Batının ilgiyle karşıladığı Türk gölge oyunu, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun sosyal yaşamında önemli bir yere sahiptir. Geleneksel Türk Tiyatrosu 17. , 18. ve 19. yüzyıllarda mizahi bir anlayış ve barışçıl bir kavrayışla, Avrupa'nın ilgisini çekmiştir. 19. yüzyılda özellikle Doğu'nun gözde olduğu dönemde Türkiye'de geleneksel Türk türü oluşturuldu. 18. ve 19. yüzyıllarda Türkiye'yi ziyaret eden Fransız yazar ve seyyahlar ülkelerine döndükten sonra her türlü konudaki izlenimlerini gezi yazılarında ya da eserlerinde anlatmışlardır. Bu makalenin amacı, çeşitli gösteri biçimlerinde ortaya çıkan ve kaynağını sözlü ve halk geleneklerinden alan geleneksel Türk tiyatrosunu takdim etmektir. Amacımız geleneksel tiyatromuz hakkında Fransız seyyah ve yazarların izlenim ve düşüncelerini ortaya koymak ve bu konudaki düşüncelerini aktarmaktır. Bu anlamda, Batıda, uzun zamandır bilinmeyen Türk geleneklerinin taşımaktadır. Büyük ölçüde sosyo-politik hiciv içeren gölge tiyatrosunun temel amacı güldürmektir. Günümüzde, gölge tiyatrosu kaybolmaya yüz tutmuştur. Onu canlandırmak için bazı kişisel girişimler mevcuttur, ama yeterli değildir. Geleneksel Türk tiyatrosu başlığı altında genellikle, karagöz, meddah, ortaoyunu, kukla v.b. gibi gösteri türleri yer alır. Şarkı, dans ve söz oyunlarına dayanan, yazılı metin içermeyen ve sahnesiz bir tiyatro şekli olan geleneksel Türk tiyatrosunun temel öğesi güldürüdür. Özellikle büyük kentlerde yaygınlaşmıştır ve uzun yıllar, Türk'lerin toplumsal yaşamında etkili bir tür olarak varlığını sürdürmüştür

important aspect of social life in the Ottoman Empire. Traditional Turkish drama attracted the Europeans by its peaceful and humorous content in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. French writers and travellers visiting Turkey in the 18th and 19th centuries wrote their reflections on all aspects of Turkish culture in their works. This study aims to analyse traditional Turkish drama consisting of performances that originate from oral and folk traditions. Rich Turkish traditions that failed the attention of the West will be displayed, in this study, through the opinions and observations of these writers and travellers. The main target of shade theatre which involves socio-political satire was humour. Today, shade theatre is about to disappear despite some personal attempts to save it. Traditional Turkish drama generally covers such performances as Karagöz (Shade Theatre), Meddah (public story-teller), Ortaoyunu (farce), kukla (puppets), çengi (dancers), köy seyirlik oyunları (dramatic performances in the villages) etc.. The basic content of traditional Turkish drama which consists of songs, dances, word plays without a text and a stage, is humour. First literary examples of Turkish drama appeared in Tanzimat Period. Starting point for almost all traditional performative plays is comedy. The purpose is to entertain and teach the audience. The moral of the play is generally implied in the end. Plays do not have a text. All these performances are accumulations of a long oral tradition. The content of the play is known. Players speak in some certain patterns as well as use improvisations. As they cannot be attributed to a certain writer, these plays belong to public. Searching the roots of shade theatre, shows that it was transferred from Egypt in the 16th century, and achieved its classic form in the 17th century. The main point of wonder is whether Karagöz and Hacivat had really lived. As two important characters in the shade theatre, they were loved by the public so much that they were believed to be real life characters. One of these stories refers to Hacivat as a bricklayer and Karagöz as an ironmonger working for the building of a mosque in Bursa in the time of Sultan Orhan. They were subjected to death for latening the building of the mosque by taking the time of other workers through their talks and jokes. Another important traditional form of entertainment which has a vital place in Turkish social life is Karagöz, a kind of shade theatre. The basic scenes in Karagöz performances are borrowed from the real life : lives in the neighbourhoods, shop keepers, marriage tradition and other events that are targeted by social and political satire. Karagöz, which achieved a final form in the 17th century, improved in the following centuries and became one of the most liked performances by Turkish people. The two important characters in the play are Pişekar and Kavuklu. The performances develops arround these two characters. Pişekar is the character who is in control of the events and he is an experienced clever and cunning old man who is a leading character. He determines the mood of the performance. Kavuklu, on the other hand, is the comic element. Kavuklu is in the center of all intriques and suprises. He preoccupies Pişekar with his illiteracy and obstinacy from beginnig to the end of the play, and then he closes the performance whit a tongue twister. Creating tongue twisters is one of Kavuklu’s greatest skills. Karagöz is an illiterate and rude man with some skill for repartee and he responds to whatever he hears misunderstendingly, Hacivat, on the other hand, represents the intellectuals and half intellectuals. All the talk in Karagöz performances is done by only one actor speaking behind a screen. For this reason Karagöz is a difficult performance. Ortaoyunu is another kind of traditional Turkish drama that resembles to Karagöz, except for that the performers are real actors. It is performed on a scene wholly surrounded by audiences. Like in Karagöz and in the Italian commedia dell’arte there is not a written text in Ortaoyunu. Depending on a certain subject, it consists of subjects like in Karagöz. Scene is an almost empty space surrounded by audiences. 710 Perihan YALÇIN Turkish Studies International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 11/10 Spring 2016 We have tried to reflect the perspectives and opinions of French writers and travellers in this study. It can be stated that French writers and travellers have admired such types of traditional Turkish drama as shade theatre, public story-teller, farce and found them interesting, attractive and entertaining.