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It was the 13th of November 1918. Istanbul was overcast with dark clouds reflecting
the mood of the people who were down and out. The Ottomans had lost World War
I and allied navy had anchored in the harbor. The city was unofficially occupied.
Haydarpasa was the western terminus of the Istanbul-Baghdad railway. A young
handsome general got off the train and took one of the little boats the Turks
called "çatana", to cross the Bosphorus...
We talked about Turkish history in the previous chapters. Among the various
states the Turks had founded, the most important, the largest and the longest
lasting was the Ottoman Empire which, between the 14th and the 19th centuries,
established a "Pax Ottomana" on three continents ruling over many
nations. The Ottomans who entered their period of decline in the 18th century
took part in the First World War on the side of the Axis Powers. On October
30,1918 they signed the Mudros Armistice which had heavy terms that spelled,
in brief, unconditional surrender. On the 13th of November, allied battleships
and cruisers anchored in the Istanbul harbor.
That same day, Mustafa Kemal, a full-general at the age of 37, the brilliant
tactician of the Dardanelles and other fronts, disembarked from the train which
brought him back home from the southern front. Passing between the warships
of a mighty armada which had anchored in the harbor, his face was tired but
his eyes shone as usual with their penetrating brilliance. Addressing his adjutant,
he said: "Don't you worry young man. They shall go the way they came."
The National War of Independence
Emerging defeated from the First World War, the Ottomans were forced to sign
an armistice embracing the most onerous conditions, whereby the Anatolian Peninsula,
that had been the Turkish homeland for a thousand years, was divided up and
subjected to imperialistic designs.
The economy was a shambles, and from every standpoint the Ottoman society was
in ruins and in collapse. Seemingly there was no hope. The views expressed at
the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 were that Turkey would be divided up. But
one thing had been forgotten, and that was that the Turks had founded one of
the world's most powerful states with Anatolia at its core. Another fact was
that the Turks had an ancient and deeply rooted past.
These facts, plus the fact that a people who had lived for centuries on this
soil could not be dissolved, had to be made known to the world. To this end
associations were founded in various parts of the country, and patriotic citizens
did their best to organize. But meanwhile in the Aegean region the Greek Army
was advancing swiftly, equipped by Great Britain with the most modern weapons
of the day, the French were rapidly occupying in southeastern Anatolia and in
the east the Army of the Armenian Republic was advancing. The Ottoman government,
implementing the terms of the armistice, was against any form of resistance
on the grounds that it would "anger" the enemies. What was to be done?
Mustafa Kemal Pasha knew what had to be done. His thinking ran along these
lines. "The Ottoman Empire, which lasted more than six hundred years, has
come to the end of its natural lifespan. It is dead, and the dead cannot be
revived. The Ottoman governments have no power or decisiveness. Therefore the
Turkish nation must decide its own fate and map its own future. The only path
to this goal is the founding of a new state based on the sovereignty of the
nation. If the nation unbinds the knots that have held it for centuries, and
establishes unity, it can save the homeland."
It soon became apparent just how correct this strategy was. On his return from
the front to Istanbul, Mustafa Kemal Pasha realized the hopelessness of the
situation, and that the time had come to put into action the plans he had nourished
since his youth. He decided to go into Anatolia and pursue the struggle from
there. In the early months of 1919 Anatolia was a hotbed of troubles, and Mustafa
Kemal requested that the government assign him to go and deal with them. This
request was accepted, and he left Istanbul with this understanding. On May 19,
1919 he set foot in Samsun. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was now in Anatolia, to unite
it and reconcile antagonistic factions.
His first step would be to bring about the congresses he had planned, one by
one. An association known as the Legal Society for the Defense of Anatolia and
Rumelia wanted the Ottoman Parliament to convene and establish peace conditions,
but in this matter Mustafa Kemal was not hopeful. Nevertheless the Parliament,
in the National Oath of January 28,1920, asked for an honorable peace in which
all borders were removed that threatened the territorial integrity of Turkey.
Only if this condition were met could peace talks be held.
The Entente Powers, who had thought the Eastern Question was resolved, were
greatly disturbed by this action taken under the influence of the Anatolian
National Movement, and in their anger occupied Istanbul on March 16,1920. Thus
for the first time in 467 years the city no longer had the status of Ottoman
capital.
Not long before this, on December 27, 1919, Ankara had been made the center
of national resistance, and it was now time to found a National Parliament.
On April 23,1920, a National Assembly deriving its authority from the nation
held its opening session, and by an unanimous vote Mustafa Kemal was chosen
to preside.
In order to carry out their project of dividing Anatolia, the Entente Powers
wished to extinguish the movement, which in their view was not serious. They
therefore dictated the final peace of the First World War, the Peace of Sevres
(August 10,1920), which the Ottoman government was forced to sign. Under the
terms of this peace, all of eastern Thrace, plus Izmir and the Aegean region,
were ceded to Greece. The straits were to be managed jointly, without the participation
of the Turks. In addition, a large part of the country's eastern territory was
ceded to Armenia, which had been established in Russia. Southern Anatolia was
to be settled by French, Italian and British populations, so that only a small
Ottoman State was left in Anatolia.
This peace roused the patriotic fervor of the Turks even more, and the youthful
army of the new state began to win its first victories. The Armenian army, which
had occupied Eastern Anatolia at the end of World War I, was expelled from these
territories and signed a peace at Gümrü on December 3, 1920, while the progress
of the Greeks, who had set their sights on Ankara, was brought to a halt. The
first diplomatic contacts with the new Turkish state now began to be made, as
the Soviet Union, impressed by the victories we have cited, signed an aid agreement
at Moscow on March 16,1921. Meanwhile the French advance in the southeast was
put to a definitive halt by the brave Turkish militia.
These developments led Greece, at the instigation of Great Britain, to prepare
a major new offensive, and they advanced as far as the Sakarya River near Ankara.
Meanwhile the National Assembly was temporarily relieving Mustafa Kemal of his
powers so that he could devote his attentions to the war as Commander in Chief.
The Greeks renewed their offensive on August 23,1921, and were repulsed on September
13 after 22 days and nights of fighting in which no quarter was given. With
this victory, a thousand years of the Turkish presence in Anatolia were confirmed.
After this victory won with the meagerest of means, the French signed a peace
with Ankara on October 20,1921, while the Italians also evacuated from the territory
they had occupied. This left the Greeks and British alone. The following year,
in September, 1922, the Greeks were expelled from Anatolia as the result of
a grand Turkish offensive.
The British were determined to remain in eastern Thrace and the straits at
all costs, but thanks to the wise policies of the Turkish government they found
themselves isolated. They were thus compelled to sign an armistice, at Mudanya
on October 11,1922. There was all the difference in the world between this armistice
and that of Mudros signed some four years previously.
After his victory at the Battle of the Sakarya, Mustafa Kemal was given the
rank of Marshal by the National Assembly and in addition was awarded the title
of Gazi. This title is reserved by the Islamic world for only its greatest heroes.
Mustafa Kemal Pasha wanted to sign a peace which would confirm the independence
and freedom from conditions of the new Turkish state, while the Allies, preparing
to meet in Lausanne, aimed for an agreement which would take the Treaty of Sevres
as its model, even though the National Assembly did not recognize this treaty.
In order to divide the Turks at the conference, the Entente Powers had also
invited the Istanbul government. This was taken as an outrage by the National
Assembly, which had no choice but to legally dissolve the Ottoman Sultanate.
This they did on November 1, 1922. Thus the Ottoman Sultanate, which had already
expired in fact, legally too became a thing of the past. Henceforward there
was only one government in Turkey, that founded by the National Assembly.
The Turkish state was represented at Lausanne by a national hero, Ismet Pasha
(Inönü). The Turkish delegation stood alone, for England, France and their allies
had formed a common front in order to preserve their interests. There was no
one to back Turkey's cause, so that Ismet Inönü and the rest of the delegation
were compelled to wage a diplomatic battle like that of the Sakarya. The peace
signed at Lausanne on July 24,1923, put an end to the centuries-old Eastern
Question, and gave the new Turkish State complete independence. The forces of
occupation in Istanbul, which had arrived on November 13, 1918, departed on
October 2, 1923, saluting the Turkish flag as they left.
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