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Muslims and Christians in a Contested Area: Dobrudja, 1877-2017

Sun, November 12, 12:00 to 1:45pm, Marriott Downtown Chicago, Floor: 2nd, Streeterville

Abstract

Dobrudja, the mostly arid area in between the lower course of the Danube and the Black Sea, was a contested area in the 19th and 20th centuries, being several times one of the great Ottoman-Russian battlefields, then shifting from the Ottoman Empire to the Kingdom of Romania, later to Bulgaria, and finally being divided between Romania and Bulgaria. These territorial changes had various demographic, cultural, social and economic impacts. They also strongly influenced the coexistence of the Muslims (Turks, Tatars) and local as well as migrating Christian ethnic groups (Bulgarians, Romanians, Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Greeks, Italians and others). This paper examines the Muslim emigration waves (especially to Turkey) after 1877 and 1918, but also the Romanian attempts to integrate the Muslim population into their multicultural state, providing a new religious and cultural infrastructure which in a long-term perspective led to the formation of a loyal “euro-Islam”. How far did this model succeed? How did it shape the cultural landscape of Dodbrudja with its typical coexistence of Orthodox Church domes and minarets? How did it influence the regional identity of a region that today is proud of its “ethnic mosaic” and cultural diversity? Is this model in danger in a period of growing nationalism and the rise of missionary attempts from Turkey and Saudi Arabia?

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