19TH CENTURY TURKEY’S INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENT AND THE PRESS: AHMET RIZA BEY’S LIFE AND THOUGHT STRUCTURE

Abstract

In the last period of the Ottoman Empire, which corresponded to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there is a considerable intellectual segment that tries to create works using the philosophical knowledge and scientific methods of the West. The intellectuals of the state, which had a wide geography and hence a multinational structure as of the period, emerged from this multiple structure. These people from different nationalities and regions have tried to do something first of all in the unification of the Ottoman phenomenon, but have had cyclical hurdles in different areas. As one of the intellectuals, Ahmed Rıza Bey (1858-1930) performed important duties at state levels and created valuable works as an intellectual. A few of the works of Ahmet Rıza Bey, who speaks more than one language, especially French, have been translated into Turkish. This study includes the analysis of the book, Political Immorality of the West, which is originally French, as a modest effort to understand the life and mindset of Ahmet Rıza Bey.