If you're a resident of Istanbul, or any other place nearby, keep free the afternoon of June 27, 2008. For at the Netherlands Institute in Turkey ("NIT"; Istiklal Cd., Nuru Ziya sk. 5) there will take place the following event: The Ottoman Balkans: a symposium in honour of Machiel Kiel. With presentations by Rossitza Gradeva, Zeynep Ahunbay, Grigor Boykov, Mariya Kiprovska, Ilknur Kolay, Kemal Eyupgiller, Stephen Lewis, and myself, we will revisit the Balkans from the early Ottoman period and its monuments by and for beys and dedes up to the 21st century, and news about the reconstructions of such emblematic buildings as the "Coloured Mosque" at Foca. More information is to follow here briefly. For any kind of information upfront, please don't hesitate contact the organizers Maximilian Hartmuth or Ayse Dilsiz.

In Prishtina, which, after the declaration of Kosovo's independece meets increased interest by Croatian investors, the Balkans' highest skyscraper is to be built. The tender has been won by the Croatian company "Konstruktor" (...sounds like a character from Masters of the Universe), who will erect a 165m high structure. To be the biggest business project in Europe's newest capital city, the complex will encompass a business centre, a residential area, and a mall (more here). A different kind of landmark will rise in Istanbul: On the spot where the prominent journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated last year a statue (of a dove) will be crafted by the sculptor Mehmet Aksoy. The background to the dove motif is a sentence written by Dink a week before his death: "Doves are not killed in this country." (Slightly) more here.

Steve Lewis has published a mini-review of Heath Lowry's new book The Shaping of the Ottoman Balkans, 1350-1550: The Conquest, Settlement & Infrastructural Development of Northern Greece. I might comment on the same book here at a later point. Another recent publication: Neval Konuk's Midilli, Rodos, Sakiz ve Istanköy'de Osmanli Mimarisi /Ottoman Architecture in Lesvos, Rhodes, Chios and Kos Islands. According to the author (here, in Turkish), this work (limited to 2000 copies) was based on 1,5 yrs of fieldwork, and presents 30 religious monuments, 19 funerary monuments, 6 fortresses, 5 gov'tal  and 10 educational buildings, 6 hamams, 28 fountains, and 10 mansions.

During my recent visit to Skopje, I overheard people on the vegetable market inquire whether the tomatoes to be bought were from Veles or not. The reason: health alert. In a recent article in SETimes, Veles is referred to as "the most polluted city in Macedonia" due to its lead and zinc smelter. The good news: Following an NGO initiative, the old factory is now to be dismantled, and Veles will undergo a major cleanup. The factory was, in fact, abandonded already in 2003, but even after its closure raised levels of lead and cadmium were found in air, soil, and water. The 45-ha area around the smelter is now to be ridded of contamination with heavy metals.

From 17-22 June, at Bilkent University in Ankara, will take place the 11th Int'l Congress of Social and Economic History of Turkey. A bit too my surprise (I expected more on taxation and censuses...), there is a considerable number of presentations with rather interesting titles, of which a brief survey/selection shall be given here: