The Eastern Question: Diplomacy, Historical Narratives and Perceptions

Event: Colloquium

Location: NEC conference room

23 October 2025, 9.4516.00
24 October 2025, 10.0015.30

Convener: Daniel CAIN

Participants: Antonio d’ALESSANDRI, Constantin ARDELEANU, Daniel CAIN, Simion CÂLȚIA, Adrian-Bogdan CEOBANU, Lia BRAD CHISACOF, Andrei CUȘCO, Rudolf DINU, Özhan KAPICI, Serkan KEÇECI, Metin OMER, Viorel PANAITE, Ștefan PETRESCU, Bogdan POPA, Silvana RACHIERU, Ivan ROUSSEV, Dimitris STAMATOPOULOS, Aleka STREZOVA, Nikolai TODOROV

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87566810313?pwd=7I0saI0zZbWx7r6TmTEV264s9nhH4X.1

Meeting ID: 875 6681 0313
Passcode: 619699

 

PROGRAM

Thursday, 23 October 2025

9.45–10.00 Opening session
Chairman: Constantin ARDELEANU

10.00–10.30
Daniel CAIN (Bucharest)
The Danube Islands and Romanian-Ottoman Relations in the Mid-19th Century

10.30–11.00
Serkan KEÇECI (Izmir)
Manuc Bey Mirzaian: A Trans-Imperial Go-Between for the Sultan and the Tsar

11.00–11.30
Viorel PANAITE (Bucharest)
Some Clarifications regarding the Status of the Danubian Principalities between 1774-1829

11.30–12.00
Bogdan POPA (Bucharest)
Erudition for the Occident. G.A. Mano and his 1861 Book on the Eastern Question

12.00–12.30
Rudolf DINU (Rome)
Italy and the Oriental Crisis (1875–1879). A Special Diplomatic Perspective from the Italian Decision-Making Sphere

12.30–13.30 Lunch break

Session II
Chairman: Viorel PANAITE

13.30–14.00
Dimitris STAMATOPOULOS (Thessaloniki)
Reconsidering the Eastern: the Rise of the Hamidian regime and the Greek-Orthodox Elites of the Ottoman Empire

14.00–14.30
Constantin ARDELEANU (Bucharest)
Building Military Railroads in Romania during the 1877–1878 War

14.30–15.00
Silvana RACHIERU (Bucharest)
An Eastern Question – From “United Principalities of Moldavia and Walachia” to “Romania”: The Ottoman Perspective

15.00–15.30
Adrian-Bogdan CEOBANU (Iași)
A Crisis Postponed. The Plans of Russian Diplomacy in the Summer of 1866 

15.30–16.00
Simion CÂLȚIA (Bucharest)
Constructing the Romanian system of Honors (Orders and Medals). 1864-1914

Friday, 24 October 2025

Session III
Chairman: Daniel CAIN

10.00–10.30
Antonio d’ALESSANDRI (Rome)
The Eastern Question in Italian Politics. From Cavour to Depretis

10.30–11.00
Ivan ROUSSEV (Varna) and Nikolay TODOROV (Silistra)
Life Between Two Empires. The Migration Movements of the Bulgarians in the First Half of the 19th Century. Pretext and Context

11.00–11.30
Lia BRAD CHISACOF (Bucharest)
Highlights of the Eastern Question as Revealed by British Consular Documents

11.30–12.00
Aleka STREZOVA (Sofia)
The 19th Century Great Powers and the Balkans. The Berlin Congress and Its Consequences

12.00–13.00 Lunch break

Session IV
Chairman: Lia BRAD CHISACOF

13.00–13.30
Ștefan PETRESCU (Bucharest)
An Episode of Informal Diplomacy: The Aromanian Question and the Visit of Professor Ioan D. Caragiani to Constantinople in 1896-1897

13.30–14.00
Özhan KAPICI (Ankara)
The Romanian Question in Ottoman–Russian Relations after the Crimean War (1856–1878)

14.00–14.30
Andrei CUȘCO (Iași)
Between Two Crises: The “Eastern Question”, Russian Diplomacy, and the Romanian State (1909-1911).

14.30–15.00
Metin OMER (Constanța/Bucharest)
The emigration of the Muslim Population from Romania to the Ottoman Empire: Challenging Perspectives and Unreliable Statistics (1878-1914)

15.00–15.30 Closing session

Download the program as PDF.

This colloquium is organized in collaboration with the Institute for Southeast European Studies of the Romanian Academy.