DEVSHIRME SYSTEM AND JANISSARIES IN THE BULGARIAN PERCEPTIONS AND HISTORY TEXTBOOKS

Abstract

The nation-states of the Balkans generally have a negative perception of the Ottoman history. The depiction of the Devshirme System (Christian boys recruited by the Ottomans to serve the Ottoman government) in history textbooks greatly contributes to this negative perception. This study deals with the depiction of the Devshirme System and Janissaries from the 1980s to till date in the Bulgarian history textbooks of primary and secondary schools. However, the Bulgarian history text-books underwent a transformation because of the change in regime, which occurred in 1990. This transformation also aftected hew the Ottoman period was presented in these textbooks. I will also discuss the general image of the child recruitment system and the Janissaries in Europe and the Balkans.