Nicolae Constantin Batzaria | |
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 Batzaria in 1940 | |
| Born | November 20, 1874 Kruševo, Manastir vilayet, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | January 28, 1952 (aged 77) Bucharest (Ghencea), Communist Romania |
| Pen name | Ali Baba, N. Macedoneanu, Moș Ene, Moș Nae, Dinu Pivniceru |
| Occupation | Short story writer, novelist, schoolteacher, folklorist, poet, journalist, politician |
| Nationality | Ottoman (to 1915) Romanian (1915–1952) |
| Period | 1901–1944 |
| Genre | Anecdote, children's literature, children's rhyme, comic strip, essay, fairy tale, fantasy, genre fiction, memoir, novella, satire, travel literature |
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Nicolae Constantin Batzaria (Romanian pronunciation: [nikoˈla.e konstanˈtim batsaˈri.a]; Greek: Νικολάε Κονσταντίν Μπατσαρία, Turkish: Nikola Konstantin Basarya; last name also Besaria, Bațaria or Bazaria; also known under the pen names Moș Nae, Moș Ene and Ali Baba; November 20, 1874 – January 28, 1952), was an Aromanian cultural activist, Ottoman statesman and Romanian writer. A schoolteacher and inspector of Aromanian education within Ottoman lands, he stood for the intellectual and political current, espoused by the Macedo-Romanian Cultural Society, which closely identified with both Romanian nationalism and Ottomanism. Batzaria was trained at the University of Bucharest, where he became a disciple of historian Nicolae Iorga, and established his reputation as a journalist before 1908—the string of publications he founded, sometimes with financial support from the Kingdom of Romania, includes Românul de la Pind and Lumina. During his thirties, he joined the clandestine revolutionary movement known as the Young Turks, serving as its liaison with Aromanian factions in Macedonia and Rumelia. He was briefly imprisoned for such activities, but the victorious Young Turk Revolution in 1908 brought him to the forefront of Ottoman politics.
A member of the Ottoman Senate in 1908–1915, Batzaria was also Minister of Public Works under the Three Pashas. He was tasked with several diplomatic missions, including attending the London Conference of 1913, and sought to preserve the purpose of Ottomanism by seeking tactical alliances against, and finally with, the Kingdom of Bulgaria. Alerted by the Pashas' World War I alliances and their reliance on an exclusivist Turkish nationalism, he soon after quit the Ottoman political scene and left into voluntary exile. Naturalized a Romanian in early 1915, he debuted in local politics as a Nationalist-Conservative, switching his allegiance toward the Entente Powers—favoring war against Bulgaria and the Ottomans alike. The fulfillment of Greater Romania in the interwar era saw him affiliating with a number of political movements, from the People's Party to the National Peasants' Party, before he finally settled for the National Liberals in the early 1930s. A member of the Romanian Senate and Assembly of Deputies, each for one term, he was also Prefect of Timiș-Torontal in April–May 1931.
In tandem with his political involvement, Batzaria became a prolific contributor to Romanian literature, producing works of genre fiction and children's literature. Together with comic strip artist Marin Iorda, he created Haplea, one of the most popular characters in early Romanian comics. Batzaria also collected and retold fairy tales from various folkloric traditions, while publishing original novels for adolescents and memoirs of his life in Macedonia. Batzaria's scholarship and activism seeped into affection for minority groups, including the Gagauz, the Romani people, the Armenians, and, initially, the Jews. He was active on the staff of Romania's leading leftist journals, Adevărul and Dimineața, as well as founder of the latter's supplement for children, before switching his allegiance to the right-wing Universul. His turn toward the latter was signaled by the Romanian far-right as the adoption of antisemitism, and, by 1937, he had become explicit in his sympathy for the fascist Iron Guard; during World War II, he supported the Ion Antonescu regime, and was enthusiastically anti-Soviet in his articles and children's prose. Batzaria was banned, persecuted, and finally imprisoned by the postwar communist regime. He spent his final years in obscure captivity, dying of spinal cancer.