The changing entertainment life in Ottoman Istanbul from Tanzimmat to Republic

The Ottoman Empire, which was founded in the XIVth century as an end principality in western Anatolia on the Byzantine border, ruled for centuries with its strong state and organizational structure, victories and conquests in wars, and gained a superior position especially against the West. As the inheritor of the Turkish-Islamic state tradition, it naturally did not feel the need for change during the periods when it was in a strong and superior position. However, it started to feel the need for change due to reasons such as the inability to achieve the old successes in wars, defeats and deterioration of state institutions. When the decline against the West began, the need to recognize the West emerged and a reflexive change in the military field was adopted in order to regain its former superior position. Since the desired results could not be fully achieved from the changes made in the military fields in the Western style, the Western world began to be followed more closely, and it was concluded that the change should not be limited to the military field, but should be taken as an example in political, economic and cultural terms as well as in the military field, and the way of modernization was taken as an example of Europe. The period in which Westernization was adopted and put into practice by the state and change was tried to be realized in every field was realized with the Tanzimat Edict. This study aims to examine the entertainment structure, which is a part of the social and cultural life of the Ottoman Empire, within the framework of the concepts of modernization, westernization and change. The change in entertainment life has been tried to be examined starting from the Tanzimat period, when Westernization made its presence felt intensely and modernization and European-style change became state policy. This process of change in the last period of the Ottoman Empire is analyzed through the phenomenon of entertainment, including the armistice period. Keywords: Ottoman, Entertainment, Transformation, Tanzimat, Modernization