Activities and institutions of American Board Missionaries in Diyarbakir (1850-1916)

Diyarbakir has been the target of different missionary groups due to the fact that it is a place where different ethnic and religious groups have lived throughout history. Although one of the main purposes of the missionaries to head to Diyarbakir was to spread Christianity, there were political and economic interests in the background. In order to achieve these goals, they carried out religious studies and later expanded their fields of activity through different institutions and organizations. Especially the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), which was Protestant in the first quarter of the 19 th century and was founded in America\Boston, became the most active missionary organization in the region. Mr. Dwight and Eli Smith were assigned to conduct research in the region, especially among Armenians, Kurds and Nestorians. As a result of all the studies and researches carried out by the missionaries, it was decided to establish a missionary center in the triangle formed by Mosul, Diyarbakir and Urmiye region of Iran in 1835. Diyarbakir. on the other hand, it was constituted as the supply base for the activities towards Mosul. Dr. Ashel Grant came to Diyarbakir to expand her studies in 1839. After that, Board Missionaries who came to Diyarbakir visited Diyarbakir and the surrounding villages-towns in order to spread Protestantism and separatist iddias among the Armenians. Protestant churches were formed. Later, they opened schools, dispensaries, hospitals, orphanages and social aid institutions. Thus, they carried out their activities on solid ground. However, the Board Missionaries wanted to spread their separatist iddias, especially among the Armenians, through these institutions. Thereupon, from time to time, the central and local administrators were seen as objectionable, and the missionaries were reacted and measures were taken against them. For this reason, some missionaries and their local assistants were exiled and some were arrested. The attitudes of the local administrators towards the Board Missionaries also affected the attitudes of the people towards the missionaries. Parallel to the outbreak of the First World War and the Armenian events, the events of the American Board Missionaries in Diyarbakır and afterwards came to an end in 1915. Keywords: American Board, Diyarbakir, Missionary, Activity, Institute.