History and activism combined: An interview with Machiel Kiel on his life-long efforts to save Ottoman monuments

Abstract

Machiel Kiel is a renowned professor of Ottoman history who has devoted his life to scholarly research. He has penned over 300 articles and seventeen books on the Ottoman Balkans and historical topography, especially the earlier periods. Thanks to his tireless efforts in conducting field research, Kiel docu­mented many previously undocumented Ottoman monuments in the Balkans and published scholarly works on them. But this reflects only one side of his engagement with Ottoman history. Kiel also took an active role to save Ottoman monuments from immediate danger of collapse or demolishment by local authorities. The cases in this interview detail his activism and show that Kiel did not simply leave the monuments to their fate but continued to follow each case individually turning them into important causes...