The Second International Congress on the Economic History of the Ottoman Empire was held at the Euphrates University in Elazig, Turkey, from June 23 to 27, 2010. Elazig is located in Eastern Anatolia, in an area rich in ancient and medieval monuments, about 300 km from the border with Iraq, and the relatively young Euphrates University, which is a state university, is designed to provide training in one of the most remote areas of the country. In order to increase the prestige and importance of the university for the economic development of the region, it was chosen as the venue for the Congress on the economic history of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey, which has already received recognition after the first one, held two years ago in Istanbul.

The Congress was held on the campus of Euphrates University. More than a hundred scientists from Turkey, Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia, Egypt, the USA, Canada, and Russia took part in its work.

Public interest in the economic history of the Ottoman Empire is due to the rapid economic growth of modern Turkey, and the need to systematize a significant amount of accumulated information, analyze and understand the main directions of development of the country's economy throughout its history. The purpose of the congress was to draw lessons from the historical experience of the country's foreign and domestic trade and traditions in this branch of the economy that had developed by the beginning of the XX century, as well as to develop recommendations of the current government, taking into account the specifics of regional trade, economic and social relations. The organizers of the congress attracted a significant number of young scientists, many of whom graduated from Turkish universities with a degree in economic history. Apart from the main program of the congress, issues related to the methodology of economic history were discussed. According to the organizers of the congress, the methodology of studying economic history is still rather poorly developed and requires serious development in the future. The selection of thematic sections of the conference is also very interesting. The topics of the sections reflected the specifics and history of the most interesting and important sectors of the economy both for the Ottoman Empire and for modern Turkey. Thus, it was planned to analyze the historical experience of the development of certain areas of the economy for the progressive development of the country in the future.

The congress was held in the following thematic sections: "Agricultural production and prices"; "Economic policy, industrialization and the rise in the cost of living to the XX century"; "Financial and economic crimes and punishments among the Ottomans"; "Taxes and trade in the Turkic states before the Ottomans"; "Attitude of the population to collecting taxes from the Ottomans"; "Transport and Communications"; "Economic Policy and Economic Life"; "Loans, Debts and Loans in the Ottoman Society"; "Medieval Economic History"; "Ottoman Craft Associations"; "Regional Economies in the 19th Century"; "Economic Policy from Tanzimat to the Republic"; "Competition in the world of Ottoman Trade"; "Budgets from the Ottomans to the Republic"; "Trade and Financial Institutions and their Policies"; "Population, property and Production in the XIX century"; "History of Banking from the Ottomans to the Republic"; " Shipping and trade in the XIX century."; "Ottoman institutions of Waqf and Timar and provincial governance"; "Provincial Revenues and Treasury in the Ottoman Financial System"; "Privileged Groups and their Monetary Fortunes in the Ottoman Period"; "National Economy and Statist Thought from the first Constitution to the Republic"; "Ottoman-Russian (Trade) Relations"; "Ottoman County: Market and Artisans"; "Coins, money changers, and book prices."

The special value of the reports presented at the congress was that almost all of them were based on documentary sources from the Ottoman archives, which are little known to foreign researchers. The thematic selection of these materials, especially in the reports of Turkish scientists and those countries that were previously part of the Ottoman Empire, allowed us to give a fairly complete retrospective of the economic life of the Ottoman Empire and its relations with a number of neighboring countries and territories up to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.

Among the reports, we should mention a detailed review of sources on the Ottoman economic policy for four centuries, made by M. Bulut (University of Bashkent); a kind of continuation of this study, but in the Republican period was the report

M. Koralturka from the Marmara Sea University. The report of the Turkish scholar M. Cizakc "On the contribution of Ottoman trade and financial institutions to the modern Islamic financial and economic system" caused a sharp discussion. The report of the Albanian participant M. Entel "Peculiarities of trade development in Southern Albania in the XVIII - early XIX centuries" and the report of the Bulgarian Turkologist O. Sabev "On the role of printing in the development of the economy of the Ottoman Empire"were devoted to the humanitarian aspects of economic relations. Interesting comparative studies were presented in the reports of S. Pamuk from Istanbul Bogazici University "Ottoman budgets and the formation of the financial structure of the Ottoman Empire in comparison with European states" and the report of the Egyptian participant Mohammed es-Seyid "The role of Egypt in the XVI century. as a strategic economic entity". The participants ' attention was drawn to the report of A. Salzmany (University of Toronto) "The banking system in the Ottoman Empire", which showed the process of formation of the banking system in Ottoman Turkey and compared it in a number of indicators with European banks. The economic life of the Ottoman clergy is covered in the report of Turkish participant Mehmed Ali Unal (Un-t Pamukkale) "On the role of the clergy and their contribution to the regional economies of the Ottoman Empire". Istanbul, the oldest university in Turkey, was represented by I. Bostan, who prepared a report on "The role of maritime trade in the Black Sea in the XVIII century". Little-known documents of the Ottoman archives were highlighted in the report of M. Kese, a researcher from the University of Nevsehir, "Competition in the smuggling trade of the Ottoman provinces in the Balkans".

In a number of reports and speeches, Turkish scholars noted the urgent need to compare Ottoman documentary sources with materials from archives of other countries, in particular Russia. In this regard, G. Celik's report "Connection of regional economies and external factors in international relations of the Ottoman Empire"is indicative. He considered the issue of economic ties between various regions of the Ottoman Empire and Russia. In particular, the topic of cross-border trade between the two states on the territory of the Black Sea coast of Turkey and in North - eastern Anatolia in the XVIII-XIX centuries was touched upon.

The report of the Turkish historian N. Aygun on the Russian merchant ships captured on the Black Sea during the Russo-Turkish war of 1789-1792 and the nature of cargo transported was very interesting for the Russian participants. The author used a significant amount of archival data from the Ottoman Archive under the Cabinet of the Prime Minister. Based on the data of "customs defters" - special registers that noted the nature of imported and exported goods, he tried to identify a list of Russian imports into and exports from the Ottoman Empire. According to the author, iron and iron products, leather, wax, furs, and wood were mainly imported from Russia. Turkish exports included fruits, incense, wine, spices, and silk. The speaker emphasized the fact that after the outbreak of hostilities, the ships belonging to Russian merchants were confiscated and placed at the disposal of the Ottoman Navy. However, the goods of the Russian merchants were then returned to them in Istanbul by a special decree of the Sultan.

Russian Osmanistics was presented at the congress by two participants and three reports (all by the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences). Yu. A. Averyanov made a report on "Relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian monastery "Rossikon" on Mount Athos", in which he described in detail the conditions of monastic life on Mount Athos, told about the help that the Russian tsars provided to the monastery, since the XVI century. The report also focuses on the problems of economic cooperation between the monastery and the Ottoman administration. So, according to the author, a serious problem was the prohibition of the Ottoman authorities to accept financial assistance from the Russians, which complicated the situation of the monastery.

A.D. Vasiliev based on archival documents from Russian and Ottoman archives made an analytical review of the features of the Ottoman-Russian trade agreements. The report was based on an analysis of the Russian-Ottoman trade agreement of 1783. This was the first bilateral agreement dealing exclusively with trade and economic issues of Russian-Turkish relations. They also discussed the impact of international relations in the Black Sea on the formation and development of bilateral relations, as well as the state of trade and, in particular, items of Russian imports to and exports from Turkey at the end of the 18th century.

N. Y. Ulchenko sent to the organizing committee the theses of her report "Turkey and Russia: the main stages of economic development and mutual cooperation", which were included in the congress program.

The reports of the Russian participants raised a number of questions and a lively discussion, during which the importance of materials presented in the reports that had not previously been published in Turkey was noted.

At the end of the congress, the participants decided to hold it regularly every two years at universities in Turkey. In addition, it was decided to organize an interim round table or conference on a specially selected topic between the regular sessions of the Congress. Representatives of the organizing committee suggested holding these events not only in Turkey, but also in countries that traded with the Ottoman Empire.

The congress organizers offered an extensive cultural program. An excursion to Harput (5 km from Elazig), the ancient capital of the Kara Koyunlu state, was organized for the conference participants. According to archaeological data, the first city on the site of modern Harput was built by the Babylonians. Currently, Harput has a medieval fortress, a restored mosque, baths and water sources built during the reign of the Kara Koyunlu sultans. Around the fortress are the ruins of a large city that once surrounded it. In the cave under the fortress there is a functioning Christian Monophysite church, which belongs to the local Monophysite community (it has about 20 families). This temple is considered one of the oldest Christian churches in Turkey.

On the hills surrounding Harput, there are a significant number of mazars of local saints, which are pilgrimage sites for the Muslim population of Elazig and its environs. Most of them belonged to the Bektashi brotherhood. In particular, these are mazars of sheikhs Arap Baba, Zahir Baba, Nadir Baba, Ahmet Fatih Baba, Uryan Baba, Tayyar Baba, Mansur Baba. The conference participants were also shown one of the largest dams in Turkey - a complex of hydraulic structures of the Keban reservoir.

Thus, the Second International Congress on the Economic History of the Ottoman Empire became an important event in the field of Turkology and Ottoman studies. The Congress provided an opportunity not only to exchange information on scientific research and discuss problems that are poorly understood in Ottoman studies, but also to get acquainted with a difficult and little-known foreign Turkologists, but, nevertheless, the most interesting area of Turkey and its historical monuments.

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