Özet:

Istanbul is regarded as the symbol of independence and the center of civilization and education for Kazan Tatars who had been suppressed and oppressed for more than three hundred years, and who began to raise national consciousness in the last quarter of the 19th century. Since then, the image of Istanbul has been handled in Tatar literature by the Tatar intellectuals visiting Istanbul as a result of the literary and cultural connections. This paper investigates some Tatar literary works written in various periods of the last century, including the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th century, the time of Soviet Union and the first years of the independence. This paper aims to reveal how the city of Istanbul was portrayed in Tatar literature. Istanbul, in different periods, was depicted in the genres of pilgrimage narratives (hacname), travel writings and literary journalism. Writers of such genres presented the history, architecture, educations centers and famous figures of the city so as to inform the reader and share their impressions. Istanbul, which turned into an imaginary city in novels, was represented as the place of significant past events. Ayaz İshaki, a nationalist Tatar novelist, emphasized the importance of the city by displaying its breakdown and devastation during the World War I. The author showed that Istanbul, which is the symbol of independence for Turkish people, was zealously defended by all the Muslims and Turks in the city together. M. Galeü, the author of the Soviet Union who had to portray the foreign cities merely from negative perspectives, depicted Istanbul and the Turkish people from unfavorable standpoints in order to prevent Tatar people from emigrating to Turkey.

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