HST206-handout-Anatolian Resistance Movement

ANATOLIAN RESISTANCE MOVEMENT (THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE):

THE ROAD TO THE TURKISH REPUBLIC

+ After the Mudros Armistice, the majority of the Ottoman lands were shared among the
victorious countries.
 Consequently, various defense fronts and resistance organizations started to appear
in Anatolia and Thrace. Allied warships moved into the straits off the coast of
Constantinople in order to secure the Dardanelles.
 These resistance efforts turned into a movement of full independence

Significant Events in 1919 after Mudros:

+ Mustafa Kemal (later to be known as Atatürk) becomes a significant figure as of then in

organizing these efforts: meetings and congresses in 1919 until Sevres!

* as a young Ottoman military officer he headed for his assignment as Inspector of the
Eastern Provinces. He was tasked with the responsibility of keeping peace and order in
the provinces and overseeing the disbanding of remaining Ottoman regiments.

* May 19th, 1919 – MK arrived at the Black Sea port city of Samsun

- In defiance of Ottoman orders, Kemal began to organize a nationalist Turkish

resistance movement, completely separated from the Ottoman regime in
Constantinople, with the intent to defend the territories of Anatolia from
intrusion of the foreign powers
- four year National War of Independence began.

* June 22nd, 1919 – Circular of Amasya

- a call and declaration of national liberation

- secret meeting with several prominent Turkish statesman and military leaders
- set forth the ideological groundwork for the ensuing National Movement
- MK issued a circular telegram to many Turkish civil and military figures
- In order to avoid any charges of treason or rebellion against the still legitimate
Ottoman Sultanate, MK resigned from his post
.
* 23 July to 4 August 1919 – Erzurum Congress

- limited to Eastern Anatolia in representation

- The territorial integrity and indivisibility of the homeland must be protected.
- The nation would resist foreign occupation and inference.
- A provisional government would be formed if the government in
Constantinople is incapable of maintaining the nation's independence and unity.
- The aim is to consolidate the national forces into a ruling factor and to establish
the will of the nation as the sovereign power.
- The nation shall not accept the status of a mandate or a protectorate.

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* 4-11 September, 1919 – Samsun Congress

- delegates from all over the Empire
- applied ideas presented at the Erzurum Congress to the whole of Anatolia and
Rumelia.
- made it clear that they believed the government and Grand Vezir in
Constantinople was incapable of protecting the rights and territory of the Empire

Significant events in 1920s until the Republic (1923)

+ March 16,1920: The Entente States occupied İstanbul and dissolved the Ottoman
Parliament.
* Some deputies were arrested, and some went to Ankara to join
the Struggle for National Independence.

+ April 23,1920: The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) was inaugurated in
Ankara and MK was elected the President of the Assembly
* de facto two governments: Istanbul and Ankara
* this Assembly would henceforth conduct the struggle for
National Independence in the name of the nation.
* After MK was designated Commander in Chief, war
commenced against imperialist forces on all fronts.

+ August 10,1920: İstanbul Government signed the Treaty of Sevres which included very
harsh provisions. It basically partitioned the remaining Otooman lands
leaving very small chunk of sovereign land.
* MK and the Ankara Government did not recognize the Treaty
of Sevres and the struggle intensified!
Armed conflict on several fronts!

+ October 11,1922: Mudanya Armistice was signed between the Ankara Government and the
Entente States. It was agreed that a conference would be held later in
Lausanne to negotiate the provisions of the peace treaty.
* However, the additional invitation made by the Entente States
to the İstanbul Government brought the sultanate to an end.

+ November 1,1922: The TGNA separated the Caliphate from the Sultanate and abolished
the sultanate.
* Consequently, the last Ottoman Sultan Mehmet VI departed
from İstanbul on November 17th, 1922.

+ November 21,1922: The Lausanne negotiations, in which the Ankara Government

participated as the sole representative, commenced

* The Minister of Foreign Affairs İsmet Pasha (İnönü) presided

over the Turkish delegation during negotiations
* suspended in February 1923, especially due to the disagreement
over the future of capitulations
* the talks resumed on April 23, 1923.

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+ July 24,1923: Lausanne Peace Treaty signed

* a comprehensive treaty comprised of 143 articles, 17 annexes,
protocols and declarations
* it concluded the National War of Independence.
* Ankara Government was officially recognized, Turkey’s
national borders were set, capitulations were lifted, the Ottoman
debts were restructured, and consequently the political and
economic independence and the right of sovereignty of Turkey
were officially recognized.

Motivation behind the War of Independence

a. For the People: Islam, Caliphate, Sultanate

+ The Republic of Turkey proclaimed in October 1923, which developed into a Western-
oriented, secularist and Turkish nationalist state, had its roots in the Anatolian resistance
movement of 1919–22, so modern Turkish historiography, shaped as it has been by the nation-
building policies of the early republic, sees the resistance as Turkish nationalist from its start.

+ However: the role of religion in mobilizing the Anatolian peasantry was very significant!

b. Political-Military Leaders: Ottoman-Muslim nationalism with a flare of Turkish nationalism

+ Their ideology was nationalist in the sense that they fought to preserve what remained of the
Ottoman Muslim state and to prevent it from being carved up.

+ But the nation for which they demanded this political home was that of the Ottoman Muslims
– not that of all of the Ottomans, not only that of the Turks and certainly not that of the Muslims
of the world.

+ In other words, what we see here is an ethnicizing of religion; the movement was political
and not religious, but the nationalist program is based on an ethnicity whose membership is
determined largely by religious affiliation.