The Eastern Question: Diplomacy, Historical Narratives and Perceptions

Event: Colloquium
Location: NEC conference room
23 October 2025, 9.45–16.00
24 October 2025, 10.00–15.30
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
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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.