of humanity; for her, genocide had not been too high a price to pay for Turkish progress, modernity, and nationalism. Despite her role in the orphanages in Antoura, Halide Edib expressed her sympathies with the Armenians regarding the bloodshed and drew the rage of the Committee of Union and Progress members inciting them to call for her punishment. Talat Pasha refused to administer any and said that "She serves her country in the way she believes. Let her speak her mind; she is sincere." A U.S. High Commissioner refers to her as a "chauvinist" and someone who is "trying to rehabilitate Turkey." On the other hand, German historian Hilmar Kaiser says: "And even if you're a Turkish nationalist, that doesn't make you a killer. There were people who were famous Turkish nationalists like Halide Edip; she advocated assimilation of Armenians, but she very strongly opposed any kind of murder." On 21 October 1918, Halide Edip then wrote an article in the Vakit newspaper condemning the massacres: "We slaughtered the innocent Armenian population ... We tried to extinguish the Armenians through methods that belong to the medieval times". From 1919 to 1920 she was among the contributors of Büyük Mecmua, a weekly established to support the Turkish independence war. During the War of Independence After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, British troops occupied Constantinople and allies occupied various parts of the empire. Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk) began organizing resistance to the occupation. Halide Edib gained a reputation in Istanbul as a "firebrand and a dangerous agitator." She was one of the main figures of the Empire to give speeches to thousands of people protesting the Occupation of Izmir by Greece during the Sultanahmet demonstrations. The British tried to exile her and several other leaders to Malta in March 1920. Halide Edib escaped to Anatolia together with her husband to join the Turkish National Resistance. On the road to Ankara she met with Yunus Nadi, another journalist who had decided to join the Nationalists. In a meeting at the train station in Geyve, on 31 March 1920, they agreed on the importance of informing the international public opinion about the developments regarding the Turkish War of Independence and decided to help the national struggle by establishing a news agency. They concurred on the name "Anadolu Ajansı". During the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) she was granted the ranks of