Bir Kamusal Alan İncelemesi: Osmanlı’dan Erken Cumhuriyet’e Kahvehaneler

Abstract

Kahvehaneler, aromatik bir bitki olan kahvenin bir içecek olarak yaygınlaşması sonucu ortaya çıkmıştır. Anavatanı Habeşistan’dan 15. yüzyılda tüccarlar vasıtasıyla önce Yemen’e daha sonra da Mekke’ye taşınan kahvenin, Osmanlı’da sosyal yaşamın bir parçası olmaya başlaması 16. yüzyılın ortalarında gerçekleşmiştir. Kahve müdavimlerinin bir araya geldiği kahvehaneler, gerçek olsun olmasın her türlü fikrin tartışıldığı ve yayıldığı yerler olmuştur. Osmanlı’da, devlete karşı siyasi fikirlerin taraftar topladığı yerler olduğu gerekçesiyle bir dönem kapatılmayla karşı karşıya kalan kahvehaneler, Tanzimat ile başlayıp Meşrutiyet ile devam eden her değişim ve dönüşüm hareketinin hissedildiği, tartışıldığı, eleştirildiği önemli mekânlar olmuştur. Kahvehanelerin sosyal hayatın içindeki fonksiyonu ve taşıdığı önem arttıkça bu mekânların siyasal iletişime aracılık ettiği de görülmektedir. Kurtuluş mücadelesinin yaşandığı yıllarda kahvehaneler, Birinci Meclis’in ulusal cemiyetlerin ve Kuvayımilliye’nin yürüttüğü faaliyetlerden halkın bilgi sahibi olduğu, her türlü haber akışının yaşandığı ve millî şuurun yayıldığı mekânlar olmuştur. Bu çalışma, Osmanlı’dan Erken Cumhuriyet dönemine değin yaşanan tarihsel süreçte kahvehanelerin sosyal ve siyasal fonksiyonları ve yaşadığı değişimleri konu edinmiştir. Bununla birlikte, yaygın bir kamusal mekân haline gelen kahvehanelerin siyasal iletişimdeki olumlu ve olumsuz rolleri incelenmiştir.

Keywords

• Kahve
• Osmanlı’da Kahvehaneler
• Cumhuriyet Döneminde Kahvehaneler
• Siyasal İletişim.

A Study of Public Sphere: Coffeehouses from the Ottoman Empire to the Early Republican Period

Abstract

Coffeehouses emerged as a result of the widespread consumption of coffee, an aromatic plant, as a beverage. Coffee, whose homeland is Abyssinia, was first transported to Yemen and later to Mecca by merchants in the fifteenth century, and it became part of social life in the Ottoman Empire in the mid-sixteenth century. Coffeehouses, where coffee drinkers gathered, became places in which all kinds of ideas, whether true or not, were discussed and disseminated. In the Ottoman Empire, coffeehouses faced closure for a period on the grounds that they were places where political ideas against the state attracted supporters. However, beginning with the Tanzimat and continuing through the Constitutional Period, they became important places where every movement of change and transformation was experienced, discussed, and criticized. As the function and importance of coffeehouses in social life increased, they also came to serve as instruments of political communication. During the years of the War of Independence, coffeehouses became places where the public was informed about the activities carried out by the First Assembly, national societies, and the Kuva-yı Milliye, where all kinds of news circulated, and where national consciousness spread. This study examines the social and political functions of coffeehouses and the changes they underwent during the historical period extending from the Ottoman Empire to the Early Republican period. In addition, it investigates the positive and negative roles of coffeehouses, which became widespread public spaces, in political communication.

Keywords

• Coffee
• Coffeehouses in the Ottoman Empire
• Coffeehouses in the Republican Era
• Political Communication.

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