A Turkish-loving Westerner: Who is Pierre Loti

He was born in Rochefort, France in 1850. In 1867, at the age of 17, he entered the naval school and the military profession.

Pierre Loti (14 January 1850 – 10 June 1923)[1] was a French naval officer and novelist, known for his exotic novels and short stories.

After graduating from military school in 1881, Loti had the opportunity to sail to distant lands. The roots of his story with the Turks go back to these years. Pierre Loti, who was one of the indispensable names of the artistic and literary circles of his period with his colorful life, intellectual environment, loves, and costume balls, became much more intense with a trip he made to Thessaloniki. Loti spent two and a half years in Thessaloniki, then went to Istanbul and stayed for 16 months. The travels he made and the invitations he attended during this long period enabled him to get to know Ottoman society closely and to write his novel Aziyade in 1879. Aziyade is a love story that the author blends with the events that happened to him during his military duty in Istanbul. The novel ends with a naval officer who goes to Thessaloniki and falls in love with the beautiful Circassian Aziyade, who also falls in love with the cosmopolitan society and culture of the Ottoman Empire.

Loti's interest in Turkey; also creates important effects in the late Ottoman and early Turkish history. Because Loti was revealing the situation of Turkey and voicing the double standards of the Westerners in a process where the hostile attitudes towards Turkey deepened in Europe. For example, after Italy's attack on Çanakkale, Pierre Loti was the only one who raised his voice in European literary circles.

In his article published in Figaro on January 3, 1912; "They loot, they burn, they kill and they claim to clean up," he said. Loti had also raised his voice during the First World War. Despite the age of sixty, he defended Turkey with a young enthusiasm and enthusiasm; In his articles in Figaro and Gil Blas, he declared Europe an "accomplice" of the Balkan states. Loti, who calls the press, which continues its hostile attacks against Turkey, "sold out writers", is subjected to criticism, swearing, and ridicule in return; He was making a lot of enemies. Pierre Loti continued to support Turkey after the First World War. Again in an article published in Gil Blas, he said, "Giving Izmir to the Greeks is more or less the same as proposing to give it to the Greeks on the pretext that there were many Greeks in Marseille during the Phocaean period and they were doing good work there."

Loti, who died on June 10, 1923, did not give up for a moment to defend Turkey and the Turks, even in his later years; He had done his best for Turkey to preserve its essence in terms of culture, art, and civilization.