Reflections of the foundation myth of the Ottoman State in Bilecik urban culture

The Ottoman Empire, which was a small principality in the northwestern tip of Anatolia and managed to become a large empire dominating three continents, left deep traces in the Turkish cultural memory. In this memory, the founding geography of the Ottoman Empire is located as Bilecik/Söğüt. Bilecik is a place of cultural heritage and memory which comes to the forefront in remembering not only historical but also cultural aspects of individuals and events that were especially significant and effective in the establishment of this state. However, this state and its founding geography have been dealt with mostly in terms of "historical reality" and the mythical information in the historical works that give information about this state has been characterized as a "tale" or "fiction", thus, in a way, it has not received the value it deserves. The importance of this neglected or excluded aspect of the issue in terms of Turkish cultural heritage and memory has not been duly recognized. Hence, this study is a myth-historical cultural memory and image research prepared on behalf of Bilecik's historical and cultural relationship with the Ottoman Empire, which was tried to be introduced with the slogan "the city of establishment and liberation". In this study, the cultural memory images of the "Ottoman Foundation Myth", which had the opportunity to develop with the interaction of history and culture by penetrating some Ottoman chronicles, which are the written outputs of Turkish cultural memory, were tried to be explained and shown. Yet, in this study, it was not aimed to reveal the historical reality. In a broader sense, critical explanations were made about the myth that had the opportunity to be formed by the interaction of culture and history in the Ottoman chronicles and the effects of this myth on the city culture of Bilecik.