"Talihsiz Çerkeslere İngiliz peksimeti": İngiliz arşiv belgelerinde büyük Çerkes göçü (Şubat 1864-Mayıs 1865)

Bu çalışma Rusya’nın on dokuzuncu yüzyılda Kafkaslar’daki ilerleyişinin bir sonucu olarak ortaya çıkan ve 1864-1865 yılları arasında yüzbinlerce Çerkes’i Osmanlı ülkesine savuran “Büyük Çerkes Göçü”nü, konuya ilişkin İngiliz arşiv belgelerine dayanarak ve “Şark Meselesi” çerçevesine yerleştirerek ele almaktadır. Büyük Çerkes Göçü “Şark Meselesi”nin ifadesini bulduğu alanlardan biridir ve İngiliz ve Rus imparatorluklarının on dokuzuncu yüzyıl boyunca Doğu Akdeniz’de hegemonya kurma mücadelesi içinde birbirlerine karşı yürüttükleri rekabetin dinamiklerini yansıtan bir niteliğe sahiptir. Tam da aynı nedenle Osmanlı Devleti’nin Çerkes göçü dolayımıyla ifadesini bulan finansal, yönetsel ve hatta diplomatik yetersizlikleri aslında imparatorluğun 19. yüzyıl boyunca Batılı Büyük Devletlerin nüfuz mücadelesine konu olmasına yani “Şark Meselesi”nin nesnesi ve eylem alanı haline gelmesine neden olan yapısal problemlerinin de bir ifadesidir. Bu bağlamda elinizdeki çalışma bir yandan bir sürgünün trajik hikâyesine öte yandan da bu sürgünün “Şark Meselesi”nin reel-politiği çerçevesinde ne anlama geldiğine ilişkin bir anlatı olarak okunmalıdır.

"Biscuits for the distressed Circassians": The Great Circassian immigration in British archival documents (February 1864-May 1865)

This article examines the “Great Circassian Immigration” from the Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire between the years of 1864 and 1865 by delving into the British archival documents on the subject and narrates it within the framework of the “Eastern Question.” The “Great Circassian Immigration” which was engendered by the Russian invasion of the North Caucasus and caused hundreds of thousands of Circassian refugees to seek a new life in the Ottoman Sultan’s dominions was, in fact, a salient feature of the “Eastern Question” and mirrored the dynamics of intense rivalry between Great Britain and Russia over the control of the East Mediterranean. The unequal and interest-based treatment that characterized the Russian and British attitudes towards the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century manifested itself in the process of the “Great Circassian Immigration.” Likewise the Porte’s ineptitude in handling the immigration as the host country reflected the Ottoman Empire’s structural weakness that led it to become the object of the “Eastern Question” in the first place. This study, hence, aims to narrate the tragic story of an exile/immigration in the mid-nineteenth century with a special reference to the world-historical conditions labelled as the “Eastern Question” that fashioned it.

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Yayınlanmamış Kaynaklar:
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