Tauris Academic Studies The Young Ottomans: Turkish Critics of the Eastern Question in the Late Nineteenth Century: 20 (Library of Ottoman Studies)

The Eastern Question, as it was termed by the European Powers in the nineteenth century, was a debate primarily concerned with the issue of 'what to do with the Turk?'. The Ottoman Empire had become known as the 'sick man of Europe' following its gradual decline since the eighteenth century, and its demise would be highly problematic for the crowned heads of Europe. This unique book focuses on the intellectual and political dynamics of the first Ottoman political opposition in the modern sense, the so-called 'Young Ottomans'. In the process it narrates an alternative version of the Eastern Question as experienced and told by its Eastern observers and critics. Nazan A icek shows how an important section of the newly-rising semi-autonomous Ottoman Muslim Turkish intelligentsia in the second half of the nineteenth century, effectively answered the alternative question of 'what to do with the West?'. Review 'While Europeans were preoccupied with the Eastern Question in the mid nineteenth century, Ottoman intellectuals grappled for a strategy to address their Western QuestionA". The leading Turkish intellectuals of the day were the Young Ottomans, and they found common ground with Turcophile Britons led by David Urquhart. Nazan A icek has written a compelling account of the exchange of ideas between East and West that shaped the age of Ottoman Reforms. Strikingly original, drawing on untapped archival sources in Britain and Turkey, The Young Ottomans will stand as the definitive work on this important subject.' - Eugene Rogan, Director of the Middle East Centre, St Antony's College, University of Oxford; 'In this clear and elegantly written book Nazan A icek makes an important and overdue contribution to our knowledge of the late Ottoman Empire and its relations with Western Europe. By examining the Young Ottomans in the context of what became known as The Eastern Question,A" i.e., the stakes for the European balance of power occasioned by the impending demise of the Ottoman Empire, A icek greatly advances our understanding of the inner workings of the emerging Young Ottoman opposition group. In particular she addresses the interconnections between these Ottoman intellectuals and an important but understudied group of British Turcophiles who coalesced around the figure of David Urquhart. Examining in turn such developments as the Cretan insurrection of 1866-69, the burning question of the relations between Muslims and non-Muslims ignited by the reform decree of 1856 and the financial crisis facing the empire brought on by foreign debt, The Young Ottomans delivers an historically engaged study with important implications for the present day.' - Benjamin Fortna, Senior Lecturer in the Modern History of the Middle East and Head of the Department of History, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London About the Author Nazan Cicek completed her PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2006. She currently teaches at Ankara University in the Faculty of Political Sciences. She has published articles on the political and intellectual history of the Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic in several journals including Middle Eastern Studies and Aetudes Balkaniques.