Since the 18th century, the Ottoman Empire had initiated reform movements inspired by Europe, and these Westernization efforts gained significant momentum during the Tanzimat Era. Europe had now become a model not only in the military field but in almost every aspect of life.
At the center of Westernization were schools opened based on the European model. In schools such as the Military Academy, Medical Academy, and Civil Service Academy, a new generation was raised, reading books translated from European languages. These young individuals became acquainted with the ideas spreading in Europe, and thus a new class called “Ottoman intellectuals” emerged, taking over the role once held by the influential scholars (ulema) of the past.
The Writer Who Documented His Own Death
This intellectual class criticized Ottoman traditions and society, arguing that the West needed to be comprehended as a whole. Such approaches paved the way for diverse opinions and perspectives, and writers and thinkers of a kind that Ottoman society had not previously encountered began to emerge. One of these figures was Beşir Fuad, an intriguing personality who produced sixteen books and over two hundred articles within his short lifetime. His fame largely stemmed from documenting the moments of his death, which brought him considerable attention.
Beşir Fuad was the son of Hurşid Pasha, who served as governor in Adana and Maraş, and Habibe Hanım, the daughter of Memiş Pasha from Giresun. According to Orhan Okay, who completed a doctoral thesis on Beşir Fuad in 1962 and later published it as a book, both families were originally Georgian.
After studying for five years at the esteemed Fatih Rüşdiyesi (a type of middle school) and attending the Jesuit School in Aleppo due to his father’s posting, Beşir Fuad completed his military education at the Military Academy in 1873. He was then appointed as an aide to Sultan Abdulaziz. During his three-year tenure, he voluntarily participated in the 1875-1876 Serbian War, the 1877-1878 Ottoman-Russian War, and the operations to suppress rebellions in Crete.
He resigned from his military career while holding the rank of captain to devote himself entirely to writing and publishing. During this time, he experienced a mental breakdown due to his mother’s mental illness, leading him into a lifestyle of dissipation. Although he possessed a considerable family fortune, he left behind a letter explaining that he chose to end his life on February 5, 1887, partly to avoid future financial troubles. In his letter, he wrote that his body should be donated to the Medical School for dissection purposes, though he was ultimately buried in Eyüp Sultan Cemetery, and the exact location of his grave remains unknown.
Beşir Fuad’s suicide sparked significant debate in Ottoman public opinion at the time, eventually prompting government intervention in the discussion. His recording of his emotions during his final moments caused a sensation and drew intense public interest.
Western Influences and Materialism
The most comprehensive work on Beşir Fuad was written by Ahmet Midhat Efendi, initially published in the Tercüman-ı Hakikat newspaper and later as a book. In this work, Okay criticizes Midhat’s perspective, finding it “subjective and superficial.” The book, he argues, is written with a “pragmatic” approach, aiming to teach moral lessons to society. One chapter is even titled “Lessons to Be Learned from This Tragedy.”
While Beşir Fuad stated in the preface of one of his books that he learned German in six months and English in four, he also served as the chief writer for the newspaper Ceride-i Havadis. Through his works, many Ottoman intellectuals became acquainted with Western authors and thinkers such as Zola, Daudet, Dickens, Flaubert, Comte, Büchner, Spencer, D’Alembert, De la Mettrie, Chambers, Diderot, Claude Bernard, Ribaut, and Tarde.
Despite having three children with his wife, Beşir Fuad also started living with a mistress. The death of his young son, whom he had named Namık Kemal, deeply affected him, particularly because it occurred during his relationship with his mistress. At the time of his death, he had two sons from his wife and a daughter from his mistress who were still alive.
Beşir Fuad, a prolific writer, also published books in addition to his work in journalism. He was fluent enough in three Western languages to translate and wrote instructional books for French and German, as well as critical biographies on Victor Hugo and Voltaire. He was known for his critiques of literature, poetry, and particularly the romantic imagination in poetry, which drew criticism from other literary figures. However, his knowledge in the fields of positive sciences and philosophy set him apart as a unique figure of his time.
His writing emphasizes a rational, materialistic, and positivist worldview instead of romanticism. The influence of his education at the Jesuit School in Syria is evident in this. While there, he improved his French and was likely influenced by the scientific mindset of Jesuit institutions, which may have weakened his religious feelings. However, his love for his homeland and Ottoman nationalism, likely reinforced by his military education, remained strong, as he voluntarily participated in wars.
The emphasis on science in the curriculum of the Military Academy helped to sustain the scientific approach he encountered in Jesuit education. Ultimately, his education at both the Jesuit School and the Military Academy played a significant role in shaping his worldview. Through his school years and subsequent readings, he became well-acquainted with Western culture. He read numerous works by prominent Western authors on mathematics, medicine, physiology, literature, philosophy, and natural sciences, deriving his convictions from these sources.
Beşir Fuad’s understanding of Western culture remained limited to what he had learned in school for Arabic and Persian, without developing knowledge in religious sciences such as Hadith, Tafsir, Theology, and Sufism. According to Ahmet Midhat Efendi, he even read the Qur’an in French rather than Arabic. This fact should be taken into account when examining both his writings and his motivations for suicide.
Why Did He Commit Suicide?
In the days leading up to his suicide, Beşir Fuad was intensely engaged in writing. His articles were also published in Saadet and Tercüman-ı Hakikat. Thus, his suicide came as a profound shock, with newspapers reporting that he took his own life after returning to his home in the Nallı Mescid neighborhood of Babıali, having pre-planned the act. He reportedly severed his carotid artery and documented his final experiences.
Ahmet Midhat Efendi published the notes he left, stating that he dismissed his sister-in-law when she became suspicious and that his family, hearing his cries, called a doctor. He reportedly told the doctor, “I have five minutes left,” before he succumbed. In a note, Beşir Fuad stated that he had chosen to end his life “for reasons I am not obliged to explain to you” and left his body to the Medical School for dissection.
In a letter to A. Midhat, he cited family issues and financial difficulties as his reasons for suicide, although Midhat believed he could have lived comfortably from his writing income. Midhat thus concluded that Fuad’s fear of developing his mother’s mental illness—what he called a “phobia of insanity”—was a primary reason for his suicide.
In his belief in positive science to a deterministic degree, Beşir Fuad saw his suicide as an extension of science, expressing a desire to “apply my suicide to science.” Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar described him as “a mystic of science willing to sacrifice his life for it” and viewed his suicide as “an event as significant as the Tanzimat Edict.”
After his death, newspapers emphasized that unbelief led to such tendencies and that suicide was forbidden in Islam, though an “epidemic of suicide” reportedly began in Istanbul, with even a professor at the Medical School attempting suicide. In response, the Press Office, a department of Abdülhamit’s administration, banned such reports on March 11, 1887, in its typical approach.
Büchner and the Influence of Materialism
It can be said that the religious intolerance Beşir Fuad encountered at the Jesuit School contributed to his atheism. In his works, he criticized Christianity for opposing scientific truths. Although he did not criticize Islam in the same way, he expressed respect for Islam only in terms of its encouragement of scientific knowledge.
However, it would be more accurate to say that the main cause of his disbelief lay in the materialist and positivist thought systems he encountered in Europe, and in particular, naturalism, which applies positivism to literature. The foundation of Beşir Fuad’s thinking was influenced by Ludwig Büchner’s approach to “vulgar materialism.”
Ludwig Büchner (1824–1899), in his book Kraft und Stoff (Force and Matter, 1855), argued that life originates from matter itself and that there is no additional vital force. In another work, Der Gottbegriff und dessen Bedeutung in der Gegenwart (The Concept of God and Its Meaning Today, 1874), he claimed that force cannot be separated from matter and, consequently, that there is no God beyond or outside the material world.
Another of Büchner’s books, Die Stellung des Menschen in der Natur in Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft oder: Woher kommen wir? Wer sind wir? Wohin gehen wir? (The Position of Man in Nature in the Past, Present, and Future, or: Where Do We Come From? Who Are We? Where Are We Going?, 1869), poses similar questions and explores existential themes.
Büchner was convinced that experimental science, which he viewed as “all-powerful,” would ultimately lead to the demise of both religion and philosophy. His ideas spread widely among Ottoman higher-education students and were interpreted by Ottoman intellectuals as “the triumph of science over religion.” Büchner regarded Christianity as non-universal and asserted that Islam was suitable only for semi-nomadic or nomadic societies. Following reactions in Ottoman public opinion, some of Büchner’s works were subject to censorship (for instance, see Ottoman Archives, MF. MKT, 244/19, H. 11.7.1312).
In several of his writings, Beşir Fuad mentions Büchner and his ideas, even recommending them to Muallim Naci. The philosophers he admired were also materialists at their core. Additionally, he read and accepted the views of Auguste Comte and his followers. This foundation of materialist and positivist thought led Beşir Fuad to reject the notion of the soul’s immortality and the existence of a soul outside the body.
In the end, Beşir Fuad’s personal character, family issues, education, and his exposure to “vulgar materialism and positivism” drove him to suicide, leaving a unique mark on the history of thought in this way.
The ideas that led him to suicide continued to garner interest because of their direct influence on Atatürk and his subsequent reforms.
Sources:
- Okay, O. (1968), The First Turkish Positivist and Naturalist, Istanbul, Hareket Publishing
- (1992), “Beşir Fuad,” DİA, Vol. 6, pp. 5-6
- Yavuz, H. (2014), “Şehbenderzade and Materialism,” Zaman, March 19, 2014
- Cihangir, M. (2020), “Beşir Fuad’s Suicide through the Eyes of Ahmet Midhat Efendi and Orhan Okay,” Hikmet, Orhan Okay Special Issue, pp. 310-331
- Karaböcek, C. (2012), “The Influence of Büchner in Turkish Thought or The Misery of Philosophy,” Kutadgubilig, Issue 22, pp. 159-171
- Tanpınar, A. H. (1988), 19th Century Turkish Literature History, Istanbul, Çağlayan
