2023-2024 ACADEMIC YEAR FIRST

TERM
HIS101 HISTORY OF TURKISH
REVOLUTION AND ATATURK’S WEEK 10: OPENING AND
PRINCIPLES I
ACTIVITIES OF TURKISH
GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
THE PATH TO THE TOTAL SURRENDER OF THE EMPİRE: THE TREATY OF SEVRES

 The Legitimacy Issue

Clousure of the Parliment in Istanbul
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey
 Treaty of Sevres
The Legitimacy Crisis

Following the declaration of the National Pact:

 Clousure of the Istanbul Parliment (11 February 1920)
 Official occupation of Istanbul by Allied Powers

After the acceptance of the National Pact by the Last Ottoman Parliament, the Allies
officially occupied Istanbul and the British raided the parliament. As a result, the Ottoman
Parliament was closed. British forces begin arresting leading statesmen and intellectuals in
İstanbul. They were sent into exile to the island of Malta.
With the closure of the parliament, the representative committee became the only
institution representing the people.
Mustafa Kemal declared the convention of a new parliament in Ankara under the name
of Grand National Assembly of Turkey
 An Ever-lasting Solution to the Legitimacy Crisis
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara
(23 April 1920)

 Elections were held first: 92 deputies from Istanbul parliment+ 232 newly-elected
deputies
 Mustafa Kemal as the president of the assembly
 Its deputies were people from all segments of society with high levels of education.
 It was a parliament with extraordinary Powers and
based on the unity of forces.
 The Treaty of Sevres (Agust 10, 1920)

 Mudros was a ceasefire agreement. Peace agreement was necessary.

 But, the peace settlements with Ottoman Empire were the most complex and the most
competitive one because of the multiple actors who desire to take a share from the
Ottoman lands. Before the final peace settlement, that was Sevres, to reconcile the
conflicting interest of the victorious states, two conferences were conveyed in London
and San Remo.
 While there was a struggle against invasions in Anatolia, the Allied Powers made a
peace agreement with the Ottoman Empire.
 Signed by Allied Powers and the Ottoman Government
Ottoman lands were share as following:
 Syrian coast to France under the mandate system
 Palestine to British mandate
 The Aegean İslands, Thrace and the outskirts of Istanbul, including İzmir to Greeks
 An undefined share from the eastern Anatolia to Armenians under US protection
 Kurds as an autonomous entity under US protection
Lost of sovereign rights:
 International control over the Straits
 Financial issues under the control of a joint comission
 An army, no more than fifty thousand soldiers
 The capitulations were to be restored

The Turkish Grand National Assembly never accepted this agreement, the Treaty of Sevres. When the
national resistance succeeded, this agreement ceased to be valid. Thanks to the national struggle, it could
never be implemented.