Osmańscy specjaliści polskiego pochodzenia, Karol Bonkowski i Alfred Bieliński, w okresie transformacji Imperium Osmańskiego i ich rola jako „utajonych pośredników” idei modernizacyjnych

This article examines the participation of representatives of the second-generation Polish émigrés in the Ottoman political and social transformations at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (Karol Bonkowski [1841–1905] and Alfred Bieliński [1862–1934]). Drawing on archival research, this paper analyses a syncretic education model, which equipped these individuals with competencies that allowed them to actively participate in Ottoman reforms based on the European models. These high-level professionals – educated abroad and dedicated to the Ottoman-Turkish mission of reforming a multi-ethnic state – became practically and ideologically involved in constructing a new Ottoman identity in the spirit of a national narrative. Their activities took various forms of transcultural mediation and brokerage. They often constituted a ‘side-effect’ of these individuals’ main professional activities, making them “latent brokers”. By performing their tasks in an environment based on the interaction of different worldviews – where the balance between the various ethnic groups was that of ‘antagonistic coexistence’ – the examined historical actors also negotiated their raison d’être throughout this process.