The introductory meeting of ‘Basiret and Direniş’ published by Ibn Haldun University Publications, was conducted on February 13, at Salis Madrasa of our campus of Suleymaniye. The meeting was attended by Chief Editor of Ibn Haldun University Publications Savaş Tali and the authors of the book Mehmet Özay, Adem Efe and Ekrem Saltık. The book that holds the signatures of Member of teaching staff of Sociology Department at Ibn Haldun University Dr. Mehmet Özay, Assoc. Prof. Adem Efe and Dr. Ekrem Saltık, is the first of the series of Ottoman Press Research. The book which contains texts from ‘Basiret’ newspaper refers to the years 1870-1908 in which Ali Efendi published it in Istanbul over two periods, dealing with the attained manuscripts of the first two years of the war that occurred between Açe Darüsselam Sultanlığı and the colonial forces of Holland in the period of 1873-1904, from a sociological perspective.
Mehmet Özay, the first speaker of the introductory meeting, gave a presentation on the subject and the framework of the book and shared the story behind the book’s production with the audience. Basiret Newspaper, which gave its name to the book, was following up the developments of the war on the territory of Aceh through the important newspapers published in Western countries for a number of years, not only to create public opinion by informing the Ottoman society of the developments; but also to form a political orientation in the sense of the Islamic union to confront the actions took against the Ottoman government; especially through the editorial comments of the newspaper. The book titled ‘Basiret ve Direniş,’ which means ‘Prudence and Resistance,’ aims to pave the way for various sub-titles in the context of the Ottoman-Malay Archipelago relations, such as ‘Islamic Societies and The West,’ ‘Independence and Modernization’ and ‘Economic Development and Education.’
Assoc. Prof. Adem Efe clarified during his speech that ‘Basiret’ magazine which was produced in a total of 2467 issues in two separate eras, stands out for the Islamic unity as the main matter of the magazine. Efe added that the newspaper, which was distributed widely, had important names of writers such as Namık Kemal, Ali Suavi and Ahmet Midhat Efendi. According Efe, the newspaper was publishing the news of the Ottoman lands through local news reporters, as well as the international news by following up the developments in the international area day by day and transferring it to the public. Chief Editor of Ibn Haldun University Publications Savaş Tali thanked the speakers and the audience through his speech and highlighted that many valuable projects are being carried out within IHU Publications and that books would be published in sequence in the coming days. Tali reminding that this book is the first of the series of Ottoman Journalism Research, stated that Ibn Haldun University Publications has started preparations for publishing many other books within the fruitful subject of Ottoman Journalism Research. The introductory meeting of the book titled ‘Basiret ve Direniş,’ which can be easily obtained from the bookstores and the websites, ended with the questions of the audience and signing the book.
