From benevolence to Hayırsızada: Dogs in the late Ottoman İstanbul

This thesis examines the dogs in the late Ottoman Istanbul. It focuses on the cultural reflections of dogs that are patronized in the public space. It focuses on the perception of these creatures, which exist as symbols in the daily life of the city as well as their benefits and harms and enabled Istanbul to be recognized as a city with dogs, by the Ottoman society, and with the change of this perception in the late Ottoman Istanbul, the sanctions such as violence, culling and exile became more evident. It claims that dogs, which are found in public spaces in a surrounding way, obtain this habitat not only through the affection and benevolent relations established by people who live their daily lives in line with their beliefs and traditions with them but also through the imposition of their intrinsic behaviors. The thesis argues that some characteristics of dogs such as laziness, aggression and spreading disease criminalize them and form a basis for the sanctions that are perpetrated by government or people took place in the modernization process of the state. On the other hand, it claims that, as the Ottoman Empire strengthened its dominance in the public spaces of the city during the modernization process, dogs, who lived with the sheltering and deterrent power areas in daily life, were constantly criminalized in line with the Eurocentric modernization activities.