Political Thought in Namık Kemal

Abstract The nineteenth century marks a period in which the Ottoman Empire began to decline in many respects, particularly in comparison to the West. At the same time, it was also an era in which both the causes of this decline were contemplated and debated, and remedies were sought to rescue the Empire from its deteriorating condition. Although the reigns of Selim III and Mahmud II had already witnessed efforts to address the Empire’s challenges, it was during the Tanzimat period that the most comprehensive reforms were undertaken in an attempt to preserve the Ottoman state. Namık Kemal, one of the prominent intellectuals of the late Ottoman period, lived through the Tanzimat era and devoted himself to seeking solutions to the Empire’s predicament vis-à-vis the West, while also articulating influential ideas in this regard. Although Namık Kemal made significant contributions across a wide spectrum ranging from literature to politics, this study specifically examines his ideas concerning politics and political thought. To this end, primary attention has been given to his writings in the weekly newspapers İbret and Hürriyet, which he published in England and the Ottoman Empire in order to grasp his political views of the time, followed by an analysis of secondary sources, including books and scholarly articles on Namık Kemal.