Republic of Gumuljina

Infobox Former Country
common_name = Gumuljina
native_name = غربی تراقیا حكومت موقته‌سی
conventional_long_name = Independent Government of Western Thrace¹
continent = Europe
region = Balkans
status = Provisional, later Independent
event_start =
year_start = 1913
date_start = August 31
year_end = 1913
date_end = October 25
event_end =

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image_map_caption =
capital = Gümülcine |latd=41|latm=07|latNS=N|longd=25|longm=25|longEW=E
government_type = Republic
title_leader =
leader1 = Hoca Salih Efendi
p1 = Kingdom of Bulgaria (since 1912)
flag_p1 = Flag of Bulgaria (1878-1944).svg
s1 = Kingdom of Bulgaria
flag_s1 = Flag of Bulgaria (1878-1944).svg
stat_area1 = 8578
stat_year1 = 1913
footnotes = ¹ Renamed from "Provisional Government of Western Thrace" and also known as the "Republic of Gumuljina" or the "Turkish Republic of Western Thrace".

The Provisional Government of Western Thrace (Ottoman Turkish: غربی تراقیا حكومت موقته‌سی - "Garbi Trakya Hükûmeti Muvakkatesi", Turkish: "Batı Trakya Geçici Hükümeti") and after the official renaming the Independent Government of Western Thrace (Ottoman Turkish: "Garbi Trakya Hükûmeti Müstakilesi", Turkish: "Batı Trakya Bağımsız Hükümeti") respectively was a small, short-lived republic that was found in the Western Thrace from August 31 to October 25, 1913. All Western Thrace (Area surrounded by: Maritsa (Turkish: Meriç, Greek: Evros) in the east, Mesta River (Nestos) of Macedonia in the west, Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria in north and the Aegean Sea in the south. Total territory encompassed was 8.578 km².

The state was created during the Second Balkan War by a Turkish and Pomak rebellion against withdrawing occupying Bulgarian forces in that area. It was founded as a provisional state, in order to be annexed by Turkey again. Soon after, Greek forces occupied major cities (Porto Lagos, Gümülcine and Dedeagach) and handed them over to Bulgaria, according to the terms of the Treaty of Bucharest (1913). The area remained a part of Bulgaria until 1919, when it was transferred to Greece. Its capital was Gümülcine (Greek: Κομοτηνή, Komotini), now in Greece.

Names

Provisional Government of Western Thrace was also known as "Republic of Gumuljina, or Gumuldjina, or Gümülcine", or "Turkish Republic of Western Thrace" ( _tr. Batı Trakya Türk Cumhuriyeti). "Gumuljina" is an old rendering of "Gümülcine", the Turkish name of Komotini.

Overview

President: Hoca Salih Efendi
Army: Standing force of 29,170, largely infantry. Commander of the Armed Forces was Süleyman Askerî As soon as independence was declared, the government of the Republic of Gumuljina determined the borders of the country, put up the new flags on the official buildings, commissioned a national anthem, raised an army, published its own stamps and passports. It also prepared the budget of the new country.

A Jewish citizen, Samuel Karaso, was tasked by the government with establishing an official press agency and to publish a newspaper named "Müstakil" (Independence) in Turkish and French. The Ottoman Laws and Regulations were adopted without any change and the cases started to be heard by the Court of Western Thrace.

Bulgaria, after a brief period of control over the area following the Istanbul Convention, passed the sovereighty of Western Thrace to Greece at the end of the World War I, when Greece entered the war against the Central Powers. The Muslim population of Western Thrace was excluded from the population exchange of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, and possesses a legal minority status in Greece.

ee also

* Republic of Tamrash
* Muslim minority of Greece
* Turks of Western Thrace

Further reading

* AYDINLI Ahmet, Batı Trakya Faciasının İç Yüzü, Akın Yayınları, İst. 1971
* BATIBEY Kemal Şevket, Bati Trakya Türk Devleti, Boğaziçi Yayınları, İst. 1978
* Batı Trakya’nın Sesi, Sayı: 65, Ağustos 1988
* BIYIKLIOĞLU Tevfik, Trakya’da Milli Mücadele, Cilt I, II. Baskı, TTK Yay., Ank.1987
* GÜNDAĞ Nevzat, Garbi Trakya Hükümet-i Müstakilesi, Kültür ve Turizm Bak. Yay. Ank.1987
* ÖZKAN Tuncay, Mit’in Gizli Tarihi, Alfa Yay., İst.2003
* YALÇIN Soner, Teşkilatın İki Silahşörü, Doğan Kitap, İst. 2001
* Tahir Tamer Kumkale, Batı Trakya, Önce VATAN 17-20 MAYIS 2003