European cities through the eyes of late Ottoman intellectuals: Three cities, three cases

Abstract

The modernization process confronted late Ottoman intellectuals with an ambivalent paradigm that positioned Western civilization as both an imperialist threat and a model to be emulated. This study examines the spatial projections of the Ottoman modernization mindset and the transformation of the perception of the West through the narratives of Namık Kemal, Ahmet Midhat Efendi, and Mehmed Akif Ersoy on European cities. The study examines London, which Namık Kemal's London, conceived as a utopia where the political order, constitutionalism, and justice mechanisms function flawlessly; Ahmet Midhat Efendi's Paris, approached with encyclopedic curiosity but reflecting the tension he experienced between technological progress and moral decay; and Mehmed Akif Ersoy's Berlin, read through the lens of discipline, hygiene, and the ideal of social solidarity under the conditions of the First World War. The comparative analysis conducted through articles, travelogues, and literary texts reveals that these intellectuals instrumentalized European cities not merely as geographical spaces, but as mirrors that diagnosed the institutional, social, and spatial deficiencies of the Ottoman Empire. Namık Kemal presented London as a romanticized political model, Ahmet Midhat portrayed Paris as a laboratory to be approached with caution, and Mehmed Akif depicted Berlin as a cautionary scene synthesizing material progress and spiritual resistance. The research findings show that all three thinkers internalized the material superiority and urban order of the West with admiration, while developing a selective modernization strategy aimed at preserving spiritual and cultural codes. In this context, European cities served as a rhetorical ground for Ottoman intellectuals to legitimize their own political and social projects.