Ottoman Turks possessed a sophisticated literary and artistic culture, not barbarism.

Evidence

A common assumption is that the Turk was a brutal barbarian without cul­ ture. But the Ottoman Turks have a rich literature, going back to the thirteenth century in Turkey, and still earlier among the Eastern Turkish peoples of Central Asia. If not of the level of the earlier Muslim literatures in Arabic and Persian, there is still much that is of more than local value, especially in the great tradition of historical writing. Ottoman historiography consists not merely of annals, but of real history, sometimes achieving even an epic quality. This lit­ erature is little known in the West—but that is hardly the fault of the Turks. More accessible to foreign visitors are the glories of Ottoman art and architecture—the magnificent mosques that still grace Turkey and the successor states: miniatures, metal-work, and the products of the industrial and decorative arts. Not least of these is the characteristic art of calligraphy, often underesti­ mated or misunderstood by Western observers, but capable of reaching a high level of artistic self-expression. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 635

Categorization

• CANDY: The image of the Turkish ‘barbarian’ having a rich literary tradition and calligraphy art is a conversational counter-myth fact.