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The journalism in Ottoman Empire in 17th-18th centuries

27.01.18

History and dates

Going back to History, we can obviously know that journalism in Turkey was opened by printing books. The trend was brought by Ibrahim Mutafferika (a Hungarian by nationality, a Turkish pioneer printer). Thus, the appearance of printed books in Ottoman was directly correlated with the people of Balkans and Southeast Europe.

Ibrahim Mutafferika’s idea about creating the typography appeared earlier than the opening of the printing house in Istanbul.

Thus, in 1719, he prepared a cliché and printed a map of the Sea of Marmara, which he presented to the grand vizier and in 1724, in the same way, was the map of the Black Sea was also printed.

About Ibrahim Mutafeferika

He is the diplomat, born in Transilvania. He was Christian at the childhood, but then he embraced Islam. That is why in the majority of sources he can be mentioned as like as “muslim pioneer printer, Hungarian Transylvanian, Ottoman Empire statesman, diplomat, translator, cartographer and astronomer, founder of the first typography printing in Arabic.

Born: 1674, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Died: 1745, Istanbul, Turkey”^[1]

He was also known as an Ottoman Phenomenon, Czezárnak de Saussure wrote a letter in French in 1732 to a friend of him who was living in Switzerland. It contained: «One day an unfortunate, 18-20 years old Hungarian, who was educated to be a Calvinist priest, was captured and 2 enslaved by the Turks. He lived an unhappy life in his cruel, merciless master’s house for a long time and he could not stand slavery more and converted to Islam. Ibrahim was very clever and talented. For years, Ibrahim studied Turkish language and law. He advanced in them and became an Efendi. He personally had the chance to know Grand Vizier Ibrahim Paşa, who had been executed in the revolt of 1730. He was appointed by the vizier in some various state affairs and proved his talent. He wanted to introduce arts and sciences to the Turks. So, he offered to establish a printing house in Istanbul...»^[2]

The first printing house

The first printing house was arranged in the house of Mutefericki, in the Sultan Selim square in Istanbul. Initially, the printing house was engaged in the manufacture of exclusively secular publications.

Ahmed 3 and printing

By the Ferman of Ahmed III of July 5, 1727, publishers were forbidden to print any books of religious content in it: the Koran, its interpretations (tafsirs), traditions about the life and affairs of Muhammad (hadis), treatises on Muslim jurisprudence.

 The reason was S explained by Sultan like the concession to the clergy, who opposed the “desecration” of the sacred books, as well as thousands of hattats - scribes of manuscript books, who were afraid to lose

livelihood.

In Istanbul alone, there were about 15,000. "Thus, in the first half of the 18th century, in the field of typography, a clear separation of secular printed products appeared.

 Consequences

The decision of Sultan gave the development of the journalism in Ottoman Empire. It is important to notice, that in the contrast with Western countries, where the printing press got the birth by religious books and spreading them, Turkey made it and developed as like as a secular tool, so it was «a window to Europe».

Conclusion

To conclude, the printing houses were not originated by Turks initially, so it did not cover cultural topics itself for 200 years, The first book printed in Turkey was about geography and history of Ottoman Empire, on par with that geographical discovery of Western states, the state structure of a number of European countries, and the achievements of European science. In the end, we can make the conclusion, that Turkish journalism in 17th-18th centuries was firstly about developing basic pieces of knowledge of readers.

References:

Every fact mentioned in this paper was taken and translated from;

1) http://www.dslib.net/zhurnalistika/sovremennaja-pressa-turcii-zhanrovye-osobennosti-v-uslovijah-islamizacii-i.html#3798671

2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Muteferrika

3) « An Ottoman Phenomenon: İbrahim Müteferrika» Ferhat Meshur

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