Sociocultural Conflicts and Ottoman Settlement Policies at the Balkan Wars

Migrations from Balkans to the Ottoman Empire continued for about 150 years; and peaked during the wars such as the 1877-78 Ottoman-Russian War and the Balkan Wars. Balkan immigrants with multi-ethnic, multicultural backgrounds and settling in with monocultural host communities faced hostility. We analysed these conflicts through official Ottoman archives, testimonies, and literary memoirs for the period of 1912 and 1917. Through the lenses of the conflict model of migration, we have explored the dynamic nature of migration processes in response to conflicts emerged between immigrants and local population in this period. We argue that Balkan immigrants faced insecurities arising from socio-cultural conflicts and this adversely affected the integration process.