Çanakkale Araştırmaları Türk Yıllığı

Abstract

The Ottoman statesmen adopted the Ottomanism policy and attempted to equalize Muslim and non-Muslims subjects in legal terms, as well as conducting social, economic, administrative and judicial reforms, during the Tanzimat Period, which was a milestone in the Ottoman modernization process. Islahat Fermanı (The Reform Edict) granted to non-Muslim subjects with the right of opening their own schools and institutions, on condition that they would be under state control, in 1856. Greeks, Armenians and Jews only had traditional schools at the level of Sıbyan schools in Çanakkale until the proclamation of the Statute of General Education of 1869. The 129th article of the Statute defined non-Muslim and foreign schools as Private Schools. Construction and administration of these schools were left to the relevant communities or persons. However, curriculums, textbooks and teachers of these schools had to be approved by the state. Starting from the 1870s, Greek and Armenian communities opened schools of İptidaî (Elementary) and Rüşdiye (Primary) levels for girls and boys. The Greeks constructed two new schools for girls and boys at the beginning of the 1900s. Armenians also founded a new school after 1903. The Jewish community, however, continued to educate their children in their old schools located around their synagogue. In time, the number of traditional Jewish schools increased to three. The Greek and Armenian schools were bound to the Greek and Armenian Patriarchates in Istanbul. Jewish schools were directed by the rabbis. On the other hand, Alliance Israélite Universelle, Catholic and Protestant schools were opened as foreign schools in Çanakkale in the last quarter of the 19th century. The General Education Statute stipulated that starting from the İdadi level, all Muslim and non-Muslim boys were to receive education in mixed schools teaching in the Turkish language. Thus the Ottoman government was aiming both at the training of staff needed by the state, and at integrating Muslim and nonMuslim children which would unite them under the ideal of Ottomanism. An İdadi School was opened in Çanakkale in the year 1888. This school was later converted to a Sultanî School in the year 1911. However, education statistics show that Greek, Armenian and Jewish elements did not show interest in these schools. The First World War caused the interruption of education activities in Çanakkale. On the other hand, the migrations and deportations that happened during the First World War, as well as the Turko-Greek population exchange that started in 1923 changed the demographic structure of Çanakkale