Uluslararası Sosyal ve Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi

Öz

Democracy is a form of government that has been practiced since ancient times. Today, it has indispensable location for Orthodox Christians. The Patriarchate came under the auspices of the Ottoman Empire with the conquest of Istanbul by Mehmed the Conqueror (1453). For many years, it continued its existence as the religious authority of the Greeks in the Ottoman lands. In the last hundred years of the Ottoman Empire, the Patriarchate expanded its activities against the Ottoman government and the State by using its religious powers. It has become an institution working for the Greek government. During the National Struggle Period, it is seen that the Fener Greek Patriarchate tried to create the perception in the world public opinion that the Turks were persecuting the Greeks and Christians under their rule to legitimize the Greek occupation of Turkish lands. The efforts of the Patriarchate in this period did not remain fruitless; With the effect of the perception created, much news from this period took place in the foreign press, and there were echoes of the news. Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk analyzed the aims of the Patriarchate well, especially during the National Struggle, and warned the public and the parliament against this danger in his statements on the subject. In this study, the statements of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk during the National Struggle, newspapers of the period, archive documents, and sources containing different opinions were examined using the document analysis method. In addition, it has been researched how the Fener Greek Patriarchate created public opinion against the Turks in the foreign press (in English newspapers) and the effect of the public opinion that was tried to be formed on the political and social events of the period.