THE HEALTHCARE MISSION OF AMERICAN MISSIONARIES IN LINE WITH THE AID ACTIVITIES IN TURKEY

AMERİKALI MİSYONERLERİN ANADOLU’DA YARDIM FAALİYETLERİ ÇERÇEVESİNDE SAĞLIK MİSYONU

Abstract

Ottoman Empire had to fight a lot of serious distresses after the first half of 19th century. The primary one was that the Ottoman Empire fell into a period of regression opposing the increasing economic, military and political power of the European world. The improvements by the Ottoman Empire to halt this regression, especially in the martial area, were not sufficient and thus, such distresses continued to increase in all the bodies of the state. That situation caused the imperial states to make improvements and reforms in the state order and operation of Ottoman. With the addition of religion wars along with the economic, martial, political, educational and cultural wars, this paradox continued. This war is the war of Christianity to gain power against Islam. With this purpose, the imperial states that wanted Ottoman Empire to shatter sent their missionaries that would serve the Christian world to Ottoman lands. The continuous independence and nationalism promised to nonMuslim communities (Greeks, Bulgarians) in the Ottoman Empire by the European states caused these communities to rebel against the Ottoman Empire. The Armenians were affected by the circumstances and resorted to acts of violence in order to draw the attention of Europeans. Such acts of violence were communicated by the European press on a biased exaggeration or bastardization. This changed into an anti-Turkish propaganda in the Western public opinion. The Ottoman Empire failed to find an effective way of eliminating these anti-Turkish propaganda acts despite all its efforts. Therefore, American missionaries were quite influential on the Armenians during the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire having the great strategic and geopolitical importance. The most efficient group of these missionaries was American missionaries. Despite the missionary having a lot of varieties, the medical missions that aim to reach more people was one of the most efficient ways, also used by American missionaries. In this study, we tried to address American medical missions, services and aims. STRUCTURED ABSTRACT Introduction and Aim of Study It is essential that the strategic importance of the Eastern Anatolia accommodating the Armenians and the interests of imperialist states in the region be clearly understood to properly describe the aid activities of American missionaries which were intensively carried out for the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Starting from 1895, the Ottoman Armenians were provoked by the European states mentioning about nationalism with promises of independence. Thus, the Armenians, tricked by the promises of the independent Armenia or the great Armenia, were primarily used as a non-shareable tool between England and Russia. Relying on the Western states backing up them, the Armenian rebels caused peace, order and safety to disappear in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire did whatever was necessary for any state, arresting rebels and starting to prevent such acts. Having appeared in the Ottoman lands during the 19th century, American missionaries paid greater attention to the Armenians than England and Russia did. While the Ottoman Armenians were Protestanized by American missionaries on the one hand, they were exploited by the same for their own interests in the region on the other hand. In the midst of the Armenian rampage and revolt, the Turks also suffered as much as the Armenians. However, the issue was raised in the Western and American public opinion so biasedly that the Christian community engaged in a competition of relief for aid organizations established for the Armenians with intent to aid their co-religionist Armenians. Thus, American aid organizations engaged in healthcare missions took an active role and started to aid the Armenians for the American public. Our objective in this study is to evaluate aid activities carried out by American healthcare organizations in Anatolia in general sense and to present what path they followed in the healthcare field, what they aimed for and what difficulties they went through. Considering the troubles experienced in the Ottoman Empire from an objective point of view when making such evaluations, we attempted to find out why the Armenians living in peace for many years together with the Turks as the Ottoman citizens were enmeshed in the position of rebels. Methodology The basic approach employed in our study is to achieve a realistic and comparative perspective about the subject-matter by reaching to multiple archive documents. For this purpose, the documents obtained from the Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives and the U.S. National Archives are used. In addition, the New York Times intensively dealing with the Armenian issue and having a vast majority of readers is reviewed. Besides some books written by foreign authors, local reports and articles including medical aid activities are reviewed. Additionally, theses, investigative works and articles are reviewed. Findings and Discussion The concentration of medical aids provided by American missionaries in the Ottoman lands on the Armenians and the negligence displayed towards the helpless Turks suffering is likely to be regarded as a unilateral and conscious preference. In addition, the consideration of events in the Eastern Anatolia, remaining within the boundaries of the Ottoman lands invaded by the Western states and accommodating many Armenians, in line with the reports of American missionaries is likely to give rise to doubts over the objectivity of the Armenian issue and actual medical aid activities. Conclusion The discourses of nationalism and independence triggered by the French revolution are ill suited with the nature of multinational states and they fail to fit the nature of the Ottoman Empire composed of several ethnicities and religions. The fabrication and industrialization triggered by the Industrial Revolution in Europe introduced fast and mass production. Thus, the quest for raw materials and market

Özet

Osmanlı Devleti, 19. Yüzyılın ilk yarısından itibaren çok ciddi sıkıntılarla mücadele etmek durumunda kalmıştır. Bunların başında Avrupa dünyasının artan ekonomik, askeri, siyasi gücü karşısında Osmanlı Devleti'nin tersine bir gerileme dönemine girmiş olması gelir. Osmanlı Devleti'nin bu gerileyişini durdurmak için öncelikle askeri alanda yapmış olduğu ıslahatlar, yeterli gelmemiş; neticede devletin bütün kurumlarında söz konusu rahatsızlıklar artmaya devam etmiştir. Mevcut durum, emperyalist devletlerin Osmanlı devlet düzeni ve işleyişinde ıslahat ve reformlar yapmasına neden olmuştur. Ortaya çıkan paradoks, ekonomik, askeri, siyasi, eğitim ve kültürel savaşların yanında dinler arası bir savaşın da eklenmesi ile devam etmiştir. Bu savaş, tam anlamıyla Müslümanlık karşısında Hristiyanlığın güç elde etme savaşıdır. Bu amaçla, Osmanlı Devleti'nin parçalanmasını isteyen emperyalist devletler, Hristiyan dünyasına hizmet edecek misyonerlerini Osmanlı topraklarına göndermişlerdir. Misyoner grupları içinde en etkili olan ise Amerikalı misyonerlerdir. Avrupalı devletler tarafından Osmanlı Devleti'ndeki gayrimüslim unsurlara yönelik sürekli olarak ( Yunan, Bulgar) bağımsızlık ve milliyetçilik vaatlerinin verilmesi bu unsurların, Osmanlı Devleti'ne karşı ayaklanmalarına neden olmuştur. Ermeniler de bu durumdan etkilenmiş, Avrupa'nın dikkatini çekmek için şiddet olaylarına başvurmuştur. Bu şiddet olayları, Avrupa basınında tek taraflı olarak abartılarak ya da çarpıtılarak aktarılmıştır. Bu durum, Batı kamuoyunda anti-Türk propagandasına dönüşmüştür. Osmanlı Devleti, tüm çabalarına rağmen anti-Türk propaganda faaliyetlerini bertaraf edebilecek etkili bir yöntem bulamamıştır. Böylelikle stratejik ve jeopolitik önemi büyük olan Osmanlı Devleti'nin parçalanması sürecinde Ermeniler üzerinde Amerikalı misyonerler de oldukça etkili olmuşlardır.Misyonerliğin birçok çeşidi olmakla birlikte daha çok insana rahatlıkla ulaşmayı amaçlayan tıbbi misyonlar, Amerikan misyonerlerinin de kullandığı en etkili yollardan biri olmuştur. Bu çalışmamızda genel hatlarıyla Amerikan tıbbi misyonlarını, hizmetlerini ve amaçlarını ele almaya çalıştık.