Petar Ičko ( sr-cyr, Петар Ичко, 1755–1808) was an Ottoman and later Serbian
diplomat
A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...
, a merchant by profession from
Ottoman Macedonia. He is remembered for instituting
Ičko's Peace, though of short duration.
Biography
He was of
Aromanian descent,
born in the village of
Katranitsa, at the time in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
(today Pyrgoi,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
), a place with developed merchant traditions. He resettled to the north, managing his own commercial business, and was employed as a ''
dragoman
A dragoman was an Interpreter (communication), interpreter, translator, and official guide between Turkish language, Turkish-, Arabic language, Arabic-, and Persian language, Persian-speaking countries and polity, polities of the Middle East and ...
'' in Ottoman diplomatic missions in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and probably in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. Settling in Ottoman
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
towards the end of the 18th century, he became an affluent merchant. He closely collaborated with the Vizier of the
Pashaluk of Belgrade,
Hadži Mustafa Pasha, and according to some sources both of them were members of one
Masonic Lodge
A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry.
It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...
. After the return to power of the renegade
Janissaries
A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted du ...
(''
Dahije''), he was forced in 1802 to move to
Zemun
Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown ...
, at that time a Habsburg
Military Frontier
The Military Frontier (; sh-Cyrl-Latn, Војна крајина, Vojna krajina, sh-Cyrl-Latn, Војна граница, Vojna granica, label=none; ; ) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and later the Austrian and Austro-Hungari ...
town. After the outbreak of the
First Serbian Uprising
The First Serbian Uprising (; sr-Cyrl, Први српски устанак; ) was an uprising of Serbs in Orašac (Aranđelovac), Orašac against the Ottoman Empire from 14 February 1804 to 7 October 1813. The uprising began as a local revolt ...
(1804), he began supporting and working with the Serbian rebels led by
Karađorđe
Đorđe Petrović (; ; – ), known by the sobriquet Karađorđe (; ), was a Serbian revolutionary leader who led a struggle against the Ottoman Empire during the First Serbian Uprising. He held the title of Grand Vožd of Serbia from 14 ...
. He rendered them some valuable advice thanks to his diplomatic and trade skills. The rebel leaders sent him as their representative in
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
where he managed to obtain for them a favourable peace treaty, known as "
Ičko's Peace". He returned and lived in Belgrade as an honorary citizen, but died there soon after, on 5 May 1808, probably poisoned.
His son Naum Ičko established the
"Question-mark" bistro in 1823. His house is preserved today as "
Ičko's House".
Annotations
He was surnamed Itskoglou (),
rendered in Serbian as ''Ičkoglija'' (Ичкоглија)
and ''Ičkoglić'' (Ичкоглић).
See also
*
List of Serbian Revolutionaries
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
* Stanford Jay Shaw. Between Old and New: the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Selim III, 1789-1807. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1971, pp. 342–356.
* Paul Frederic Shupp. The European Powers and the Near Eastern Question, 1806-1807, Columbia university press, 1931, pp. 179–180.
* Anatoliĭ Filippovich Miller. Mustapha Pacha Baĭraktar. Association internationale d'études du Sud-Est européen, 1975, p. 404.
*
Traian Stoianovich. "The Conquering Balkan Orthodox Merchant", Journal of Economic History, XX (June, 1960), pp. 234–313.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ičko, Petar
1750s births
1808 deaths
Dragomans
18th-century scholars from the Ottoman Empire
Serbian diplomats
Serbian people of Aromanian descent
People of the Serbian Revolution
Aromanian revolutionaries
People from Kozani (regional unit)
18th-century translators