ABSTRACT

Celal Nuri (Ileri), in several articles that was published in Edebiyat-ı Umumiye Mecmuası, dealt with the relations between the ancient Turks and the Ottoman Turks, based on the environment, race, epoch theory of the French Historian Hippolyte Taine. In those articles, Celal Nuri focused particularly on environment and race. He asserted that, Ottoman Turks have changed their environment by coming from Central Asia to Anatolia and with the changed environment their characters have changed too, however, based on the race theory, he claimed that they kept some of their characteristic traits. In this study, Celal Nuri’s interpretations, in the context of Taine’s theory, about ancient Turks and Ottoman Turks are investigated.