Tenth International Conference on Nordic
and Baltic Studies, Dissent versus conformism in the Nordic, Baltic and
Black Sea Areas, Ovidius University Constanta, June 6-8 2019
Aims of the Conference
(...) Already from the Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations,
which we cherish on the shores of Black Sea, dissent and conformism acted as a
key factor in structuring the institutions and shaping the peopole`s attitudes. Dissenting from
underlying Athenian social values led Socrates to death by hemlock
poison, while conforming to Roman values turned many foreigners and
strangers into citizens and defenders of Roman Empire. The Christians
had initially been ostracized and martyred despite their obedience and
allegiance to the political institutions of the Roman Empire. However,
their revolutionary religion and devotedness to a single God unleashed against
them the hatred of the patrons of the Roman symbolic manipulation of power,
especially of the emperors and polytheistic priests. (...)
Conformism has shown many faces from the Antiquity
to Contemporary Age, from pretense to obedience, and an individual person could
easily happen to migrate between the two extremes during his/her lifetime.
(...)
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Faculty of History and Political Science of Ovidius
University of Constanta, Romania
(...) The University bears the name of the Roman
poet Publius Ovidius Naso, who lived the last years of his life in Tomis,
a former Greek colony that later became the city of Constanta.
(...) Some of values that guide the university are
inspired by the life and works of Ovid, who showed creative freedom and the
desire to leave permanent and unique trace, capable of enduring the passage of
time. (...)
(...)
Past conferences
(...) The following editions of the annual ARSBN [Asociația
Română de Studii Baltice și Nordice] conference enlarged their scope, being
entitled (...), „European Networks: the Balkans, Scandinavia and the
Baltic World in a time of economic and ideological crisis” (Târgoviște, 25-27
May 2012), (...). (...) While the participants to the first two editions of the
conference concentrated rather on the historical dimension of the relations,
the following editions brought together specialists from various fields and
adressed other aspects relevant to the present time, i. e. (...), the Balkan
organised crime in Nordic Europe, (...), the minorities in the
Baltic Sea area and in the Balkans, (...).
Conference programme
(...)
Friday, 7 June 2019
(...)
Panel 9 Distorded mirrors? The Black Sea Region as a
space of discord and entanglement
dr. Metin Omer (OUC), Who`s to blame? Searching the culprit for the emigration of the Muslims from Romania to Turkey (1923-1940)
In the interwar period, about 115,000 Turks and
Tatars emigrated from Romania to Turkey. Until 1936 when a Convention
on emigration was signed between the two states, the phenomenon was a
reason for disagreement in the Romanian-Turkish relations. The main
reason was to identify the cause of emigration. Romanian officials tried to
show the policies of the Republic of Turkey to attract the Turks from
the Balkans are the main reason why Turks and Tatars of Dobrudja choose to
go to Anatolia, while the leaders of Ankara accused Bucharest of
continuous abuses to which the Muslim population was subjected to which left them
with no choice to emigrate.
Actually, the reasons were complexes. The two
countries`
politicians which accused one another had their own resons to exculpate
themselves. In the case of Romania, it was an inage problem. In South Dobrudja,
Romania was facing accuses from the Bulgarian population which was complaining
about not respecting their rights. To argue for their complaints, Bulgarians
were using the emigration of Muslims, in their perspective the Romanian
nationalist policies being the cause of phenomenon. Therefore, officials from
Bucharest, in their defence, tried to show that the emigration of Muslims
not nothing to do with the Romanian state but was a consequence of policies guided
by Ankara. On the other hand, Turkish officials, facing the obvious
emigration tried to reach an agreement with Bucharest as as favourable as
possible.
In our presentation, we will try to see to whar extent
the accuses of both sides were real, what were effects on bilateral realtions,
what was consensus the Romanian and Turkish officials finally reached
and find out the reasons that actually determined the emigration of Turks
and Tatars of Romania to Turkey. Fot this purpose, we will use unpublished
documents from Romanian and Turkish archives, the press from the two
countries and of the Tatar and Turkish community from Romania.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emanuel Plopeanu (OUC), The
Muslim Community from Dobrudja in the Communist Period
The Muslim Community defines, of course, the Turks and
Tatars from Dobrudja, two historical communities. The traces of the activity
during the totalitarian regime can be found in the archives of the Romanian
Securitate, the omnipotent institution of political repression, since 1948 untill
the fall of Communism.
Both communities were investigated by Securitate and
members of them endured years of prison. Motives: Tatars were accusedfor their
suport of their brothers from Crimeea, in the context of Stalin`s deportations.
Turks were accusesd of espionage in favour of Republic of Turkey, an enemy
state. Until of middle of the 80`s, the teaching of Turkish and Tatar
languages was allowed în primary schooland religuous ones. However, after their
disappereance from the educational curricula, both communities had
refrained in enter into a hostile
relation with the State. Their religious authority continued to exist and Turks
an d Tatars lived same live as that of others Dobrudjan communities, including
the Romanian majority, as this paper seeks to demonstrate. When, in the 80`s, the
Turkish community from Bulgaria suffered public assimilation policies,
nothing of this kind happened with Turks and Tatars from Romania, especially
froma Dobrudja.
This paper seeks to identify the main traits of the
history of Muslim Community and how it understood and reacted to the main
changes that had an effect on their situation and status.