Akhtar: a discussion on the Persian language newspaper published in the Ottoman capital (1876-1896)

Abstract

By the second half ofthe nineteenth century Istanbul had become an important social and political environment for many Iranian activists and politicians who had been exiled from Iran. This community fonned a highly active opposition base involved in . Iranian politics from abroad. Although a certain amount of background material can be found in the literature concerning this community, no significant work has yet been carried out on its impact on political, social and literary refonn in Iran. The publication of Akhtar from Istanbul is but one of the many precursors of change that was a product of the Iranian colony in Istanbul. This thesis is a discussion on Akhtar as an agent for change in Iran. It aims to trace the intellectual and structural origins ofthe newspaper's establishment in 1876 as well as its relationship to the Sublime Porte and Qajar State. The discussion will also include an examination of the newspaper's content and scrutinise its political stance on one specific historical moment, the Egyptian Crisis of 1881-1882 in an attempt to better understand how it managed to resist rigid censorship laws in both the Ottoman Empire and Iran while publishing news on potentially sensitive subjects. The political role the newspaper took on in the public sphere through the publication of letters from its readership will also be considered.