His Majesty Sultan Mehmet V Reshat
	The 35st Ottoman Sultan and 99th Caliph of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, Mehmed V Reshad was born on the  2nd of November 1844 at Topkapi (Istanbul), son of Sultan Abdülmecid and Gülcemal Kadin Efendi. He ascended the the throne on the 27th of April 1909 and stepped down on 3 July, 1918 at the age of 73. He lived in the Palace of Yildiz in Istanbul. The grave of Sultan Mehmed V Reshat is in the Eyüp section of Istanbul. He left two sons: Prince Mehmed Ziyaeddin (1873-1938) and Prince Omer Hilmi (1888-1935).

The Albanian Revolt against the Ottoman Empire

Sultan Mehmet V's visit to Kosovo in June 1911

by Erik-Jan Zürcher

For the Young Turks of the Committee of Union and Progress, whose movement had started in Macedonia in 1906(1), the situation in that rich but unruly region of the empire(2) in 1910-1911 was all but reassuring. Although the constitutional revolution of July 1908 had caused a wave of rejoicing and reconciliation between the ethnic communities in Macedonia, this had proved short-lived and agitation and small-scale guerrilla warfare by Serb, Bulgarian and Greek bands had recommenced. More worrying form the point of view of the C.U.P. was the attitude of the Albanians. After all, the Committee had originally been an organization of Ottoman Muslims(3) who aimed to strengthen the Ottoman state and the position of the Muslims within it. Most Albanians were Muslims and Albanians, such as the famous Niyazi Bey of Resne [Resen/Resnja](4) had played leading roles both in the revolution of 1908 and in the suppression (by military units from Macedonia which had stayed loyal to the C.U.P.) of the counterrevolution of April 1909 in Istanbul.
 
Nevertheless, the attempts by the constitutional regime to strengthen the hold of the state, to make taxation more effective, and to standardize education (in the Ottoman language and script)(5) soon led to disenchantment on the part of the Albanians. The Unionists'drive to enforce military conscription (and at the same time disarm the population) caused great resentment among the Albanians. There were revolts in Northern Albania and Kosovo even in 1909, but in early April 1910 twelve Albanian tribes from the province of Kosovo rose up in arms, led by two tribal chiefs, Isa Boletin, who controlled the Mitrovica area and Idris Sefer, a chief from Skopska Crna Gora. Led by Idris, 5000 Albanians cut off the railway between Salonica and Üsküp [Skoplje] at Kacanik , while Isa Boletin led 2000 rebels against Firzovik [Verisovic/Ferisaj] and Prizren. The insurrection was suppressed with some difficulty by 16.000 Ottoman troops under evket Turgut Pasha(6) and by August order had been reestablished.(7) The government now took harsh measures to ensure that the area remain under control: all men between the ages of 15 and 60 were registered (with a view to conscription); Albanian men were disarmed and those who were eligible were conscripted into the army. A new tax on livestock was introduced; farmers were ordered to widen the windows of their homes (to make them less suitable as loopholes) and almost 150.000 guns were confiscated.

Nevertheless, the rebellion flared up again in February 1911, this time in the area of Dibra. On 24 March, Albanian refugees in Montenegro attacked over the border into Skutari [Üsküdar/Skhoder] district. Again evket Turgut Pasha was ordered to suppress the rebellion and he arrived with 8000 men Anatolian troops in Skutari on 17 April.(8) After a difficult campaign the rebels were forced back, but when war with Montenegro threatened, the government ordered the Pasha to declare a ten-day armistice on 17 June. In the meantime, yet another rebellion had flared up, this time of Catholic Albanians more to the South.(9)
 
The C.U.P. was deeply worried about the situation in Macedonia. One of the reasons they had unleashed the constitutional revolution when they did, in July 1908, was that their fear that European powers were threatening to intervene directly in Macedonia and the danger certainly had not passed. The committee therefore decided on a campaign of counter-propaganda built around the most powerful symbol of national unity at their disposal: the figure of the Sultan himself.
 
Tours of the provinces were not a part of the Ottoman monarchic tradition. Of course, until the seventeenth century, Sultans had personally conducted military campaigns which took them through the length and the breadth of their domains. Later Sultans had largely restricted themselves to hunting trips. The nineteenth century sultans who oversaw the process of institutional and legal reforms known as the Tanzimat, Abdülmecit (1839-1861) and Abdülaziz (1861-1876) had travelled, but only rarely (as when Sultan Mecit visited Izmit on the occasion of the opening of the railway line between Istanbul and that town). The most famous imperial voyage of all was, of course, not to any Ottoman province, but the visit to the Paris world exhibition made by Abdülaziz in 1867.
 
During the long reign of Sultan Abdülhamit II (1876-1909), the Sultan had only rarely ventured outside the palace of Yildiz, situated on a hill overlooking the Bosphorus and quite isolated from the capital. He had never made any effort to acquaint himself directly with the situation outside the capital or to get in personal touch with the population in the provinces. Instead, Abdülhamit relied on his bureaucracy and his extensive network of informers for his intelligence and on propaganda through the printed media and through the pulpits of the mosques for the projection of his image as just ruler and defender of Islam.

		Sultan Mehmet V, Habsburger Keizer Karl, and the Kaiserina Zita de Bourbon in Istanbul.
Kaiser Wilhelm II in Germany greets Sultan Mehmed V.

On the other hand, Sultan Reshat had already made two very symbolic journeys outside his capital since he had ascended the throne as Mehmet V(11) in April 1909. He had visited the old Ottoman capitals of Bursa and Edirne. But these expeditions had been minor ones compared with the one now undertaken.
 
The expedition to Macedonia was planned meticulously, not only by the government, but also by the palace, especially the palace kitchens, the stables and, of course, the privy purse. It was foreseen that for the Sultan and his entourage to move, eat, drink and dress according to their custom, everything would have to be catered for by the palace and everything would be brought along for the trip, from kitchen utensils to carriages.(12) The visit was originally planned for April, but the unrest in Albania and the complexity of the preparations had necessitated a postponement.

The Imperial Visit
The Sultan left Istanbul on 5* June 1911. He travelled aboard the battleship * Hayrettin Barbaros with part of his entourage, escorted by the cruiser* Turgut Reis and the steamer Gülcemal. After a short stop in Çanakkale, where there was a great demonstration of loyalty on the part of the population, the imperial flotilla arrived before Salonica on the morning of 8 June, a day of continuous rain. There seem to have been worries whether Reshat would be able to withstand the exhaustion of the long trip, particularly the sea voyage to which he was unaccustomed, but according to his private secretary, once at sea he seemed rejuvenated and relaxed and altogether changed from the person he was in Istanbul. He even spoke fluently in public, whereas in Istanbul he had been notoriously shy.(13)
 
The flotilla was met at sea by a squadron of warships carrying dignitaries, such as the governor of Salonica, the inspectors of the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th army corps and the secretary-general of the C.U.P, Haci Adil (Arda). A special delegation composed of representatives of all parts of the empire had put to sea aboard the steamer Midhat Pasha to greet the Sultan. The fleet greeted the monarch with a 21-gun salute, after which he watched naval manoeuvres. The flotilla then moved into Salonica harbour escorted by the naval squadron. After a second 21-gun salute, the Hayrettin Barbaros anchored off the quay and the official reception committee, consisting of representatives of the town and of parliamentarians hailing from Macedonia and representing different communities went on board.(14) The Sultan stayed aboard the battleship overnight, but within an hour of his arrival he dispatched his secretary, Halit Ziya Bey (Uaklgil)* and the inspector of the armies of Rumelia (the European provinces), Hadi Pasha, on a very delicate mission. They were instructed to go to the villa of the Alatini family of Salonica industrialists, just outside Salonica, where the former Sultan Abdülhamit lived under strict house arrest. Reshat apparently felt it necessary to enquire after the ex-Sultan's health because he was afraid the latter might see the tour of Macedonia as an affront. For Halit Ziya, meeting the man who had ruled Turkey for thirty-three years and who had been the hated enemy of the Young Turks for twenty of them, was an awesome experience, but the interview proved easier than expected. The ex-Sultan politely wished his brother success on his trip and used the occasion for some personal requests. He asked for his son Abid to be allowed to study and to live in Istanbul and he enquired after a bag full of jewelry which had disappeared when he was moved from the Yldz palace to Salonica.
 
The next morning, the Sultan disembarked, supported by Grand Vizier Hakk Pasha. Two sheep were sacrificed and the müftü of Salonica led the prayers. Then the Sultan, dressed in full military uniform, drove to the main government building (the Konak) in an open carriage. The streets, which had been newly paved with the houses along the route freshly painted(15) were lined with schoolchildren singing Greek and Turkish national songs. By all accounts, the monarch was greeted warmly (although, according to the British consul "much less so than in the West on such occasions)."(16) The afternoon was filled with audiences. During these, Gazi Evranos, a local notable and a scion of the most famous christian gazi dynasty * was singled out for praise by the Sultan, who pointed out how his family had served his own forefathers back in the fifteenth century, a clear call for loyalty from the contemporary Ottoman Greek community. Then Reshat received a delegation from the garrison, whom he greeted saying that "the army was the soul of the nation" and from the schools of Salonica.(17)
 
Right from the start the C.U.P. made it its business to associate itself as closely as possible with the imperial visit. Rahmi Bey (Arslan), one of the founder members of the C.U.P. in Salonica, thanked the Sultan for his exertions, to which the latter answered that he was grateful for the opportunity to get in touch with his people. The famous C.U.P. orator Ömer Naci addressed the representatives of the province on behalf of the committee and later the Sultan visited the C.U.P. club, where top Unionists like Talât Bey, Cavit Bey and Midhat ükrü (Bleda) as well as the historian Abdürrahman eref were present to welcome him.
 
On the morning of 9 June, the Sultan received the "mücahit-i muhterem" (honoured fighter) Niyazi Bey, who in his dual capacity as hero of the constitutional revolution and revered (although politically marginal) member of the C.U.P. on the one hand and ethnic Albanian on the other, was a key figure throughout the whole Macedonian tour. After the friday prayers in the Aya Sofya mosque of Salonica, the Sultan distributed 4500 Lira in largesse to benevolent societies, to the poor and to students.(18) In the late afternoon Cavit Bey gave a speech in the public gardens of Beçnar, which was attended by a large crowd (10.000 people according to the Unionist newspapers) in which he called for unity between the communities and praised the Committee.
 
On Saturday, June 10th, the Sultan first received a delegation from Izmir. This was one in a series of audiences to delegations from all over the empire (groups from Crete and Lebanon had already been received). Thereafter leading officials and Unionist politicians were presented with decorations (Mecidiye order first class), gold watches and - in the case of the editor of the local paper Rumeli, Yunus Nadi (Abalolu - later to become famous as the founder of the newspaper Cumhuriyet in Istanbul in 1924) - with a ruby ring.
 
The programme continued with a visit to the army barracks, where the foundation stone was laid for a monument commemorating the constitutional revolution. The Sultan then received Haci Adil (Arda) and through him praised the C.U.P. for its work. In the afternoon, the Sultan attended a sema (religious ceremony) in the Mevlevihane, the local headquarters of the Mevlevi derwish order, of which the Sultan was a devoted member.

In the meantime, an auction in support of the Ottoman Fleet Society (Donanma Cemiyeti - modelled after Germany's Flottenverein) had been organized in the Beçnar gardens. Among the items being auctioned were carpets and the Sultan, at the request of the organizers, agreed to walk over them in order to increase their value.
 
11 June was the day of the Sultan's departure for the interior. The trip to Üsküp was made by train - a seven hour journey. A pilot train carrying part of the entourage and also Niyazi Bey preceded the imperial train and it was announced that anyone attempting to come near the tracks between the two trains would be shot on sight. The Sultan boarded the train in the company of C.U.P. grandees Haci Adil and Ömer Naci and the governors of Salonica and Kosovo provinces. The military commander and mayor of Üsküp also joined the company. Along the route three stops were made. One of just three minutes to take on water at Karasulu Kimence, one of 10 minutes at Gevgili and one of 15 minutes in Köprülü (Velez). During this last stop an "old and historic banner (sancak) was presented to the Sultan, who took it in his hand and prayed that "God make the Ottoman banner ever honoured." The theme of "unity of the elements" was again brought out in the ceremonies at the station: a Bulgarian girl made a moving speech and a Muslim girl recited a poem. Both were rewarded, the Bulgarian girl being offered an education at the Sultan's expense. Four sheep were sacrificed, after which the governor of Salonica officially handed over responsibility for the Sultan's well-being to his colleague of Kosovo.

On his arrival in the capital of Kosovo province, Üsküp, the Sultan was driven in a four horse carriage (brought from Istanbul) from the station to the government Konak, but he was lodged in the arts and crafts school, because that was the most comfortable building around. Then he addressed the local dignitaries, repeating the central themes of his visit. He stated that his aim was the "mutual understanding of the [ethnic] elements" and that the C.U.P. deserved the gratitude of the fatherland for its services. The Sultan was enthusiastically received by the Albanian population. Albanians performed folk dances after which each of them received a Lira. Some 5000 Albanians had come to the town from villages up to twenty kilometers away, but considerable effort seems to have gone into "engineering" this Albanian enthusiasm. According to one report, the district governor (mütesarrf) of Prizren had given Albanian villagers five days food supplies to enable them to make the trip.(19)

Reconciliation with the Albanians still had the highest priority, especially now that the Sultan was getting close to the areas with an Albanian majority. Two Albanian chiefs, Süleyman Batusha and Hasan Aga of Plevlje (Pljevlja), came to swear fealty to the Ottoman throne and were pardoned, but the notorious Isa Boletin, who had been expected, did not show up. Largesse was again employed as a means to win support for the throne, this time not only in the form of donations to charitable institutions (for instance a promise to build a medrese in Pritina and 300 Lira towards the cost of building a school in Firzovik), but also in the form of bloodmoney, distributed to pay off bloodfeuds. 30.000 Lira is reported to have been spent for this purpose.(20) Another instrument for reconciliation was the granting of amnesties. There had been high hopes among the christian communities of a large-scale or even general amnesty, but during the visit to Salonica nothing had materialized. Now an amnesty for all except convicted murderers was announced and 107 Albanians and 134 Bulgarians were released from Üsküp prison.(21)

After the visit to Üsküp, the time had come for what was meant to be the climax of the whole imperial visit: the Sultan's pilgrimage to the "Mehed-i Hüdavendigar", the tomb of Sultan Murad I on the old battlefield of Kosovopolje near Pritina. The visit had been publicized widely beforehand. On the day the Sultan had left for Salonica, Haci Adil, the secretary-general of the C.U.P. in a statement had reminded the population that in the battle of Kosovopolje in 1389, the crusading christians, "numerous as locusts" had wanted to throw the Ottomans out of Europe, but that, thanks to the sacrifice of Sultan Murat and his warriors, they had failed. Muslims were called upon to come to Kosovo in great numbers to show their determination to follow Murat's example and expectations about the number of people attending were very high. In the newspapers, 150.000 or even 200.000 Albanians were reported to be assembling in the plain. The British consul in Üsküp expected 100.000 to turn up.(22)

On 15 June the Sultan left Üsküp for Pritina by train. During a short stop in Firzovik, two sheep were offered. After three and a half hours, the Sultan arrived in Pritina, where the mass of people awaiting him was reported by the Unionist press as having grown to 300.000. Four sheep were sacrificed and an amnesty declared for those who had taken part in the rebellions of 1910 and 1911.
 
In Pritina an interesting role was played by the local Serbian community. A visit by a direct descendent of Sultan Murat I to the battlefield of Kosovopolje, which played (and still plays) such a vital part in the national identity of Serbia, might be expected to meet with strong Serbian resistance, but in fact at this time the Serbs saw the Ottomans as less of a danger than the Albanian and Macedonian/Bulgarian nationalists and were supportive of Young Turk policies to a certain extent. The Serbian crown prince had originally even been expected to come to Üsküp, but that visit had not materialized(23). In Pritina, however, the Sultan was serenaded by the choir of the Serbian Orthodox seminary and the Serbian vice-consul Raki had gathered a large Serb crowd.(24)
 
The next day the royal entourage left for Kosovopolje where it arrived at 10 a.m. Reports on what actually happened there, vary widely. The pro-C.U.P. press depicted the meeting as an enormous success and stated that they were attended by 300.000 Albanians and Sir Edwin Pears gives a number of 80.000 in his memoirs(25), but according to Halid Ziya, who was present in Kosovopolje, there were about 50.000 people. He says that many more had wanted to come, but that they were stopped for fear of overcrowding.(26) According to British consular reports, however, the Ottomans had real trouble gathering a credible number of people. The Grandvizier had made a personal request from local notables such as Hasan Bey (a representative for Pritina) and Beytullah Bey of Gilan and most of the villagers came from their areas. From places such as Ipek (Pec), Djakova and Prizren, where resentment against the repression by the Ottoman army was strongest, only a few official representatives appeared(27). Indeed, photographs taken during the ceremony and published in the journal Resimli Kitab seem to show an attendance of 10.000 people at most.* After the communal prayer (in which the sultan took part) and the traditional friday sermon, a declaration by the Grand Vizier was read out. According to Halid Ziya, this was supposed to be translated into Albanian by a local notable, Manastirli Ismail Hakk Efendi, who, however, turned out to have no Albanian. The ceremonies were ended with a military parade.
 
After this high point of the visit the Sultan returned over Pritina and Üsküp to Salonica, where he changed trains for Monastir [Bitola], the main base of the Third Army. The Sultan's visit of three and a half days to the garrison town was again depicted as a great success by the Unionist press, but according to the British consul he was "rather coolly received."(28) Mahmud evket Pasha, who, as commander of the first, second and third armies was the military strong man of the empire, and who had joined the Sultan's entourage on 15 June, used the visit to this military centre to give a speech in which he asked the officers not to meddle in politics. The factionalism of the officer corps was by now seriously undermining the discipline of the Ottoman army. In Monastir, too, an amnesty was declared which again fell short of the expectations of the local christians. 104 prisoners were pardoned, but 12 others (among them leading Bulgarian nationalists) were banned to Anatolia and the status of 12 others remained unclear.
 
After his visit to Monastir, the sultan returned to Salonica and thence after only a very short stop to Istanbul, where he was greeted by large and enthusiastic crowds.

Conclusion
What was the sultan's Macedonian voyage meant to achieve and what did it accomplish ? I think we can say that Sultan Reshat's Macedonian journey served four distinct - but interconnected - political purposes: In the first place it was meant to cement ties with the Albanian Muslim population, which was regarded by the C.U.P. as a crucial factor in retaining its hold over the area. After the insurrections of the past year, reconciliation with the Albanians was the most urgent issue on the agenda. The high profile role played by Niyazi Bey during the whole visit and the sultan's visit to Kosovo served this purpose, as did the amnesties which were declared during the visit and the paying of blood-money. The second, more general political aim was to strengthen the policy of ttihad-i Anasr (Unity of the Elements or "Ottomanism") by the organization of demonstrations of inter-ethnic solidarity in the most ethnically mixed area of the empire. Hence the demonstrations of loyalty by Bulgarians and Greeks and references to Gazi Evranos. Thirdly, the journey served to strengthen the political position of the Committee of Union and Progress, which had been losing public support and political power over the past year, through the close and very visible association of the Sultan with leading committee members. Top people of the committee, such as the orator Ömer Naci and Haci Adil constantly accompanied the monarch and the latter expressed his gratitude to the C.U.P. in all four towns he visited. Fourthly, the visit, and in particular the ceremonies on the battlefield of Kosovopolje, served the more general purpose of strengthening Ottoman (and more specifically Ottoman-Muslim) national consciousness through reference to historically significant symbols. In this sense, the visit to Kosovopolje was a logical sequence to the earlier imperial visits to Bursa and Edirne - the first and second Ottoman capitals.
 
Apart from its political and ideological content, the Sultan's journey is an interesting phenomenon in its shape. It is an example of something quite novel: attempts of the regime to promote the ruler as a popular figure, highly visible and close to his people. Reshat was projected as a "father of the nation" and he was, of course, very suitable, both physically and mentally, for this role. The years until Reshat's death in 1918 would show many more examples of this use of the monarchy.

It is no exaggeration, however, to say that in the end the tour failed in all its objectives. In 1912 the Balkan War, the immediate cause of which was the Porte's rejection of Greek, Serb, Montenegran and Bulgarian demands for far-reaching reforms in Macedonia, put paid to any hopes of achieving the "Unity of the Elements". After the collapse of the Ottoman defence, the Albanians finally opted for complete independence and severed their ties with the Ottoman throne; and the Committee of Union and Progress failed to increase its popularity. It lost political power in 1912 and only managed to regain it through a coup d'etat in January 1913. The efforts to strengthen Ottoman-Muslim consciousness on the other hand may be termed successful. There can be no doubt that in the ten years between 1912 and 1922 Ottoman-Muslim nationalism became the strongest ideological current in the country. It was discarded, at least on an official level, in favour of Turkish nationalism after the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923, but in the crucial years when the survival of the Ottoman state was at stake in the Balkan War, World War I and the Independence War, it served as the prime vehicle for mobilization.(29)

Notes
 
1. It was founded as the "Ottoman Freedom Society" in Salonica in that year, but merged with the much older (founded in 1889) Committee of Union and Progress based in Paris under the latter's name in 1907. Cf Erik Jan Zürcher, The Unionist Factor. The Role of the Committee of Union and Progress in the Turkish National Movement 1905-1926, Leiden: Brill, 1984.

2. It is perhaps useful to point out that "Macedonia" was not an Ottoman administrative unit. The area so described comprised the provinces (vilâyets) of Selânik, Kosovo (capital: Üsküp) and Monastir.

3. This is evident from Kâzim Karabekir, ttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti 1896-1909, Istanbul: private, 1982 [written in 1945], p. 176.

4. Erik-Jan Zürcher, Niyâzî Bey, Ahmed, in Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition, Leiden: Brill, 1995, Vol. 8, p. 67-68.

5. In November, 1908 a so-called Pan-Albanian conference in Monastir (Bitola) had endorsed a plan to use a modified Latin alphabet for the Albanian language and to introduce it in schools in Albania.

6. Officer of Circassian descent. Commanded the Kosovo army corps during the 1908 revolution and after. Commander of the Thracian army corps in the Balkan War. After the First World War he held the position of minister of supplies and of war under Damad Ferit Pasha, but had to resign because of his nationalist sympathies. After his retirement from the army in 1919 he worked as a trader until his death in 1924.

7. Noel Malcolm, Kosovo A Short History, London: Macmillan, 1998, 239-243. Malcolm gives the number of Albanians who blocked the railway at Kacanik as 9000.

8. Malcolm gives the total number of Ottoman troops involved in the campaign as 40.000. (Malcolm, Kosovo A Short History, p. 242.

9. Bartl, p. 167 ff.

10. Prince Reshat was born as son of Sultan Abdülmecit in the Çiragan Palace in Istanbul on 2 Terin-i Sani/ 16 November 1844. He succeeded his brother Abdülhamit as Sultan on 27 April 1909 and reigned until his death on 3 July 1918. For a biography see Enver Ziya Karal, "Mehmed V" in slam Ansiklopedisi Vol. 7, Istanbul: Millî Eitim Matbaas, no date, p. 557-562.

11. That Prince Reshat took the official name of "Mehmet V" on his accession was also an act of historic symbolism. The name Mehmet had not been used by rulers since the late seventeenth century and its revival on this occasion was meant to evoke memories of Mehmet II, the conqueror of Istanbul in 1453. Reshat was portrayed as a "second conqueror" because his accession was the result of the taking of the city by the "Action Army" which suppressed the counterrevolution known as the Otuz bir Mart vak'as.

12. The Sultan's private secretary at the time, Halit Ziya Uaklgil, describes the preparations in detail in Saray ve Ötesi. Son Hatralar, Istanbul: nkilâp ve Aka, 1965 (second edition, two volumes in one binding), p. 238-9, 260-1.

13. Uaklgil, p. 245.

14. Unless otherwise stated, the facts are given as reported in Senin (the temporary name of the newspaper Tanin when the latter was banned by the government). Many of the reports are by Hakk Tarik (Us). The reporting in the newspaper is detailed, but it should be kept in mind that it was the unofficial organ of the C.U.P. and strongly biased in favour of that organisation.

15. PRO/FO 195/2381/54 Consulate in Salonica (Lamb) to Embassy in Istanbul. Report of 11 June 1911.

16. PRO/FO 195/2381/54 Consulate in Salonica (Lamb) to Embassy in Istanbul. Report of 11 June 1911.

17. Among these was emsi Efendi, the founder (in 1870) of the first private primary school for Muslims in the empire. His was the primary school attended by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk). In 1879 the school was renamed Terakki Mektebi (Progress School) when it received Rüdiye (middle school) status. In 1919 the school was moved to Istanbul, where it continues to exist today. Since 1994 it is located in Levend.

18. Senin of 28.5.1327; PRO/FO 195/2381/54.

19. PRO/FO 195/2381/25 Report from consul Üsküp (Hugh) to consul Salonica (Lamb) of 19 June.

20. PRO/FO 195/2381/25 Report from consul Üsküp (Hugh) to consul Salonica (Lamb) of 19 June.

21. PRO/FO 195/2381/26 consul Üsküp (Hugh) to consul Salonica (Lamb), report of 22 June.

22. PRO/FO 195/2381/27 consul Üsküp (Hugh) to consul Salonica (Lamb), report of 19 June.

23. Senin, 2/15 June 1911 (report of 1/14 June).

24. Noel Malcolm, Kosovo A Short History, London: Macmillan, 1998, p. 244. Malcolm bases himself on the memoirs of Raki.

25. Sir Edwin Pears, Forty Years in Constantinople. The Recollections of Sir Edwin Pears 1873-1915, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1916, p. 308.

26. Halit Ziya Uaklgil, Saray ve Ötesi. Son Hatralar, Istanbul: nkilâp ve Aka, 1965, p. 266.

27. PRO/FO 195/2381/27 consul Üsküp (Hugh) to consul Salonica (Lamb). Report of 26 June.

28. PRO/FO 294/47 (political correspondence Monastir)/ 38 Report of 27 June 1911 by Arthur Geary (consul) to Sir C.M. Marling, Chargé d'Affaires, Constantinople.

29. Erik-Jan Zürcher, Muslim nationalism: the missing link in the genesis of modern Turkey, Hamizrah Hehadash (the new east) 39 (1997-1998), Jerusalem: Magnes press, 1998, p. 67-83.