The image of the Ottomans/Turks in history textbooks of Kosova

This work offers a study of the Ottoman/Turkish image in history textbooks in Kosovo. The unit of research is the compulsory textbooks prepared for the Albanian students in primary and middle-degree schools in Kosovo in the year 2010-2011.Textbooks, which usually are the first meeting of the individual with history, are a main subject in educational sciences due to the fact that they are the compulsory study units which are designed by the states, reflection the ?official? national histories. However, sufficient research has not been carried on the history textbooks in Kosovo. This study, which aims to shed light on the negative imageries in these books is inspired by the speeches made by the Turkish Education Minister Ömer Dinçer and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and following reflections and discussion in Kosovo in the year 2011.The history textbooks have been studied under the light of these discussions. The positive and negative images about the Ottoman/Turkish image are addressed in this study.The negative descriptions on the Ottoman administrative system were one of the issues which required more attention. The descriptive words for the Ottoman rule were in example: occupier, terror, that which captures children and despotic. Especially, the emphasize on the concepts of the occupation and the occupier are very frequently used for the historical Ottoman era. On the contrary, he images related to the modern Turkey and Ataturk are very positive. Turkey is pictured as a friendly state while Atatürk is defined as a democrat patriot soldier who fights against the Ottoman Sultan. Consequently, this situation shows the difference between the points of view on the Ottoman Empire and Turkey and points that the images of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey are constructed due to the contemporary political situation.