Geç Ondokuzuncu ve Erken Yirminci Yüzyılda İngiliz Liberallerinin Gözünden Balkanlar’da Yerleşik Müslüman ve Türk Nüfusun Serencamı

Abstract

This study delineates the image of Muslims and Turks in Ottoman "European Turkey" as perceived and constructed by the two influential opinion-forming Liberal British periodicals, namely the Contemporary Review and the Fortnightly Review, between the years of 1865-1923. Being a part of the intellectual influence of modern European nationalism repertoire over the Balkans, the convictions of British journal writers indisputably played a crucial role as a source of both inspiration and vindication in the formation and consolidation of Balkan nationalist ideals and practices. By exploring the literary treatment of Muslim and Turkish inhabitants of the Balkans by these prominent British periodicals this study aims to better understand and contextualize the processes of expulsion, assimilation or accommodation that the Muslim and Turkish population faced after the Ottoman power was partly or completely dismantled in the region and was replaced by successor Balkan nation-states which as essentially ethnic polities saw their Muslim minorities as "aliens" and monumental reminders of the "Ottoman yoke".