Orta Doğu'da Bir Viktoryen Dönem Kadınının Ayak İzleri: Edith Sykes’ın Seyahat Notları

Seyahat yazımında keşfedilmemiş bir figür olan Edith Violet Sykes (1872-1930) Orta Doğu’daki faaliyetleri ve Sykes-Picot anlaşmasının mimarlarından olan ünlü İngiliz ajan ve diplomat Mark Sykes’ın eşidir. Edith Sykes, aslında politikayla aktif olarak ilgilenmiş, Ermeni ve Asuriler adına çalışmalar yürüten Chaldean Relief Committee’yi kurmuş ve İrlanda’daki çatışmaları kınamıştır. 1906’da yılında Osmanlı Orta Doğusu’na yaptığı gezideki tuttuğu notlar, kendisinin Oryantalist zihniyetini ortaya çıkarmakta ve Viktoryen dönemde yaşamış bir kadının Orta Doğu bölgesi ve toplumunu gözlemeleme biçimini ortaya koymaktadır. Bu doğrultuda çalışmanın ilk amacı, Edith Sykes’ın daha önce basılmamış gezi notlarını literature sunmaktadır. İkinci olarak, çalışma, Viktoryan dönemde doğan bir kadının Orta Doğu coğrafyasındaki aşiretler arası rekabeti, insanların yaşam şekillerini ve politik çalkantılarını nasıl değerlendirdiği ve Edith Sykes’ın gözlem ve yorumlarını daha sonrasında The Times gazetesi üzerinden nasıl bir politik söyleme dönüştürdüğünü ortaya koymaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Edith Sykes, Oryantalizm, Seyahat, Orta Doğu, Emperyalizm

Footsteps of a Victorian Woman in the Ottoman Middle East: Edith Sykes’ Travel Notes

Edith Violet Sykes (1872-1930) is an undiscovered character in the historiography of travel literature. She is the wife of a British agent and diplomat Sir Mark Sykes, who was renowned for his deeds in the Middle East and the Sykes-Picot Agreement. She is actively engaged in politics, establishing Chaldean Relief Committee for Armenian and Assyrian populations, and criticizing the violence in Ireland. Her travel notes in 1906 in the Ottoman Middle East shed light on her Orientalist mindset, the construction of East vis-à-vis the West, and how Victorian-born woman approaches this land and its people. In that sense, the purpose of this article is multifarious: First of all, this study will be the initial presentation of the unpublished travel notes of Edith Sykes. Secondly, the different assets of the Ottoman Middle East such as rivalry among the tribes, people’s living, and political disturbances will be discerned through the British woman whose narration provides assistance for the transition of events into political discourse.

Keywords:

Edith Sykes, Orientalism, Travel, Middle East, Imperialism,

PDF

___

“Red Cross Medal”, War Office (WO) 372/23/40395.

“Red Cross Medal”, War Office (WO) 372/23/40395.

The Papers of Sir Mark Sykes, DDSY2/4 Foreign Affairs and Travel (1888-1919), 4/6 June 1906-November 1906 Ts. of Pre-War Notebook: The journey of Edith Sykes, with Mark Sykes, from Sinope to Aleppo.

The Papers of Sir Mark Sykes, DDSY2/4 Foreign Affairs and Travel (1888-1919), 4/6 June 1906-November 1906 Ts. of Pre-War Notebook: The journey of Edith Sykes, with Mark Sykes, from Sinope to Aleppo.

“Yorkshire Lady Founds Hospital,” The Leeds Mercury, December 2nd, 1914.

“Yorkshire Lady Founds Hospital,” The Leeds Mercury, December 2nd, 1914.

“Lady Sykes and Central Hull,” The Times, March 11, 1919.

“Lady Sykes and Central Hull,” The Times, March 11, 1919.

“Chaldean Relief,” The Times, January 15th, 1920.

“Chaldean Relief,” The Times, January 15th, 1920.

Adair, Gigi & Filipova, Lenka, “Introduction: Gendered Travel and Genre of Travel Writing”, Encountering Difference: New Perspectives on Genre, Travel and Gender, Gigi Adair & Lenka Filipova (eds.), Vernon Press, Delaware & Malaga 2020, xvii-xxx.

Adair, Gigi & Filipova, Lenka, “Introduction: Gendered Travel and Genre of Travel Writing”, Encountering Difference: New Perspectives on Genre, Travel and Gender, Gigi Adair & Lenka Filipova (eds.), Vernon Press, Delaware & Malaga 2020, xvii-xxx.

Bakhtin, Mikhail, Rabelias and His World, (trans. Helene Iswolsky), Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1984.

Bakhtin, Mikhail, Rabelias and His World, (trans. Helene Iswolsky), Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1984.

Bassnett, Susan, “Travel Writing and Gender” in The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing, Peter Hulme & Tim Youngs (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002, 225-241.

Bassnett, Susan, “Travel Writing and Gender” in The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing, Peter Hulme & Tim Youngs (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002, 225-241.

Bell, Gertrude Lowthian, Safar Nameh: Persian Pictures, A Book of Travel, Richard Bentley and Son, London 1894.

Bell, Gertrude Lowthian, Safar Nameh: Persian Pictures, A Book of Travel, Richard Bentley and Son, London 1894.

Berdine, Michael, Redrawing the Middle East: Sir Mark Sykes, Imperialism and the Sykes-Picot Agreement, I.B. Tauris, London 2018.

Berdine, Michael, Redrawing the Middle East: Sir Mark Sykes, Imperialism and the Sykes-Picot Agreement, I.B. Tauris, London 2018.

Bird, Isabella L., Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan: Including a Summer in the Upper Karun Region and a Visit to the Nestorian Rayahs, V. I, John Murray, London 1891.

Bird, Isabella L., Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan: Including a Summer in the Upper Karun Region and a Visit to the Nestorian Rayahs, V. I, John Murray, London 1891.

Blunt, Alison, Travel, Gender, and Imperialism: Mary Kingsley and West Africa, The Guilford Press, New York & London 1994.

Blunt, Alison, Travel, Gender, and Imperialism: Mary Kingsley and West Africa, The Guilford Press, New York & London 1994.

Blunt, Lady Anne, Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, Harper & Brothers, New York 1879.

Blunt, Lady Anne, Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, Harper & Brothers, New York 1879.

Davidoff, Leonore & Hall, Catherine, Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class 1780-1850, Routledge, London & New York 2019 [1987].

Davidoff, Leonore & Hall, Catherine, Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class 1780-1850, Routledge, London & New York 2019 [1987].

Ellison, Grace, An English Women in a Turkish Harem, Methuen & Go. Ltd., London 1915.

Ellison, Grace, An English Women in a Turkish Harem, Methuen & Go. Ltd., London 1915.

Faught, C. Brad, Allenby: Making the Modern Middle East, I.B. Tauris, London & New York 2020.

Faught, C. Brad, Allenby: Making the Modern Middle East, I.B. Tauris, London & New York 2020.

Garnett, Lucy M. J., Turkish Life in Town and Country, The Knickerbocker Press, New York & London 1904.

Garnett, Lucy M. J., Turkish Life in Town and Country, The Knickerbocker Press, New York & London 1904.

Garnett, Lucy M. J., Home Life in Turkey, The Macmillan Company, New York 1909.

Garnett, Lucy M. J., Home Life in Turkey, The Macmillan Company, New York 1909.

Halid, Halil, The Diary of a Turk, Adam and Charles Black, London 1903.

Halid, Halil, The Diary of a Turk, Adam and Charles Black, London 1903.

Hammond, Andrew, “Typologies of the East: On Distinguishing Balkanism and Orientalism”, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, V. 29, N. 2-3, 2007, 201-218.

Hammond, Andrew, “Typologies of the East: On Distinguishing Balkanism and Orientalism”, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, V. 29, N. 2-3, 2007, 201-218.

Harvey, Annie Jane, Turkish Harems & Circassian Homes, Hurst & Blackett, London 1871.

Harvey, Annie Jane, Turkish Harems & Circassian Homes, Hurst & Blackett, London 1871.

Hepworth, George H., Through Armenia on Horseback, Isbister & Company Limited, London 1898.

Hepworth, George H., Through Armenia on Horseback, Isbister & Company Limited, London 1898.

Herzog, Christoph, “The Urban Experience in Women’s Memoirs: Mediha Kayra’s World War I Notebook”, Women and the City, Women in the City: A Gendered Perspective on Ottoman Urban History, Nazan Maksudyan (ed.), Berghahn Books, New York & Oxford 2014, 149-168.

Herzog, Christoph, “The Urban Experience in Women’s Memoirs: Mediha Kayra’s World War I Notebook”, Women and the City, Women in the City: A Gendered Perspective on Ottoman Urban History, Nazan Maksudyan (ed.), Berghahn Books, New York & Oxford 2014, 149-168.

Hobsbawm, Eric, The Age of Empires: 1875-1914, Vintage, New York 1989.

Hobsbawm, Eric, The Age of Empires: 1875-1914, Vintage, New York 1989.

Horn, Pamela, Life as a Victorian Lady, The History Press, Gloucestershire 2007.

Horn, Pamela, Life as a Victorian Lady, The History Press, Gloucestershire 2007.

Hume-Griffith, M. E., Behind the Veil in Persia and Turkish Arabia: An Account of an Englishwoman's Eight Years' Residence Amongst the Women of the East, Skeley Co. Ltd., London 1909.

Hume-Griffith, M. E., Behind the Veil in Persia and Turkish Arabia: An Account of an Englishwoman's Eight Years' Residence Amongst the Women of the East, Skeley Co. Ltd., London 1909.

Hunter, Archie, A Life of Sir John Eldon Gorst: Disraeli's Awkward Disciple, Routledge, London & New York 2013.

Hunter, Archie, A Life of Sir John Eldon Gorst: Disraeli's Awkward Disciple, Routledge, London & New York 2013.

Johnson, Robert, British Imperialism, Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2003.

Johnson, Robert, British Imperialism, Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2003.

Kamberidou, Irene, “The East in the Eyes of Western Women Travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries: Solidarity and Understanding the East”, Proceedings of The East in The Eyes of The West International Conference of the Faculty of Arts, Kuwait University, November 26-28, 2013, 1-27.

Kamberidou, Irene, “The East in the Eyes of Western Women Travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries: Solidarity and Understanding the East”, Proceedings of The East in The Eyes of The West International Conference of the Faculty of Arts, Kuwait University, November 26-28, 2013, 1-27.

Kark, R. & Frantzman, S. J., “Empire, State and the Bedouin of the Middle East, Past and Present: A Comparative Study of Land and Settlement Policies”, Middle Eastern Studies, V. 48, N. 4, 487-510.

Kark, R. & Frantzman, S. J., “Empire, State and the Bedouin of the Middle East, Past and Present: A Comparative Study of Land and Settlement Policies”, Middle Eastern Studies, V. 48, N. 4, 487-510.

Kassis, Dimitrios, Greek Dystopia in British Women Travellers’ Discourse, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle 2018.

Kassis, Dimitrios, Greek Dystopia in British Women Travellers’ Discourse, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle 2018.

Kennedy, Valerie, “Orientalism in the Victorian Era”, Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Literature, V. 8, N. 22, 2017, 1-93.

Kennedy, Valerie, “Orientalism in the Victorian Era”, Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Literature, V. 8, N. 22, 2017, 1-93.

Klein, Janet, The Margins of Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zone, Stanford University Press, California 2011.

Klein, Janet, The Margins of Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zone, Stanford University Press, California 2011.

Lane Poole, Sophia, The People of Turkey: Twenty Years' Residence among Bulgarians, Greeks, Albanians, Turks, and Armenians, V. I, John Murray, London 1878.

Lane Poole, Sophia, The People of Turkey: Twenty Years' Residence among Bulgarians, Greeks, Albanians, Turks, and Armenians, V. I, John Murray, London 1878.

Lewis, Reina, Rethinking Orientalism: Women, Travel and the Ottoman Harem, I.B. Tauris, London & New York 2004.

Lewis, Reina, Rethinking Orientalism: Women, Travel and the Ottoman Harem, I.B. Tauris, London & New York 2004.

MacKinnon, Catharine A., “Desire and Power: A Feminist Perspective”, in Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, Cary Nelson & Lawrence Grossberg (eds.), Macmillan Education, London 1988, 105-122.

MacKinnon, Catharine A., “Desire and Power: A Feminist Perspective”, in Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, Cary Nelson & Lawrence Grossberg (eds.), Macmillan Education, London 1988, 105-122.

McEwan, Cheryl, Gender, Geography, and Empire: Victorian Women Travellers in Africa, Ashgate Publishing, Oxon 2000.

McEwan, Cheryl, Gender, Geography, and Empire: Victorian Women Travellers in Africa, Ashgate Publishing, Oxon 2000.

Melman, Billie, Women’s Orients: English Women and the Middle East, 1718-1918: Sexuality, Religion and Work, Macmillan, London 1992.

Melman, Billie, Women’s Orients: English Women and the Middle East, 1718-1918: Sexuality, Religion and Work, Macmillan, London 1992.

Mills, Sara, Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women’s Travel Writing and Colonialism, Routledge, London & New York 1991.

Mills, Sara, Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women’s Travel Writing and Colonialism, Routledge, London & New York 1991.

Mitchell, Sally, Daily Life in Victorian England, Greenwood Press, London 2009.

Mitchell, Sally, Daily Life in Victorian England, Greenwood Press, London 2009.

Nicholson, James, “The Hejaz Railway”, Asian Affairs, V. 37, N. 3, 320-336.

Nicholson, James, “The Hejaz Railway”, Asian Affairs, V. 37, N. 3, 320-336.

Pardoe, Julia, The Beauties of the Bosphorus, George Virtue, London 1838.

Pardoe, Julia, The Beauties of the Bosphorus, George Virtue, London 1838.

Pierce, Leslie, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1993.

Pierce, Leslie, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1993.

Ramsey, W. M., Everyday Life in Turkey, Hodder & Stoughton, London 1897.

Ramsey, W. M., Everyday Life in Turkey, Hodder & Stoughton, London 1897.

Rogers, Mary Eliza, Domestic Life in Palestine, Poe & Hitchcock, Cincinnati 1865.

Rogers, Mary Eliza, Domestic Life in Palestine, Poe & Hitchcock, Cincinnati 1865.

Said, Edward, Orientalism, Pantheon Books, New York 1978.

Said, Edward, Orientalism, Pantheon Books, New York 1978.

Şirin, İbrahim, “Batılı Seyyahların İzleniminde Sufiler”, Sufi Araştırmaları, V. 3, N. 5, 2012, 21-47.

Şirin, İbrahim, “Batılı Seyyahların İzleniminde Sufiler”, Sufi Araştırmaları, V. 3, N. 5, 2012, 21-47.

Suh, Judy, “Modern Travel on the Fringes of Empire”, in The History of British Women’s Writing, 1880-1920, Holly A. Laird (ed.), Palgrave Macmillan, London 2016, 162-173.

Suh, Judy, “Modern Travel on the Fringes of Empire”, in The History of British Women’s Writing, 1880-1920, Holly A. Laird (ed.), Palgrave Macmillan, London 2016, 162-173.

Sykes, Christopher Simon, The Big House: The Story of a Country House and Its Family, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 2005.

Sykes, Christopher Simon, The Big House: The Story of a Country House and Its Family, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 2005.

Travels of Lady Hester Stanhope; Forming the Completion of Her Memoirs narrated by her Physician, V. I, Henry Colburn Publisher, London 1846.

Travels of Lady Hester Stanhope; Forming the Completion of Her Memoirs narrated by her Physician, V. I, Henry Colburn Publisher, London 1846.

van den Berg, Murre “Chaldeans and Assyrians: The Church of the East in the Ottoman Period”, in The Christian Heritage of Iraq: Collected Papers from the Christianity of Iraq I-V Seminar Days, Erica Hunter (ed.), Gorgias Press, New Jersey 2009, 146-164.

van den Berg, Murre “Chaldeans and Assyrians: The Church of the East in the Ottoman Period”, in The Christian Heritage of Iraq: Collected Papers from the Christianity of Iraq I-V Seminar Days, Erica Hunter (ed.), Gorgias Press, New Jersey 2009, 146-164.

Wilcox, Andrew, Orientalism, and Imperialism: From Nineteenth-Century Missionary Imaginings to the Contemporary Middle East, Bloomsbury Publishing, London 2018.

Wilcox, Andrew, Orientalism, and Imperialism: From Nineteenth-Century Missionary Imaginings to the Contemporary Middle East, Bloomsbury Publishing, London 2018.

Yacoub, Joseph, Year of the Sword: The Assyrian Christian Genocide: A History, Oxford University Press, New York 2016.

Yacoub, Joseph, Year of the Sword: The Assyrian Christian Genocide: A History, Oxford University Press, New York 2016.