[3] Halide Edib was educated at home by private tutors from whom she learned European and Ottoman literature, religion, philosophy, sociology, piano playing, English, French, and Arabic.

However an American witness for The New York Times, describing her as "this little woman who so often boasts of her American ideals of womanhood and of which her Western friends make so much", accused Halide Edip of "calmly planning with [Cemal Pasha] forms of human tortures for Armenian mothers and young women" and taking on "the task of making Turks of their orphaned children.

He witnessed children that resisted Turkification being punished with beatings and starvation:[15] At every sunset in the presence of over 1,000 orphans, when the Turkish flag was lowered, 'Long Live General Pasha!'

Turkish names were assigned and the children were compelled to undergo the rites prescribed by Islamic law and tradition ... Not a word of Armenian or Kurdish was allowed.

The teachers and overseers were carefully trained to impress Turkish ideas and customs upon the lives of the children and to catechize them regularly on ... the prestige of the Turkish race.Professor of Human Rights Studies Keith David Watenpaugh compared the treatment of non-Turkish orphans by Halide Edip and Djemal Pasha to the American and Canadian schools for Native American children that were forcibly assimilated and often abused.

[16] He wrote that Edip showed a strong hatred of Armenians in her writings, portraying them as "a mythical and existential enemy of the Ottomans" and even made claims of blood libel and child cannibalism similar to those in anti-Semitism.

[17] Watenpaugh writes of her:[18] Modernizing Turkey and defending its Muslim elite against Western criticism are key elements of Halide Edip's life's work, but her reluctance to protect Armenian children or even voice empathy for them as victims of genocide shows a basic lack of human compassion.

For Halide Edip questions of social distinction and religion placed limits upon the asserted universal nature 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.

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.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk began organizing resistance to the occupation, and Edib gained a reputation in Istanbul as a "firebrand and a dangerous agitator.

"[26] She was one of the main figures of the empire to give speeches to thousands of people protesting the occupation of Smyrna by Greek forces during the Sultanahmet demonstrations.

[citation needed] Edib eventually left Constantinople and moved to Anatolia together with her husband to join the Turkish National Movement.

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.

As a result of her husband Adnan Adıvar's participation in the establishment of the Progressive Republican Party, the family moved away from the ruling elite.

When the one-party period started in 1926 with the Progressive Republican Party's abolition and the approval of the Law of Reconciliation, she and her husband were accused of treason and escaped to Europe.

[3] A contemporary described her as "a slight, tiny little person, with masses of auburn hair and large, expressive Oriental eyes, she has opinions on most subjects, and discusses the problems of the day in a manner which charms one not so much on account of what she says, but because it is so different from what one expected".