The First Balkan War was not merely a military defeat but also a crisis of knowledge production. Although there is a vast body of academic literature in Turkey focusing on the causes, consequences, and military failures of the war, the discursive dimension of Western correspondents’ narratives has not yet been sufficiently analyzed. This research examines correspondent narratives within an integrated religious-civilizational framework that combines Edward Said’s concept of “Orientalism,” Stuart Hall’s concept of “Representation,” and Maria Todorova’s concept of “Balkanism.” Employing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) based on Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, the article investigates how reporter texts—often accepted as “transparent” primary sources in Turkish historiography—function as symbolic instruments of construction. By analyzing recurring representations of Turks as “fatalistic,” “pre-modern,” and “alien to European values,” the study reveals how these narratives legitimize a civilization hierarchy by exploiting the “Cross and Crescent” dichotomy. By revealing how these boundary-producing discourses transform military events into evidence of barbarism, the article challenges the claim of neutrality in archival records and contributes to the literature in this regard. By distinguishing between Orientalist representations of the Ottoman Turks and Balkanist representations of the Balkan nations, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of Western discursive hierarchies during the geopolitical crises of the early 20th century.
Alparslan Oymak (Thu,) studied this question.