Who Was Ahmet Robenson?

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 1 Sayı: 2, 1 - 12, 20.06.2020

Gareth M. Wınrow

Öz

Surprisingly, little is known about the background and life of Ahmet Robenson, the celebrated Galatasaray sportsman and a founder of the Scouting movement in the Ottoman Empire. Much of what is known has become distorted or exaggerated as myths about Ahmet Robenson and his family have taken shape. Some accounts, including a story recounted by Ahmet Robenson himself, note that the Robensons were a family of English stock who converted to Islam, relocated to the Ottoman Empire, and established close ties with the Ottoman court. Others claim that Ahmet Robenson was the son of “Abdullah” Quilliam, the well-known Liverpool-based lawyer, who established one of the first mosques in Victorian England, and who became a close confidante of Sultan Abdülhamid II. Myths may have some element of truth, as in the case of the Robensons. What is clear, though, is that Ahmet Robenson’s mother came from an impoverished family. There were unsubstantiated claims that Ahmet Robenson was a British spy, and in the 1920s hard-line Turkish nationalists frustrated his work. Representatives of the Turkish Hearths opposed his involvement with the YMCA, which promoted and sought to fund various social, cultural and educational projects in Ankara and Izmir. This probably forced Ahmet Robenson to abandon Turkey and emigrate to the US in 1929. His life in New York is not well-documented. He worked as a seller of oriental rugs, and in his later years was employed as a caretaker at the Lyndhurst estate in Tarrytown. Certain myths about Ahmet Robenson and his family are debunked, in part at least, in this article. Nevertheless, Ahmet Robenson was certainly a fascinating and complex character who contributed much to social life in the late Ottoman Empire and early Turkish republic.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Galatasaray, Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Quilliam, Turkish Hearths, myth

Kaynakça

• “Ahmet Robenson.” Accessed April 12, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmet_Robenson “Ahmet Robenson.” Accessed April 12, 2020. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmet_Robenson Akcasu, A. Ebru. “Migrants to Citizens: An Evaluation of the Expansionist Features of Hamidian Ottomanism, 1876-1909.” Die Welt des Islams 56, nos.3-4 (2016): 388-414. Akdoğan, Bekir and Faruk Zorlu. “Şeyh Abdullah Quilliam: Britanya’da İslam’ı Savunan İngiliz-Müsülman.“ April 11, 2020. https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/kultur-sanat/seyh-abdullah-quilliam-britanya-da-islam-i-savunan-ingiliz-musluman-/1800949 . Akmeşe, Handan Nezir. The Birth of Modern Turkey: The Ottoman Military and the March to World War One. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2005. Alkış, Ali Sami. Yedi Kandilli Avize: Çanakkale’de Şehit Düşen Futbolcular. Istanbul: Yarımada Yayınları, 2008. Aray, Suat. Bir Galatasaraylının Hatıraları. Ankara: İnkilap Kitabevi, 1959. “Ata ve Ahmet Robenson.” Accessed April 16, 2020. www.girgin.org/galatasaray-lisesi-ve-spor-kulubunden-kesitler/ata-ve-ahmet-robenson/ . Atabeyoğlu, Cem. “Ahmed Robenson.” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi, Cilt 1. Istanbul: Kültür Bakanlığı ve Tarih Vakfı’nın Ortak Yayınıdır, 1993. Bali, Rıfat N.. The Saga of a Friendship: Asa Kent Jennings and the American Friends of Turkey. Istanbul: Libra Kitapçılık ve Yayıncılık, 2009. Bozkurt, Celil. “I. Dünya Savaşı’nda Filistin Suriye Cephesi’nde Nili Casusluk Örgütünün Faaliyetleri.” Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi 30, no.88 (March 2014): 89-114. Demirer, Sibel Özbudun. “Anthropology as a Nation-building Rhetoric: The Shaping of Turkish Anthropology (from 1850s to 1940s).” Dialect Anthropol 35 (2011): 111-29. Galatasaray Sports Club. “Galatasaray: Story of Our Foundation.” Accessed April 12, 2020. https://www.galatasaray.org/en/s/galatasaray-spor-kulubu-1905/3 . Galatasaray’lı Hasnun Galip ve Robensonlar’ın Çanakkale Destanı. Mavi Medya Yayıncılık, 2007. Geaves, Ron. Islam in Victorian Britain: The Life and Times of Abdullah Quilliam. Markfield, Leics.: Kube Publishing, 2013. Isyar, Bora. “The Origins of Turkish Republican Citizenship: The Birth of Race.” Nations and Nationalism 11, no.3 (2005): 343-60. Karabekir, Kazım. İstiklal Harbimiz, Cilt 1. Istanbul: Yapi Kredi Yayınları, 3rd ed., 2010. Korle, Sara. “Ahmet Robenson’u New York’ta Buldum!” Hayat, 26, June 24, 1965. Personal correspondence with Dr Ray Phillips. Personal correspondence with Richard Miller. Rose, Jonathan. “Government and Advertising and the Creation of National Myths: The Canadian Case.” International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing 8, no.2 (2003): 153-65. Smith, Anthony D. Myths and Memories of the Nation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Sunata, İ. Hakkı. İstibdattan Meşrutiyete Çocukluktan Gençliğe. Istanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2006. Şabanoğlu, Melih. “Sütlü Kahve Renginde…” Accessed April 16, 2020. www.iskenderbaydar.com/galatasarayli-muttalib/ . The National Archives, Kew. FO371/3658, G.H.Q. General Staff – Intelligence -no.3640. “I” – Report on the Self-Styled ‘SW Caucasus State”. The National Archives, Kew. FO383/345, Message of Mrs M.M. Thompson to her Fiancé – Ahmed Robinson Bey, November 6, 1917. Toprak, Zafer. “Meşrutiyet ve Mütareke Yıllarında Türkiye’de İzcilik.” Toplumsal Tarih 52 (April 1998): 13-20. Toprak, Zafer. “Taksim Stadında Mini-Olimpiyat, 1922.” Toplumsal Tarih 4 (April 1994): 15-18. Turnaoğlu, Banu. The Formation of Turkish Republicanism. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2017. Winrow, Gareth. Whispers Across Continents: In Search of the Robinsons. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing, 2019. Yıldız, Murat Cihan. “Strengthening Male Bodies and Building Robust Communities: Physical Culture in the Late Ottoman Empire.” PhD. Diss., University of California, 2015. Yüce, Mehmet. Ale’l-ıtlak Baldırı Çıplak: Hatırat, Makalat, Mulakat. Istanbul: İletişim Yayıncılık, 2018.