Marmara Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi
Yazarlar: Zekeriya Kurşun
Konular:-
Anahtar Kelimeler:Istanbul,Orientalism,Joseph von Hammer,Sir James William Redhause,Pierre Loti
Özet: Throughout history Istanbul has always attracted attention because of its geographical position. That’s why it has also been open to external attacks. But this city has served as a capital for only two empires: Byzantium and the Ottomans. This fact provided for Istanbul to be a stable city for centuries. Istanbul was a focus of interest for the Westerners in the Byzantium for centuries because it was a rival of the Roman Empire. It continued to be a focus of interest after the conquest by the Ottomans because of the fact that it became a developed eastern capital. There are various opinions about the beginning dates of Orientalism. In my opinion it is possible to backdate it, when Istanbul as an extent of the Western civilization started to represent the eastern civilization with the Ottomans. In other words it is possible to assume that the conquest of Istanbul by the Ottomans was the beginning date of Orientalism. It is also possible to assume that the first orientalists were the scholars who migrated from Byzantium Istanbul to Europe. Actually they were mentioning their own city but for the Europeans Istanbul was a city that fell into the hands of the eastern civilization. Throughout history many western travelers happened to pass Istanbul. They have explained the East with their own words by writing hundreds of travel books. Therefore in the eyes of the Westerners understanding the East is possible by reading these travel books. But the representation of Orientalism by these books is a problematic issue. In this article, after mentioning the travelers in general who visited Istanbul, the three orientalists who lived in Istanbul for a long time are going to be discussed. Joseph von Hammer who represents the German-Austrian orientalism, Sir James William Redhouse who represent the British orientalism, and Pierre Loti who represents the French orientalism are going to be analyzed and the article is going to look to the east through their eyes