Two different profiles on the way to modernization: Mehmed Cavid Bey and Musa Akyiğitzade

Various ideas that directed the economic system were put forward and many views were discussed during the transition process from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, a new regime. There were many economic thinkers who put forward those ideas. Sakızlı Ohannes, Namık Kemal, Ahmet Mithat Efendi, Hüseyin Hilmi Bey and Ziya Gökalp are among the thinkers we can mention regarding the issue. However, the thinkers we mainly deal within our study are Mehmed Cavid Bey and Musa Akyiğitzade. Mehmed Cavid Bey was an expert in the fields of economics, statistics and mathematics and he served the Ottoman Empire as a statesman. Musa Akyiğitzade, was an Ottoman intellectual who trained himself in the fields of literature, economics and linguistics. The economic views of Mehmed Cavid Bey and Musa Akyiğitzade were examined in the context of liberal economics and protectionist economic policies. To put it in a more detailed way, the economic policies defended by Mehmed Cavid Bey and Musa Akyiğitzade based on their works, how successfully they defended those policies in directing the economic system, the solutions offered by the aforementioned policies for the economic system and whether those offerswere necessary or not were examined. While the economic policies were examined, the concepts of heterodox and orthodox economics were also touched on. In conclusion, it was deduced that heterodox economics (protective economic policy) was more suitable for the Ottoman economic mentality due to the traditional economic structure of the Ottoman Empire and the lack of an environment to carry out liberal economic policies because the liberal economic policy in the orthodox economy did not create an added value in the Ottoman practice. The lack of the Ottoman management and control mechanism can be shown as the reason for it. Keywords: Mehmed Cavid Bey, Musa Akyiğitzade, Liberal Economic Policy, Protectionist Economic Policy.