II. ABDULHAMID DEVRİNDEN I. CİHAN HARBİNE İSTANBUL'DA AMERİKAN MİSYONER FAALİYETLERİNE BİR BAKIŞ

Activities of American Protestant Missionaries in Ottoman Empire's capital Istanbul began in 1831 with foundation of Istanbul Station as a part of the West Turkey Mission. Missionary activites accelerated with enactment of Tanzimat and Islahat Decrees. Although Abdulhamid the 2nd had tried to inhibit the missionary activities, He had to step back due to interventions of the American Embassy and American president. When Ittihat and Terakki was in the power a policy aligned with Turkism and Ottomanism has been followed, therefore new regulations were introduced on the missionary foundations and organizations in order to restrain missionary activities. The reign of Ittihat ve Terakki brought new challenges for the missionaries and missionary foundations. New payments and taxes were imposed on the missionaries and missionary institutions. Along with these developments some restrictions were introduced about the foreign schools. Implementation of an intensive Ottomanism and Turkism policy created an animosity towards the foreigners and missionaries. When such situations arise the American Embassy opted for compromise and refrained from the rupture of the relations. American missions conduct their activities via missionaries and other attendants. Prior to and during the World War I missionaries employed in Istanbul suffered from financial difficulties and the work in Istanbul were carried out by the missionaries brought by other stations. American Missionaries run their religious activities in Istanbul from Vlanga, Istanbul, Rum and Emmanuel Protestant Churches. These churches which supported by the Protestant world and live largely due to donations were in part of political and social events. In this article, missionary activities in Istanbul in the last years of Ottoman Empire attempted to be explained in the light of American Archive documents