Demetrius Nicolaides
Demetrius Nicolaides (
Nicolaides was born and raised in
Career
He began editing the
He edited a French-language collection of Ottoman law, Législation ottomane, that was published by Gregory Aristarchis. He also edited the Greek version of the Düstur, Оθωμανικοί Κώδηκες ("Othōmanikoi kōdēkes", meaning "Ottoman Codes", with Demotic Greek using "Οθωμανικοί κώδικες"), its first non-Turkish version. These two publications enriched him financially,[1] giving him money used to operate his newspapers.[7] After the Ottoman government received the Greek version, it made him a third-class civil servant.[1] Nicolaides also wrote a document stating that he translated volumes of the Dustür and the Mecelle into Bulgarian.[8] The Bulgarian copies of the Dustür circulating stated that they were written by Christo S. Arnaudov (Bulgarian: Христо С. Арнаудовъ; Post-1945 spelling: Христо С. Арнаудов), who published it.[9] Johann Straus concluded that the Bulgarian version probably originated from Nicolaides's Greek version due to "striking similarities" between the two,[9] even though the Bulgarian one says that it was a collaborative work that was directly translated from Ottoman Turkish.[9]
A Konstantinoupolis employee, Manuel Gedeon,[6] wrote that Nicolaides, Christoforos Samartzidis, and a person Gedeon described as "another impostor" together published a French version of Pharos of the Bosphorus (or Lighthouse of the Bosphorus).[10] Gedeon stated that Nicolaides obtained 5,000 gold francs from the Ambassador of Russia to the Ottoman Empire, Ignatieff, to fund this publication, and that he did not give much of this away to other parties. According to Gedeon, Theodoros Kasapis wrote in Diogenis that the Russian ambassador had bribed Nicolaides.[10]
Nicolaides also applied to have his own
For a period, his main printing facility was at Millet Han in Galata. He applied to move to a new facility twice, to Financılar Yokușu in 1899, approved but not completed, and then to Lloyd Han in 1902, also approved.[13] The move was completed by 1903.[14]
Because Nicolaidis tried to save his newspapers no matter what it took, he sold his possessions and lost his wealth.[2]
Life and death
He had a wife, Sevastitsa, two sons (Nikolakis "Nikos" and Georgakis)
According to Gedeon, Nicolaides had a house in Phanar (now Fener), one in Mouchli and one in Antigone (now Burgazada) in the Princes' Islands.[18] An 1894 earthquake ruined the Mouchli house.[16]
In 1915, Nicolaides died a poor man, and his children were not present as they were in different places. Rum Millet community members living in Pera (Beyoğlu) and friends paid for his funeral, which was officiated by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Germanus V.[2]
Awards
Nicolaides received medals: the Ücüncü Rütbe'den Mecidî nişani after requesting so from the Ottoman government, the Serbian Ücüncü Rütbe'den Takova nişani, a third degree award and then second and first degree medals, Saniye Rütbesi and Mütemayize Rütbesi, the last in 1893.[19] He also received the Gold Cross of the Holy Sepulcher and the Gold Cross of the Holy Savior.[15]
See also
- Phanariotes
- Media of the Ottoman Empire
References
- ISBN 9783863095277. - Volume 12 of Bamberger Orientstudien - Hosted at Kooperativer Bibliotheksverbund Berlin-Brandenburg] (KOBV)
- Strauss, Johann (2010). "A Constitution for a Multilingual Empire: Translations of the Kanun-ı Esasi and Other Official Texts into Minority Languages". In Herzog, Christoph; Malek Sharif (eds.). The First Ottoman Experiment in Democracy. Martin Luther University)
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Strauss, A Constitution for a Multilingual Empire, p. 29 (PDF p. 31)
- ^ a b c Balta and Kavak, p. 56, via Google Books
- ^ Balta and Kavak, p. 41, via Google Books
- ^ a b Balta and Kavak, p. 33, via Google Books
- ^ Balta and Kavak, p. 36, via Google Books
- ^ a b Balta and Kavak, p. 37, via Google Books
- ^ Balta and Kevak, p. 40
- ^ Balta and Kavak, p. 51-52, via Google Books
- ^ a b c Strauss, A Constitution for a Multilingual Empire, p. 31 (PDF p. 33)
- ^ a b Balta and Kavak, p. 38, via Google Books
- ^ Balta and Kavak, p. 42, via Google Books
- ^ Strauss, A Constitution for a Multilingual Empire, p. 29 (PDF p. 31).
- ^ Balta and Kavak, p. 48, via Google Books
- ^ Balta and Kavak, p. 49, via Google Books
- ^ a b Balta and Kavak, p. 55, via Google Books
- ^ a b Balta and Kavak, p. 54, via Google Books
- ^ Balta and Kavak, p. 57, via Google Books
- ^ Balta and Kavak, p. 39, via Google Books
- ^ Balta and Kavak, p. 53, via Google Books