Sıradışı Bir Amerikalının Ermeni Olaylarına Bakışı: Francis Hopkinson Smith

When we look at the historical process in the Western world, Turks are generally perceived as the other. It can be said that some elements are effective in the formation of such a perception. At the turn of the 19th and very beginning of the 20th centuries, the Armenian Question became one of these elements. The most important elements that affect the Turkish image negatively specifically in America are the perception of the Armenian Question. Travellers, newspapers and missionaries were the major elements in the formation of this perception in America. The vast majority of them accused the Ottoman State about the Armenian Question and alienated Turks. But sometimes, there has been exceptions. Being one of them and attracted attention with his extraordinary personality, Francis Hopkinson Smith stands out as a person thinking and acting in the opposite direction of the great majority on the Armenian Question in the Western world. Bearing various titles such as writer, painter, engineer, business man and traveller, Smith was acquainted with Turks and Armenians as a result of his travels to Istanbul and witnessed some of the Armenian events. This extraordinary American, who was in Istanbul during some of the events taking place in the 1890's, displayed a pro-Ottoman attitude towards the negative image of Turks in America stemming from the Armenian propaganda, when he went back to his country. In the news and his interviews in American newspapers, he dealt with these events in depth and expressed that he has regarded the Armenian committees and missionaries were the main instigators of the events. In this study, it is aimed to deal with Francis Hopkinson Smith's attitude and approach towards the Armenian Question widely through the American newspapers and to analyze the evaluations of this extraordinary American on the question.