Korkut Ata Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi

Öz

Although the first examples of reports containing information about foreign countries were encountered during the Fatih period, the Vienna Embassy written by Evliya Çelebi, who was in his entourage, on behalf of Kara Mehmed Pasha, who was sent to Vienna in 1665 as the Ottoman ambassador, is accepted as the first example of the embassy type. The central authority, especially Poland, Russia, France, Austria, Iran, Sweden, India, Germany, England, Italy, Morocco, since the first quarter of the 18th century, in order to increase the dialogue with the countries to which ambassadors were sent and to follow the changes and developments in those countries within the framework of the communication possibilities of the period. He sent many envoys to. The reports recorded by those ambassadors or their clerks and presented to the sultan on his return form the embassy type.
Sefaretnâme-i Abdülkerim Paşa, written by Mehmet Emin Nahifi Efendi, is one of the eight embassies written about Russia. In this work, besides the artistic activities that will be the source of the chance in civilization, the way of life in Russia, social issues and the solutions produced for them are discussed. Abdülkerim Paşa, who set out with his large entourage in 1188 (1775) took Mehmet Emin Nahifi with him as a clerk; the current findings were recorded by him and the embassy was presented to Abdülhamid I on this return. As can be seen predominantly in the French Embassy of twenty eight Çelebi Mehmet Efendi, the artistic activities and landscaping of the cities that firs attract the attention of the delegations going abroad are also widely covered in this work. Especially the theater and opera show they watched in the Moscow theater and which was not available in the Ottoman society at that time and the masked balloon in Katerina’s palace are remarkable. It is possible to see the first sparks of these entertainment assemblies, which will be the subject of Ahmet Mithat Efendi’s novels in the next period, in the embassy. So much so that author’s novel Karnaval, published in 1298 (1881) deals with this issue from beginning to end. It is remarkable to see the first traces of this lifestyle, which such an author, who took the pulse of social life, took to the center in those years, in the embassies recorded about 100-150 years ago. Ahmet Mithat Efendi, who stated that it is important to give some information in that direction, since the ground of a novel with a Karnaval plate will be balls, gives historical information about the main theme of the novel, entertainment assemblies, carnivals and balls, and introduces this new entertainmentstyle to the reader. During the narration, it refers to the forms of pratice and their origins, which are also discussed in detail in the ambassy. Therefore, it took about 100 years for the masses to fill the path opened by these ambassies, which are the source of social transformation. For this reason, it is the basis of the study to examine Sefaretnâme-i Abdülkerim Paşa, one of the embassies that will be seen as the pioneer of mentality change and transformation in social life, in this context.