THE MODERNISATION OF OTTOMAN ECONOMY AS REFLECTED IN HUGO GROTHE’S WORKS COMPILED DURING WWI

The desire by the Young Turks to modernize the Ottoman State in many fields overlaps with the infiltration policies of Germany, an ally of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Scientists played an important role in the implementation of this foreign policy. Dr. Hugo Grothe was one of them and, as a cultural politician, orientalist and geographer he contributed to the development of Ottoman-German relations during WWI. Grothe's interest in Ottoman geography, which began long before the war, led him to write books on both Germany's foreign policy as well as the socio-economic, political and cultural structure of the Ottoman Empire. Translation of Grothe’s works as well as the works of other orientalists can contribute significantly to the studies on Ottoman history. In this article, emphasis will be put on Ottoman State’s modernisation attempts particularly in the field of economics, within the framework of books written or edited by Grothe during the Great War