2026 Theses Bachelor's

To Remember Osman, Mehmed, Suleiman, and Kemal: Balkan Strategic Utilization of The Ottoman Past to Erode or Reinforce Ethnic Boundaries

Curgus Jr., Zoran

When do nations strategically utilize collective memory to manage intergroup relations? Current literature theorizes the possibility of including an ethnic out-group within a nation’s in-group through collective memory; however, there are few, if any, empirical studies to date that utilize this proposed theory, using qualitative analysis and quantitative metrics derived from archival material and historical data from the Balkan states of Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia. We find an association between the increase in explicit and implicit invocations of collective memory of the Ottoman Past during 20th-century ethnic separatist movements and rising ethnic turmoil. Ethnic tension serves as a precondition, allowing states a strategic choice to invoke or not invoke the Ottoman Past; nevertheless, this paper theorizes that the strategic decision to either erode (i.e., assimilate out-groups) or reinforce their ethnic boundaries is potentially associated with the Ottomanness of these nations’ ethnic out-groups. The paper’s findings differ from the proposed theory of Ottomanness acting as a condition determining the choice to erode or reinforce ethnic boundaries, and instead opens space for future research to explore conditions related to a nation or out-group’s international relations with other states, and the perceived threat level of these nations’ out-groups. Overall, this paper contributes to current literature via the following: (1) an empirical study on the erosion of ethnic boundaries between groups through collective memory, (2) a theorized perspective that nations can also reinforce ethnic boundaries through collective memory, (3) an additional theorized perspective that the Ottomanness of an out-group acts as a condition regarding a nation’s choice to erode or reinforce ethnic boundaries, (4) a comparative analysis of three distinct Balkan nation’s use of the Ottoman Past, and (5) areas for future research on conditions relating to an out-groups threat-level and nation’s international relations.

Keywords: Collective memory, Ottoman Empire, Balkan nationalism, ethnic separatism, intergroup relations