No Longer 'Sick Man,'
By: Cengiz Çandar for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse Posted on July 19.
“Sick man of Europe” was Ottoman Turkey's epithet in the 19th century. It is attributed to Russian Czar Nicholas I, but no one is sure. It is based on correspondence between two British diplomats prior to the 1856 Crimean War. Sir George Hamilton Seymour, the British ambassador in St. Petersburg, in a letter to Sir John Russell, is said to have quoted the czar as saying, "A very sick patient. Sick man.” These remarks stuck as characterization of 19th century Ottoman Turkey, but it took another 65 years and a world war for the Ottoman Empire to collapse. Along with the empire, czarist Russia was also erased from history.
More:No Longer 'Sick Man,' Turkey Is Lonely, Tired - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
