TURKISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE (1919-1923)

Above: The map of Turkey and her neighboring Countries (Click to enlarge

Turkey was known as the Sick Man of European. After World War I the victorious European allies decided to slice up the Ottoman Empire. This forced the Young Turk Government (CUP) to go into exile. The Ottoman Sultan knew that it was suicidal to resist the Allies but Kemal Ataturk, the firebrand young leader refused to give up. The birth of new Turkey is a symbol of his perseverance and tenacity to his ideals. He came to be named ‘Ataturk’ or Father of the Turks.

Above: Picture of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Kemal Ataturk started the national movement from Anatolia in 1919. At that time he was holding an official post there. His operation was directed against both the Sultan and the Greeks occupying his country. In the same year he became leader of an association set up for the rights of Anatolia and Rumelia at Erzurum. His group compelled the government at Constantinople to pass a ‘National Pact’ asserting the Turkish boundaries existing on 11th November 1918 (Armistice Day ending World War I). The Allies responded with military opposition and arrests. Civil war broke out. Kemal set up a provisional parliament in Ankara, declared the Sultan to be under foreign control and appealed to all Muslims to fight foreign encroachment. In 1921 a new law gave the country a new name - Turkey. The internecine war became worse resulting in the defeat and humiliating surrender of the Greeks at the Battle of Sakarya River in 1921. By 1921/22 the Kemalists had won international recognition by a treaty with Russia. Italy withdrew her forces. France gave up her hold over Cilicia. Constantinople and Thrace were returned to Turkey. In 1922 the Sultanate was abolished. At the Lausanne Conference (November 1922 - July 1923) modern Turkey’s borders were marked and an agreement was reached regarding the exchange of Greek and Turkish minorities. The straits of Dardanelles and Bosphorus were declared international routes. In October 1923 Turkey was declared a Republic with Kemal Ataturk as its first President.

Below: Map showing borders of Anatolia as partitioned by Treaty of Sevres in 1920

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