From Ottoman imperial worldview to Turkish national outlook: the late Ottoman diplomatic service

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1301348 (Table of Contents)

This study investigates the cultural, intellectual, and ideological formations of the Ottoman diplomatic service in the late Ottoman Empire with an emphasis on the Hamidian era. The study attempts to describe the basic contours and premises of the culture of the late Ottoman bureaucracy as well as the social origins of the late Ottoman state elite by examining the diplomatic service as a microcosm of the late Ottoman bureaucratic elite. Examining the dispatches sent from the Ottoman legations abroad as well as the memoirs and books written by diplomats, the study attempts to overview the concerns and dispositions of the diplomats. The study also aims to highlight the prominent role the late Ottoman bureaucratic establishment played in the development of the modern Turkish national identity and Turkish nationalism, as well as the ideological premises of the republic.