Abstract:

Turkish nation has gone through radical changes through history and these changes have deeply affected its life. The process of westernization in Ottoman Empire which began with Tanzimat is regarded as the last of these changes. This final change was a transition from one civilization to another, and thus the elements of the new civiliztaion had great influence on various areas of Turkish social life; from military institutions to education or government. Jöntürk is one of the most important works of Ahmet Mithat Efendi for it is the final work of its writer and thus summarises his life, experiences and reflects his ideas about the political and social life of his time. Many reviews and analysis have already been made on the book which is full of rich details about its period. In this work we intended to analyse the “Jöntürk” novel in terms of its writer’s perception of civilization. The results of the analysis show that Ahmet Mithat Efendi never adopted a submissive stance against the Western civilization. He, from the beginning, admitted that both civilizations- that he named East and West -may have superior qualities over each other. He also shed light on our day by saying that it is best to choose that which suits best to our needs and may do less harm to our national existence by comparing the material and moral values of each civilization.

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