Şarkiyat

Öz

The Eastern Question is a concept that can be stretched to the expulsion of the Ottoman Empire from Europe in particular, or the division and liquidation of the Ottoman Empire, after the Ottoman Empire entered a period of significant decline since the 18th century. In this sense, although all western powers have common points, in reality, each western state has more than one "Oriental Issue" and “Oriental Policy” for its own benefit. Considering the 19th and 20th centuries of the Ottoman Empire, there were Russia, one of the two most competing actors around this issue, which targeted the attempt to reach the warm seas, and England, which was unwilling to accept rivals on the far east colonial routes. In particular, the conflicting interests of these two states in the oriental issue corresponded to an important occupation in the diplomacy of the Ottoman Empire in the last century. It should be noted that this issue includes different meanings and policies, including the Ottoman Province of the East, similar to the fact that the Eastern Question developed meanings and political styles according to different interests in the eyes of the western states. Especially after the Berlin Treaty, this issue gained a new form over the Armenian issue and minority rights. As a matter of fact, the Ottoman Eastern Geography, starting from the Mediterranean towards Basra, had turned into a competitive field of western powers, especially Russia and England, as a part of the international economic market. However, contrary to the claim that it followed a policy towards the disintegration of the Ottoman territorial integrity, England followed the opposite policy in the Ottoman Province of the East. This reality can be detected in the pro-Ottoman attitude in the Kurdish revolts in the eastern region led people such as Mîr Ahmed Pasha of Baban, Mîr Muhammed Pasha of Rawanduz, Mîr Bedirkhan Pasha of Cizre, Yazdan Sher, Sheikh Ubeydullah of Nehri.