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.

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 markets become the common problem of Western states. For this reason, the Western states had willingness to have the possession of lands in Anatolia and Middle East remaining within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire. The domination over Eastern Anatolia region was of great importance to England and Russia. England did not want Russia to take control of this region and have command over the colonial road stretching down to the Caucasians, Mediterranean and India over the Middle East, which is the next step. There was no hurdle named as the "Armenian Issue" until the war of 1877-1878 between the Ottoman Empire and Russia. However, Russia forced the Ottoman Empire to agree to the Article 16 incorporated into the Treaty of San Stefano in favor of the Armenians in order to interfere in the affairs in Anatolia. England was troubled with the provision of the said Article 16 which could be exploited by Russia. Therefore, England, just as taking control of Cyprus, caused the Ottoman Empire to guarantee a reform favoring the Armenians in return for aiding the Ottoman Empire. Thus involved in the Armenian issue, England did not want to leave the issue to Russia's control and abused the Armenians for its own intentions and attempted to provoke the Armenians against the Ottoman Empire (Kodaman, 1987, s. 86). At the time of World War I, the Ottoman Empire fought a battle against the occupying forces from Russia, France, England and Greece in its own lands. Under all these harsh conditions, the Armenians located in the Eastern Anatolia revolted against the Ottoman Empire and cooperated with foreign states. The foreign press did not conceal the cooperation of the Armenians under the Russian flag against the Ottoman Empire. When mentioning about this cooperation in its issue dated April 11, the newspaper Romen Dimineatza stated that the Armenians were the best to know the psychology and warfare method of Turkish soldiers and strategic points in the region (BOA, HR.SYS. Dosya No: 2873, Gömlek No: 5). The Deportation Act was introduced for ensuring public order in the region. Occupied with the attacks from hostile states, the Ottoman Empire believed that translocation would be to the benefit of every party. When performing this translocation, those public servants and soldiers harming the public and acting otherwise were punished. However, the Ottoman Empire was obliged to introduce the DeportationAct since the Armenians revolted against the Ottoman Empire in cooperation with the hostile states and acts of revolution were supported by the Armenian Revolution Committees (BOA, HR.SYS. Dosya No: 2799, Gömlek No: 43). As a result of Deportation, which was called the forced migration by the Ottoman Empire, but described as massacre or genocide by the Western press, the aid activities provided for the Armenians in Anatolia were found to increase. Mark Lambert Bristol, the High Commissioner of Istanbul, who was assigned to safeguard the interests of the U.S. in Istanbul, was one of those realizing the inaccuracy of what was told to the American public under the anti-Turkish propaganda. Bristol found that the truth was very different from what was told in the U.S. as result of his observations in and around Istanbul. As the negotiations of Paris Peace Conference, which convened in January 1919, continued, Bristol wrote letters to senators in contrary to the fictionalized Armenian propagandas guided by members of Dashnak and Hinchak Committees, rejecting the claims asserted by ACIA (American Committee for the Independence of Armenia). He pointed out that the adverse conditions in Armenia were the total result of English and French imperialism. In his letter dated June 22, 1919, Bristol stated that all media and press organs in the U.S. were publishing and broadcasting news in favor of the Armenians and Greeks in Turkey and against the Turks, but the truth was not the same (Öksüz, Köse, 2012, s. 573-575). The members of U.S. Red Cross commission assigned to Anatolia pointed out that they experienced no difficulty when maintaining their aid activities in the company of soldiers provided for them to ensure the safety of their life. Bristol, known for his reputation and honesty in the U.S. navy, obviously reported that the Turks were exposed to wrongdoing regarding the Armenian issue and the American public was misguided. It is questionable that the Western world, condemning the Turks and then the Ottoman Empire, did not need to pay heed to the reports of this reputable organization and person. Another matter of debate is the failure by Western states to share the misery, hardship and injustice incurred by the Turks with their own public opinion despite the insurrection of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and their cooperation with Christian states. Therefore, the Armenian issue and each of the circumstances shaped in connection with this issue ceased to be a historical issue and turned into a matter of politicization by Western states. In the light of information that we referred to above, American missionaries were also closely interested in the healthcare services provided for the Armenians in the Ottoman lands. As a matter of fact, the organization of American Board, which was aware that healthcare activities were more important than education in reaching to social life, exerted considerable efforts in aid activities. As emphasized by David Brewer Eddy, one of American missionaries, "...The medical missionary is the best appreciated arm of the service among ignorant or half civilized peoples in days when the preacher and the teacher can find no foothold..." (Eddy, 1918, s. 74). Having a good knowledge of societal structure in Anatolia, missionaries had a continuous interaction with social life without any isolation due to the medical mission which was the outcome of protective and expansionist policy and attempted to safeguard the American interests by working under harsh conditions for many years. In that period, the shortage of healthcare institutions in Anatolia caused not only nonChristians to show interest in these institutions, but also Muslims to do so. Although the institutions of medical mission worked intensively in the geography of Anatolia, they were closed down one by one in the Republic period. Today, the medical activities of missionaries generally become intensive at the time of natural disasters and wars. In this context, this organization, having no direct operation in Turkey in terms of missionary activities, actively maintains its operations as healthcare institutions funded by European states, particularly by the US, in regions such as the Middle East, Far East, Turkistan and Afghanistan (Oymak, 2010, s. 293).