Ali Suavi's Life Story in Europe and the Accusations against Him

Abstract

When we look at the figures who left their mark in Turkish literature, their common characteristics are; We can list their holistic intellectual stance, and mindset, positioning themselves as aesthetes in life and their masterful use of the language of the age. Ali Suavi, one of the Young Ottomans, attracted a lot of attention and made a splash in his period with his writings, sermons and conversations. However, when we look at Ali Suavi’s life and art as a whole, we see that he has endless hopes and a paradoxical world of thought. This paradoxical structure, his lifestyle, his temperament, his weaknesses, some of his ideas and the pathological characteristics of his personality make him interesting and controversial in our literature and have always caused serious judgments and heavy accusations about him. In our study, we aim to contribute to the studies on various aspects of Ali Suavi, who was an eclectic personality and dealt with many subjects from theology to philosophy, from education to philology, from history to geography, from literature to politics, from sociology to economics and religious sciences In Tercüman-ı Şark newspaper, 19th century. This study aims to reveal what was written about Ali Suavi's life in Europe and the accusations against him, which was mentioned extensively in the 19th century Turkish intellectual and literary history.