Ali̇ Kemal's Ri̇câl-i̇ İhti̇lâl (Analysis-text)

The French Revolution is one of the important events that have determined the world history in the 18th century. This event have caused many developments on the Western and Eastern societies in the short and the long term. The idea that constitutes the essence of these developments is the consciousness of becoming a nation. The French people, who started being able to express themselves freely with the revolution, cause other societies to demand their rights and freedom and different nations to appear in the world. This situation have affected countries with a multinational structure like the Ottoman Empire negatively. The Ottoman Empire, which has undergone into a bad period starting from the 17th century, starts virtually giving a struggle for existence with the effects of the ideas that spread after the French Revolution. Especially, the activities of the Jön Türkler (Young Turks), who have adopted these ideas, accelerates the negative trajectory of the government. Ali Kemal, who has joined the Jön Türkler in his youth, even though he has felt a mental kinship in the beginning, has in fact stood in a very different position from them. Indeed, he has moved in a line of opposition to the Jön Türkler afterwards. However, Ali Kemal, in his life full of contradicting ideas and acts, has continued his commitment to the Western civilization, French Revolution which was an important turning point for the Western civilization, and ideas that were uncovered with the revolution. In Ricâl-i İhtilâl, which he wrote to tell the French Revolution to the Turkish reader, gives the cause and effect of the events that were lived in the revolution period within the biographical information of the revolution leaders. In this work, the hardships that need to be surpassed and the fights that need to be put up for nations to create a bright future are narrated with an objective perspective to constitute lessons for the governments and nations. Especially, the political structure of the period that this work appeared in and which was not suitable for handling every type of content reduces the number of works that do handle this type of content to a minute amount. So, in this respect, this work, which was the first and the only work of the period, needs to be illuminated. To this end, in this dissertation study that makes the Ricâl-i İhtilâl a subject of analysis, the work was adapted to the Latin alphabet and Ali Kemal's perspective for the French Revolution was attempted to be illuminated. Keywords: The French Revolution, Ali Kemal, Ricâl-i İhtilâl.