Tarihsel Süreç İçerisinde Maraş ve Çevresindeki Ermeni İsyanlarına Genel Bir Bakış

Abstract

Western states created the concept of the Eastern Question for the nations living in the eastern regions, which they considered to pose a danger. The plans, which were designed with the aim of repelling the Turkish communities when they came to Anatolia, did not achieve their goal from the 11th century to the 19th century, when the Turks became the dominant power in the region. As a result of the end of the glorious periods of the Ottoman Empire and the beginning of the rise of European states, Western states targeted the Ottoman Empire within the framework of the Eastern Question both against the Ottoman pressure they had felt for centuries and in order to continue their political and economic rise. In addition, factors such as the strategic position of the Ottoman Empire and its underground and aboveground resources attracted the attention of the West. In this direction, the Western states, which were ahead of the Ottoman Empire in the fields of knowledge and technique, could not confront the Ottoman Empire directly, and wanted to weaken the state through political, economic and sometimes military methods. Within the framework of these plans, the Western states utilised their own cognates and co-religionists living in the territory of the Ottoman Empire and promised them independent nation states. Affected by this, the Ottoman nations entered into a struggle for independence with the state. Armenians, one of these nations, started the struggle for independence with Muslim Turks, with whom they had lived in the same country for centuries. In the Ottoman Empire, the region of Maraş and Zeytun, where Armenians were densely populated, became the base of Armenian rebellion movements. In this study, the activities of Armenians in and around Maraş during the last period of the Ottoman Empire and the War of Independence and the Armenian Question will be analysed.