Rusya ve Oryantalizm
Russia and Orientalism

Summary/Abstract: This study examines the relationship between the concept of “Orientalism” and “the Eastern Question”. For this purpose, the study looks into the period that followed the entrance of Russia into the European cultural environment following the establishment of the Orientalist literature. This period is considered around the question of weather or not works produced after this era contributed to the Russian perspective of expansion into the Ottoman lands. This topic is mainly approached from the point of view of the relationship between Russian Orientalistic literature and Russian political intentions, rather than the classical Russian politics of conquest. Thus, the subject matter includes the main areas of interest of the Orientalist activity and the effects of such activity and intellectual production on Russian politics. In order to deal with this problem, first of all the study examines the historical roots and the historical development of the concepts of Orientalism and the Eastern Question. It is underlined that the socio-cultural reproduction and the restructuring of Russia was largely founded on the reproduction and restructuring of Western Orientalist thought. In this framework, a relationship between the political tendencies of Russia and the acceleration in the Orientalist activity that took place in the nineteenth century is established. In this context, the study also attempts a brief survey of Russian Orientalist activities. While looking at Ottoman-Russian relations, a comparative approach is employed taking into account both countries historically, and in terms of their interaction with the West.

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