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96-718: The Balyan family ( Armenian : Պալեաններ ; Turkish : Balyan ailesi ) was a prominent Armenian family in the Ottoman Empire of court architects in the service of Ottoman sultans and other members of the Ottoman dynasty during the 18th and 19th centuries. For five generations, they designed and constructed numerous major buildings in the Ottoman Empire , including palaces , mansions , konaks , kiosks , yalis , mosques , churches , and various public buildings, mostly in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul ). Bali or Balen

192-520: A consistent Proto-Indo-European pattern distinct from Iranian, and that the inflectional morphology was different from that of Iranian languages. The hypothesis that Greek is Armenian's closest living relative originates with Holger Pedersen (1924), who noted that the number of Greek-Armenian lexical cognates is greater than that of agreements between Armenian and any other Indo-European language. Antoine Meillet (1925, 1927) further investigated morphological and phonological agreement and postulated that

288-558: A heart attack in 1866 while conversing with friends. Garabet's notable works: Nigoğayos Balyan ( Armenian : Նիկողայոս Պալեան ; also known as Nigoğos Balyan; 1826–1858) was the first son of Garabet Armira Balyan. In 1843, he was sent to Paris together with his brother Sarkis to study architecture at the Collège Sainte-Barbe de Paris . Due to an illness, however, he and his brother had to return to Istanbul in 1845. Working alongside his father Garabet, Nigoğayos gained experience. He

384-468: A loan from Armenian (compare to Armenian եւ yev , ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi ). Other loans from Armenian into Urartian includes personal names, toponyms, and names of deities. Loan words from Iranian languages , along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led some linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that

480-425: A network of schools where modern Armenian was taught, dramatically increased the rate of literacy (in spite of the obstacles by the colonial administrators), even in remote rural areas. The emergence of literary works entirely written in the modern versions increasingly legitimized the language's existence. By the turn of the 20th century both varieties of the one modern Armenian language prevailed over Grabar and opened

576-479: A result of nationalist uprisings and European intervention. Mahmud ascended the throne following an 1808 coup which deposed his half-brother Mustafa IV . Early in his reign, the Ottoman Empire ceded Bessarabia to Russia at the end of the 1806–1812 Russo-Turkish War . Greece waged a successful war of independence that started in 1821 with British, French and Russian support, and Mahmud was forced to recognize

672-552: A similar, but plain, fez to distinguish them from the military. He planned for the population to adopt this as well, as he desired a homogeneous look for Ottoman society with an 1829 regulatory law. Unlike past Sultanic clothing decrees and those of other societies, Mahmud II wanted all levels of government and civilians to look the same. He faced significant resistance to these measures specifically from religious groups, laborers, and military members because of traditional, religious, and practical reasons. Mahmud II's portraits also give

768-496: A valuable insight into his clothing mentality, as he switched to a more European style and fez after 1826. On top of these reforms, Mahmud II was also critical in the establishment and flourishing of an Ottoman foreign affairs office. While he built upon Selim III 's foundational elements of international diplomacy, Mahmud II was the first to create the title of Foreign Minister and Undersecretary in 1836. He placed enormous importance on this position and equated salary and rank with

864-475: A window and climb onto the roof of the harem. He apparently ran to the roof of the Third Court where other pages saw him and helped him come down with pieces of clothes that were quickly tied together as a ladder. By this time one of the leaders of the rebellion, Alemdar Mustafa Pasha arrived with his armed men, and upon seeing the dead body of Selim III proclaimed Mahmud as padishah . The slave girl Cevri Kalfa

960-493: Is Dolmabahçe Palace , which he built in collaboration with his son Nigoğayos. Another notable architectural work of his is Beylerbeyi Palace , which was built in cooperation with his other son Sarkis. Garabet Balyan was also active in the Armenian community's educational and administrative matters and carried out research work on Armenian architecture. His four sons, Nigoğayos, Sarkis, Hagop, and Simon, succeeded him after he died of

1056-545: Is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages . It is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological changes within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization , although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups. Some linguists tentatively conclude that Armenian, Greek (and Phrygian ), Albanian and Indo-Iranian were dialectally close to each other; within this hypothetical dialect group, Proto-Armenian

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1152-545: Is clearly the dialect to be most closely related to Armenian. Eric P. Hamp (1976, 91) supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis and even anticipates a time "when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian" (meaning the postulate of a Graeco-Armenian proto-language). Armenian shares the augment and a negator derived from the set phrase in the Proto-Indo-European language * ne h₂oyu kʷid ("never anything" or "always nothing"),

1248-469: Is derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥ǵipyós , with cognates in Sanskrit (ऋजिप्य, ṛjipyá ), Avestan ( ərəzifiia ), and Greek (αἰγίπιος, aigípios ). Hrach Martirosyan and Armen Petrosyan propose additional borrowed words of Armenian origin loaned into Urartian and vice versa, including grammatical words and parts of speech, such as Urartian eue ("and"), attested in the earliest Urartian texts and likely

1344-415: Is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. There are words used in Armenian that are generally believed to have been borrowed from Anatolian languages, particularly from Luwian , although some researchers have identified possible Hittite loanwords as well. One notable loanword from Anatolian is Armenian xalam , "skull", cognate to Hittite ḫalanta , "head". In 1985,

1440-553: Is now known of Turkish archery. Mahmud II died of tuberculosis , in 1839. His funeral was attended by crowds of people who came to bid the Sultan farewell. His son Abdulmejid I succeeded him and announce an intention of general reorganization (Tanzimat) with the Edict of Gülhane . Among his reforms are the edicts (or firmans ), by which he closed the Court of Confiscations, and took away much of

1536-571: Is the working language. Armenian (without reference to a specific variety) is officially recognized as a minority language in Cyprus , Hungary , Iraq , Poland , Romania , and Ukraine . It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . Mahmud II Mahmud II ( Ottoman Turkish : محمود ثانى , romanized :  Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî , Turkish : II. Mahmud ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839)

1632-458: The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (11–14th centuries) resulted in the addition of two more characters to the alphabet (" օ " and " ֆ "), bringing the total number to 38. The Book of Lamentations by Gregory of Narek (951–1003) is an example of the development of a literature and writing style of Old Armenian by the 10th century. In addition to elevating the literary style and vocabulary of

1728-553: The Armenian genocide , mostly in the diaspora ). The differences between them are considerable but they are mutually intelligible after significant exposure. Some subdialects such as Homshetsi are not mutually intelligible with other varieties. Although Armenians were known to history much earlier (for example, they were mentioned in the 6th-century BC Behistun Inscription and in Xenophon 's 4th century BC history, The Anabasis ),

1824-631: The Greek language , the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages . Graeco-Aryan unity would have become divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-3rd millennium BC. Conceivably, Proto-Armenian would have been located between Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian, consistent with the fact that Armenian shares certain features only with Indo-Iranian (the satem change) but others only with Greek ( s > h ). Graeco-Aryan has comparatively wide support among Indo-Europeanists who believe

1920-631: The Indo-European homeland to be located in the Armenian Highlands , the " Armenian hypothesis ". Early and strong evidence was given by Euler's 1979 examination on shared features in Greek and Sanskrit nominal flection. Used in tandem with the Graeco-Armenian hypothesis, the Armenian language would also be included under the label Aryano-Greco-Armenic , splitting into Proto-Greek/Phrygian and "Armeno-Aryan" (ancestor of Armenian and Indo-Iranian ). Classical Armenian (Arm: grabar ), attested from

2016-531: The Kafes after the death of his father. In 1808, Mahmud II's predecessor, and half-brother, Mustafa IV ordered his execution along with his cousin, the deposed Sultan Selim III , in order to defuse the rebellion. Selim III was killed, but Mahmud was safely kept hidden by his mother and was placed on the throne after the rebels deposed Mustafa IV. The leader of this rebellion, Alemdar Mustafa Pasha , later became Mahmud II's vizier . There are many stories surrounding

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2112-528: The Mekhitarists . The first Armenian periodical, Azdarar , was published in grabar in 1794. The classical form borrowed numerous words from Middle Iranian languages , primarily Parthian , and contains smaller inventories of loanwords from Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, Arabic, Mongol, Persian, and indigenous languages such as Urartian . An effort to modernize the language in Bagratid Armenia and

2208-617: The Paşas , the Ağas , and other officers, were enjoined that "they should not presume to inflict, themselves, the punishment of death on any man, whether Raya or Turk, unless authorized by a legal sentence pronounced by the Kadı , and regularly signed by the judge." Mahmud also created an appeal system whereby a criminal could lodge an appeal to one of the Kazasker (chief military judge) of Asia or Europe, and finally to

2304-408: The 5th century to the 19th century as the literary standard (up to the 11th century also as a spoken language with different varieties), was partially superseded by Middle Armenian , attested from the 12th century to the 18th century. Specialized literature prefers "Old Armenian" for grabar as a whole, and designates as "Classical" the language used in the 5th century literature, "Post-Classical" from

2400-600: The Abkhazian coast. In return, the Sultan accepted the Russian annexation of the Kingdom of Imereti , in 1810. The treaty was approved by Emperor Alexander I of Russia on 11 June, some 13 days before Napoleon's invasion began. The Russian commanders were able to get many of their soldiers in the Balkans back to the western areas of the empire before the expected attack of Napoleon. During

2496-481: The Armenian language by adding well above a thousand new words, through his other hymns and poems Gregory paved the way for his successors to include secular themes and vernacular language in their writings. The thematic shift from mainly religious texts to writings with secular outlooks further enhanced and enriched the vocabulary. "A Word of Wisdom", a poem by Hovhannes Sargavak devoted to a starling, legitimizes poetry devoted to nature, love, or female beauty. Gradually,

2592-460: The Hurro-Urartian and Northeast Caucasian origins for these words and instead suggest native Armenian etymologies, leaving the possibility that these words may have been loaned into Hurro-Urartian and Caucasian languages from Armenian, and not vice versa. A notable example is arciv , meaning "eagle", believed to have been the origin of Urartian Arṣibi and Northeast Caucasian arzu . This word

2688-520: The Mason ( Turkish : Meremmetçi Bali Kalfa or Meremmetçi Balen Kalfa ), a masonry craftsman from the Belen village of Karaman in central Anatolia , was the founder of the dynasty. He moved to Istanbul, where he learned of an Armenian palace architect of Sultan Mehmed IV (1648–1687), whom he met and replaced, being Armenian himself. When Bali died in 1725, his son Magar took his place as architect at

2784-498: The Ottoman Empire and had immediate effects on social and legal aspects of life in the Empire, such as European style clothing, architecture, legislation, institutional organization, and land reform. He was also concerned for aspects of tradition. He made great efforts to revive the sport of archery. He ordered archery master Mustafa Kani to write a book about the history, construction, and use of Turkish bows , from which comes most of what

2880-656: The Russian Empire), removed almost all of their Turkish lexical influences in the 20th century, primarily following the Armenian genocide . In addition to Armenia and Turkey, where it is indigenous , Armenian is spoken among the diaspora . According to Ethnologue , globally there are 1.6 million Western Armenian speakers and 3.7 million Eastern Armenian speakers, totalling 5.3 million Armenian speakers. In Georgia, Armenian speakers are concentrated in Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki districts where they represent over 90% of

2976-404: The Russian and Ottoman empires led to creation of two separate and different environments under which Armenians lived. Halfway through the 19th century, two important concentrations of Armenian communities were further consolidated. Because of persecutions or the search for better economic opportunities, many Armenians living under Ottoman rule gradually moved to Istanbul , whereas Tbilisi became

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3072-815: The Soviet linguist Igor M. Diakonoff noted the presence in Classical Armenian of what he calls a "Caucasian substratum" identified by earlier scholars, consisting of loans from the Kartvelian and Northeast Caucasian languages . Noting that Hurro-Urartian-speaking peoples inhabited the Armenian homeland in the second millennium BC, Diakonoff identifies in Armenian a Hurro-Urartian substratum of social, cultural, and animal and plant terms such as ałaxin "slave girl" ( ← Hurr. al(l)a(e)ḫḫenne ), cov "sea" ( ← Urart. ṣûǝ "(inland) sea"), ułt "camel" ( ← Hurr. uḷtu ), and xnjor "apple (tree)" ( ← Hurr. ḫinzuri ). Some of

3168-449: The Sultan himself, if the criminal chose to pursue the appeal even further. About the same time that Mahmud II ordained these changes, he personally set an example of reform by regularly attending the Divan, or state council, instead of abstaining from attendance. The practice of the Sultan avoiding the Divan had been introduced as long ago as the reign of Suleiman I , and was considered one of

3264-673: The Sultan was allowed to be retained by Dere Beys . One of his most notable achievement was the abolition (through use of military force, execution and exile, and banning of the Bektashi order) of the Janissary corps, event known as The Auspicious Incident , in 1826 and the establishment of a modern Ottoman army, named the Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye (meaning 'Victorious Soldiers of Muhammad' in Ottoman Turkish). Following

3360-783: The Surp Asdvadzazdin Armenian Church in Ortaköy (1824). Garabet Amira Balyan ( Armenian : Կարապետ Պալեան ; 1800–1866) was born in Constantinople. At his father's death, he was very young and not experienced enough to take over his father's position by himself. Thus he served alongside his uncle-in-law Mason Ohannes Serveryan. Garabet served during the reigns of Mahmud II (1808–1839), Abdul Mecid I (1839–1861), and Abdulaziz (1861–1876), and constructed numerous buildings in Istanbul. The best known of his works

3456-459: The age of marriage: The 2006 historical detective novel The Janissary Tree , by Jason Goodwin , is set in 1836 Constantinople, with Mahmud II's modernising reforms (and conservative opposition to them) forming the background of the plot. The Sultan himself and his mother appear in several scenes. The 1989 film Intimate Power , also known as The Favorite , is adapted from a historical fiction novel by Prince Michael of Greece . It portrays

3552-555: The army personally. Preparing to do so, he appeared, ill-advisedly, not on horseback but in a carriage. In the Divan , British and French ambassadors urged him to sue for peace. In 1839, just prior to his death, he began preparations for the Tanzimat reform era which included introducing a Council of Ministers or the Meclis-i Vukela . The Tanzimat marked the beginning of modernization in

3648-442: The bureaucracy in order to reestablish royal authority and increase the administrative efficiency of his government. This was accomplished by abolishing old offices, introducing new lines of responsibility, and raised salaries in an attempt to end bribery. In 1838 he founded two institutions aimed towards training government officials. In 1831, Mahmud II also established an official gazette, Takvim-i Vekayi (Calendar of Events). This

3744-404: The causes of the decline of the Empire by a Turkish historian nearly two centuries before Mahmud II's time. Mahmud II also addressed some of the worst abuses connected with the vakıfs , by placing their revenues under state administration (see Ministry of Evkaf ). However, he did not venture to apply this vast mass of property to the general purposes of the government. His modernizations included

3840-434: The center of Armenians living under Russian rule. These two cosmopolitan cities very soon became the primary poles of Armenian intellectual and cultural life. The introduction of new literary forms and styles, as well as many new ideas sweeping Europe, reached Armenians living in both regions. This created an ever-growing need to elevate the vernacular, Ashkharhabar, to the dignity of a modern literary language, in contrast to

3936-504: The circumstances of his attempted murder. A version by the 19th-century Ottoman historian Ahmed Cevdet Pasha gives the following account: one of his slaves, a Georgian girl named Cevri, gathered ashes when she heard the commotion in the palace surrounding the murder of Selim III. When the assassins approached the harem chambers where Mahmud was staying, she was able to keep them away for a while by throwing ashes into their faces, temporarily blinding them. This allowed Mahmud to escape through

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4032-432: The deaths of these two, he continued his work with the younger brother Hagop. Sarkis won greater fame than Hagop because he constructed the structures his brother designed. Sarkis is also known as the designer of many buildings. Known as a fast worker, his professional life was interrupted by the death of brother Hagop in 1875 and by Abdülhamid II 's accession to the throne (1876–1909). Due to political accusations, he

4128-456: The difficulties that came along with these actions, the expansion of diplomacy increased the transmission of ideas that would have a revolutionary effect on the development of bureaucracy and Ottoman society as a whole. Mahmud II had at least nineteen consorts: Mahmud had at least eighteen sons, of which only two lived to adulthood: Mahmud II had at least nineteen daughters, but only six survived infancy and only four reached

4224-569: The early years of Mahmud II's reign, his governor of Egypt Muhammad Ali Pasha successfully waged the Ottoman-Saudi War and reconquered the holy cities of Medina (1812) and Mecca (1813) from the First Saudi State . Abdullah bin Saud and the First Saudi State had barred Muslims from the Ottoman Empire from entering the holy shrines of Mecca and Medina ; his followers also desecrated

4320-421: The eastern half of Moldavia to Russia (which renamed the territory as Bessarabia ), although it had committed to protecting that region. Russia became a new power in the lower Danube area, and had an economically, diplomatically, and militarily profitable frontier. In Transcaucasia , the Ottoman Empire regained nearly all it had lost in the east: Poti , Anapa and Akhalkalaki . Russia retained Sukhum-Kale on

4416-703: The establishment of a European-style conscript army, recruited mainly from Turkish speakers of Rumelia and Asia Minor. Mahmud was also responsible for the subjugation of the Iraqi Mamluks by Ali Ridha Pasha in 1831. He ordered the execution of the renowned Ali Pasha of Tepelena . He sent his Grand Vizier to execute the Bosniak military commander Husein Gradaščević and dissolve the Bosnia Eyalet . Another Russo-Turkish War (1828-29) broke out during Mahmud II's reign and

4512-565: The existence of the two modern versions of the same language was sanctioned even more clearly. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1920–1990) used Eastern Armenian as its official language, whereas the diaspora created after the Armenian genocide preserved the Western Armenian dialect. The two modern literary dialects, Western (originally associated with writers in the Ottoman Empire) and Eastern (originally associated with writers in

4608-567: The highest military and civilian positions. Mahmud II also expanded the Language Office and Translation Office , and by 1833 it began to grow in both size and importance. After the reorganization of these offices, he also resumed Selim's efforts to create a system of permanent diplomatic representation in Europe. In 1834, permanent European embassies were established with the first being in Paris. Despite

4704-425: The hypothetical Mushki language may have been a (now extinct) Armenic language. W. M. Austin (1942) concluded that there was early contact between Armenian and Anatolian languages , based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine gender and the absence of inherited long vowels. Unlike shared innovations (or synapomorphies ), the common retention of archaisms (or symplesiomorphy )

4800-615: The independent Greek state in 1832. The Ottomans lost more territory to Russia after the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829 , and Ottoman Algeria was conquered by France beginning in 1830. The Empire's continued decline convinced Mahmud to resume the reforms that were halted before he came to power. In 1826, he orchestrated the Auspicious Incident , in which the Kapıkulu were forcibly abolished and many of its members executed, paving

4896-496: The insolence and misconduct of the government collectors. The firman of 1834 abolished the old mode of levying it and ordained that it should be raised by a commission composed of the Kadı , the Muslim governors, and the Ayans , or municipal chiefs of Rayas in each district. Many other financial improvements were affected. By another important series of measures, the administrative government

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4992-464: The interests of the population at large were reflected in other literary works as well. Konsdantin Yerzinkatsi and several others took the unusual step of criticizing the ecclesiastic establishment and addressing the social issues of the Armenian homeland. These changes represented the nature of the literary style and syntax, but they did not constitute immense changes to the fundamentals of the grammar or

5088-434: The late 5th to 8th centuries, and "Late Grabar" that of the period covering the 8th to 11th centuries. Later, it was used mainly in religious and specialized literature, with the exception of a revival during the early modern period, when attempts were made to establish it as the language of a literary renaissance, with neoclassical inclinations, through the creation and dissemination of literature in varied genres, especially by

5184-646: The line Mahmudiye , which had 128 cannons on 3 decks and carried 1,280 sailors on board, was built for the Ottoman Navy at the Imperial Naval Arsenal ( Tersâne-i Âmire ) on the Golden Horn in Constantinople ( kadem , which translates as "foot", is often misinterpreted as equivalent in length to one imperial foot , hence the wrongly converted dimensions of "201 x 56 ft, or 62 x 17 m" in some sources.) During his reign, Mahmud II also made sweeping reforms of

5280-528: The loss of Greece after the Battle of Navarino against the combined British-French-Russian flotilla in 1827, Mahmud II gave top priority to rebuilding a strong Ottoman naval force. The first steamships of the Ottoman Navy were acquired in 1828. In 1829 the world's largest warship for many years , the 201 x 56 kadem (1 kadem = 37.887 cm) or 76.15 m × 21.22 m (249.8 ft × 69.6 ft) ship of

5376-560: The morphology of the language. Often, when writers codify a spoken dialect, other language users are then encouraged to imitate that structure through the literary device known as parallelism . In the 19th century, the traditional Armenian homeland was once again divided. This time Eastern Armenia was conquered from Qajar Iran by the Russian Empire , while Western Armenia , containing two thirds of historical Armenia, remained under Ottoman control. The antagonistic relationship between

5472-403: The now-anachronistic Grabar. Numerous dialects existed in the traditional Armenian regions, which, different as they were, had certain morphological and phonetic features in common. On the basis of these features two major standards emerged: Both centers vigorously pursued the promotion of Ashkharhabar. The proliferation of newspapers in both versions (Eastern & Western) and the development of

5568-526: The official status of the Armenian language. Eastern Armenian is the official variant used, making it the prestige variety while other variants have been excluded from national institutions. Indeed, Western Armenian is perceived by some as a mere dialect. Armenian was also official in the Republic of Artsakh . It is recognized as an official language of the Eurasian Economic Union although Russian

5664-468: The old effective military force, but had long ceased to serve this purpose. By attaching them to the public domains, Mahmud II materially strengthened the resources of the state, and put an end to a host of corruptions. One of the most resolute acts of his ruling was the suppression of the Dere Beys , the hereditary local chiefs (with power to nominate their successors in default of male heirs), which, in one of

5760-619: The oldest surviving Armenian-language writing is etched in stone on Armenian temples and is called Mehenagir . The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots in 405, at which time it had 36 letters. He is also credited by some with the creation of the Georgian alphabet and the Caucasian Albanian alphabet . While Armenian constitutes the sole member of the Armenian branch of the Indo-European family, Aram Kossian has suggested that

5856-469: The oppression of heavy taxes. In dealing with the complicated questions that therefore arose, Mahmud II is considered to have demonstrated the best spirit of the best of the Köprülüs . A firma dated 22 February 1834, abolished the vexatious charges which public functionaries, when traversing the provinces, had long been accustomed to take from the inhabitants. By the same edict, all collection of money, except for

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5952-474: The parent languages of Greek and Armenian were dialects in immediate geographical proximity during the Proto-Indo-European period. Meillet's hypothesis became popular in the wake of his book Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine (1936). Georg Renatus Solta (1960) does not go as far as postulating a Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage, but he concludes that considering both the lexicon and morphology, Greek

6048-407: The path to a new and simplified grammatical structure of the language in the two different cultural spheres. Apart from several morphological, phonetic, and grammatical differences, the largely common vocabulary and generally analogous rules of grammatical fundamentals allows users of one variant to understand the other as long as they are fluent in one of the literary standards. After World War I ,

6144-552: The population. The short-lived First Republic of Armenia declared Armenian its official language. Eastern Armenian was then dominating in institutions and among the population. When Armenia was incorporated into the USSR, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic made Eastern Armenian the language of the courts, government institutions and schools. Armenia was also russified . The current Republic of Armenia upholds

6240-447: The power of the Pashas . Previous to the first of the firmans, the property of all persons banished or condemned to death was forfeited to the crown; and a sordid motive for acts of cruelty was thus kept in perpetual operation, besides the encouragement of a host of vile delators . The second firman removed the ancient rights of Turkish governors to doom men to instant death by their will;

6336-555: The reforms. Mahmud II's later reformation efforts would be much more successful. After Mahmud II became sultan, Turkish border wars with the Russians continued. In 1810, the Russians surrounded the Silistre fortress for the second time. When Emperor Napoleon I of France declared war on Russia in 1811, Russian pressure on the Ottoman border diminished, a relief to Mahmud. By this time, Napoleon

6432-403: The relaxation of much of the restrictions on alcoholic beverages in the Empire, and the sultan himself was known to drink socially with his ministers. By the end of his reign, his reforms had mostly normalized drinking among the upper classes and political figures in the Empire. The financial situation of the Empire was troubling during his reign, and certain social classes had long been under

6528-436: The representation of word-initial laryngeals by prothetic vowels, and other phonological and morphological peculiarities with Greek. Nevertheless, as Fortson (2004) comments, "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces". Graeco-(Armeno)-Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family , ancestral to

6624-463: The similarities between the two languages meant that Armenian belonged to the Iranian language family . The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann (1875) used the comparative method to distinguish two layers of Iranian words from the older Armenian vocabulary . He showed that Armenian often had two morphemes for one concept, that the non-Iranian components yielded

6720-792: The sultan's court. Magar the Architect ( Turkish : Mimar Magar ) was charged with important projects and was consequently frequently promoted to higher ranks. However, as a result of a denunciation , he was driven away from the court of Sultan Mahmud I (1730–1754) to exile in the eastern Anatolian town of Bayburt . There, Magar taught his elder son Krikor architecture before being pardoned and returning to Istanbul. Following his retirement, his son Krikor took over his position. Magar's second son Senekerim collaborated with his brother Krikor. Magar died in Bayburt. Krikor Balyan ( Armenian : Գրիգոր Պալեան , also known as Krikor Amira Balyan; 1764–1831)

6816-512: The terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, but he suggests they were borrowed through Hurrian or Urartian. Given that these borrowings do not undergo sound changes characteristic of the development of Armenian from Proto-Indo-European , he dates their borrowing to a time before the written record but after the Proto-Armenian language stage. Contemporary linguists, such as Hrach Martirosyan , have rejected many of

6912-550: The throne. Other candidates included Esma Sultan , the head of the Mevlevi order in Konya , or a prince from the Giray dynasty of the former Crimean Khanate . The vizier took the initiative in resuming reforms that had been terminated by the conservative coup of 1807 that had brought Mustafa IV to power . However, he was killed during a rebellion in 1808 and Mahmud II temporarily abandoned

7008-466: The title Ser Mimar (Chief Architect of Ottoman Empire). Sarkis's notable works: Hagop Balyan ( Armenian : Հակոբ Պալեան ; 1838–1875) was the third son of Garabet Balyan. He worked alongside his brother Sarkis on various projects in Istanbul. Hagop died in Paris in 1875 at the age of 37; he was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery . Simon Balyan ( Armenian : Սիմոն Պալեան ; 1848–1894) was

7104-469: The tombs of Ali ibn Abi Talib , Hassan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali . Abdullah bin Saud and his two followers were publicly beheaded for their crimes against holy cities and mosques. His reign also marked the first breakaway from the Ottoman Empire, with Greece declaring independence following a rebellion that started in 1821. In the wake of continued unrest he had ecumenical patriarch Gregory V executed on Easter Sunday 1821 for his inability to stem

7200-585: The two regular half-yearly periods, was denounced as abuses. "No one is ignorant," said Sultan Mahmud II in this document, "that I am bound to afford support to all my subjects against vexatious proceedings; to endeavour unceasingly to lighten, instead of increasing their burdens, and to ensure peace and tranquility. Therefore, those acts of oppression are at once contrary to the will of God, and to my imperial orders." The haraç , or capitation-tax, though moderate and exempting those who paid it from military service, had long been made an engine of gross tyranny through

7296-525: The uprising. During the Battle of Erzurum (1821) , part of the Ottoman–Persian War (1821–1823) , Mahmud II's superior force was routed by Abbas Mirza , resulting in a Qajar Persian victory which got confirmed in the Treaties of Erzurum . Several years later, in 1827, the combined British, French and Russian navies defeated the Ottoman Navy at the Battle of Navarino ; in the aftermath, the Ottoman Empire

7392-490: The way for the establishment of a modern Ottoman army and further military reforms. Mahmud also made sweeping changes to the bureaucracy in order to reestablish royal authority and increase administrative efficiency, and oversaw a reorganisation of the Ottoman foreign office. In 1839, Mahmud introduced a Council of Ministers . He died of tuberculosis later that year and was succeeded by his son Abdulmejid I , who would continue to implement his modernization efforts. Mahmud II

7488-418: The worst abuses of the Ottoman feudal system, had made themselves petty princes in almost every province of the empire. The reduction of these insubordinate feudatories was not affected at once, or without severe struggles and frequent rebellions. Mahmud II steadily persevered in this great measure and ultimately the island of Cyprus became the only part of the empire in which power that was not emanating from

7584-800: The youngest son of Garabet Balyan. He was also an architect. Levon Balyan ( Armenian : Լեւոն Պալեան ; 1855–1925) was the son of Nigoğayos Balyan. He attended Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris in 1869. Buildings and structures designed and constructed by Balyan family members: Religious buildings Public buildings Production facilities Armenian language Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European Armenian

7680-576: Was about to embark on his invasion of Russia . He also invited the Ottomans to join his march on Russia. However, Napoleon, who had invaded all of Europe except the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire, could not be trusted and accepted as an ally; Mahmud rejected the offer. The Bucharest Agreement was reached with the Russians on 28 May 1812. According to the Treaty of Bucharest (1812) , the Ottoman Empire ceded

7776-571: Was appointed arts advisor to Sultan Abdulmecid I (1839–1861). He founded also a school for domestic architects in order to teach Western architecture. Nigoğayos worked together with his father on the building of Dolmabahçe Palace (1842–1856). He participated in the preparations for the Armenian National Constitution . Nigoğayos died in Istanbul in 1858 of typhoid fever at the age of 32. Nigoğayos's notable works: Sarkis Balyan ( Armenian : Սարգիս Պալեան ; 1835–1899)

7872-671: Was awarded for her bravery and loyalty and appointed haznedar usta , the chief treasurer of the Imperial Harem, which was the second most important position in the hierarchy. A plain stone staircase at the Altınyol (Golden Way) of the Harem is called Staircase of Cevri (Jevri) Kalfa, since the events apparently happened around there and are associated with her. Some of the Janissaries which brought Mahmud to power considered other candidates to put to

7968-408: Was born on 20 July 1785, in the month of Ramazan . He was the son of Abdul Hamid I and his Seventh consort Nakşidil Kadin . He was the youngest son of his father, and the second child of his mother, he had an elder brother, Şehzade Seyfullah Murad, two years older than him, and a younger sister, Saliha Sultan, one year younger than him, both dead in infancy. According to tradition, he was confined in

8064-656: Was close to Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808–1839). He was exiled in 1820 to Kayseri in central Anatolia , because of his involvement in a dispute between Gregorian and Catholic Armenians. He was pardoned and allowed to return to Istanbul shortly after a friend of his in the palace, Amira Bezjian. Krikor died in 1831 after serving the empire during the reigns of four sultans, Abdul Hamid I (r. 1774–87), Selim III (r. 1789–1807), Mustafa IV (r. 1807–8)), and Mahmud II (r. 1808–39). His young and inexperienced son Garabet Amira succeeded him. Krikor's major works include Senekerim Balyan ( Armenian : Սենեքերիմ Պալեան ; 1768–1833)

8160-528: Was forced into exile in Europe for 15 years, but eventually returned to Turkey through the intercession of Hagop Kazazian Pasha on his behalf. His most important work is the Valide Sultan Kiosk. Interested in all branches of the fine arts, Sarkis supported Armenian writers, musicians, and particularly theater actors. He was also a member of the Armenian Patriarchate 's Assembly. He was awarded

8256-538: Was forced to recognize Greece with the Treaty of Constantinople in July 1832. This event, together with the French conquest of Algeria , an Ottoman province (see Ottoman Algeria ) in 1830, marked the beginning of the gradual break-up of the Ottoman Empire. Non-Turkish ethnic groups living in the empire's territories, especially in Europe, started their own independence movements. One of Mahmud II's most notable acts during his reign

8352-552: Was fought without janissaries. Marshal von Diebitsch was armed (in the words of Baron Moltke) "with the reputation of invincible success". He was to earn the name Sabalskanski (the crosser of the Balkans). Bypassing the Shumla fortress, he forcibly marched his troops over the Balkans, appearing before Adrianople . Sultan Mahmud II maintained control of his forces, unfurled the banner of the prophet and declared his intention of taking command of

8448-416: Was simplified and strengthened, and a large number of sinecure offices were abolished. Sultan Mahmud II provided a valuable personal example of good sense, and economy, organising the imperial household, suppressing all titles without duties, and all salaried officials without functions. Mahmud II dealt effectively with the military fiefs, the " Tımar "s, and the "Ziamet"s. These had been instituted to furnish

8544-405: Was situated between Proto-Greek ( centum subgroup) and Proto-Indo-Iranian ( satem subgroup). Ronald I. Kim has noted unique morphological developments connecting Armenian to Balto-Slavic languages . The Armenian language has a long literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Another text translated into Armenian early on, and also in the 5th-century,

8640-666: Was the Armenian Alexander Romance . The vocabulary of the language has historically been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages , particularly Parthian ; its derivational morphology and syntax were also affected by language contact with Parthian, but to a lesser extent. Contact with Greek, Persian , and Syriac also resulted in a number of loanwords. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian (spoken mainly in Armenia) and Western Armenian (spoken originally mainly in modern-day Turkey and, since

8736-472: Was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the " Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms. His disbandment of the conservative Janissary corps removed a major obstacle to his and his successors' reforms in the Empire. Mahmud's reign was also marked by further Ottoman military defeat and loss of territory as

8832-562: Was the destruction of the Janissary corps in June 1826. He accomplished this with careful calculation using his recently reformed wing of the military intended to replace the Janissaries. When the Janissaries mounted a demonstration against Mahmud II's proposed military reforms, he had their barracks fired upon effectively crushing the formerly elite Ottoman troops and burned the Belgrade forest outside Istanbul to incinerate any remnants. This permitted

8928-444: Was the first member of the family to use the surname Balyan. He was called Baliyan or Balyan after his grandfather and later adopted this as the family name Balyan. He was the son-in-law of Mason Minas and father-in-law of Ohannes Amira Severyan, both of whom were palace architects. Krikor received his credential of architecture from Sultan Abdul Hamid I (r. 1774–87). He became unofficial advisor to Sultan Selim III (r. 1789–1807), and

9024-517: Was the first newspaper to be published in the Ottoman-Turkish language and was required reading for all civil servants. Clothing was also an essential aspect of Mahmud II's reforms. He began by officially adopting the fez for the military after the Janissary eradication in 1826, which signified a break from the old style of military dress. On top of this, he ordered civilian officials to also adopt

9120-490: Was the second son of Garabet Balyan. In 1843, he followed his elder brother Nigoğayos to Paris. He had to return to Istanbul in 1845 due to an illness of his brother. In 1847, Sarkis went to Paris again to attend Collège Sainte-Barbe de Paris, which he finished after three years. Later, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. After returning to Istanbul, Sarkis began working alongside his father and his brother Nigoğayos. Following

9216-573: Was the son of Architect Magar and the younger brother of Krikor Balyan. He worked together with his brother, but remained in the background. He rebuilt the Beyazit Fire Tower , which had been constructed in wood in 1826 by his brother Krikor, but destroyed after a fire. He died in Jerusalem and was buried in the Armenian church yard. Senekerim's works include the Beyazıt Fire Tower (1828) and

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