INTERNATIONAL BALKAN ANNUAL CONFERENCE (IBAC)

BOOK SERIES (3)

EDITORS

Prof. Dr. Mahir AYDIN

Assist. Prof. Metin ONVER

BOSNIA&
HERZEGOVINA
Common Histo11 and Multicullural Atmosuher in lhe Balkans

istanbul 2015
 FOREWORD
INTERNATIONAL BALKAN ANNUAL CONFERENCE (IBAC)
BOOK SERIES (3) Initially organized in Skopje, Macedonia in 2011, the academic gatherings entitled
International Balkan Annual Conferences (IBAC) aims at bringing the expert and promi-
nent scientists together for evaluating the past and future of the Balkans from various
perspectives, mainly of history, culture, literature, administration and economy, in order
to diagnose the problems, and to offer possible remedies, thus contributing to the peace
and stability in the region. Continuing in this respect the third conference was held in
Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovin~, between 10 and 13 October. Istanbul
University organized IBAC-2013 under a very successful partnership with the University
of Sarajevo and International University of Sarajevo. In this conference where the com-
mon history and multiculturalism of the Balkans was studied through Bosnia and Herze-
govina, a good deal of precious papers were delivered as was planned.
As a tradition, the articles prepared by the participants at IBAC Conferences are put
together in an individual book for the use of scientific world and concerned ones. Re-
leased as the third publication of the series, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Book contains 37
Editors
articles. A good number of articles in the book deal with the history, literature, economics,
Prof. Dr. Mahir Aydm making of the national identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina which mainly framed the sub-
Assist. Prof. Metin Unver ject of the Conference in 2013. Besides, there are articles in the book focusing on Balkans
• in general as well as such countries and areas as Bulgaria, Macedonia, Western Trace and
Cover Design and Composition Kosovo from different viewpoints in accordance with the aim ofIBAC Conferences.
~inasi Akgiin The articles in the book have been written by the reputable authors working at the
• universities and research centres in Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany) Albania,
Printed by Macedonia, Serbia and Greece. Therefore every one of the articles in the book fully bears
Anadolu Ofset their expertise and knowledge. The unique assessments and evaluations in the book re-
Davutpa~a Cad. Eminta~ Kaz1m Din~ol San. Sit. garding history, economy, the place in the international system of Bosnia and Herzego-
No: 81/87 Topkap1 - istanbul vina, and Balkans in general and some individual Balkan countries are noteworthy since
• they can make significant contribution to the hitherto existing literature and put a new
Print Date aspect.
Haziran 2015 By organizing such international gatherings and publishing the papers presented at
those gatherings for the use of scientific world, Istanbul University, with large number of
•
ISBN academic staff, the strength, energy, e:xperience and scientific capacity Once more proved
978-605-4684-78-6 that it is aware of its mission and responsibility without staying still to the developments
in the close regions and around the world. Seeing that Istanbul University plays a role so
pioneering and leading as always in this respect, itis a pleasing duty to share this pride and
happiness with the members of our university and larger scientific world. Istanbul Uni-
versity will continue to carry out its responsibility and get the next IBAC book consisting
of the articles presented at the Conference held in Bucharest, Romania published soon.

II
 SHAPING BRITISH PUBLIC OPINION ABOUT
THE BOSNIAN MUSLIMS DURING THE EASTERN
I CRISIS, 1875-1878
I'
Edin Radusic"
The paper reconstructs and deconstructs two images of Bosnian Muslims created
in the second half of the ]9th century. The first one was created by reports of William
R. Holmes, the British consul in Bosnia, and the second one was created on the basis
of accounts published in British newspapers and travelogues. These "facts" were given
by travel writers and publicists, such as the famous English archaeologist Arthur Evans,
British clergyman and publicist Malcolm MacColl, British travel writers and suffragists
Adeline Pauline Irby and G. Muir Mackenzie. These two largely contrasting images had
a significant impact in creating an attitude of the future of European (Bosnian and Her-
zegovinian) Muslims in the Eastern Crisis 1875-1878: on one side of the official British
policy, led by the Conservative cabinet; on the other side of the English public created
by William E. Gladstone's liberals. Indirectly, conceptually two fronts were created: one
for an empire and imperial concept (here specifically the Ottoman, Muslim empire) and
the other for a Slavic (Balkan) Christian nation and possible national Christian state.
The combination of interaction between these two factors produced a significant effect
on the fate of the Bosnian province and the Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) - atthe end of
Eastern Crisis in 1878 Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosnia's Muslims were occupied by
Austro-Hungary and given to this Empire to administer over them.
In this article I have put into focus a paradigmatic example of the never proven case
of impalement of Christians in Bosnia, which was used as the strongest evidence of the
barbaric nature of Muslims and the barbaric nature of the Muslim state.
***
The context of this concrete topic is the Bosnian question (or in a broader sense the
Eastern or even the Muslim question) in British policy. The important geo-political
position of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a large population of Slavic Muslims (who
were a significant segment of the Ottoman rule of the Province), strong interest and
claims over Bosnia-Herzegovina by Russia and Austro-Hungary (they frequently used
B&H Orthodox and Catholic population for their own aims), as well as the aspirations
of the neighbouring autonomous principalities Serbia and Montenegro to extend their
*Assoc. Prof., Sarajevo University, Faculty of Philosophy, Department of History,
e-mail: radusicedin@yahoo.com
1761
It.
territories on the expense of the Bosnian province, contributed to the specific position
of this country within the British foreign policy from the mid 19"' century to 1878. In
the contextualisation of this topic it is important to note that in Great Britain, as a par-
liamentary state, the influence of other state institutions and public opinion in building
of foreign policy was stronger than anywhere else in the World. It was because of this
that the creators of foreign policy (the Cabinet and Foreign Office), beside the official
information received from Foreign Office staff, they also had to take into consideration
domestic political attitudes (the Parliament's representative opinions, the Crown, press,
public opinion, as well as influential circles with commercial interests in the Levant). In
such a context the image of interested subjects created by influential newspapers were
even more important than the one created on the basis of official reports from the con-
sul and the embassy. The question of Ottoman rule in Europe (the Balkans) and the sta-
tus of Balkan Christians were a favoured one, especially in the time of the Eastern crisis.
The British foreign policy regarding the status of Bosnia and Herzegovina before
and during the Eastern Crisis 1875-1878 went through two phases. Tue first one,
starting with turmoil and ending by the signing of the San Stefano Peace Treaty, and
the second one from the time of San Stefano until the Berlin Congress. The charac-
teristic of the first one was staying on the course of guaranteeing the integrity of the
Ottoman Empire and keeping Bosnia and Herzegovina within that Empire along
with the conduction of reforms. Maximum concession would be administrative au-
tonomy on the local level, but not political autonomy for the Province. The second
phase of Britain's foreign policy was characterized by a totally different approach to
Bosnia-Herzegovina, and to the Eastern Question. At that time the British Govern-
ment worked on pushing Russia far away from Constantinople and the Straits, and
it turned to a minimal program in the Eastern policy. The new British policy saw
Bosnia-Herzegovina outside of the Ottoman Empire, and agreed to either annex-
ation to Austro-Hungary or occupation by the same Power. 1
Along with this change in official British policy, or even just before it, there
was a change in public attitude towards the Ottoman government (Muslim gov-
ernment) over the Balkan Christians. The prevailing attitude of the English public
had changed dramatically - from pro-Ottoman (consolidated by Lord Palmerston's
eastern policy and especially by the Crimean war) into anti-Ottoman (especially
after Gladstone's aggressive campaign of exploitation of the "Bulgarian atrocities"). 2
Thanks to his pamphlet Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East, published
1
About British policy in Bosnian province in the last two decades of Ottoman rule see: Edin RaduSiC,
Bosna i Hercegovina u britanskoj politici od 1857. do 1878. godine, Sarajevo, 2013.
2
See Right W E. Gladstone, Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East, New York, Montreal,
Toronto, 1876.
1177
BRITISH PUBUC OPINION ABOUT THE BOSNIAN MU SUMS
on the 6'h of September 1876, Gladstone finally returned onto the political scene. 3
He used "the Turkish massacres in Bulgaria'' to stop British support for the Ot-
toman position in the Balkans and starting to help the Balkan Slavic nations to
become independent. Soon after the crisis, as it is well known, the British Empire
under Gladstone was against the Ottoman Empire. Gladstone proposed the expul-
sion of the Turks from Europe. 4 International relations changed towards the end of
the Eastern crisis and altered the domestic public opinion, which Gladstone and
his Liberals brought into the anti-Ottoman (anti-Muslim) mood, which meant that
Ottoman rule in the Balkans lost British protection. The Balkan Muslims openly
became objects of policies of the great powers and the victims of the revanchism
of the Balkan Christian states. 5 Gladstone's "Balkan Christian orientation" was rec-
ognised by Balkan states and, for example, he received a vote of thanks from the
first Bulgarian National Assembly in 1878 for his role in the Bulgarian agitation
movement in Britain. 6
Bosnian Muslims have not fared much better than "real Turks" in creation of a
negative image of the "Turks" by "the Westerners". Bosnian Muslims fit to the given
frame prepared for the Turks. The issue of the Bosnian Muslims' identity and their
presentation to the creators of British politics and the British public became an im-
portant issue (such the questiou: Who are Bosnian Muslims, Asian Turks or Slavic
Europeans?). In that sense the religion of Bosniaks became crucial for the creation
of their image. This attitude to Ottoman Muslims has been, for example, shown by
Slovenian anthropologist Bozidar Jezernik. In his preface Stereotyping 'the Turk' to
the book Imagining 'the Turk', Jezernik noted: "In discussions on the image of 'the
Turk; stereotyping is a common practice in the west and in the east, from the very
beginnings of interactions between the Muslims and Christians, Turks represented
for the European the "other" par excellence:'.In his following sentence he showed
the importance of religion: "The greatest of all 'iron cnrtains' in history is that which
has separated, and still separates, the Moslem from the Christian world .. :''
3 W. T. Stead and the Eastern Question (1875-1911); or, How to Rouse England and Why? By Stepha-
nie Prevost, 654~1785-2-PB stephanieprevost, ... eastern question, p. 13.
4Medlicott thinks that this statement was related only to the Ottoman officials but not to all Muslims.
See: W N. Medlicott, Bismarck, Gladstone and the Concert of Europe, University of London, 1956,
p. 26.
5A modified approach of British politics to the integrity of the Ottoman Empire 1870s see in M.
Kent, Great Britain and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1900-1923, The Great Powers and the End
of the Ottoman Empire, ed. M. Kent, G. Allen and Unwin, London 1984, p. 172.
6W: T. Stead and the Eastern Question (1875-1911); or, How to Rouse England and Why? By Stepha-
nie Prevost, (654-1785-2-PB stephanieprevost, ... eastern question), p. 12.
7
Imagining 'the Turk', ed. B. Jezernik, Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2010, p. 7.
» Edi~ Radusic
Concretely, during the turbulent time of second half of the 19'h century a dou-
ble image of domestic Bosnian Mnslims was created: a positive one, created by the
official state representative (especially by William Holmes, the long time British
consul in Bosnia) and a very negative one (created by the "opposition" - Gladstone's
liberal politicians, journalists, travel writers ... ). What did they want to show? The
first, that it was possible to reform the Ottoman state using the "Enropean model';
that a righteous Islamic state was possible, and that Muslims were basically good
human beings but not cruel criminals and oppressors of Christians. The second
gronp wanted to show that the Muslim power in Europe was unsustainable, that the
Ottoman government helped by its loyal citizens (only Muslims?) was unjust and
based on the oppression of Christians, that they both (the authority and Muslim
popnlation) have a criminal character, and that they systematically committed cruel
and unimaginable crimes (like burning Christians as lambs or doing impalements).
They did all of this with the aim to show that Turks should be expelled from Europe.
This fight of creating images of "Turks" became especially relevant again after
the opening of the Eastern Crisis 1875-1878 and Gladstone's aggressive return to
the British political scene after the "Bulgarian atrocities''. The classification of the
Bosnian Muslims as "cruel Turks" was especially helped by some Britons who visited
Bosnia and who sent their "testimonies" to Britain and to the West, such as Arthnr
Evans, Dr. Canon Liddon, Malcolm MacColl, Miss Irby and Miss Mackenzie. Their
reports and writings were wisely exploited by Gladstone who used them to argue
the previous conclusion about the criminal character of the Ottoman Muslim state.
For example, he wrote a preface to the second edition of the book Travels in the-
Slavonic Provinces of Turkey-in-Europe written by Miss Irby and Miss Mackenzie.
This book created a very negative image of the "Turks" including "Bosnian Turks:•s
***
The activities that accompanied the appearance of reports of Malcolm MacColl
and Dr. Canon Liddon about the never confirmed and never proven cases of im-
palement of Christians in Bosnia were a kind of paradigm of the two images of Bos-
nian Muslims and Ottoman rule in the Balkans in general. It is interesting and im-
portant to note that the unilateral acceptance of attitudes on the case of impalement'
presented in "testimonies" written by Arthur Evans, Dr. Cano11 Liddon, Malcolm
Maccoll, Miss Irby and Miss Mackenzie were blindly<1ecepted and maintained in
8 Travels in the Slavot1ic-PrOvinces of Turkey-in-Europe, By Sebright, Georgina Mary Muir (Macken-
zie), London, 1877.
1179
BRITISH PUBLIC OPINION ABOUT THE BOSNIAN MUSLIMS
the Balkan historiographies, as well as in a part of European historiography.'
The case of impalements, and especially the impalement of a certain Rado Bujic
(Rado Buyich) in Bosnia, intensely reinforced the position of those who argued that
the cruelty of the Turks happenned and for the need of their expulsion from Europe.
Now, it was no longer a hazy case of violence. Now the victim had a name, the victim
had a face. So this case was supposed to strengthen the argument that cases of this kind
of barbarism were really taking place. This basic story on "the proved cases" of impale-
ments, minus a few details, was sent by Malcolm Maccoll to the Times from Belgrade
in the beginning of September 1876 and repeated in his book The Eastern Question
published in 1877.
"Dr. Liddon and myself passed down the Save on an Austrian steamer, having Bos-
nia on our right and Austrian territory on our left. On the Bosnian side of the river were
a number of Turkish military blockhouses - I think six in all - and one considerable
encampment at the junction of the Save and Drina. At each of these blockhouses was
a stake (at one of them there were two) about the height of a lamp-post, perhaps treble
the circumference of a salmon fishing- rod at the thick part, and tapering to a sharp
point. The stakes were in front of the blockhouses. Three of them were quite close to the
river, and one of them I saw at a distance of certainly not more than twenty yards. They
struck Dr.Liddon and myself as odd, and we could not guess what they were intended
for. The possibility of their being used for impalement never occurred to us. On passing
the second blockhouse Dr. Liddon asked the steward of the steamer, as a matter of curi-
osity, what the stakes meant, and was told, to his extreme surprise, that they were used
for impaling insurgents. The steward went into particulars, explaining that the victims
lived in their agony from eight hours to two days and a half.
At the third blockhouse there were two stakes, one of them, which was considerably
slenderer than its fellow, having a prong sticking out near the top. On my directing the
9As examples on the question of impalement which "occurred during the 1876 uprising" I will cite
the influential Serb historian Milorad EkmeCiC and historian J. Read. In the preface to the Yugoslav
issue of the Evans' travels published in 1965 M. EkmeCiC wrote: "Most of all, it was this book that
contributed to the British public to get acquainted with the real state of affairs in the Balkans. When
later the Turkish massacres in Bulgaria stopped the British to stubbornly support the Turkish posi-
tion and starting to help the Balkan Slavic nations to become independent, we should then consider
that the fear entered under the English skin, after all the mention of the Turkish atrocities, contrib-
uted to this work a lot." Artur DZ. Evans, Kroz Bosnu i Hercegovinu peSke tokom pobune avgusta i
septembra 1875, Veselin MasleSa, Sarajevo, 1965, p. 2. James Reid did not question the truth of this
kind of statements. He wrote: "Ottoman authorities used impalement in Bosnia and Herzegovina
during the 1876-1877 insurrections, and British Blue Book documented these instances according
to MacColl. MacColl himself witnessed an execution by impalement on the Save River with Dr.
Liddon." James Reid, Crisis of the Ottoman Empire: Prelude to Collapse 1839-1878., Franz Ateiner
Verlag Stuttgart, 2010, p. 441-442.
» Edin Radusic
attention of one of the officers of the steamer to these two stakes, he told me in Italian
(explaining that he was a native of Trieste) that they had been used for impaling Chris-
tians. I then asked if he could tell me the use of the prong on the slenderer of the two
stakes. 'Yes; he said. 'You see that stake is thinner than the other near the top. Well, the
weight of the body would drive it down too far upon the stake, and so produce death
sooner than the Turks wish. The prong, therefore, is intended to support the body, in
order to prolong the torture'. The fifth blockhouse was on the spur of a wooded hill,
some sixty yards above the river, and perhaps one hundred yards from the steamer;
certainly not more. In front of it, about six yards from the window, was one of the stakes
which I have described, and upon it a human figure, bareheaded, and with his arms
tied behind his back. This last circumstance has been carped at because I had stated,
on the authority of Bishop Strossmayer, that the victims were impaled with their faces
towards Austria, by way of insult to Christendom." 10These and other similar testimonies
had shaken the United Kingdom and turned its public into an anti-Ottoman mood.
By displaying a hostile attitude of the Turks and Islam to Christianity (Maccoll pre-
sented attitudes of Bishop Strossmayer as unquestionably accurate) newspapers such as
the Times and the Manchester Guardian placed the British in the Christian anti-Islam
camp. In this general frame of impalements in Bosnia, Malcolm MacColl put few cases
of impalements with concrete names. The most known was the case of impalement of
Rado Buyich near Novi (Bosnian town on the Croatian border) on the 10" of February,
1876, firstly published in Daily News-"
The British conservative magazine the Spectator, though it tried, had failed to im-
pose a multi-perspective approach of the British public to the question of Turkish cruel-
ty and to the case of impalement in Bosnia. 12 Even the Spectator's pointing to the official
reports of the British consulate in Bosnia, who presented "a different truth'; did not help
the Spectator in the fight against writings that created the image of "cruel Turks''. On
the 28"of October 1876 the Spectator repeated Consul Holmes's remark "that neither
the Consuls, the Turkish authorities, nor the people at Bosnia-Serai (Sarajevo) knew
anything of these matters (impalements)".1'
10
Malcolm Maccoll, The Eastern Question: Its Facts and Fallades, Longmans, Green, 1877, p. 358-360.
u Ibid., p. 369-370.
12
The Spectator discussed the case of impalement several times between 1876 and 1887. As examples
see: The Spectator, 3 June 1876, Page 9; 19 August 1876, Page 2; 14 October 1876, Page 10; 28 Oc-
tober 1876, Page 2; 20 January 1877, Page 4; 27 January 1877, Page 3; 17 February 1877, Page 3; 10
November 1877, Page 10; 19 October 1878, Page 8; 29 November 1879, Page 3; 26 November 1887,
Page 3; 3. 12. 1887, p. 14; 17 December 1887, Page 10.
" The Spectator, 28 October 1876, page 2 (The official Austrian and Turkish contradictions
of Dr. Liddon's and Mr. MacColl's account)
i
I'
11a1 I
 BRITISH PUB UC OPINION ABOUT THE BOSNIAN MUSUMS
Miss Irby and Miss Mackenzie also belong to the front against "the Turks". Miss
Irby, who spent long time in Bosnia to help Bosnian Christians and advocate for them,
sent her eyewitness account in a letter to the London Times. "In the month of May, the
Turks of Sauzki seized the Bosnian shepherds Vase Tube, Brankovich, and Oljaca of
Dobor, brought them up the wood near the Germech mountains, impaled them alive
and roasted them at a fire, whom we find the next day quite burnt to the stakes, and in
the presence of many insurgents certified their names:'I 4Miss Irby and Miss Mackenzie
jointly wrote about cruelty of Turks and repeated the story of impalements of Rado Bu-
jk in their book Travels in the Slavonic provinces of Turkey-in-Europe. "Many women
and children were killed a few days afterwards at Kobash, near which place three Chris-
tians were impaled two months later (The impalement witnessed by Canon Liddon and
Rev. M. Maccoll was no solitary instance on the banks of the Save):'Is
The story of impalements and other Turkish cruelties in Bosnia was reinforced by its
repetition in the writings of Archaeologist Arthur John Evans who visited Bosnia with
his brother Lewis at the beginning of the uprising in August and September of 1875.
Home again, Evans wrote of his experiences, working from his extensive notes and
drawings, publishing Through Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was so popular it came
out in two editions, 1876 and 1877. I' The English public accepted this book as back-
ground to the revolt in Bosnia. Evans was known overnight as an expert in the Balkan
affairs. He returned to Bosnia in 1877 as a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian.
His return on the scene of the uprising resulted in his reports for the Guardian and fi-
nally in his travel book lllyrian Letters. I' In all his writings about Bosnian affairs during
the Eastern Crisis he basically wrote about a righteous Christian revolt which was pro-
voked by the notorious cruelty of Ottoman authorities and especially of native Bosnian
Muslims against the native Christians. Evans' testimonies on "this cruelty'; helped to
I
turn the British Empire under Gladstone against the Ottoman Empire.
Evans as "an expert on the Balkans" really strengthened the story on the cruelty of
"Bosnian Turks" and the "facts" of repeated impalements in Bosnia. He also under-
lined the barbarian character of Bosnians preserved "by feudalism under a Mahometan
guise". He successfully tried to convince the British public that He wrote accounts of
"M. MacColl, Op. Cit.,, p 373; ). Reid, Op. Cit., p. 442.
15
Travels in the Slavonic provinces of Turkey-in-Europe, By Sebright, Georgina Mary Muir (Macken-
zie), Bell and Daldy, London, 1877;, p. 30.
16
Arthur Evans, Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on foot during the insurrection, London: Long-
mans, Green, and co. 187611877.
17
Arthur J. Evans, Illyrian Letters. Revised selection of the correspondence from the Illyrian provinces
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Dalmatia, Croatia, and Slavonia addressed to the Man-
chester Guardian during the Year 1877, London, 1878.
182 J 1183
» Edin Radusic
impalement in Bosnia were true and that the denials of the Ottoman authorities and
the British consul Holmes were absolutely worthless. Also, he aimed to show that this
case of impalement was not an isolated case. He wrote "For my own part I am credu-
lous enough to believe that the impaled figure seen by Canon Liddon and Mr. McColl
was not a scare crow; and further, that Bishop Strossmajer was well informed in stating
that this was by no means an isolated case. The recent instances attested by Miss Irby's
friends now set the matter beyond dispute. Impalement was common in Bosnia during
the disturbed times immediately preceding the Crimean war, and the supposition that
a time-honoured institution like this should in a few years time have died out in the
meet conservative country in Europe, is, a priori, extremely improbable. Barbarities like
these are characteristic of a certain stage of society.... Many of the tortures still practised
in Bosnia are an inheritance from pre-Turkish times, and should be considered in con-
nection with the general survival there of feudalism under a Mahometan guise. I•
On the other hand some of the British Consulate's reports created a positive image
of Bosnian Muslims. British consuls in Bosnia, especially long time consul William
Holmes, reported on the good conduct of Bosnian Muslims towards the native Chris-
tians during the crisis 1875-78 and before it. He also sent accounts on the good charac-
ter of native Bosnian Muslims. British consular official reports which spoke of the good
relations between Christians and Muslims, despite the existence of social differences
within Bosnian society, hardly reached the ear of the British public. Newspapers and
different kind of pamphlets (including some books), that in this century began to create
a strong public opinion, they were much more successful. They emphasized differences,
oppression and hatred.
British consular representatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina often pointed the good
relations between Muslims and Christians, particularly in Bosnia. The report of the
British consulate from October 1860 is a good example. Consul Holmes reported that
the fire caused extensive damage in the part of Sarajevo inhabited by Christians, after
which the first direct aid to the Christians was offered by the Muslims of the city. I' In
1873 Holmes summarized the relations among the Bosnian population, noting that
Christians were mostly peasants who work on farms of Muslim landowners, "with
which they are connected, and of which, in general, are treated fair and from whom
they expect support and protection in all their difficulties:' He felt that only the Chris-
tian traders did not like Ottomans and Muslim landowners.'°
On the "occasion of impalement': the first reports of British consular representatives
18 Arthur Evans, lhrough Bosnia and the Herzegovina on foot during the insurrection, London, 1877,
p. 259-260.
19
FO 1951625, Holmes-Bulwer, Sarajevo, October 291h 1860, no. 63.
°FO 195/1031, Holmes-Elliot, Sarajevo, January 12
2 1
h 1873, no. 3.
 BRITISH PUBLIC DPINION ABDUT THE BDSNIAN MUSLIMS » Edin Radusic

in Bosnia Holmes and Freeman were somewhat different. Responding to reports pub-
lished in the Times in early 1876, that some Christians in Bosnia were impaled, Holmes
wrote that impalement had not happened since he was nominated for the British consul
in Bosnia,21 while acting consul E. Freeman reported on 17'" of March 1876 that he re-
I
ceived information that "a certain Rado Buyich was impaled near Novi and exposed to
view for four days. Four other peasants have also been lately killed near Novi and their
heads exposed on stakes''. 22 Later Consul Holmes did further enquiries on this subject.
He enclosed a letter written to him by French Consul at Sarajevo de Vienne, who wrote:
"his explanation appears to me conclusive as to what Canon Liddon and Mr.Maccoll
really saw, namely a watchman who had mounted on his stake probably to look at the
steamer descending the Save. I suggested that these gentlemen might have seen the
remains of beans on stakes created to facilitate their drying .. :' Also, Holmes enquired
at Brod on the Save regarding impalements and could find no one of any denomination
who had so much as heard of anything of the kind. Then Holmes travelled down the
Save river in a same steamer which Canon Liddon (and MacColl) travelled. "I related to
the captain and officers what had been stated to that gentleman. The story was received
with general laugh and declared to have been undoubtedly a joke on the part of the offi-
cers of the steamer ... I asked the Captain, however, whether he thought it possible that
such atrocities could have occurred during a year without his having observed them. He
replied that it was utterly impossible .. :·. Consul Holmes also requested from the Austri-
an consul at Sarajevo to write to Bishop Strosmayer to ask for a definitive explanation as
to what he said to Canon Liddon and Malcolm Maccoll (extracts of copy of Strosmayer's
answer was also sent to the Foreign Office by Holmes). The Bishop did not specify what
he said to Canon Liddon and did not mention the word impalement but only stated in
general terms that "what he told the English gentlemen he had heard from trustworthy
sources:'" In the report from the 18'" of May 1877 Freeman confirmed certain cases
of outrages and massacres over Christians occurred at Glamotch and Otchievo,24 but
both of them stated (on the 30'" of May 1877) that, "after hearing and analysing the
conflicting testimony of a great many people, Rado Buyich was not impaled ... and that
Freeman was after all perfectly convinced that the cases reported to have occurred on
the banks of the Save by Mr. Maccoll are without any foundation in fact:' 25
On the 6"' of June Holmes sent Freeman's report on the "alleged impalement" of
Rado Buyitch at Dobrljin in February 1876. In the end, the British Consulate received
from the military governor of Croatia a report written by Austrian officers stationed on
the frontier in the neighbourhood of Novi. (Freeman attached the report written in the
Slavic language). It was a record of one investigation made by the Austrian authorities
at the Bosnian frontier which shows that the said Rado Buyich was not put to death by
impalement, but that his posse cut off his head when he was trying to escape after the
robbery of livestock. 26
Conclusion
British consular representatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina often pointed good
relations between Muslims and Christians, particularly in Bosnia. But British consul-
ar official reports, before the Eastern Crisis and during the Crisis of 1875-78, which
spoke about the good relations between Christians and Muslims, despite the existence
of social differences within Bosnian society, hardly reached the ear of the public. Trav-
elogues, newspapers and different type of pamphlets, which began to create a strong
public opinion in England, were much more successful. These kind of writings empha-
sized differences, oppression, hatred and cruelty. They especially insisted on impale-
ment because this way of dying caused the longest, most torturous death. It belongs to
an extreme form of sadism and could be enforced only by barbarians. Sharing stories
about impalement in Bosnia and other parts of "European Turkey" was supposed to
prepare the British for the expulsion of Turks from Europe.

21
Memorandum by Consul Holmes regarding the Affairs of the Herzegovina, Indosure in Elliot-Der-
by, Constantinople, March 10'" 1876, Turkey, No 3 (1876), no. 67, 40.
22
FO 195/1101, Freeman-Elliot, 17th March 1876, no. 17;Holmes-Derby, Sarajevo, 3rd November
1876, Turkey, No. 3 (1876), no. 961, 648-649; FO 78/2620, Holmes-Derby, Sarajevo, March 7'" 1877,
no. 10, Political.
23
FO 195/1143, Holmes-Elliot, A despatch sent from Constantinople, January 2nd 1877. "FO 195/1143, Holmes-Elliot, Sarajevo, May 30° 1877, no. 50.
24
FO 195/1143, Freeman-Elliot, Sarajevo, May 18th 1877, no 47. "FO 195/1143, Holmes-Elliot, Sarajevo, June 3" 1877, no. 57.

1185
BRITISH PUBllC OPINION ABOUT THE BOSNIAN MUSLIMS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Archive Documents
A. Public Record Office (London/United Kingdom)
Foreign Office (=FO)
195/625; 195/1031; 195/1101;78/2620; 195/1143; 195/1143; 195/1143; 195/1143.
II. Journals
The Spectator
III. Books and Articles
Evans, Arthur).; Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on foot during the insurrec-
tion, Longmans, Green, and co., London, 1876/ 1877.
Evans, Arthur).; Illyrian Letters. Revised selection of the correspondence from the
Illyrian provinces Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Dalmatia, Croatia, and
Slavonia addressed to the Manchester Guardian during the Year 1877, Longmans, Gre-
en and Co., London, 1878.
Evans, Artur Dz.; Kroz Bosnu i Hercegovinu peske tokom pobune avgusta i sep-
tembra 1875, Veselin Masle8a, Sarajevo, 1965.
Gladstone, William Ewart; Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East, New
York, Montreal, Toronto, 1876.
)ezernik, Bozidar (ed.); Imagining 'the Tur](, Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2010.
Kent, M.; "Great Britain and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1900-1923" The Great
Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire, ed. M. Kent, G. Allen and Unwin, London,
1984.
Maccoll, Malcolm; The Eastern Question: Its Facts And Fallacies, Longmans, Gre-
en, 1877.
Medlicott, W. N .; Bismarck, Gladstone and the Concert of Europe, University of
London, The Athlone Press, 1956.
Prevost, Stephanie; "W. T. Stead and the Eastern Question (1875-1911); or, How to
Rouse England and Why?", 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Cen-
tury, XVI, 2013.
Radusic, Edin; Bosna i Hercegovina u britanskoj politici od 1857. do 1878. godine,
Institut za istoriju, Sarajevo, 2013.
Reid, James; Crisis of the Ottoman Empire: Prelude to Collapse 1839-1878, Franz
Ateiner Verlag Stuttgart, 2010.
Sebright, Georgina Mary Muir (Mackenzie); Travels in the Slavonic provinces of
Turkey-in-Europe, Bell and Daldy, London, 1877.
AVUSTURYA i~GALi DQNEMiNDE
SARAYBOSNA'DA <;IKAN VATAN GAZETESi
VATANSEVER Mi i~BiRLiK<;i Mi?
Tufan Giindiiz*
Vatan Gazetesi 12 Eyliil 1884 yilmda Saraybosna'da Tiirkye olarak yayin hayatma
ba1lad1gmda Bosna-Hersek'in Avusturya idaresine b1raktlmas1 ve ijgalinin iizerinden
altI sene geymi1ti1. Ashnda gazete bir dizi problemin ortasmda yayin hayauna
ba1lam11t1. Boinaklann zihin diinyas1 karma-kan11k hale gelmi~, sosyal ve ekonomik
durumlar1 temelden sars1lm11, giivensiz, geleceginden kayg1 duyan ve her yere
savrulan bir yap1ya biiriinmiiilerdi. Avusturya idaresine ve dogal olarak yukar1dan
a1ag1ya dogru geli~en reformlara kar11 derin bir giivensizlik iyindeydiler. Olkede
idari yap1da gozle goriiliir degi1iklikler, din ve adetlerde degi1im ya1anacag1 korkusu,
toprak ve askerlik reformlan gibi ad1mlar Boinaklan tedirgin etmeye yettiginden
i1galin ilk aylanndan itibaren Osmanh topraklarma dogru biiyiik bir gay ba~lam1~tI 2 •
Buna mukabil Avusturya idaresi aqsmdan da durum iy ay!Cl degildi. Biiyiikdevletlerin
garantorliigiinde sadece idaresini teslim ald1g1 Bosna-Hersek'te yaianan s1ktntilar ve gay
hareketleri Avrupa'daki itibanm sarsmaya yetiyordu. Dahas1 ay1ktan gi:istermeseler bile
muhtemel bir Bo1nak-S1rp ittifakma kar11 Boinaklan kendi yanlanna yektne ihtiyacm1
duyuyorlard1. Fakat geliimeier heniiz Avusturya'mn lehine goziiktniiyordu. Buna ilave
olarak Bosna-Hersek topraklarmda yapilacak reformlarda yerel destegi saglamak ve
propaganda giiciinii elinde bulundnrmak iyin o yillarda en geyerli aray olan gazeteler
yoluyla bir tiir istimalet saglama yoluna gitmek istiyordn. Tiirkye bir gazete yaymlanmas1
bu amaca uygun olabilir miydi? Mustafa Hilmi Haciomerovis: Mehmed Beg Kapetanoviy,
Mustafa Hayrudin Beg Fadilpajiy, Mehmed Nezir, Ahmed Sabit, Sunullah Sokoloviy,
YusnfHakkt Filipoviy, ibrahim Beg B~agiy, Mehmed Ra1idagiy ve Mulaga Merhemiy'ten
meydana gelen yaz1 kadrosu Boinaklar iizerinde giis:lii bir etki yaratabilir miydi?
Vatan gazetesi aslmda yakla11k yedi yil once Hersek Vilayetinde T'iirkye yaymlanm11
olan Neretva gazetesinin devam1 niteligindeydi. <;:iinkii gazete ilk sayismda daha i:ince
ara verdigi yaym hayatma at1flar yaparak okuyucusuyla yeniden bulu1tugunu ifade
*Prof. Dr. Hacettepe Oniversitesi Tiirkiyat Ara~tlrmalar1 Enstiti.isi.i, e-mail: tufan@hacettepe.edu.tr
1 Vatan Gazetesi hakktnda geni§ bir degerlendirme i<;:in §U makaleye baknuz: Gene;: Osman
Gec;:er, "i§gal Sonras1 Bosna-Hersek'te Goe; Olgusunun Vatan Gazetesine Yans1malan': TOBAR,
XXVIII-/2010-Gliz.
2Bosna Hersek'ten GOc;ler konusunda ~u iki kitaba baktnrz: Tufan Giindiiz, Alahimanet Bosna,
Bosna-Hersek'ten Osmanlt Topraklanna GOt;ler 1879-1912, istanbul 2012; Fahriye Erngili, Yeniden
Kurulan Hayatlar, Bo~naklann Tilrkiye'ye GOt;leri 1878-1934, istanbul 2012.
1187