Abstract:

Rumelian lands are of vital importance for the survival of the Ottoman Empire. The loss of Rumelia was perceived as a sign of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. As a matter of fact, the continuation of land losses in Rumeli increased the concerns in this direction and pushed people, especially intellectuals, to seek solutions. Namık Kemal; As an Ottoman poet, writer and intellectual, he loudly expressed his sensitivity to the homeland and his views earned him the title of “poet of homeland and freedom”. The aim of this study is to reveal and evaluate how the loss of Rumelia is reflected in Namık Kemal’s poetry and plays. In this context, poems and plays written by Namık Kemal, “Lazımsa”, “Murabba”, “Vaveyla”, “Vatan Mersiyesi”, “Bir Muhacir Kızın İstimdâdı” and the play Vatan yahut Silistre, which are directly related to the subject, were examined. In the study, the idea of homeland, which was nourished by the loss of Rumelia, was included and the works were discussed one by one on the basis of this idea. While the terrible situation of the homeland is the common feature of all the works examined, there are also different aspects of each work. Namık Kemal, in his poem “Necessary”, draws the framework of a new type of patriotic person who will make sacrifices and embrace patriotic feelings so that the homeland does not lose more land. In “Murabba”, he tries to make the voice of the homeland heard. In “Vaveyla”, he includes sensitive situations that can have a deep impact on the public. In his “Vatan Mersiyesi”, he invites people to think and act on the reasons for the loss of land that has been going on for a century. In the poem titled “Bir Muhacir Kızın İstimdadı”, he reveals the sad result of the enemy occupation of the homeland. The patriotic views expressed in the poems are conveyed to wider masses of people through the defense of the homeland in Silistre in Vatan yahut Silistre. These works, which were written by Namık Kemal after the wars that resulted in the loss of territory in Rumeli, reveal the need for a multi-faceted struggle for the sake of the homeland.