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Post by meltdown711 on Nov 29, 2008 0:18:48 GMT -5
Pretty interesting, Ive been looking at some Ottoman era books. One in particular by an Armenian scholar who renounced the more positive few of the Devshirme presented by the Ottoman scholars Inalcik and Straw. He states of Albanians: Among Muslims, Albanians were an exception in that they too were drafted as devshirme. Since they were newly Islamized, devshirme was used as a control mechanism among Albanians since they were seen as strategically important for the Ottomans.armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2007/06/1730-study-sheds-new-light-on-ottoman.htmlApparently Bosnians and Albanians were the only Muslims that were taken into the system, and both had requested to be allowed into it; however, unlike the rest, the Bosnians and Albanians only accepted it if they were kept in the palace. In 1565 there marked a major rebellion against the system in Albania and Epirus which was done primarily by Christians (Islam and the Abolition of Slavery By William Gervase Clarence-Smith, pg 37).
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Post by meltdown711 on Nov 29, 2008 0:30:34 GMT -5
I find this whole thing very interesting simply because as an Albanian of Bektashi heritage who originated in Epirus, my father's ancestors were most probably Islaminized through the Devshirme. In fact, if you are Bektashi from southern Albania, you were most probably a product of the Devshirme
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Post by ILIRI I MADH on Nov 29, 2008 0:58:36 GMT -5
what is that? didnt ali pasha forced us to become bektashi?
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Post by meltdown711 on Nov 29, 2008 1:16:32 GMT -5
No... Ali Pasha didnt force anything religiously, although he preferred Bektashi to regular Sunnis. Bektashism was preferred by Janissary corp. members, particularly Albanians. It became a sort of cult thing for Albanians. In fact, Albanians were somewhat forced into Sunnism in the aftermath of the destruction of the Janissaries, which began the empire wide persecution of Bektashis. The mountains of Albania became a hiding ground for many Bektashis empire wide after that. Hence why there is such a story of my ancestor fleeing his native fillage and first hiding out in the mountains of Kolonja.
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Post by ILIRI I MADH on Nov 29, 2008 1:32:21 GMT -5
Yeah I heard my ancestors were sort of "klephts" or outlaws who were living in the mountains and fighting everyone who would pass...
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Post by meltdown711 on Nov 29, 2008 1:35:34 GMT -5
Lol, Klepht is the Greek word, Kacak or Ceta was the older Albanian word, or the more universal Hajdut (Arabic in origin).
And that was much older, Ali Pasha rose through that system. He became a sort of warlord in southern Albania who held numerous passes through Tepelena. In turn the Ottomans, rather then try to fight him, gave him an artificial position within the empire. This allowed his rise to begin.
This movement in Albania goes back to the 1600's and perhaps even earlier than that.
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Post by ILIRI I MADH on Nov 29, 2008 2:07:00 GMT -5
well thats the only word that I have heard of people going in the mountains and running from the armies and fighting guerrilla style like Cerciz Topulli.
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Post by meltdown711 on Nov 29, 2008 2:09:17 GMT -5
Cerciz's group was the çeta, which is more military. It means platoon. This was my great-grandfather's ceta around Korca-Kolonja:
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