Type | Daily newspaper |
---|---|
Founder(s) | Ali Efendi |
Editor-in-chief | Ali Efendi |
Founded | 1869 |
Political alignment |
|
Language | Ottoman Turkish |
Ceased publication | 1879 |
Headquarters | Constantinople |
Country | Ottoman Empire |
Basiret ( Ottoman Turkish: Insightfulness) was an Ottoman daily newspaper which was published in Constantinople in the period 1869–1879. It was one of the most read newspapers of that period and had a pan-Islamist approach. [1]
Basiret was established by Ali Efendi, a journalist, in 1869, [2] and the first issue appeared on 23 January 1870. [3] He was also the publisher of the paper and began to be known as Basiretçi Ali Efendi due to the popularity of the paper. [3] He was financed by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in getting printing machines to launch the paper. [4] [5]
Basiret sold 40,000 copies in the first year. [2] Then it enjoyed both high levels of circulation and of influence among the Turks living in the Empire. [6] The readers of the paper were mostly conservative Muslims. [3] Major contributors included Ali Suavi, Namık Kemal and Ahmet Mithat. [6] Basiret covered critical articles about the bureaucratic structure of the Ottoman Empire. [3]
Basiret had links to the Young Ottomans movement. [7] During the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871 the paper supported the Germans. [5] [8] It became a platform for the pan-Islamist and pan-Turkist figures leaving its objective approach at the beginning of the Russo-Turkish War in 1877. [2]