Politics of Encounter in the Ottoman Empire
by Ömer Turan
Every religion considers itself as the truest, highest, and purest, among all past and present belief systems. In time, sects and different currents emerge within each religion. They too consider themselves to represent the religion in question in the best and in its most original form. American missionary organizations established in the first half of the nineteenth century also set out with these claims. They became some of the world's largest missionary organizations and opened America, which was inwardly closed with the Monroe Doctrine, to the world.
These missionaries brought American Christianity as well as American culture and perception, to the places they went. Hillary Kaell names this process American Christian Globalism. As can be seen in the order of the words in this concept, the first element here is being American, Christianity follows it, and globalism comes last. Since the missionary activities are diverse, the author focuses on child sponsorship; more specifically, child sponsorship programs in the United States.
The third chapter is more historical and it deals with the Middle East, which is my field of study. The first missionaries of the American Board came to these lands in 1820. They worked among Orthodox communities such as Bulgarians and Armenians. Schools were opened, not only boys but also girls were educated which was not “normal” in this part of the world in those years. All these students did not become Protestant but learned English and discovered Western liberal ideas in the schools. Some of them were sent to the US for further study of theology or other disciplines. Some others also went to work in the US. It created lasting ties among certain Orthodox families to the United States, which are still evident today.
The missionaries printed religious brochures, textbooks and magazines in the printing houses they established. These publications helped standardization of minority languages in which there was not much previously published material. For instance, the Bulgarian language was under the influence of Greek, Turkish, and other Slavic languages due to Greek religious/cultural domination and Turkish political rule. American missionary periodicals, which were written in vernacular languages, gave masses education and also made the communities in question more heard and visible by rulers, officials, foreigners, and diplomats. Turning again to the Bulgarian case, missionary periodicals were propagating Protestantism but also giving news from the Bulgarian perspective. For instance, Zornitsa, published by American missionaries, was the most prestigious Bulgarian newspaper and important Bulgarian writers also contributed to it. Missionaries earned the respect of all kinds of people, including Muslims, Christians, political administrators, etc., by distributing healthcare to needy people in the hospitals they opened. Education, publication, and healthcare were the main fields of missionary activity in the nineteenth century, but they also developed new branches of their work based on needs at the time. Among these, orphanages in the years during and after World War I, through the Near East Relief and under the control of the missionaries, have a special place.
The last hundred years of the Ottoman Empire (c. 1820-1920) did not pass easily. Revolts, conflicts, and wars followed one another. Because they were Christians, and because they opposed a Muslim state’s rule over Biblical lands, American missionaries sympathized with political movements that challenged the Ottoman administration. They supported the Bulgarians in the Balkans and the Armenians in Anatolia. In other words, missionaries, later supported by Near East Relief, did not limit their activities in these communities to education, publication, and health. From time to time, they also carried out political activities in favor of these communities. Some missionaries wrote special reports to the US President and members of Congress to make a greater Bulgaria (including Macedonia).[1] Some others worked to create an Armenia State in the Eastern Anatolia during the Lausanne Conference in 1922-1923.[2]
Missionaries also told the American public biased accounts of the events that took place in this region. During the WWI, they participated in the propaganda activities carried out by the British intelligence against the Ottoman Empire. Justin McCarthy's book The Turk in America reveals the role of missionaries in spreading a negative image of Turks. Admiral Bristol came to Istanbul in the years following World War I as the High Commissioner of the United States. In his war diaries, he stated that there was strong propaganda being carried out in the US in favor of Greeks and Armenians. He noted that the Christian Science Monitor played a significant role in the campaign against Turkey. In Bristol’s diaries, many passages also record his discussions with missionaries and Near East Relief workers in Anatolia. According to him, they exaggerated news and even made up stories against Turks, which they sent to the US, to mislead American people. For instance, Kars was an important city in the Eastern Anatolia and the site of a century of fighting between Russians and Ottomans. Turkish forces took it from the Armenians on 30 October, 1920, during the Turkish War of Independence. Thirty Armenians lost their lives, but an NER worker presented this number as 80,000 to Americans. Bristol also stated that NER’s New York headquarters specifically fabricated news, sent it to Istanbul, and asked for it to be re-sent to the headquarters again in order to give the impression that it came directly from abroad.[3]
Hillary Kaell looks at American missionary and NER activities with sympathy and respect. The concepts of humanitarianism and mission are used interchangeably. However, in Turkey today the image of these missionaries is largely negative. An old Turkish proverb says that generosity is to give, and to be glad to have given. Pouring corn for the trap is not generosity. The general perception is that Ottoman authorities allowed missionaries to work in the Empire, and then they worked against Turkish rule from their position in this part of the world. Their love, humanism, generosity, compassion, and help was not for Turks and Muslims. They also used their money and power to attract people and change their religion. In my opinion, trying to attract a needy child to his own beliefs (Christianity, Protestantism) by using his economic, social and cultural advantages is not generosity. While Christians promote American globalism using concepts such as love, compassion and friendship, the political traces left in certain parts of the world should also be taken into account.
[1] Vladimir Tsanoff, Reports and Letters of American Missionaries Referring to the Distribution of Nationalities in the Former Provinces of European Turkey, 1858-1918, Sofia, 1919.
[2] Ömer Turan, “The Armenian Question at the Lausanne Peace Talks,” The Armenians in theLate Ottoman Period, Ed. Türkkaya Ataöv, The Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Ankara, 2002, pp.207-238. James L. Barton (General Secretary of the ABCFM and later Chairman of Near East Relief), William W. Peet (Treasurer of the ABCFM in Istanbul), Calep F. Gates (President of the Robert College) were the members/advisors of American delegation in the Lausanne Conference.
[3] Ömer Turan, “Admiral Bristol & Anti-Turkish Campaign Conducted in the US in Terms of Turkish-Armenian Relations (1919-1922),” International Review of Military History, No.87, 2007, pp. 177-193.
Ömer Turan is a professor of History and Campus President of Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus. He earned his bachelor and MA degrees from Ankara University in Turkey, and his second MA and PhD degrees from Leuven Catholic University in Belgium. He was a visiting professor at Princeton and William Paterson universities in the US teaching Ottoman and Turkish history. His current research interests include nineteenth and twentieth centuries Ottoman and Turkish History; minorities, nationalism and missionary activities in the Balkans, Anatolia and the Middle East in the same period. His publications include The Turkish Minority in Bulgaria, 1878-1908 (Turkish Historical Society, Ankara, 1998), Avrasya’da Misyonerler (ASAM, Ankara, 2002), Balkanlar’da Türk Eserlerinden Örnekler (co-author, Turkish Grand National Assembly, Ankara, 2004), Ermeniler: Sürgün ve Göç (co-author, Turkish Historical Society, Ankara, 2004), The Armenian Rebellion of Van (co-author, The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 2006), The Ottoman Russian War of 1877-1878 (ed., Middle East Technical University & Meiji University, Ankara, 2007), A History of an 1890s Armenian Revolt, Sasun, (co-author, The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 2014).