Reading Ottoman Minds in Its Long History During the establishment of the Ottoman State, the term Ottoman (Osmanlı) has probably no meaning of its own other than referring to small numbers of Ottoman dynasty members. In the early Ottoman sources, we do not come across non-dynasty members, who particularly defined themselves as Ottoman either. By the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries, the Ottoman state started to preside over larger territories and got an international recognition it had already deserved. It was then first the foreigners, who preferred to use the word Ottoman as describing both Ottoman rulers, dignities and even ordinary subjects of the empire. In the course of the time, people living under the domain of the Ottoman Empire (as well as members of ruling elites of course) inclined to call themselves as Ottoman as well. The terms Ottoman gained even a more positive connotation by the 19th and even 20th centuries. To be an “Ottoman man” or “Ottoman woman” gained here a meaning like to be honest and respectful or similar to be expression “to be frank” in English. Starting from the second half of the 20th century up until today, the word itself can even a further meaning as describing goods or animals in the meaning of being best or good in condition or robust and durable in quality as it can be seen in the example of “Ottoman weapon”, “Ottoman slap” or “Ottoman horses” and so forth. In this vein the term Ottoman started to be used in order to refer to a selected group of people, who not only shared a similar way of thinking but also a common sense of self-identification or a common dream and goal. Our point of departure for this project is to read the minds of these “Ottoman” people as exploring and learning more about their collective behaviors, attitudes or ideology in a certain situation by looking at diverse historical process and events in the Ottoman Empire. For the sake of this study, we should first describe what we have in mind as using the term Ottoman (and Ottomanness for that matter). By Ottoman/Osmanlı we mean largely someone who, not only got at least a fair education in the Ottoman system but also worked somewhere in the empire as an Ottoman governor, public officer, civil servant, clerk and so on. In principle, here we are making two assumptions. First of all, there is something called an “Ottoman mind.” By this, we mean that the Ottomans had a special way of looking and interpreting the world, where they had lived. There is no doubt that this conception of the world was greatly shaped under the influence of Islamic, Persian and Turkish cultures as well as Anatolian and Roman-Byzantine heritage in the course of the time. More importantly, though, this cultural mosaic clearly expressed itself in the writings of Ottoman intellectuals and scholars including Ottoman chroniclers, statesmen, clergymen etc., which will constitute the main sources of our Ottoman study. Secondly, our historical sources written by those people who in many ways shared this common Ottoman mind would allow us to discover Ottoman perceptions and understanding of the world in many ways. As young Ottoman academicians doing research on particular aspects of the Ottoman Empire, we are able to tell how Ottoman minds worked in a different way than others in history. In other words, we will try to answer how they reacted to certain circumstances in order to discover what their thinking pattern and preferences were in the past. As scrutinizing Ottoman archival sources or other historical raw materials written by various Ottomans, we have a great opportunity to read Ottoman minds and to understand the way they thought about things in their world. How did they make their decision in certain matters? What kind of agenda did they have in their mind as dealing with their contemporary issues? Why did they react in a certain way on particular problem? Did they have common likes or dislikes of their own for that matter? Raising such questions for the sake of our forthcoming book, we are targeting at exploring the Ottoman minds in its long history. Our contributors are going to bring their valuable knowledge in order to help us to define how the Ottoman minds worked as far as their main subject of study is concerned. In other words, having kept the aforementioned questions in mind we are going to have look at our previous works again in order to understand Ottoman way of thinking and mindset. To give but one example, as an Ottoman historian, who is largely interested in Ottoman rebellions in the Early Modern Era I am going to answer how the Ottoman minds defined insurrections? What were their main concerns as dealing with these issues? What made the Ottomans to regard someone as rebels and others as freedom fighters/rightly guided men despite the fact that they all took up arms against the state? Having said that we are expecting all of you to bring your expertise, knowledge, wisdom and ideas to the table on distinct academic issues of your own. With the help of this study, we are targeting to get a better picture on the questions like how did the Ottoman mind work, what were important moral or political principles for the Ottoman as making their decisions, and (if possible) to put forward the changes on the way they thought of the world around them in the course of its long history? We cordially invite you to submit your article for the above-mentioned project. Sivas Republic University takes full responsibility of making it published. The languages of the articles are English, German and Turkish. Notes:
Dr. Birol Gündoğdu |