Orta Doğu'da Bir Viktoryen Dönem Kadınının Ayak İzleri: Edith Sykes’ın Seyahat Notları

Yıl 2021, Cilt: 19 Sayı: 31, 43 - 62, 31.10.2021

Özge Aslanmirza

https://doi.org/10.17518/canakkalearastirmalari.944481

Öz

Seyahat yazımında keşfedilmemiş bir figür olan Edith Violet Sykes (1872-1930) Orta Doğu’daki faaliyetleri ve Sykes-Picot anlaşmasının mimarlarından olan ünlü İngiliz ajan ve diplomat Mark Sykes’ın eşidir. Edith Sykes, aslında politikayla aktif olarak ilgilenmiş, Ermeni ve Asuriler adına çalışmalar yürüten Chaldean Relief Committee’yi kurmuş ve İrlanda’daki çatışmaları kınamıştır. 1906’da yılında Osmanlı Orta Doğusu’na yaptığı gezideki tuttuğu notlar, kendisinin Oryantalist zihniyetini ortaya çıkarmakta ve Viktoryen dönemde yaşamış bir kadının Orta Doğu bölgesi ve toplumunu gözlemeleme biçimini ortaya koymaktadır. Bu doğrultuda çalışmanın ilk amacı, Edith Sykes’ın daha önce basılmamış gezi notlarını literature sunmaktadır. İkinci olarak, çalışma, Viktoryan dönemde doğan bir kadının Orta Doğu coğrafyasındaki aşiretler arası rekabeti, insanların yaşam şekillerini ve politik çalkantılarını nasıl değerlendirdiği ve Edith Sykes’ın gözlem ve yorumlarını daha sonrasında The Times gazetesi üzerinden nasıl bir politik söyleme dönüştürdüğünü ortaya koymaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Edith Sykes, Oryantalizm, Seyahat, Orta Doğu, Emperyalizm

Footsteps of a Victorian Woman in the Ottoman Middle East: Edith Sykes’ Travel Notes

Öz

Edith Violet Sykes (1872-1930) is an undiscovered character in the historiography of travel literature. She is the wife of a British agent and diplomat Sir Mark Sykes, who was renowned for his deeds in the Middle East and the Sykes-Picot Agreement. She is actively engaged in politics, establishing Chaldean Relief Committee for Armenian and Assyrian populations, and criticizing the violence in Ireland. Her travel notes in 1906 in the Ottoman Middle East shed light on her Orientalist mindset, the construction of East vis-à-vis the West, and how Victorian-born woman approaches this land and its people. In that sense, the purpose of this article is multifarious: First of all, this study will be the initial presentation of the unpublished travel notes of Edith Sykes. Secondly, the different assets of the Ottoman Middle East such as rivalry among the tribes, people’s living, and political disturbances will be discerned through the British woman whose narration provides assistance for the transition of events into political discourse.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Edith Sykes, Orientalism, Travel, Middle East, Imperialism

Kaynakça

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