Merciless Avni: The Turkish Sherlock Holmes

The subject matter of this thesis is Türklerin Sherlock Holmes?ü Amanvermez Avni, aseries of ten detective stories by Ebussureyya Sami which were published betweenthe years 1913-1914. It is the first of the series of detective stories published in thepre-Republic period. The aim of the thesis is to demonstrate to what extent thosestories are original. As the name `Sherlock Holmes? were taken as a reference in thetitle of the series, they have been compared with the stories of Sherlock Holmes, aseries by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, published between the years 1887-1977. Throughthis comparison, the differences and similarities between the stories, characters andthe crime detection methods used have been revealed. Besides, the generalcharacteristics of the stories of Türklerin Sherlock Holmes?ü Amanvermez Avni havebeen examined to show that to what extent they are successful as being detectivestories. In conclusion, it has been seen that they are original stories although theywere inspired, to some extent, by the stories of Sherlock Holmes. And the similaritieswere incorporated into the atmosphere and structure of the stories, achievingdifferent and original characteristics. On the other hand, Amanvermez Avni is anoriginal character who differs from Sherlock Holmes with his character traits andwith the crime detecting methods he used. Furhermore, the stories have been seen tobe successful to a great extent when they are evaluated in themselves as beingdetective stories.keywords: detective story, Amanvermez Avni, Ebussüreyya Sami, SherlockHolmes, comparative literature.