Many European powers viewed the Ottomans as being in decline, as well as many Ottoman subjects. The nickname for the Empire was "the sick man of Europe" since it was so weak. This newspaper cover from Le Petit Journal shows pretty accurately what they thought. One interesting thing that came out of the weakness of the Ottoman Empire was how European powers reacted to it.

Many did not want to destroy the Empire, fearing the power vacuum that would come from it. Instead, many European powers simply carved out pieces of the Empire for themselves, and intervened when other powers would do so in order to keep the balance of power, which was a very important to them. A great example of this is after the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-78, where the Russians won a decisive victory. The Russians forced the Ottomans to sign the Treaty of San Stefano, which created an (essentially) independent Bulgaria, an independent Romania, a larger Montenegro, and an independent Serbia. All of these newly independent states would be indebted to the Russians, giving them a large foothold in the Balkans.

However, once the other major European powers, namely England felt this this would dramatically upset the balance of power. German Chancellor Otto von Bismark called for a new treaty and the Treaty of Berlin was then signed. The new treaty allowed the Ottoman Empire to keep more of its territory and shrunk down the size of the new Balkan states.

Here is a map that shows the difference between the two treaties.

Info source: Chapter 4 of The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922 by Donald Quataert

Political Elites were well aware of this situation and it made itself to the literature as well.

Before 1860s Ottoman literature was similar to Persian literature and had no understanding of Novel, Short Story, Theatre etc. After 1860s Ottoman Literature was heavily influenced by French Literature thus many ideas from West made appearence to the last days of Ottoman Empire. This era is segrageted to 4, I am going to tackle these eras without sidetracking too much. Bear with me please.

Tanzimat Era (1860-1896):

Tanzimat era is divided into two headlines. This is the first time western influence has ever affected the Turkish Literature. First poets were mostly intellectuals and educated in France

First Tanzimat: Pioneers of the new Western Literature decided to start first non-government funded Newspapers (Tercüman-ı Ahval, Hürriyet etc.) and started to spread the western ideals of country, patriotism, nationalism freedom. They were the first to ever talk about these in the public and some of them got exiled to western countries.

Second Tanzimat Era : After the Abdülhamit II took the throne he decided to censor the press so this era was more about improper westernization in upper/mid class of Istanbul.

Servet-i Fünun Era (1896-1901): This generation of Writers and Poets were mostly depressed due the political situation in the Empire. They are similar to Second Tanzimat but they criticised the Empire with heavily symbolised language. Here is an Example by Tevfik Fikret (important poet of his era, still loved by many today):

FEAST OF PILLAGING

This small feast, gentlemen – for it is waiting to be devoured trembling in your presence – it is the life of this people Of this people agonized, of this people dying But please, feel no restraint, eat, swallow, munch munch…

Eat ye gentlemen, this appetizing feast is yours Till you are satisfied, nauseous, eat till you burst

Gentlemen, you are very hungry, it is to be seen from your faces Eat, if you don’t eat today, perhaps it will not be here tomorrow This heap of food is honored by your arrival This is your right because of your campaign, yes, surely that right is yours

Eat ye gentlemen, this joyous feast is yours Till you are satisfied, nauseous, eat till you burst

Count what these delicate gentlemen have lying around Nobility, descendancy, honour, games, weddings, mansions, palaces It is all yours, gentlemen, mansions, palaces, brides, parades It is all your, it is all yours, readily, easily…

Eat ye gentlemen, this appetizing feast is yours Till you are satisfied, nauseous, eat till you burst

Even if the digestion of greatness is a trouble, it’s no harm It has the pride of grandeur, the joy of revenge This feast expects kindness from your attention They are all yours these heads, brains, livers, all these bloody morsels

Eat ye gentlemen, this sacrificing feast is yours Till you are satisfied, nauseous, eat till you burst

The poor country will give, whatever it has, its possessions Its body, its life, its hope, its dreams Its entire well-being, what it has of joy in heart Quick, devour it, don’t think about it being wrong or right

Eat ye gentlemen, this appetizing feast is yours Till you are satisfied, nauseous, eat till you burst

This harvest will end, seize whatever you can on your way out Tomorrow you might see all the crackling hearths go out The stomachs of today are strong, the soup today is warm Nibble, gobble fistfuls and platefuls

Eat ye gentlemen, this feast filled with music is yours Till you are satisfied, nauseous, eat till you burst.

After that era there was a tiny era called Fecr-i Ati but it's irrelavant. Before and after the war there were some ideas (some of them started by Young Turks) to fix the dissolution of the empire and all of them failed.

Since I am from Turkey I will translate these ideas and proposed solutions to this situation:

Ottomanism: Everyone that lives under the Ottoman banner is Ottoman thus there can be no discrimination (Ottoman Empire then gave rights to the minorities but that didn't solve the situation, after Balkan Wars this idea was abolished.)

Islamism: People of Islam (Ümmet) should be united under caliph. (after Arab Revolts this idea lost it's effect.)

Turkism/Türkçülük: This idea explains itself, Turkish people should be united. This idea was a success during the War of Independence and ressurected folk poetry into mainstream.

I just wanted to tackle the situation from the point of literature. There is also political standpoint which is another story but I think this sort of answers your question.

Also after researching for a while I have realised that there is little to none documents translated to English. I should study History major and translate these.

During the 19th and 20th centuries the Ottoman Empire was seen as as being on the brink of collapse at almost all times, arguably to a worse extent than it actually was. Nicolas I of Russia famously called the Ottoman Empire "The Sick Man of Europe" in a conversation with the British ambassador in which he advocated dissolving the Empire and dividing its former territory. In Europe the exaggerated image of decay was cultivated by the European powers as justification for expansion into Ottoman territory and spheres of influence. The Ottomans themselves were in a profound state of panic as refugees poured out of the Balkans running from ethnic cleansing.