OK, I will try to answer this in the most serious, and hopefully the most productive manner possible.
When it comes to the specific khanjar that started the thread, I am actually inclined to agree that it is Turkish. So I am not arguing about this particular item.
However, the very generalized statement that the vast majority of Balkan weapons from the 18th and 19th centuries are actually Turkish is incorrect on multiple levels.
There was extensive arms and armor production in the Balkans during these times, documented by the Ottoman administration itself for the purpose of administering the craftsmen and merchants and collect appropriate taxes. Elgood has done a great job of providing references to these records. In fact, a good portion of the arms and armor production in the Balkans was exported all over the Ottoman Empire and even as far as areas under nominal Ottoman control, such as Algeria for example.
Moreover, it is very hard to claim an exclusive ethnic origin of a certain weapon. Is the yataghan a Turkish weapon or a Balkan one? If Turkish, why did it not exist in Central Asia where the Seljuks come from, but only appears in the 16th century following the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, where such blades existed all the way back in antiquity? Is the kilic a Turkish weapon considering the hilt was probably adopted from the Mamluks and the curved saber was known and used in the Balkans back in the 9th century AD, if not even earlier? Even when it comers to firearms like the lednice and rat tail pistols there is probably a strong case to be made that these are local Balkan versions inspired by Italian originals.
This is not meant to deny that there were Ottoman contributions to the production of arms and armor in the Balkans - it was in the interest of the Ottoman military to foster and encourage such production. Ottoman stylistic and decorative influence is also undeniable, just like it is in other areas of the Empire, but the vast number of different regional types of arms and accoutrements also shows strong local participation in the development and evolution of these items.
As collectors we have the option to label anything produced within the territory of the Ottoman Empire as Ottoman, regardless of whether it is a Laz yatagahan, a Yemeni jambiya or an Albanian rat tail pistol. This is the approach of the Askeri Museum and all its publications for example. Alternatively, we can acknowledge that a multi-ethnic empire that stretched over three continents had all kinds of regional variations in its arms and armor, all with their local names and users, which included a variety of people that were not Turks.
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