Turkish National Struggle on American press (1918-1922)

Shortly after the United States of America emerged as an independent state, the first relations with the Ottoman Empire were started as the basis of commercial activities. Although there was a break with the outbreak of the First World War, the two countries did not officially declare war to each other. Until that period, the events in the Ottoman lands were followed closely by the USA and media organs such as newspapers and magazines which were the most effective tools of directing the public, reported the news transmitted from the region to the public unilatterlly. Moreover, the minority revolts triggered by the French Revolution and supported by European Powers turned into a black propaganda tool against Turks in USA press during that period. In directing the press, American missionaries and Armenians and Greeks who were operating a forceful lobby activity in USA, played an active role. After the Armistice of Mudros, the news and reviews in this direction became an effective instrument for the West to achieve their ambitions on Turkey. Thus, the news published in the press were presented to the public beyond the ocean as "justified reasons" for the division of Anatolia. However, with the emergence of the National Movement which started under the leadership of M. Kemal Pasha, the general tendency in American newspapers began to change slowly but steadily. The military successes of the Turks in their struggle for independence have began to be understood and appreciated by American correspondents who arrived to the region. The aim of this paper is to reveal how the developments in Turkey during the period of National Struggle reflected to the U.S. press and elicit the factors having an impact on this process. During this study, many newspapers and magazines reaching a vast majority of public published in USA have been analyzed. Also archive documents, articles, thesis and various books related to the subject have been reviewed and this process has been taken into consideration by way of annotations.