Allah Dieu, Gökler Cieux..

The cultural and literary relations between Turkey and France evolved from the 17th century onwards through a complex process that involved different domains. Until the 1950’s intellectuals, authors and Turkish artists benefitted perfectly from the influences of French culture and literature. The appearance in the 19th century of dictionaries in verse such as Yusuf Halis (Miftah-ül Lisan) show, in a way, the importance of : ‘Allah Dieu, gökler cieux, yer ter, commencer iptida’… Nevertheless, this phenomenon should not be considered as a result of cultural imperialism but as a simple «import» that the Turkish intelligentsia willingly adopted. This «arbitrary hegemony» of the French culture that was acceptable in Turkey, spread mostly to Francophone countries, even though, through time, it was replaced in Turkey by the dominance of English and more particularly by that of American culture and literature. With a view towards studying the various aspects of the French influence on thinking, administration, law, aesthetics and Turkish literature, this article discusses the Jules Verne in our imagination, the Dumas Père and Dumas Fils in our passion for adventure, the Molière and Lafontaine in our humor, the place of French poetic movements in our poetry, the Pierre Loti in our romantic sensitivity, the other subtley appraised in the phenomenon of «turquerie», a poet like Charles Vernet who wanted to be a Divan poet and certain translations into Turkish, mostly from the Republican period, that surpass the originals, like the Cyrano of Siyavuşgil that eclipses the work of Rostand or even the Antigone Moderne of Orhan Veli that goes way beyond the work of Anouilh.