Transcription
The Beginning of the Turkish War of National Liberation (1919)
Autumn months of 1918… The Turks, who entered the First World War with great hope, were defeated by the British armies and were trying to retreat in a miserable manner. At these moments, when it was understood that everything was over, the Talat Pasha cabinet submitted its resignation to Sultan Mehmet Vahdettin on 8 October 1918. Thus, the period of Union and Progress in the Ottoman history came to an end! The Sultan appointed experienced statesman Ahmet Tevfik Pasha to form the new government. But the Empire was going through difficult times. The people had been crushed under the weight of being in the war for years; the soldiers were tired of fighting; the capital had fallen into an unstoppable political crisis, and the empire was on the verge of destruction. In such times, it was difficult to find men who would take the responsibility. This may be why Tevfik Pasha's efforts to form a government did not yield any results.
Mirliva Mustafa Kemal Pasha, the Commander of the 7th Army, who was in the south of Aleppo at that time, wrote a letter to the sultan. In his letter, Pasha advised the sultan to give the task to Ahmet İzzet Pasha if Tevfik Pasha was in a difficult situation to form a government. At the same time, he argued that he and a few reliable friends should be in this cabinet, and he stated that if they were given a task, they could manage the situation and dominate the situation. The Sultan brought Ahmet İzzet Pasha to the position of grand vizier with the suggestion of many statesmen. Pasha, one of the important military figures of the late Ottoman history, included some names in his cabinet who had contacts with the Union and Progress, such as Hayri Efendi, Fethi Bey, Cavit Bey, and Ruaf Bey. Although he went back and forth between Fevzi Pasha and Mustafa Kemal Pasha for the Ministry of War, he considered it appropriate to take this task upon himself due to the conditions of the period. The Pasha asked the general staff for a report showing the situation of the armies, in order to see if there was any hope of defense as a first step. The reports were not heartwarming because there was not enough power to continue the war. İzzet Pasha sought an environment to accept the already known defeat and to make a ceasefire with the Allied Powers like the previous government. Somehow, this war had to be put to an end now! The requested ceasefire agreement could only be signed on 30 October 1918.
Mustafa Kemal was appointed as the Commander of the Yıldırım Army Group a day later and moved to the command center in Adana from the north of Aleppo. The Ottomans thought that the Armistice of Mudros would relieve them to some extent. After all, the World War was over for them now. Come see that the situation did not turn out as they expected. The Allied Powers, especially the British, started to drive things uphill from the moment the ceasefire was made. They had no intention of abiding by the terms of the agreement or sticking to their promises. They rolled up their sleeves to arbitrarily apply the substances that they deliberately had ambiguous expressions on. So much so that they tried to take advantage of the differences in the English, Turkish, and French mix of some terms in the agreements. While the Turks thought that when the ceasefire was made, the points where the armies were located would naturally remain on the border of the armistice, the British began the invasions before the ink of the signed signatures dried. Using the 7th article of the ceasefire as an excuse, they entered Mosul on 3 November. Following him, they demanded Iskenderun and even prepared to land troops in Istanbul. These developments stunned the Turks, who thought that peace would come. The atmosphere suddenly flared up, and the government was forced to resign. On November 8, the expected resignation came, and Ahmet Tevfik Pasha took over the office of grand vizier. Ahmet İzzet Pasha wanted the commanders of the troops to come to the center; they might be needed in the capital. Many commanders, whose names we will hear in the War of Independence, went to Istanbul. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was one of them. On November 7, the Yıldırım Army Group was abolished, and the Pasha was placed under the command of the War Ministry. Jumping on the train from Adana on November 10, Mustafa Kemal arrived in Istanbul on November 13, when the Allied navy anchored in the Bosphorus to occupy the capital. Pasha, who saw the occupation fleet of 70 ships while passing to the European side by ferry, turned to his aide-de-camp Cevat Abbas Bey and said his famous saying: "They go as they come"... This saying is so valuable that countless articles and books have been written about it; it is a sign of how well Mustafa Kemal understood and studied the First World War and how clearly he grasped the current situation. This word, which is far beyond an expression of a momentary wrath or gallantry, time will show us that it will be the motto and the key to the way to salvation.
Pasha, who first settled in Pera Palas after coming to Istanbul, will soon go to a house in Şişli. This period, which will cover the period from November 13 to May 16, will be a phase in which the idea of being dried up is shaped in the minds of Mustafa Kemal and his friends, although it is full of unknowns in many respects. That is why these 6 months that the pasha was in Istanbul should be meticulously researched by historians. After Mirliva Mustafa Kemal Pasha came to Istanbul, he actually entered politics. Purpose; to enter the parliament as a deputy, to be the Minister of War in a cabinet suitable for him, or to form a government himself if he could find the opportunity. He was convinced that he could do great services to his country through these authorities. He made attempts to bring Ahmet İzzet Pasha first and then Ahmet Rıza Bey to the office of grand vizier. He published the Minber newspaper together with Ali Fethi in order to announce his ideas. Most importantly, he met with his comrades in arms at his home in Şişli and thought about “how he could improve the situation in the country”. He sat and exchanged ideas for days with his friends Rauf, Fethi, İsmail Canbulat, Ali Fuat, İsmet, Kazım Karabekir, and many others in different times and environments. Dozens of different ideas and plans were put forward at the meetings. Mustafa Kemal and a few of his friends even thought of overthrowing the Tevfik Pasha government with a coup, and even replacing the Sultan with one of the younger and closer princes.
Mustafa Kemal was meeting not only with his friends whom he trusted and believed in, but also with people from different groups. His relations with the Sultan were very good, and he had the opportunity to meet with him six times during the brutality he was in Istanbul, and made occasional connections during the Friday greetings. Although he was in contact with the former Unionists, he did not hesitate to meet with the members of the Hürriyet and Entente parties who were against them. He even had a law with the entente officers. At the moment, it was not clear which link would work, so the pasha was trying to stay in touch with many groups and cliques.
Situations in Anatolia were complicated as in the capital. The Entente Powers were desperately expanding their occupation areas in Çukurova and the southeast, and the rumors that the Greeks would go to İzmir were trembling. The Turkish people did not hesitate to react against the invasions and the arbitrary application of the ceasefire. Rejection-i annexation societies were established all over the country; regional congresses were held; rallies were held, and occupations were protested. The provincial organizations of the Union and Progress gradually took up arms; divisional and regimental commanders resisted at times to lay down their arms. On December 19, 1918, the first bullet was fired at the enemy in Hatay Dörtyol!! What is more difficult for the Turkish people than the occupations is the hatred they secretly accumulated inside the Greek and Armenian minorities with whom they have lived for hundreds of years; it was because they took power from the British and the French!!
In this situation, eyes were turned to the peace treaty to be made. The Allies met in Paris in January 1919 to discuss the sanctions they would impose on the defeated states. In this meeting, while drafts of the treaties to be put before Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria were created, the Ottoman Empire was negatively differentiated here! The Entente Powers had a disagreement among themselves and fell to each other on how to divide the Turkish lands. After the collapse of Tsarist Russia, the Turks more or less knew the end that would befall them, as the Bolsheviks announced the secret treaties. On top of that, they realized that no reasonable peace would come out of Paris. Obviously, not very good days were waiting for the Turks…
When there was no hope of honorable peace on the horizon, everyone who had national consciousness and saw himself as patriotic adopted different poor people in order to get rid of the difficult situation of the Turkish homeland. Some of the ideas that were adopted were not only useless but also irresponsible! The ideas of Damat Ferit Pasha, who became the grand vizier instead of Tevfik Pasha on March 10, 1919, were an example of this. He could not fully grasp the situation that the country was in; he dreamed that his admiring proximity to the British was the only way out that would lead the country to salvation! While the civilian authorities in the capital adopted ways out of action to improve the situation, the military wing was more inclined to take action! The war was going on, there was no peace coming out of Paris, and the Ottoman general staff did not intend to waste this time and put their armies completely idle. Names such as Fevzi and Cevat Pasha, who are among the leaders of the General Staff, are able to put the army, which shows signs of disintegration, into a certain form, not to be incapacitated in the event of a resumption of the hot conflict, to re-establish the state authority and to "constitute the whole country as a single mass and around the caliphate-i Kübra". They came up with the idea to activate the inspectorship application, which is an old state mechanism for ”. The country would be divided into several military zones, and certain names would be assigned to these zones to ensure security. Appointments were to be made before the determination of the mission areas and the creation of the instructions. This inspectorship issue was the opportunity that Mustafa Kemal pursued…
Mustafa Kemal continued his political activities for a while. When British general Edmund Allanbey, who came to Istanbul in February 1919, tried to appoint himself to the head of the 6th Army in Nusaybin with an order, he rejected the task angrily. He was even punished for this by the Minister of War, Adjutant Ömer Pasha. When Mustafa Kemal first came to Istanbul, he believed that he could join the government and serve his country through the ministry of war, but this idea changed as the days passed. Seeing that the stagnant policies of the administrators did not change, he thought of leaving Istanbul. Like some of his friends, he decided to move to Anatolia. According to him, there was nothing that could be done here anymore. Regardless of his title, he had to go to Anatolia with a mission that had authority. He would soon find the job he was looking for….
Ali Fuat Pasha, a close friend of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, contacted Mehamet Ali Bey, who was his brother's father-in-law, before he went to work in Ankara. Mehmet Ali Bey had an important place in the Freedom and Entente Paw that when Damat Ferit Pasha formed the government in March, he would become the Minister of Internal Affairs, that is, the Minister of Internal Affairs. Ali Fuat Pasha and his father İsmâil Fâzıl Pasha advised Mehmet Ali Bey to take an active duty to Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Then they brought the two together. After a while, the two established intimacy and met several times in Mustafa Kemal's house in Şişli. The Minister of the Navy, Avni Pasha, who was the Sultan's chief aide, also attended these meetings. These connections would open the way for Mustafa Kemal to become an army inspector.
On April 21, 1919, British High Commissioner Arthur Caltholpe delivered a note to the Porte. The British stated that the Turks attacked the Greeks in the Black Sea region and that there were national movements in Eastern Anatolia. They said that if these activities are not interfered with, they will use force and hire them. The British were threatening the Turks to establish an Armenian and Pontus State in Adadolu! Damat Ferit, with his trousers on fire, explained the situation to Mehmet Ali, Minister of Internal Affairs. Minister stated that Mustafa Kemal could be assigned to take care of this task. In the same period, the project of the army inspectorate of the general staff was one of the topics on the table. Thereupon, Ferit Pasha planned a meeting with Mustafa Kemal. In April, Mustafa Kemal, Damat Ferit, and former Chief of War Chief Cevat Pasha, whom we knew from the March 18 Victory, came together for a lunch in Beyoğlu. What concerns Damat Ferit, who is illusory and has limited political knowledge, is at this point; whether Mustafa Kemal had any ties to the Committee of Union and Progress. The Grand Vizier saw the Unionists as responsible for what happened in the 1st World War, according to the general opinion at that time, and harbored a grudge against them. However, it is well known that Mustafa Kemal often disagreed with Enver, Talat, and Cemal Pashas during the war. This situation made Mustafa Kemal Pasha not a threat in the eyes of the grand vizier and the government. Shortly after this meeting, Minister of War Şakir Pasha summoned Mustafa Kemal and stated that he wanted to send him to Samsun with the 9th Army Inspectorate. This news greatly pleased Mustafa Kemal. Finally, the opportunity to move to Anatolia with a position such as inspector came to him. On April 30, 1919, the decision was sent to Yıldız Palace for the approval of the sultan. Vahdettin approved the appointment within a day without any investigation. The Sultan did not see any harm in choosing Mustafa Kemal Pasha to inspect and intervene in the events in Eastern Anatolia and the Black Sea. The Sultan intended to take matters into his own hands, especially after the armistice. He thought that he could get out of his current situation by gathering loyal names around him. But he himself did not have the skills and knowledge to do so. Vahdeddin was the eighth son of Sultan Abdülmecid; if we count his uncle and cousins, there were nine people in front of him to take the throne. In other words, it was not thought by anyone that he would come to the throne one day, and the education he received was not designed according to him. For this reason, he was far from making the right decision about the salvation of the homeland and showing courage in this matter. In his own words, perhaps one of his biggest mistakes was to accept the throne passed to him from his elder brother… The Sultan, who was away from state affairs throughout his life, knew very few people among soldiers and diplomats, and trusted much less of them. Mustafa Kemal was one of the rare names that he had the opportunity to get to know personally. Mustafa Kemal was the aide of the then prince Vahdettin during his trip to Germany in 1917, and the acquaintance of the two was based here. It was one of the factors that relieved the Sultan that he had problems with the top management of the Union and Progress in Kemal's time. The pasha seemed to have no reason not to be loyal to him. Around; the sultan who wanted to gather himself and the people connected to the throne; he did not hesitate to approve the appointment of someone he knew, whose loyalty he did not doubt.
In general, no one thought that Mustafa Kemal's appointment to any position was objectionable. Pasha's past was immaculate. Despite his young age, his military career and achievements were evident. His success in Çanakkale was fresh in the minds. Even those who did not know him, when the name of Mustafa Kemal is mentioned, "Is that the commander in Anafartalar?" they were saying. Apart from his youthful enthusiasm, he did not get involved in politics as a soldier, did not accumulate property with unjust enrichment, did not engage in any disgraceful or unprofessional action. He did nothing but run from front to front for his country. He was also good with everyone. Even the Allied commanders respected him. The Italians even gave assurances that if the British try to arrest you, you can take refuge with us. Although he is not one of the pashas who constantly appear on the covers of newspapers and magazines, he has a charisma and popularity in the environments he is in; it had a response in the eyes of the public and the palace. Undoubtedly, his prominence caused him to be envied by the old pashas and politicians! Especially when he was a Mirliva, that is, as a Brigadier General, his assignment to an inspector with a wide range of powers would further anger those who did not feel good towards him. The fact that he would be away from Istanbul in one way or another would lessen the jealousy crises of those who think like that.
Official proceedings began immediately after the appointment was approved. On 5 May, the pasha's appointment to the 9th Army Inspectorate was published in the official newspaper and announced to the public. On May 6, the procedures related to the seals that the pasha would use in his duty were tried to be settled. Papers came and went between the Ministries of the Sublime Porte, Harbiye, Internal Affairs, Navy, and the General Staff. On May 7, Mustafa Kemal's authorization, which we can now call "Inspector Pasha," was approved. When Mustafa Kemal went to the Ministry of War with the manuscript of the document in his hand, with the help of the 2nd Chief of General Staff Kazım İnanç, he personally dictated what he wanted to be included in the document, contrary to diplomatic rules. In other words, he arranged his own authorization document somewhere. Kazım Bey took the document he had cleared before the Minister of War Şakir Pasha for signature. He turned to Pasha Kazım Bey, who examined the document; “Pasha, my son, you did not establish an Inspectorate of the Third Army, but an inspectorate with power in the whole of Anatolia, what is that?” said. When Kazım Bey said that these authorizations were necessary for the sake of duty, Şakir Pasha laughed and put the seal under the authorization document by saying, "There is no need for signature, you just seal it". In this certificate of authority, the regions that Mustafa Kemal is responsible for are the provinces of Trabzon, Sivas, Erzurum, Van, and the Governorship of Erzincan and Canik. At the same time, the pasha will be able to give orders to the troops in Diyarbakir, Bitlis, Elazig, Ankara, and Kastamonu ex officio. Within the scope of the duties assigned to him, the pasha was appointed as the commander of the troops in all the aforementioned districts as well as inspecting and examining. On top of that, he had the authority to give orders to all civil chiefs here. These superior powers would be of great use to the Pasha when he moved to Anatolia. The Pasha then set about creating the headquarters personnel that he would take with him. The following days passed with the completion of the preparations. The biggest problem was about money. A budget was needed for the expenses of the headquarters in its duty area. Unfortunately, despite all the correspondence, sufficient funds could not be allocated.
Visa procedures for the delegation that will go to Samsun on 13 May have started. Istanbul and the Black Sea were occupied, and the British were not flying a kite. It was only possible for Mustafa Kemal and his team to go from one place to another if the British gave permission to pass. The Porte had informed Andrew Ryan, from the British High Commissioner, about the necessity of the appointment of an inspector and the necessity of sending an inspection team to Samsun. As the British could not foresee that the appointments would cause them problems, they did not even feel the need to inform the Black Sea Army Command of the situation. Visa procedures, on the other hand, proceeded somewhat strangely. Godolphin Bennett, one of the liaison officers who had to sign the visas, had received an order from his superiors to issue visas for an inspector board of 3-4 people, but the Turks were asking for visas for more than 40 people. Bennet reported the situation to their superiors. Upon the answer he received, "The Sultan will rely on this, you give it", he prepared the relevant documents. Visa procedures would be complete in a few days.
May 14 was hectic. That day, Mustafa Kemal received the news that the Greeks would go to Izmir. The ground would shake if that happened! It means bringing the Greek to Izmir; it was to step on the Turkish vein. And the public's reaction to it was unpredictable! On that day, Fevzi Pasha, who had been the chief of staff since December 1918, was appointed as the 1st Army Inspector. Cevat Pasha came to the office vacated by him. Mersinli Cemal Pasha, with the rank of Ferik, had been appointed as the Inspector of the Yıldırım Kitaat-ı, that is, the 2nd Army, much earlier. On the same day, Mustafa Kemal received a password key from Cevat Pasha, with which he could only communicate directly with the general staff. He asked the Bahriye for permission to give direct orders to the captain of the Bandırma Ferry, which was prepared for the trip. In the evening, the Grand Vizier invited Mustafa Kemal and Cevat Pasha to the Grand Vizier's mansion in Nişantaşı. Damat Ferit was probing Pasha one last time to be sure. According to what Mustafa Kemal Atatürk told in his memoirs, after the meeting that day, he and Cevat Pasha were walking arm in arm from Nişantaşı to Teşviki. Cevat, the Chief of the General Staff, asked sincerely: "Are you going to do something, Kemal?"... Mustafa Kemal answered this question exactly as follows: "Yes, my pasha, I will do something!"... Cevat Pasha replied, "May Allah be successful," he said, and the two parted at dusk… Yes, it was clear that the pasha was going to do something, but what would he do?... Except maybe a few close friends, no one knew exactly what he wanted to do in Anatolia. Even the general staff, who worked hard to make the appointment happen, were unaware of Mirliva Mustafa's ultimate goal, even if they sensed something. No one had sent him to the heart of Anatolia for this purpose, but when Mustafa Kemal landed in Samsun, he set his mind to organize a resistance based on the people!!
On May 15, 1919, what was expected happened; Greek soldiers occupied Izmir. All Anatolia stood up in the face of the situation. Protest telegrams were sent from all over the country. The hands of the officers in the Aegean went to their guns, and all of a sudden it got mixed up. A few days ago, the people did not react so harshly to the invasions of the Italians in the Mediterranean and the Aegean. But the fact that the Greeks, who were seen as the eternal enemies, set foot on the Ottoman soil infuriated the Turks! The British, who took the Greeks to Anatolia as a tool to break the power of the Italians in Anatolia, made the biggest mistake they could make; they provoked the Turks with their own hands! That day, Mustafa Kemal hastily made his final checks, got the sealed and signed visas, and met with the sultan at Yıldız Palace. The next day, May 16, passed with farewell tours. Pasha intended to act quickly. Although he went to Babıali, he found the government in a meeting. The ministers were talking about the situation created by the occupation of Izmir. Pasha went from there to the General Staff and took care of the last operations. After the Friday greetings, he had a final protocol meeting with Sultan Vahdettin and finally set sail on 16 May 1919 at 16:30.
Perhaps the most inspiring journey in Turkish history began… The names of the people on the ship were given to the squares and streets one by one; the posters of the Bandırma Ferry adorned the streets of the country. Numerous events were organized throughout the year to commemorate the journey, and "Samsun Journey" museums were opened in many parts of the country. The youth of the country put the models of the Bandırma Ferry on the most beautiful places on their desks; the toys of the car allocated to Mustafa Kemal would not fall into the hands of the children. In short, a case like the "Samsun Journey" would have been immortalized in the history of another nation, but in our case the situation is the opposite; “Samsun Journey”, together with all its unknowns, is fading from the memory of the Turkish youth… Considering that most of the Turkish youth have not read a single book about the War of Independence, Atatürks, and the last periods of the Ottoman Empire, it is perhaps too much to expect such things from them! Who knows, trying to explain the "Samsun voyage" in even a little detail to the Turkish nation, who uses history to base their own individual ideologies (!), may be nothing more than a donkey…
Bandırma Ferry, with a total of 79 passengers, including the crew and non-crew civilians, was on the 18th of May. He arrived in Sinop. From here, he headed to Samsun, his main destination. The British were just waking up to the situation while the
9th Army Inspectorate was cruising in your Karate headquarters. The British Occupation Command, which had no trouble issuing visas just a few days ago, was suddenly alarmed.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Black Sea Army, General Milne, in common words, "What did you assign an inspector to the 9th Army, which is not in the middle, give an explanation immediately!" He gave a note to the Ministry of War, but it was too late.
Mustafa Kemal landed in Samsun on May 19, 1919, and lit the fire of the national struggle. Don't forget to share the video and subscribe to the channel...