A Reassessment of the XIXth Century Balkan Sources
The present study discusses the existing material on the nineteenth century Balkans. It is not exhaustive in tackling all the existing sources related to the Balkans or Ottoman administration of the period. The main purpose of the study is to provide an over-all picture on the historical writing of the most controversial period in the region's history. There are many valuable studies on the subject but with few exceptions, they have been studies on the individual countries or more importantly they have been products of rival ideologies. Also, a systematic study of the nineteenth century Ottoman Balkans using the available archival material has not been accomplished yet. The study begins by re-assessing the sources on the nineteenth century Balkans and then moves on to the latest discussions of the historiography of the region. For the last couple decades, serious steps have been taken to overcome the existing bias on the history writing of the Balkans but there is still plenty of space for improvement
GÜL TOKAY
