19.YÜZYILDA İRLANDA KITLIĞI VE OSMANLI İMPARATORLUĞU’NUN YARDIM POLİTİKASI: TARİHSEL ANALİZ VE GÜNÜMÜZ YANSIMALARI

Abstract

Bu makale, 1845–1852 Büyük İrlanda Kıtlığı sırasında Osmanlı yardımlarını insani diplomasi, meşruiyet ve tarihsel hafıza çerçevesinde yeniden inceler. Olayı yalnızca bir hayırseverlik değil, 19. yüzyıl uluslararası ilişkileri ve gelişen sınır ötesi insani yardım pratikleri içinde ele alır. Osmanlı arşivleri, İngiliz ve İrlanda gazeteleri, diplomatik yazışmalar ve tarih yazımı kullanılarak nitel bir vaka çalışması ve belge analizi yapılır. Bulgular, Osmanlı yardımının hem insani hem de diplomatik boyut taşıdığını; kıtlık döneminde yardım sağlarken Doğu Sorunu bağlamında imparatorluğun meşruiyetini güçlendirdiğini gösterir. Ayrıca tarihsel kanıtlarla sonradan oluşan ve yardımı Türk-İrlanda dostluğuna dönüştüren anlatılar birbirinden ayrılır. Çalışma, Osmanlı’yı erken insani diplomaside Batılı olmayan bir aktör olarak öne çıkarır ve bu tür eylemlerin kolektif hafıza yoluyla kalıcı sembolik ve diplomatik anlam kazandığını vurgular.

Keywords

• Büyük İrlanda Kıtlığı
• Osmanlı İmparatorluğu
• İnsani Diplomasi
• Tarihsel Hafıza
• Osmanlı-İrlanda İlişkileri

THE IRISH FAMINE IN THE 19TH CENTURY AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE’S AID POLICY: HISTORICAL ANALYSIS AND CONTEMPORARY REFLECTIONS

Abstract

This article re-examines Ottoman aid to Ireland during the Great Famine (1845–1852) through humanitarian diplomacy, legitimacy, and historical memory. It situates the event beyond charity within 19th-century international relations and emerging transnational humanitarian practices. Using Ottoman archives, British and Irish newspapers, diplomatic correspondence, and historiography, it applies a qualitative case-study approach with documentary analysis and source triangulation. Findings show Ottoman assistance had both humanitarian and diplomatic dimensions, providing relief while enhancing imperial legitimacy amid the Eastern Question. It also separates historical evidence from later narratives that recast the aid as Turkish-Irish friendship. The study highlights the Ottoman role as a non-Western actor in early humanitarian diplomacy and shows how such actions gain enduring symbolic and diplomatic meaning through collective memory.

Keywords

• Great Irish Famine
• Ottoman Empire
• Humanitarian Diplomacy
• Historical Memory
• Ottoman-Irish Relations

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