Osmanl Topraklar nda Hukuki Statü Aray s ve Varl k Mücadelesinde Amerikan Kurumlar //// In Pursuit of Legal Statu in Ottoman Terrotories and American Instutions in the Fight for Existence

Amerikan misyonerlerinin 19.yy. baslar nda Osmanl ülkesinegelmesiyle birlikte pek ok Amerikan dini, e itim ve hay r kurumua lm st r. Bu kurumlar kapitülasyonlar n sa lad ayr cal klardanfaydalanarak faaliyet alanlar n genisletmislerdir. Denetimsiz olarak o alan bu kurumlara, kar lan baz kanunlarla düzenleme getirilmeye al s lm st r. Ancak 1901 tarihli Osmanl -Frans z anlasmas yla Frans zkurumlar na baz ayr cal klar n tan nmas di er devletlerin de bu y ndetaleplerine sebep olmustur. Bu do rultuda 1907 y l nda Osmanl Devletiile ABD aras nda benzer bir anlasma yap lm st r. Fakat bu ok uzunsoluklu olmam st r. Nitekim 1914 y l nda Osmanl ’n n tek tarafl olarakkapitülasyonlar kald rmas ve 1917’de ABD ile diplomatik iliskilerikesmesi ABD’yi bir tak m aray slara sevk etmistir. Bundan sonraki süre Amerikan kurumlar i in bir var olma mücadelesine d nüsmüstür.Amerikan Misyoner rgütü Amerikan kurumlar n n karlar n nkorunmas ve uluslararas bir platformda garantilenmesi i in bir dizigirisimlerde bulunmustur. Bu konu 24 Temmuz 1923’te imzalananLozan Antlasmas ’nda yeni ve bugünkü statüsüne kavusturulmustur. //// In the beginning of the 19 th century, a lot of American religious,educational and charitable institutions were established right afterAmerican missioneries came to the Ottoman land.These institutionsexpanded their work areas by using the privileges which Capitulationsprovided to them. Some regulations were tried to be put into force inorder to control these institutions growing in number without any kind ofOttoman supervision. However,1901 Ottoman-Frenc agrement by whichFrenc institutions were given some privileges caused other states demand in the same way. In this context, a similar agreement were made betweenthe Ottoman State and the USA. Yet, this did not last for a long time. TheOttoman State cancelled the Capitulations with the decision taken byonly Ottoman State itself and cut off all diplomatic relations with the USAand this situation led the USA to search new ways. The following processbecame a struggle for American institutions to protect their existence andprivileges in the Ottoman country. American Board of Commissioners forForeign Missions made a series of attempts to protect and guarantee theinterests of American institutions on an international platform. Thisissue was given its new and present states with Lozan Agreement, Julythe 24 th, 1923.