The main factor in the emergence of the idea of Armenian nationalism on the Anatolian lands was the missionary activity of the United States. This opinion is shared by a member of the Scientific Council of the Turkish Historical Society (Türk Tarih Kurumu, TTK), Professor Dilted Indgea Erdogan.
“American missionaries step by step formed Armenian nationalism on the Boston-East Anatoly axis,” the professor said at the conference “The process of modernization from the Ottoman Empire to the republic”, organized as part of the opening of the Ataturk library in the “Turkish House” in the city New York in the USA.
Speaking about the problems of the Tanzimat period and the main causes of the events of 1915, Erdogan said that the missionaries wanted to increase awareness on the creation of the Armenian state in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire and for this purpose opened kindergartens in the provinces of Van and its environs.
In these schools, the minds of Armenian children were constantly “preparing”, drawing a map of Armenia on the sand, says the professor.
The importance of the correct use of concepts
The representative of TTK attracted attention to the importance of the correct use of concepts for an effective struggle against the problem that Turkey constantly presents in the international arena the Armenian lobby.
Instead of such expressions as the “Armenian problem” and “Armenian question”, one should give preference to the definition of “events of 1915”, and instead of “deportation” to use the expression “the Law on relocation,” the professor emphasized.
According to her, the use of the expression “the so -called genocide” in relation to the events of 1915, only on the hands of the Armenian side.
It should also be questioned by the fact that until today the expression “a massacre committed by Armenians against Muslims”.
has not been used.
The historian added that the “Law on relocation” adopted in 1915 was not intentional or planned for a long time.
Erdogan also affected women’s achievements in the field of education, jurisprudence and their participation in political life in the process of modernization from the time of the Ottoman Empire to the time of the republic.
The professor defined the concepts of modernization and westernization, and also spoke about some failures and incorrect practices that took place during the Tanzimate.