The Second-Generation Polish Émigrés in Istanbul as Transcultural Agents in the Ottoman Modernising Reforms in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Abstract

This paper examines the transcultural agency of selected representatives of the second generation of Polish political émigrés to the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the 20th century: chemist, hygiene specialist and general Karol Bonkowski Pasha (1841–1905); general and state dignitary Władysław Czaykowski/Muzaffer Pasha (1843–1907); general and diplomat Hasan Enver Pasha (1857–1929) as well as diplomat, journalist and member of parliament Alfred Bieliński/Ahmed Rüstem Bey (1862–1934). Most of them were born and raised in the multi-ethnic empire, made careers in various fields and often reached the highest positions in the Ottoman state apparatus. They often played the role of transcultural intermediaries during the political and social transformations of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries. This paper focuses on their involvement in the late Ottoman public sphere by elucidating their place in Ottoman society at the time of transition that characterised the period in question. By tracing the trajectory of these figures’ identity entanglements, it examines their attitudes towards attachment to the Ottoman Empire and Poland. It underscores the importance of the Ottoman capital – Istanbul – as a contact zone in this process. It sheds light on various spheres of transcultural agency of these second-generation Polish émigrés in the late Ottoman state and society.