Valentin Mandache — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:29:07 +0000

Exquisite end c19th Art Nouveau style window from a dilapidated, nearly ruined historic house, Lascar area, Bucharest. (©Valentin Mandache)

The house is in a zone abounding in unoccupied modern low-quality office blocks, some of them half-built and abandoned, that replaced countless other historic houses during the rapacious Romanian property development boom/bubble of the last few years.

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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Real Equality

jbuchleitner — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:53:15 +0000

People often ask me why I even bother to care. As if “I”, indeed, can really do anything largely impactful. (It appears most of them are quicker to cast doubt on you than support you. I don’t allow myself to be thwarted by their negativity.) After being asked this question several times lately- I’ve reflected back to where my awareness of impending humanitarian crises first began. The point when I recognized the presence of a world beyond my own small existence and its simultaneously occurring events. (Does that sound cheesy enough yet?)

I just finished the 4th grade and was in Phoenix, visiting my Aunt and Uncle. After playing outside for hours, the parching heat chased me indoors. I needed water! I slid open her screen door and slammed it behind myself just to hear the echo. I was the only “non- adult” in the house. My footsteps on the tile floor were the only sounds, besides the television and voices of my family members on the patio. Alone to sneak a cookie or two- what opportunity!

I glanced curiously at the television. The news was on and I watched a group of men carrying a boy from a burning building. One of his legs was completely crushed and the other bleeding. He was grabbing the arms of the NATO paramedics begging them to let him live and not to amputate his leg. I remember barely being able to read the subtitles at the bottom of the screen. The continued footage showed groups of orphaned and injured children, whom I quickly realized, were the same age as me…

I never stopped to think about this before. I always thought all other children were just like me. They had the same things as I had. They had parents as good as mine, food, a place to go to school and a bed to sleep in. (I also thought health care was free and food was too- damn, was I wrong!)

Someone called my name from the patio. I went back outside- telling my relatives that “I never wanted to watch the news again”. I was distraught and damaged. I never forgot about that boy. The footage was a Serbian attack on Bosnia. At the time- I didn’t realize how much the event I witnessed bared relation to a distant stranger. Here is why:

My family was living in West Virginia when I was about 2 years old. A young woman of about 19 years old moved into the apartment next to us. She spoke no English and was sent to the US by an arranged family marriage from Bosnia. She was doe eyed, bewildered and within months gave birth to a son- who became my best friend and first “boyfriend”. We often played together as my mother aided his young mother in learning English.

Sadly, her husband was abusive and my family eventually moved to South Carolina. She called us one day- telling my mother she was taken to a “bad house”. My mother urged her to return to her family in Bosnia. This was right before the wars and the siege of Sarajevo.

I always wondered what happened to him. He would be my age now and I have never been able to find him since. If he returned to the Balkans as his mother said they would- the crisis would have directly affected him. Maybe he was somewhere behind those cameras on that news footage or maybe he is safe and more affluent then me. At least this is what I hope…

It’s difficult to gage the exact point in your life when you realize this truth: We are not created equal. Our teachers, parents and politicians tell us that we are. This is not in any way accurate. We indeed are victims of the cultural framework we are born into from the beginning. Our deviations from this depend on our education and exposures.

Today, I reflect on just a few months ago as I watched the amount of displaced persons in Pakistan climb from a few hundred thousand to millions in just two weeks. Jeffery Sach’s book “The End of Poverty” presents statistics revealing that 1/3 of humanity has not even reached the “bottom rung” on the ladder of economic development. Out of the 6 billion people in this world this fraction would represent roughly 2 billion, including the 45 million uprooted and displaced by war. That’s 1/3 of the world’s people without food, clean water or basic amenities, which is 1/3 TOO MANY…

Films In Sarajevo: Where Is Redemption?

tkhaz — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:20:48 +0000

I recently read this blog article from a woman in the Balkans and her thoughts about the place of art in culture. What messages are spoken in our music, films, painting, and dance? They certainly reflect our various stories and can tell of hope and despair, sometimes in the same moment.

“Fatalism, Pride, Pain, Mockery, Shame, Apathy… These are the recurring themes in the films that I have been attending at this year’s film festival here in Sarajevo. After three days of faithfully showing up to my ticketed seat, the heavier I feel inside when I walk out, as if my spirit is hiding from the uncertainty and oppression I am taking in with my eye and ear gates.

First of all, I love where I live, and I truly love these people. I understand them, even though they would say that I have no idea, that I’m just another American trying to come here and help. But behind that, I hear the voice of rejection, abandonment and fear. So attending this film festival has reconfirmed to me that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.”

Read more here: films-in-sarajevo-where-is-redemption

Artikulli i "The Guardian" (UK) - Welcome to Albania

Funky Fish Production — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:25:50 +0000

We may be smug about the EU in the west, but for the troubled Balkans it offers a vision of hope…

Where on earth, would 88% of a nation’s citizenry want to join us (and Herman Van Rompuy) in the world’s least welcoming club? Steam straight past Brussels and head south. We’re going to Albania, because it tells us something slightly shaming about ourselves – and our smug insularity.

Albania? Economy up this year (by 2%) while most of the world slumped back. Political system on turbulent hold since a June general election so tight that the Socialist losers are still boycotting parliament, filling the streets of Tirana with protests last weekend. But it finally got formal permission to negotiate EU entry last week. The final reward for years of effort may only be a couple of years away (with that 88% support driving on).

When you hear Albania’s president, Bamir Topi, outline his “vision”, it lies at the end of the yellow brick road to Brussels. And when you visit Tirana after a few years away, there’s a new airport, a new motorway into town, streets lined with shops, cafes on every corner, monster blocks of flats obliterating the skyline. Only the potholes remain the same.

There’s an energy and a sense of progress here that catches you by the throat. A small, impoverished country with an improbable Stalinist history is turning its 17 years of freedom into something remarkable. Graft, and assorted deadly sins? Of course. The car parks are stuffed with Mercedes Benz. But that’s only part of a saga that includes resilience, kindness and great good humour, too. If this is the 28th or 29th state of the union, then there’ll be something to celebrate: the continuing power of an idea that we, immured too deep in tabloid ignorance, have lost the imagination to embrace.

What do the 88% see when they look around? A Greece anxious to get Albania in. A succession of visits and speeches from Foreign Office dignitaries – David Miliband, Glenys Kinnock – that look forward to an expanded union. And trouble, north, south, east and west.

Croatia and Slovenia have endured a damaging spat over coastline rights. Bosnia is back at the top of the Balkan instability league as its bureaucratic balances begins to unravel. Serbia, under a more sentient president, is still threatened by that old, black-hearted nationalism from within – and Kosovo is an ethnic disaster waiting to happen. Chuck in two fractious toddlers – Macedonia, Montenegro – and everyone fears a region sinking back into distrust and retribution.

Talk to witnesses from round the Balkans and the EU is the first answer on their lips. Make us more secure. Give us a settled fabric for trade and aid. Help us to feel something more than an agglomeration of spare parts stuck on the end of a continent. And let us feel that if we make the progress you require, it will be rewarded.

And that’s a reason to look across the 1,200 miles from Tirana to London and quake. You’d suppose, from all the dismal dumping on an “unelected” Cathy Ashton, that EU foreign policy is meaningless vacuity. (Whoever elected Henry Kissinger or Condoleezza Rice?) But the foreign policy that matters most to all of us involves stability close to home and relations around our borders.

Can that stop at Calais? A bad joke in a month when the first world war that started in Sarajevo is remembered at a Cenotaph strewn with poppies. An insult to the British troops who help keep fragile peace in Kosovo and Bosnia. An illusion that blanks out the amazing lessons of European life since the Berlin Wall came down. It’s a shrug and a snub to a world that wants to draw closer.

A union of 34 countries or more? It’s coming, through a veil of sneers. And if you still need a battered vision to cherish, come to Skanderbeg Square, Tirana, and find a little hope among the potholes.

/The Guardian/

Daily Picture 24-Nov-09: Art Deco Frieze

Valentin Mandache — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:53:55 +0000

An excellently preserved Art Deco frieze on an early 1930s building in Lipscani area of Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

Dear Historic Houses of Romania readers,

Best regards,

Valentin

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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Daily Picture 24-Nov-09: Art Deco Frieze

Valentin Mandache — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:48:18 +0000

An excellently preserved Art Deco frieze on an early 1930s building in Lipscani area of Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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Alternate FM Wraps up Balkan Tour

grpresspoland — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:08:46 +0000

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA) Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas wrapped up a tour of Western Balkans, on November 20. During three days, he visited Serbia, where he held talks with the Serbian FM, Vuk Jeremic and met also with president Boris Tadic, conveying the Greek government’s will to play a leading role in the Balkan region, by promoting the European accession of all Western Balkans countries.He then visited Montenegro (first photo) and Bosnia-Herzegovina where he held talks with both countries’ leaders, outlining the Greek initiative “Agenda 2014,” for the Western Balkans’ accession to the EU.After meeting Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj, Droutsas said that Greece will be a partner and friend in this country’s course towards Europe.In Albania – the final leg of this tour- Droutsas discussed with the country’s leadership the “Agenda 2014,” as well as bilateral issues.

“My presence here underlines the importance we attribute to bilateral relations and to the European course of Albania,” he said after talks with his Albanian counterpart Ilir Meta.The minister also met with Tirana mayor Eddy Rama (second photo) and the Archbishop of Tirana and All Albania Anastasios.Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Op Ed by Alternate FM Mr. D. Droutsas (Politika, Korieri, Koha Yone, Pobjeda, Oslobodjenje) & Balkans Bilateral Relations

El País [Spain] | Kosovo, de mito a nación

Multilingual Press Review — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:28:37 +0000

«[...] han surgido en los últimos años bares, cafés y restaurantes de diseño y estilo que nada tienen que envidiar a Londres y Berlín, y una movida nocturna a la española [...]».

Read the article in El País.

Daily Picture 23-Nov-09: Peasant Style Wooden Gateway

Valentin Mandache — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:22:11 +0000

A rare example of peasant style saw work wooden gateway (in the fashion of the southern Romanian peasant wooden churches) to the courtyard of a 1920s Neo-Romanian house in Catargiu area of Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

Dear Historic Houses of Romania readers,

Best regards,

Valentin

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

Daily Picture 23-Nov-09: Peasant Style Wooden Gateway

Valentin Mandache — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:11:29 +0000

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

The Near Eastern Crisis of 1875-78

Joel — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:44:33 +0000

From Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950, by Mark Mazower (Vintage, 2006), pp. 167-169:

Beginning with a peasant uprising in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the troubles spread in 1876 to Bulgaria and the Danubian provinces and ended with an invasion by the Russian army the following year. The Treaty of San Stefano, which Russia imposed on the empire early in 1878, created a vast new Bulgarian state which passed just to the north of Salonica itself and cut it off from its hinterland. Even after the other Great Powers forced Russia to back down and tore up the San Stefano agreement, there was no disguising the humiliation suffered by the Porte: at the Congress of Berlin, Serbia was declared independent, an autonomous (if smaller) Bulgaria was established under Russian control, Cyprus was occupied by British troops (as the price for supporting the Turks) and the Great Powers forced the Ottoman authorities to pledge a further programme of administrative reforms.

These events deeply affected Salonica. As always in time of war, the city was in a febrile state—filled with soldiers, requisitioning agents, tax-collectors and rumours. Muslim notables criticized the diplomacy of the Porte and feared for the first time “being driven out of Europe.” The Bulgarian insurrection actually broke out just three days before the killing of the consuls in Salonica; rumours of the rising had reached the city, together with reports of outrages on Muslim villagers and of plans to drive them from their homes. At one point the authorities feared that Salonica’s Christians too would rise to prompt a Russian advance on the city itself, and the Vali warned he would quell any insurrection in the harshest manner. “I know him to be of the party in Turkey,” wrote the British consul, “who believe the Eastern Question can only be solved by the destruction, or at least the expatriation of all Christians from the European provinces of Turkey, and replacing them by Circassians and colonists from Asia.”

The spectacle of vast forced movements of populations crisscrossing the region was no fantasy. While the eyes of Europe were fixed—thanks to Gladstone’s loud condemnation of the “Bulgarian horrors”—on the Christian victims of the war, thousands of Muslim refugees from Bosnia, Bulgaria and the Russian army were headed south. Added to those who had earlier fled the Russians in the Caucasus—somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 Circassians and Nogai Tatars had arrived in the empire between 1856 and 1864—the refugee influx which accompanied the waning of Ottoman power was well and truly under way. A Commission for the Settlement of Refugees was created, and the figures provided by this organization show that more than half a million refugees crossed into the empire between 1876 and 1879 alone.

In January 1878, the Porte ordered the governor of Salonica to find lodging for fifty thousand throughout the province. The following month it was reported that “the whole country is full of Circassian families, fleeing from the Russian army and the Servians, in long lines of carts … panic-stricken, they strive to embark for Asia Minor and Syria.” While Albanian Ghegs and uprooted Nogai Tatars settled around the town, thousands more left weekly on steamers bound for Smyrna and Beirut. Many of these refugees had been settled in the Bulgarian lands only a decade earlier; now for a second time they were being uprooted because of Russian military action. Destitute, exploited by local land-owners, many—especially Circassian—men formed robber bands, and became a byword for crime in the region. Two years after the end of hostilities, there were still more than three thousand refugees, many suffering from typhus or smallpox, receiving relief in the city, and another ten thousand in the vicinity. The Mufti of Skopje estimated that a total of seventy thousand were still in need of subsistence in the Sandjak of Pristina. By 1887, so many immigrants from the lost provinces had moved to Salonica that house rents there had risen appreciably.

The political outlook for Ottoman rule in European Turkey was grim. Only Western intervention had saved the empire from defeat at the hands of the Russian army; the consequent losses in Europe were great. The powers openly discussed the future carve-up of further territories, and Austrians, Bulgarians and Greeks fixed their eyes on Salonica. As discussions began at the Congress of Berlin on the territorial settlement, one observer underlined the need for a further sweeping reform of Ottoman institutions and the creation of an “impartial authority” to govern what was left. In view of the patchy record of the past forty years’ reform efforts, few would have given the imperial system long to live. Indeed many expected its imminent collapse, especially after the youthful Sultan Abdul Hamid suspended the new constitution barely two years after it had been unveiled. But they had to wait longer than they thought. The empire had another few decades of life left, and in that time Salonica itself prospered, grew and changed its appearance more radically than ever before.

Belated Ottoman Religious Reform

Joel — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:16:16 +0000

From Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950, by Mark Mazower (Vintage, 2006), pp. 152-153:

In 1851 Christian testimony was admitted in a local criminal court for the first time, but it was not for another decade that it was given decisive weight when contradicted by Muslim witnesses. “Are we the masters of this empire or not?” demanded some of the beys, protesting on the “part of Islamism” against the constant infringement by foreign powers of the “rights of the Turkish nation.” A visiting dervish preached that Europe was “devoted to the extermination of Muslims,” and claimed that the sultan, by giving in to their demands, had shown himself to be no more than a gavur. “Let us massacre the infidels whom the Prophet and our first Sultans conquered,” he went on, “And then we will go throughout Frenghistan [the land of the Franks] sword in hand, and all will be well with us.” When Abdul Mecid died in 1861, the view in the local coffeehouses was that he had been “too favourably disposed to Christians,” and many of Salonica’s Muslims, including highly placed functionaries, openly hoped that his successor would bring back the janissaries and revoke the reforms.

This did not happen. Instead the number of non-Muslims in the civil service rose, and in 1868 a Council of State with non-Muslim members was created. In the provinces progress was slower: as late as 1867, justice in Salonica was still loaded against non-Muslims, taxes remained inequitable and the clause relating to Christians being appointed to official positions remained a “dead letter.” Ibrahim Bey, the mufti, resisted reform of the local courts, and as he was very popular among the poorer Muslims of the city, Salonica’s governors hesitated to take him on. But the lead from the top was clear: the Porte instructed Salonica’s mollah to speak respectfully when he addressed the Greek metropolitan, and to refer politely to the “Christian” religion. “Looking at things reasonably,” wrote the British ambassador, Sir Henry Bulwer in 1864, “it is but just to observe that this government is about the most tolerant in Europe.”

The old ideology of the sultan as Defender of the Faith was now no longer appropriate for the new-look empire. It was supplanted by a new creed of Ottomanism, an allegiance to the dynasty itself that supposedly crossed religious boundaries. As the government gazette for the province declared in May 1876:

Even though for centuries among us there has not existed something we might call public opinion, on account of our different religions, nonetheless Ottomans, Christians, Jews and in a word all those bearing the name of Osmanli and living under the sceptre of His Imperial Excellency have lived as faithful subjects of all ranks, as patriots and as a single unit of nationalities, each lending a helping hand to the other as brothers, none ever daring to attack the honour, property, life or religious customs of the other, and everyone enjoying complete freedom in the exercise of his social privileges.

The new policy was underlined in religious holidays and official ceremonies. After the Ottoman fleet arrived in port, Greek priests from the city performed mass for its Christian sailors in the Beshchinar gardens, and Turkish naval officers complimented the archbishop on a “very appropriate sermon.” When the chief rabbi Raphael Ascher Covo died at the end of 1874 after twenty-six years in office, his funeral was attended by the staff of the governor, the president of the town council, the Greek archbishop, consuls and other notables: the procession was “one of the largest ever witnessed in European Turkey.” All shops were closed, Jewish firemen in the service of the North British and Mercantile Insurance companies provided the guard of honour lining the streets, and bells were rung as the bier passed the Orthodox cathedral.” A century earlier, such an occasion would have been inconceivable.

Weekly Picture: Montenegrin Royals, Jubilee postcard 1900

Diana Mandache — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:07:11 +0000

The Princely Family of Montenegro, Jubilee postcard, 1900 (Diana Mandache collection)

Nicholas and Milena of Montenegro were an affable couple, very close and much loved by their people. That is conveyed by many popular artefacts bearing their image produced or published in Montenegro, such as the the picturesque old postcard presented above published on the occasion of celebrating 40 years since they acceded to the throne and marriage. The Duchess of Edinburgh (Maria Alexandrovna) gives here an insightful description of the good natured Montenegrin princely family during a visit in 1887:

At the Montenegro frontier the Prince [Nicholas] met us and we were very pleased to see him, as he is a very old friend and such an amiable man. He had prepared a luncheon in a small house belonging to him and we were very hungry after the long drive. The Prince himself and every man in the country wear the beautiful national dress. They are such handsome men, even the common peasants and so very friendly and respectful. They all have excellent manners, come running to the road to make their bow and the Prince is like a real father amongst them all. But curious enough it seems to us hardly ever to meet a woman in the streets. They are very modest and stay at home, but the men walk about and in the evening dance much wilder than the Scotch reel. They sing to it some with song, which sounds so curious in the stillness of the night. Before we reached the town of Cettinie we were met by the Prince’s eldest son, a very pretty boy aged 16, very tall and dark, with most excellent manners and such a bright clever look. He was on horseback at the head of a cavalry escort, all mounted on very small strong ponies. They cantered round us, some racing wildly along, over stones and rough ground. At the house, we were met by the Princess and her daughters all in national dress… There is also a dear little boy of 8 years, dressed in lovely costumes: he comes in making beautiful bows and kisses one’s hand. He is called Mirko and his father simply adores him but does not spoil any of them. In fact he is very strict and everybody obeys him in a wonderful way and are devoted to him. Only imagine, that they all walk about with loaded revolvers, even all the servants when they wait at dinner…

©Diana Mandache/ The text and image is not for duplication or reproduction

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I endeavour in the “Weekly Pictures” post series to bring to light worthy of note, often less known images from the royal past and present and thus further enhance the understanding of royal history and what it represents for us.

Weekly picture: Diana Mandache’s weblog Royal History.

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Weekly Picture: Montenegrin Royals, Jubilee postcard 1900

Diana Mandache — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:03:11 +0000

The Princely Family of Montenegro, Jubilee postcard, 1900 (Diana Mandache collection)

Nicholas and Milena of Montenegro were an affable couple, very close and much loved by their people. That is conveyed by many popular artefacts bearing their image produced or published in Montenegro, such as the picturesque old postcard presented above published on the occasion of celebrating 40 years since they acceded to the throne and marriage. The Duchess of Edinburgh (Maria Alexandrovna) gives here an insightful description of the the good natured Montenegrin royal family during a visit in 1887:

At the Montenegro frontier the Prince [Nicholas] met us and we were very pleased to see him, as he is a very old friend and such an amiable man. He had prepared a luncheon in a small house belonging to him and we were very hungry after the long drive. The Prince himself and every man in the country wear the beautiful national dress. They are such handsome men, even the common peasants and so very friendly and respectful. They all have excellent manners, come running to the road to make their bow and the Prince is like a real father amongst them all. But curious enough it seems to us hardly ever to meet a woman in the streets. They are very modest and stay at home, but the men walk about and in the evening dance much wilder than the Scotch reel. They sing to it some with song, which sounds so curious in the stillness of the night. Before we reached the town of Cettinie we were met by the Prince’s eldest son, a very pretty boy aged 16, very tall and dark, with most excellent manners and such a bright clever look. He was on horseback at the head of a cavalry escort, all mounted on very small strong ponies. They cantered round us, some racing wildly along, over stones and rough ground. At the house, we were met by the Princess and her daughters all in national dress… There is also a dear little boy of 8 years, dressed in lovely costumes: he comes in making beautiful bows and kisses one’s hand. He is called Mirko and his father simply adores him but does not spoil any of them. In fact he is very strict and everybody obeys him in a wonderful way and are devoted to him. Only imagine, that they all walk about with loaded revolvers, even all the servants when they wait at dinner…

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Weekly picture: Diana Mandache’s weblog Royal History.

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Dear readers,

I have a new website address for my bolg at www.royalhistory.wordpress.com All my old articles and images are also contained within the new site, so you should not have any problems in accessing them there. For one month between 23 Nov. ‘09 and 23 Dec. ‘09, I will post simultaneously, in order to avoid confusions and allow for a smooth transition, my forthcoming articles and images on both old (‘royalromania’) and new (‘royalhistory’) sites. After that date www.royalhistory.wordpress.com will become my sole active blog site.

Daily Picture 22-Nov-09: Traditional Bulgarian Style Veranda

Valentin Mandache — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:30:53 +0000

Veranda of a late 1920s house in Aviatorilor area of Bucharest inspired from traditional Bulgarian architecture. (©Valentin Mandache)

The traditional Bulgarian architectural style (a term by which I mean a traditional Bulgarian architectural framework on which are also grafted Greek, Turkish, and other Balkan motifs), was popular in the whole region of the northern Balkans during the times when these lands were part of the Ottoman empire until the 2nd half of c19th. Wallachia, the southern province of Romania, where Bucharest is located, was influenced by this type of architecture, especially in its market towns, where traders from all over the Ottoman Balkans met to exchange goods. Many of them got established in the Wallachian towns and built mansions in this style familiar throughout the region. With the onset of modernisation on European lines in late c19th Romania, this style was identified as belonging to the Ottoman past and consciously replaced by West European looking ‘Little Paris’ style buildings (what I call the Romanian provincial imitations of French architectural styles of that period) and by the emergent patriotic Neo-Romanian style (which itself borrows heavily from old Balkan architecture). Just a handful of traditional Bulgarian and Ottoman style buildings survive in modern Bucharest. The one presented in the photograph above is a rare inter-war rendering of that style and gives a glimpse of how Bucharest used to look more than one and a half centuries ago, during the times of the Ottoman dominion.

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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Daily Picture 22-Nov-09: Traditional Bulgarian Style Veranda

Valentin Mandache — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:30:24 +0000

Veranda of a late 1920s house in Aviatorilor area of Bucharest inspired from traditional Bulgarian architecture. (©Valentin Mandache)

Dear Historic Houses of Romania readers,

Best regards,

Valentin

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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OTAN : machine de guerre, machine de paix ? (vidéo)

Bao — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:04:07 +0000

Lutte contre le terrorisme international, retour annoncé de la France dans les instances militaires, arrivée de Barack Obama… L’OTAN doit aujourd’hui faire face à de nouveaux défis. État des lieux.

Privée de sa raison d’être après la mort de son frère ennemi, le pacte de Varsovie, l’OTAN a pourtant survécu. On peut même dire qu’à l’heure de son 60e anniversaire, l’organisation se porte bien, à en juger par l’attirance qu’elle exerce sur plusieurs États de l’ex-URSS. De quinze, ses membres sont passés à vingt-six, et bientôt à vingt-huit, peut-être même à trente si elle intègre la Géorgie et l’Ukraine.

Légitimée par cet élargissement, l’OTAN s’est aujourd’hui donné de nouvelles missions : il ne s’agit plus seulement de défendre l’Europe, mais d’œuvrer plus largement à la sécurité du monde occidental. Un objectif affirmé depuis que l’organisation s’est lancée dans la guerre contre le terrorisme international et la prolifération nucléaire.

Mais qui définit les menaces ? Faut-il considérer l’OTAN comme un outil au service des seuls États-Unis qui décideraient de tout ? L’organisation ne reste-t-elle pas un gage de sécurité pour une Europe incapable de se construire une défense commune ? Est-ce la raison pour laquelle la France envisage de reprendre sa place au sein des instances militaires de l’OTAN ? L’arrivée d’Obama aux affaires va-t-elle changer la donne ?

Première partie

Deuxième partie

Troisième partie

Quatrième partie

Source : La Némésis du Nouvel Ordre Mondial

King Zog of Albania in exile, film footage 1940

Diana Mandache — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:55:22 +0000

ROYAL EXILES: King Zog and Queen Geraldine of Albania are Forced into Exile in London by German invasion. Source: wpa library

King Zog of Albania in exile, film footage 1940

Diana Mandache — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:55:22 +0000

ROYAL EXILES: King Zog and Queen Geraldine of Albania are Forced into Exile in London by German invasion. Source: wpa library

Daily Picture 21-Nov-09: Art Deco Street Corner Residential Building

Valentin Mandache — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:50:15 +0000

An interesting street corner Art Deco style residential building dating from late 1930s, with a peculiar balcony on top of its decorative staircase tower and a well preserved street fence; Cotroceni area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

Dear Historic Houses of Romania readers,

Best regards,

Valentin

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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Kissinger on Russia

andyverich — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:24:37 +0000

This week I had the opportunity to hear Henry Kissinger speak at a conference in honor of the famous Soviet diplomat Andrei Gromyko in Washington, DC. Kissinger along with Anatoliy Gromyko, the son of the late Andrei Gromyko, revisited many important meetings and events that took place during the Cold War. Kissinger explained that people often mistake the Cold War era as a time when foreign affairs were simple and predictable since the world was divided into two camps. However, he stressed that it was not simple but a very complex relationship that managed to avoid direct military confrontation between the two super powers.

Kissinger also stressed how important Russia is even today. It is connected to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. It is the largest country in terms of area and resources in the world and it has nuclear capability. Kissinger criticized U.S. policy towards Russia after the Cold War.

It is no secret that Kissinger was a strong critic of U.S. policy from the 1990’s to the present. Most notably was his opposition to the recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a sovereign state, which he described as a “foolish act.” Regarding the Balkans, he made additional public statements that the Serbs and Croats should be allowed to join their respective countries and that the Rambouillet Agreement which would have forced the Serbs to give all its territory access to NATO ground forces, “was a terrible diplomatic document that should never have been presented in that form.”

Regarding the current US president, Kissinger joked, “Obama was my second choice.” Although he stressed he disagrees with most of Obama’s policies, he did compliment recent actions of the Administration for getting U.S.-Russian relations back on track. He also noted that the current policies Obama has taken towards Russia were the same as what he advocated to both candidates prior to the 2008 presidential elections.

As for Afganistan, it was noted that Andrei Gromyko was initially opposed to sending Soviet troops to Afganistan. Kissinger also made a point that he disagrees with the current policies in Afganistan regarding the US policy to create a centralized government. Although he supports the goal of eliminating the threat of terrorists using Afganistan as a launch pad of attacks against the US, he said outside forces can never unite the various tribal regions.

Several questions were put to Kissinger during the conference regarding Russia’s recent disapproval of much of U.S. policies with Iraq, Iran, etc. Kissinger explained that it is not that they disapprove, but that the Russians are concerned that the United States does not know what it is doing in these areas. Kissinger believes that what the Russians really worry is that the Americans will come in and leave the place worse than when they arrived. When one sees the resulting chaos in Kosovo, Iraq and other places where the US intervenes, the Russians may have a point.