The promotion of book titled Trade in Wartime: The Business Correspondence of an Ottoman Muslim Merchant Family by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aliye Fatma Mataracı was organized at the International University of Sarajevo on Thursday, January 12, 2017. The promotion was moderated by Prof. Dr. Mesut Idriz from Faculty of Law, International University of Sarajevo, and the promoters were Assoc. Prof. Dr. Edin Radušić and Assist. Prof. Dr. Amila Kasumović, both from Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo.
Dr. Mataracı’s work offers a snapshot of an Ottoman Muslim trading house integrated into international trade with its branches in Manchester, Istanbul and Rize in 1914, during the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the turbulent onset of WWI. It is based mainly on the information found in trading house’s correspondence which consisted of 355 folios, including 312 commercial letters, 32 invoices, and seven pages of debt records. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Edin Radušić referred to Dr. Mataracı’s work as “a serious analysis of primary sources contributing to the issue of identity policy of Young Turks and even more on the success of such policy.” Assist. Prof. Dr. Amila Kasumović emphasized the significance of Trade in Wartime as a micro-history offering its readers “not only insight into the history of commerce in the Ottoman Empire but also a chance to gain a better understanding of the mentality of Ottoman Muslim traders, a glance at their private world.”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aliye Fatma Mataracı has been affiliated with the Social and Political Sciences Program in Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at International University of Sarajevo since October 2011. In her program, she has been teaching History courses; among which are Early and Late Ottoman History, History of the Balkans, Social and Economic History of Europe, Historical Thought, Survey of Political History and so forth.
At the end of the ceremony, musician Koray Sıpçıkoğlu performed a recital, in which he played tunes from the hometown of the merchant family.
We use this opportunity to congratulate professor Aliye Fatma Mataracı for her significant contribution to literature.
