History of The Aromanians - Ottoman Period

Ottoman Period

Under Ottoman rule, the Vlachs were recognized as a separate millet in 1905. As many of the Vlachs became involved in the trade between the Occident and Orient, the city of Moscopole, became one of the most important and prosperous cities of the Balkans, until it was sacked and pillaged by Ali Pasha in 1788. The Aromanian Vlachs experienced several movements of national reawakening from the eighteenth century onwards. The Aromanian colony in Bucharest founded the Macedo-Romanian Intellectual Cultural Society, which worked to strengthen the movement among the other Aromanian communities in the Balkans.

Turkish authorities took steps to promote the Aromanian national cultural movement. An order issued by the Vizier in 1878 gave Vlachs the right to be taught in their own language and afforded assistance and protection to their teachers. In 1888 the Macedo-Rumanians obtained an imperial firman granting them the right to set up national churches. In 1908 Aromanian members were admitted to the Turkish Parliament.