Caucasians in Turkish novel and story -from the beginning to 1901-

The Caucasus is an important geography in terms of the history of the Ottoman-Turkish Empire, as well as a region that attracts attention in political and social fields. In addition to being a transit region, it is the centre of the political aims pursued on it. With its unique peoples, nature and riches, it has always been a geography that many nations have tried to conquer. In addition to all these features, the Caucasus also has a special place in the history, art and literature of the Turkish society. For long centuries, the captives brought from this region found a place in various classes of the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, as a result of Russia's advance to the Caucasus, there were migrations and exiles from the region to Ottoman lands. Immigrants were distributed among all segments of society and a great social mobility emerged. On the other hand, intellectuals and literary figures began to deal with these events in their works. Caucasian characters appear in novels and stories. At the same time, being a product of a theme related to the issue of captivity, it becomes a subject that intellectuals treat with importance. In addition to the new literary genres that develop, the intellectual class establishes the social connections of some concepts with the effects of ideas. In this respect, Caucasian characters in the works become the outputs of the theme of bondage-slavery. In this way, not only the intellectual but also the sociological and historical foundations of the issue experienced by a large part of the public are established. In this study, attention was paid to evaluating Ottoman-Caucasian relations and revealing the dimensions of the issue reflected in novels and stories. In addition to focusing on the national identities of the characters, it was tried to shed light on their attitudes, attitudes and the role they play in the work, and to illuminate the ways in which the authors evaluated their heroes and which aspects of them they included. At the same time, in addition to the information about the historical background in the Ottoman-Caucasian relations, the literary and social background that the authors tried to establish with extensive summaries of the works, and the importance of the characters were examined as much as possible.