Social life in Istanbul through the eyes of the Russian diplomat Konstantine Mihaylovich Bazili

Istanbul, located at the intersection of the Asian and European continents, Istanbul was the capital of first Rome and then of the Ottoman Empire. The conquest of Istanbul in 1453 refers to the transition of this city, which is important from the point of view of human history, from the hands of the Christian World to the Islamic World. However, Istanbul has always remained a mysterious and intriguing center for Europeans. For this reason, Istanbul has been an important focal point in the journeys of European travelers to the east since the 16th century. The city, which is described as the capital of Şark in the Western World, has started to attract the flow of travelers, especially with the development of transportation and communication. Naturally, Istanbul, one of the rarest cities in the geography of civilizations, has also been the center of attention of orientalist Russians outside of Europe. The Russians, under the influence of Christian Rome, had previously established religious mission relations with Istanbul, but later turned these ties into a political mission with the conquest of the city by the Ottoman State. It is observed that especially as a result of Russia's policies, Russian travelers chose Istanbul as a route in the 19th century and gradually increased their visits to this city. Russian travelers and officials who came to Istanbul have transferred their observations about the city from an orientalist point of view to travelogues and memoirs. One of these officials was Konstantin Mikhailovich Bazili, who came to Istanbul on behalf of the Russian Government in 1833 and wrote his personal impressions during his stay. Bazili's travel book named "Босфор и новые очерки Константинополя" (The Bosphorus and New Istanbul Writings), which is one of the remarkable works about Istanbul of the first half of the 19th century and contains travel notes, is also of great importance in terms of late Ottoman history. The years that Bazili was in Istanbul coincided with a period when guild of Janissaries was abolished and Sultan Mahmud II embarked on radical reforms. In addition to describing Istanbul in the 1830s, Bazili included information revealing the military, political, commercial and social structure of Turkish society in his work. One of the aspects that makes Bazili's work different and original is that he himself is a Greek born in Istanbul. Bazili was born in Istanbul in 1809, but had to immigrate to Russia at a young age due to his father's role in the Greek Revolt. In this aspect, Bazili, on the one hand, considered Istanbul from an orientalist point of view as an official of the Russian foreign ministry and a person who had been educated in Russia. But on the other hand, the fact that he was born in Istanbul and was a Greek who spent his childhood in this city makes his observations different from his contemporaries. The aim of this study is to reveal the Turkish image contained in the work "The Bosphorus and the New Istanbul Writings", which was written as a result of the personal impressions and comments of the Greek-born Russian statesman Bazili. In this study, subjects such as coffeehouses, coffee and tobacco consumption, boaters as a professional group, libraries that can be described as scientific centers, cemeteries that have an important place in the city's silhouette, and epidemic diseases are mentioned through Bazili's observations.