Tanzimat, Jadidism, And The Birth Of Modern Turkic Thought

Abstract

The second half of the nineteenth century marked a turning point in the intellectual and literary history of the Turkic world. This period witnessed the emergence of two interrelated yet distinct reformist movements: the Tanzimat in the Ottoman Empire and Jadidism in Turkistan. Both movements arose as responses to internal crises and external pressures, aiming to reconcile modernity with traditional cultural and spiritual values. The Tanzimat writers such as İbrahim Şinasi, Namık Kemal, Ziya Pasha, and Ahmet Mithat Efendi sought to harmonize Western notions of liberty, civic duty, and progress with Islamic ethics and Turkic identity. Meanwhile, Jadid reformers in Central Asia – led by Mahmudkhoja Behbudiy, Abdulla Avloniy, and Abdurauf Fitrat transformed literature into a medium of enlightenment (ma’rifat) and national awakening under colonial rule. Drawing on Enlightenment philosophy, Islamic modernism, and local socio-political realities, both movements cultivated a new literary consciousness that bridged East and West. This study argues that the Tanzimat and Jadidism were not mere imitations of Western reform but rather dynamic syntheses of universal and indigenous ideas, laying the intellectual foundation for modern Turkic thought, literature, and national identity.