Abstract:

In the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire made some regulations as a result of its desire to overcome its internal problems and the improving international relations with west. The first regulation was the declaration of the “rescript of Gulhane”. Following this rescript, which regulates the relationship between the state and the public, royal edict of reform and constitutional monarchy came. Armenians, who lived under the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia, took the Balkan societies as their role models, whom gained their freedom by rioting against the empire. With the help of this situation, Armenians tried to get some support from the foreign states in order to gain their self-governing first, and then to establish the independent Armenian State. Besides, they organized some internal insurrections. For these insurrections, psychological preparation, organization and arming were needed. How the Armenians were organized for independency and the activities of these organizations they founded were investigated in this study. This study also aimed to reveal the activities that the Armenians had been doing in Marash and its surroundings during and after the World War I. In this study, the documents of the Ottoman archives were used as the main sources.

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