The Türk in Aşıkpaşazâde: A Private Individual’s Ottoman History

Abstract

During the late fifteenth century Ottoman intellectuals used history books as a venue to practice civilian power. This essay focuses on Aşıkpaşazâde and his history of the Ottomans, Kitâb-ı Tevârih-i Âli Osman. The essay argues that the book was an example of how civilians contributed to the construction of Ottoman identity and legitimacy. It explains the emergence of an explicitly Turkic discourse within the early Ottoman history books and Aşıkpaşazâde’s role in this phenomenon. The essay also evaluates Aşıkpaşazâde’s life from a theoretical perspective, building on Halil İnalcık and Jean Jacques Rousseau’s arguments. It describes Aşıkpaşazâde as a private individual, and suggests that the dynamics of power sharing between people and the state in the early modern Western empires were also present in the fifteenth century Ottoman Empire.