Edirne'de bir maziperest: Tosyavizâde Doktor Rıfat Osman
An antiquarian in Edirne: Tosyavizâde Doctor Rıfat Osman
Yazar: BERİL SARISAKAL
Danışman: DOÇ. DR. VESİLE GÜL CEPHANECİGİL
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü / Mimarlık Ana Bilim Dalı / Mimarlık Tarihi Bilim Dalı
Derece: Yüksek Lisans, 2019
Konu: Mimarlık = Architecture ; Tarih = History
Dizin: Balkan savaşları = Balkans wars ; Edirne = Edirne ; Tarihçilik = Historiography ; Travma = Trauma

Özet:
19. yüzyıldan 20. yüzyıla geçiş dönemi, Türkiye'de geçmişin mimari çevresine dair ilginin yoğunlaştığı bir zamana işaret eder. Bu zaman diliminde çeşitli meslek gruplarına mensup Osmanlı elitince üretilmiş geçmişe dair metinler, kültürel bir ortak payda aramak adına eski zamanların mimarlık ürünlerine bakar. Maziperest (antiquarian) ilginin harekete geçirdiği bu entelektüel çevre, geçmişin mimarlığını ve onun çevresindeki gündelik yaşamı anlamaya, anlatmaya ve kimi zaman da çizim ve benzeri görsel araçlarla kaydetmeye çalışır. Bu tavır, oyun yazarı Musahipzade Celal (1868-1959), tarihçi ve politikacı Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıöver (1885-1966), ressam Hüseyin Zekai Paşa (1860-1919) , Hoca Ali Rıza Bey (1858-1930) ve doktor Ahmet Süheyl Ünver (1898-1986) gibi isimlerin çalışmalarında gözlenebilir. Tosyavizâde Doktor Rıfat Osman (1874-1933) ise bu entelektüel portrelerin Türk mimarlık tarihine ilgi duyan bir örneği olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır.
Rıfat Osman'ın yirminci yüzyılda ürettiği birçok yazılı ve görsel malzeme içerisinde Edirne metinleri ekseriyeti teşkil eder. Çalışma, söz konusu metinler üzerinden Rıfat Osman'ın geçmişe yönelik ilgisini, maziperestlik tartışması çerçevesinde ele almayı hedeflemektedir. Rıfat Osman'ın Edirne metinleri; şehrin tarihi ile tabii çevresi, anıtsal ve sivil mimarisi başlıkları altında gruplandırılmakta ve gündelik yaşam üzerinden Türk kültürünü belgeleme biçimleri bu kapsamda araştırılmaktadır.
Tez çalışmasında, Rıfat Osman'ın Edirne metinlerinde görülen eskiye yönelik hassasiyet ve geçmişle kurduğu kişisel ilişkinin olası gerekçeleri tartışılmaktadır. Osmanlı toplumsal hafızası için travmatik olaylardan biri olan Balkan Harbi, modernliğin halihazırda harekete geçirmiş olduğu maziperest tavrın daha da belirgin şekilde ortaya çıkmasında önemli bir etkendir. Bu bağlamda tez, Balkan Harbi travmasının yarattığı geçmişi tutma isteği ve modern zamanların maziperest tavrı arasındaki ilişkiyi, dönem koşulları ve Rıfat Osman özelinde tartışmaktadır. Bireyin birikimleri ve geçmiş arasındaki bu ilişkinin kapsamı çalışmada harbin yarattığı travma çerçevesinde, mimarlığın başrolde olduğu bir durum üzerinden ele alınmıştır.

Abstract:
The transitional era between the 19th and 20th century Turkey marks a period of interest in the architectural past. Texts from this era, produced by Ottoman elite of various professions, focus on architectural products of the past in order to seek a cultural common ground. This intellectual environment, motivated by an antiquarian interest, strives to comprehend and elucidate the architectural past and the everyday life around it, and sometimes to record it with drawings or similar visual instruments. Playwright Musahipzade Celal's (1868-1959) detailed elaboration of the ordinary life in his plays, historian and politician Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıover's (1885-1966) discussions of the Turkish House as a part of his nationalism studies and his collections of objects of the past, painter Huseyin Zekai Pasha's (1860-1919) intention to preserve the built historical past, painter Hoca Ali Rıza Bey's (1858-1930) representations of daily life of a weathered neighborhood visualizations, physician Ahmet Suheyl Unver's (1898- 1986) depictions of common spaces, houses and objects accompanying these spaces are some examples of this antiquarian sensibility. Tosyavizade Doctor Rifat Osman (1874-1933) is another member of this intellectual group keen on the history of Turkish architecture.
Tosyavizade Doctor Rifat Osman was born in 1874 in Uskudar, Istanbul. Following his education in Selimiye Primary School (Selimiye İptidai Mektebi) (1880-1883), Pasakapisi Junior High Military School (Paşakapısı Rüştiye-i Askeriyesi) (1883-1889) and Medical High School (Mekteb-i İdadi-i Tıbbiyye) (1889-1892), he enrolled in the Imperial School of Medicine (Mekteb-i Tıbbiye-i Şahane) in 1892 and graduated in 1899 as a military physician. On May 29, 1900, he joined Gulhane Hospital Internal Diseases and X-Ray Department (Gülhane Seririyat Hastanesi Emraz-ı Dahiliye ve Röntgen Şuaları Şubeleri) as an assistant to be trained as an x-ray specialist. Three years later, he received a certificate of x-ray expertise and soon after was assigned to the Edirne Hospital in April 1904. After serving for 15 years as an x-ray specialist in Edirne and Istanbul, Rifat Osman retired from his duty in 1919. He continued his practices as an independent physician, health educator and art teacher in Edirne until his death on May 19, 1933.
Over the years, Rifat Osman produced extensive literary and visual content, of which Edirne texts constitute the majority. His Edirne collection includes books, such as Edirne City Guide (Edirne Rehnüması) (1920) and History of Islamic Foundations in Edirne (Edirne Evkâf-ı İslâmiyye Tarihi) (1921), and articles in periodicals such as Milli Mecmua or İstanbul Belediye Mecmuası, as well as his posthumous books of Edirne Palace (Edirne Sarayı) (1957) and Edirne Houses (Edirne Evleri) (1976).
Rifat Osman's Edirne texts approach the city within the context of history, natural surroundings and monumental or civil architecture. The city's history is investigated through epic incidents of the Ottoman era until the 19th century. Besides the texts on the natural surroundings of the city, writings studying the built surroundings constitute the majority of the written corpus. Monumental and civil architecture samples, both demolished and standing, compose the prior research subject of Rifat Osman. The author's manner of documenting the ethnographic character of Turkish culture with a particular focus on daily life is explored within the scope of this classification.
The aim of this thesis is to discuss Rifat Osman's interest in the past through the antiquarian approach by focusing on the author's works on Edirne. Utilizing from F. Nietzsche's approach to antiquarianism as a historical attitude is helpful to comprehend Rifat Osman's interest in the past. In The Use and Abuse of History, Nietzsche describes the antiquarian as one who protects and respects the place s/he comes from with loyalty and love. With a pious caution, the antiquarian cares about every minor detail of the past, and thus aims to preserve the conditions one has experienced, for the following generations. Another historian who treats antiquarianism as a special connection to the past, S. Bann, interprets this sensibility through the relationship between the subject and the object. As Bann suggests, the antiquarian subject values historical objects that have visible marks of decay and establishes a passionate relationship with the ruined and neglected.
Samples from Rifat Osman's Edirne texts highlight the sensitivity of Rifat Osman towards the antique. His connection with Edirne, his instinct to record and preserve city elements thoroughly and his desire to document trivial objects and habits associated to them help us understand Rifat Osman's personal connection with the past. As a witness of the dynamic political and cultural environment in the Ottoman Empire in early 1900s, Rifat Osman had first-hand experience with radical transformations. The 1912-1913 Balkan War, a traumatic event for the Ottoman collective memory, constitutes one of the main channels of Rifat Osman's connection with Edirne.
During the Balkan War, Edirne was besieged by the Bulgarian army for five months. After the declaration of war on October 17, 1912, Bulgarian troops arrived outside the city on October 21, 1912. As of November 1912, the military blockade was finalized. Fortified city of Edirne was defended for months until the surrender on March 26, 1913. Thus, the former capital of the empire fell under the administration of the Bulgarians until its recapture on July 21, 1913.
The war had devastating effects on the everyday life in Edirne as well. During the siege, the people of Edirne witnessed the wounded and the dead, suffered from shortages and epidemics and lost all communication beyond the city. These visible consequences of war interfered with the daily life of the inhabitants. On top of this physical and moral impact, the unexpected defeat of the Ottoman army engendered a social trauma.
As an individual experiencing the five-month-long siege and the fall first-hand in the city, Rifat Osman was as a witness of the destruction caused by the war. This trauma affected his desire to document the past and the disappearing architectural environment -linking his personal experiences together with the memory of the city. Thus, the effect of this trauma is analyzed through the antiquarian connection the author established with the past. All in all, this study discusses Rifat Osman's motivation in recording the decayed or endangered physical environment in the framework of his war trauma and searches the impact of personal dynamics on architectural historiography through the exemplar position of the author. In the end, the historical conditions that provoked Rifat Osman's interest in the past, which materialized in the aforementioned texts, his personal dynamics and the consequent form of his work, is discussed in the context of the period.