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We would like to invite you to attend the International Conference Religious community and modern statehood: &#171; The passage from the Ottoman Empire to modern states &#187;, organized by the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies of the University of Cyprus and the &#201;cole fran&#231;aise d'Ath&#232;nes. The Conference will be held in Nicosia during the 29th and the 30th of October 2010. One of the main features of the modern state has been the intention of the state to penetrate to society and to control in a large extent the daily life of its citizens. In order to control the society, the modern state tried to exploit it&#8217;s citizens in different levels through various institutions, such as public education, obligatory recruitment and bureaucratic organization. Based on religious communities, the Ottoman Empire tried to control the populations in the Ottoman lands, imposing thus its own imperial perception for the state and its people. The existence of the religious communities and the functioning of the Ottoman state on the basis of these communities, made the passage from the Ottoman imperial structure to the modern states, a complicated procedure.The conference aims to explore various aspects of the communal organization in the Ottoman Empire for regions such as Asia Minor, Middle East and the Balkans, and to present the changes that occurred within the religious communities during the 19th century and particularly during the period from Tanzimat reforms until the First World War. Key questions in relation to the modernization process of the Ottoman state and the functioning of religious communities, are a) how does the Sublime Porte understand the process of structuring a modern state with respect to religious communities, b) who is responsible for the modern institutions: the state or the religious communities, c) what is the reaction of the religious communities regarding the modernization process d) why and in what way the religious communities are changing on the light of this process.PROGRAMMEOctober 29, Friday16:30 - 16:45 Welcoming16:45 - 17:00 STROHMEIER Martin, Chairman of the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies, Welcome Speech    17:00 - 17:30 DERINGIL Selim, Bogazi&#231;i University, Istanbul - Keynote Speech    Re-configuring Ottoman citizenship in the Tanzimat state: conversion, religion and identity politics in the late Ottoman Empire17:30 - 18:00 Coffee BreakSession I - Christians and Muslims in the late Ottoman EmpireChairperson: VARNAVAS Andrekos    18:00 - 18:20 KECHRIOTIS Vangelis, Bo&#164;azi&#231;i University, &#8249;stanbul. Bayonets and Bullets in the name of the Constitution: Post-colonial criticism and Muslim-Christian relations in the late Ottoman Empire    18:20 - 18:40 ANASTASSIADOU Meropi, Centre National de la Recherch&#233; Scientifique, Paris. Non-Muslim communities and state control in the late Ottoman Empire. Administrative practice and decisionmaking within the Greek orthodox parishes of Istanbul    18:40 - 19:00 MICHAEL Michalis, University of Cyprus, Nicosia. The Orthodox community of Cyprus between the Ottoman and the British colonial perceptions of modernity    19:00 - 19:20 ANAGNOSTOPOULOU Sia, Panteion University, Athens. The millet system as a tool of a &#8220;differentiated modernity&#8221;, 19th c.-beginning of the 20th c.19:20 - 20:00 Discussion20:15 - 22:00 DinnerOctober 30, SaturdaySession II - The Ottoman religious community and NationalismChairperson: KECHRIOTIS Vangelis    9:00 - 9:20 VARNAVAS Andrekos, Flinders University, Adelaide. Cypriots transforming from a class, religious and regional identity, to an ethnic national identity    9:20 - 9:40 KONORTAS Paraskevas, National and Capodistrian University of Athens, Athens. Greek nationalism vs Greek orthodox milli establishment in Ottoman Thrace in educational matters during the first decade of the 20th century    9:40 - 10:00 KIZILY&#220;REK Niyazi, University of Cyprus, Nicosia. The Turkish Cypriots, modernity and religion10:00 - 10:30 Discussion10:30 - 11:00 Coffee BreakSession III-&#160; Religious community, education and statehoodChairperson: KONORTAS Paraskevas    11:00 - 11:20 FORTNA Benjamin, School of Oriental and African Studies, London    Education between Empire and nation: spaces, lives and commodities    11:20 - 11:40 VERDEIL Chantal, Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, Paris. Education in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire before the Crimean war    11:40 - 12:00 STAVRIDES Theoharis, University of Cyprus, Nicosia. The Organization and development of Greek orthodox education in Cyprus in the 19th century    12:00 - 12:20 LYBERATOS Andreas, Institute for Mediterranean Studies - FORTH, University of Crete School, community, state: remarks on the development of public education in late Ottoman and post-Ottoman Bulgaria (19th c. &#8211; 1912)12:20 - 13:00 Discussion13:15 - 14:30 LunchSession IV - Religious communities and colonialismChairperson: FORTNA Benjamin    17:30 - 17:50 HADJIIOSSIF Christos, Institute for Mediterranean Studies, University of Crete, Rethymnon Colonial policies and Ottoman reforms    17:50 - 18:10 COHEN-MULLER Rina, Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, Paris Christians and Jews &#8211; the French game in Ottoman Jerusalem during the 19th Century    18:10 - 18:30 BOCQUET J&#233;r&#244;me, Universit&#233; d&#8217;Orl&#233;ans, Orl&#233;ans Missionary presence, diplomatic rivalries and proselytizing among the Ottoman Empire&#8217;s religious communities: The case of 19th c. Ottoman Syria    18:30 - 18:50 ANASTASSIADES Tassos, &#201;cole fran&#231;aise d&#8217;Ath&#232;nes/Sciences-Po, Paris. The ambiguities of a confessional age: lessons from Eastern Mediterranean18:50 - 19:30 Discussion19:30 - 20:00 Conclusions20:15 - 22:00 Dinner