Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's leadership of the independence war

Infobox revolution biography
name=Gazi Mustafa Kemal


caption=Commander in chief of the Turkish revolutionaries, 1921
alternate name=
movement=Turkish national movement
organizations=Grand National Assembly
monuments=
prizes=given surname "Ataturk"
Turkish Medal of Independence
religion = Islam [cite journal |last=Fığlalı |first=Ethem Ruhi|journal=Atatürk Arastirma Dergisi|title=Atatürk And The Religion Of Islam|publisher=Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Başkanlığı |location=Anjara |year=1993|volume=IX|issue=26|quote=On the other hand, in addition to his profound knowledge about Islamic culture, one an clearly conclude on the basis of his speeches and attitudes that he was a sincere believer.|url=http://www.atam.gov.tr/index.php?Page=DergiIcerik&IcerikNo=540]
influences=
influenced=
footnotes=Infobox Mustafa Kemal Ataturk series|size=medium

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's leadership of the independence war begins with his departure from occupied Istanbul on May 1919 and ends with the establishments of Republic of Turkey on October 29, 1923.

The Occupation of Istanbul began before the Ottoman Army's leading officers, such as Mustafa Kemal on November 13 1918, Kazim Karabekir on November 28 1918, Ismet Inönü, and others returned to Istanbul. [Mango, Andrew. (1999) "Atatürkndash The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey", chap. 10.] [Lord Kinross. "The Rebirth of a Nation", chap. 20.]

Istanbul days

However, the British, who had better intelligence, were alarmed when they learned that Mustafa Kemal had become Inspector General, as they believed that Mustafa Kemal had nationalist ideals. A British detachment entered and searched for documents in his mother's house where he was residing at the time.Volkan, Vamik and Itzkowitz, Norman, "Immortal Ataturk, A Psychobiography", chap 9.] The British were correct in their suspicions, as Mustafa Kemal at the time was meeting in that house with the Ottoman Army generals and commanders who were to become leaders in the coming war. The regular guests of this house included Kâzim (Karabekir), Ali Fuat, Ismet (Inönü). Britain urged the Sultan to recall Kemal. Thanks to friends and sympathizers in government circles, a compromise was worked out whereby the power of the Inspector General was curbed. As a result, Inspector General became a title that had no power, at least on paper.

Mustafa Kemal's active participation in the national resistance movement began with his assignment as a General Inspector to the 9^th Army by the Sultan Mehmed VI. His task was to oversee the demobilisation of remaining Ottoman military units and nationalist organizations. On May 19, 1919, he departed from Istanbul to Samsun on board the ferry "Bandırma". May 19 is accepted as the beginning of Turkish War of Independence or more precisely onset of the initial organization of oppositions under his leadership.

Initial organization, May 1919 – March 1920

The occupations had already generated disorganised local oppositions by numerous militant resistance groups. The establishment of an organised national resistance movement against the occupying forces was the first goal in Mustafa Kemal's mind. The General Inspector position created an ideal situation in organising the resistance. [Ahmad, "The Making of Modern Turkey", 49] He contacted local leaders, provincial governors and military commanders calling them to resist the occupations instead of trying to disarm the military units. In June 1919, he and his close friends issued the Amasya Circular, which stated that the independence of the country was in danger, since the Ottoman government in Istanbul was subject to foreign control the nation had to save itself by its own will and sources.

On June 23 High Commissioner Admiral Calthorpe, realizing the significance of Mustafa Kemal's discreet activities in Anatolia, sent a report about Kemal to the Foreign Office. His remarks were down played by George Kidson of the Eastern Department. Captain Hurst (British army) in Samsun warned Admiral Calthorpe one more time, but Hurst's units were replaced with a Brigade of Gurkhas. The movement of British units alarmed the population of the region and convinced the population that Mustafa Kemal was right. Right after this "The Association for Defense of National Rights" (Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti) was founded in Trabzon, and a parallel association in Samsun was also founded, which declared that the Black Sea region was not safe. The same activities that happened during the Occupation of Izmir were happening in the region. When the British landed in Alexandretta, Admiral Calthorpe resigned on the basis that this was against the Armistice that he had signed and was assigned to another position on August 5, 1919. [Lord Kinross. (1999) "Atatürk: The Re-birth of a Nation", chap. 16.]

Mandates and National Pact

Kâzim Karabekir had called for a congress of all defense-of-rights associations to be held in Erzurum on July 23, 1919. Mustafa Kemal was elected head of the Erzurum Congress. This gave him the chance to talk in behalf of the national movement.

The Erzurum congress drafted a deceleration with the representatives of the six eastern provinces. Later known as the National Pact, it affirmed the inviolability of the Ottoman “frontiers”—that is, all the Ottoman lands inhabited by Turks when the Armistice of Mudros was signed. It declared the provisional government, which is named as Turkish Grand National Assembly (GNA). On the economic front, this document also followed the Ottoman position of rejection of special status arrangements for the minorities, which was named as the Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire. A steering committee was established and Mustafa Kemal as selected head.

Mustafa Kemal sought to extend the National Pact to the entire Ottoman-Muslim population of the empire. To that end, he called a national congress that met in Sivas and ratified the pact. He exposed attempts by the sultan’s government to arrest him and to disrupt the Sivas Congress.

Cutting the links

The British were alarmed when they learned of Mustafa Kemal's activities and immediately contacted the Ottoman government. The grand vizier in Istanbul was driven from office, as he rejected the British view. A new government was established. Ottoman government issued a warrant for the arrest of Mustafa Kemal, on the charge that he was disobeying the Sultan's order for dissolving the remaining Ottoman forces in Anatolia, later condemning him to death. As a response, Mustafa Kemal resigned from the Ottoman Army on July 8, while he was in Erzurum. Mustafa Kemal called for a national election to establish a new Turkish Parliament that would have its seat in Ankara.Ahmad, "The Making of Modern Turkey", 50] The call for an election became successful. On 12 February, 1920, the last Ottoman Parliament gathered in Istanbul and declared the National Pact ( _tr. Misak-ı Milli). Parliament then was dissolved by the occupying British forces.

Conflicts, March 1920 – March 1922

Mustafa Kemal used the dissolution of the Ottoman Parliament in Istanbul as an opportunity to establish a new National Assembly in Ankara. The first session of the "Grand National Assembly of Turkey" (GNA) gathered on April 23, 1920, with Mustafa Kemal as its president. The assembly declared its goal as to "liberate the Sultan".

On August 10, 1920 Grand Vizier Damat Ferid Pasha signed the Treaty of Sèvres, which finalized the plans for the partitioning of Ottoman Empire including what Turkish nationals accepted as their heartland. Mustafa Kemal and his friends deemed Treaty of Sèvres was unacceptable, as it would spell the end of Turkish independence. The proposal for a British protectorate also rejected in the rest of Anatolia left to Turks by the Treaty of Sèvres. Kemal Insisted on complete independence and the safeguarding of the interests of the Turkish majority on Turkish soil. The acceptance of treaty and the following events weakened the legitimacy of the Sultan's government in Istanbul, and caused a shift of power in favour of the GNA in Ankara.

Mustafa Kemal persuaded the assembly to recognize that sovereignty resided in the nation and in the GNA as the representative of the nation. [Yapp, "The making of the modern Near East, 1792–1923", 314] A popular sovereignty law was passed with the new constitution of 1921. This constitution gave Mustafa Kemal the tools to wage a War of Independence, as it publicly denounced the authority of the Istanbul government by assigning the right of sovereignty to the nation, not to the Ottoman Sultan. Kemal then persuaded the GNA to gather a National Army. The executive power was delegated to a cabinet and it's speaker Mustafa Kemal. The National Army faced the Allied occupation forces and fought on three fronts: in the Franco-Turkish, Greco-Turkish and Turkish-Armenian wars.

In the early autumn of 1920, the Turkish-Armenian War was waged between the Turkish revolutionaries and the Armenian military. In December 1920, Armenia appealed for peace and signed the Treaty of Alexandropol. After Armenia was incorporated into the Transcaucasian SFSR as a Soviet Socialist Republic, the Treaty of Kars gave the Turks control over most of the territories in northeastern Anatolia, where they constituted the ethnic majority.

Battle of Sakarya

After a series of initial battles during Greco-Turkish war, the Greek army advanced as far as to the Sakarya River, just eighty kilometers west of the Grand National Assembly in Ankara. While events were being set into motion, Enver Pasha returned from Moscow to meet with several Union of Islamic Revolutionary Societies leaders in Batum about the possibility of taking over the leadership. Mustafa Kemal politely did not invited Enver to Ankara, and he left Batum by the end of September, 1921. On August 5 1921, Mustafa Kemal was promoted to be the Commander in chief of the forcescite web |url=http://www.aa.com.tr/tarihce_en/ |title=A short history of AA |accessdate=2008-01-01|author=editorial staff |publisher=Anadolu Ajansı Genel Müdürlüğü |quote="Ikdam" newspaper dated August 9th, 1921, reproducing the dispatches of AA dated August 5th and 6th, 1921, announced that Mustafa Kemal Pasha was promoted as "Chief Commander"] . The Battle of Sakarya from August 23 to September 13, 1921 ended with the defeated of the Greeks. Mustafa Kemal returned in triumph to Ankara, where a grateful Grand National Assembly awarded him the rank of Field Marshal of the Army, as well as the title of Gazi [Shaw, "History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey", 357] . Another meeting in Conference of London was held in March 1922. The Allies, without considering the extent of Ankara's successes, hoped to impose modified Serves as a peace settlement on Ankara. Allies offered to raise the Sèvres limits on the Turkish army to 85,000 men, eliminating the European financial controls over the Turkish government, but retaining the Capitulations and Public Debt Commission. Kemal rejected this proposal.

Battle of Dumlupınar

After the failure of Conference of London, the final battle, Battle of Dumlupınar, was fought between August–September 1922. Mustafa Kemal chose to adopt the strategy of concentration and surprise, employed by General Allenby in Syria. He launched an all-out attack on the Greek lines at Afyonkarahisar, aimed at smashing a hole in the Greek defences, cutting the Greek supply lines and opening the road to Izmir and to the sea. The Greek defense positions were overrun on August 26. On August 30, the Greek army was defeated decisivelyShaw, "History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey", 362 ] . On September 1, Mustafa Kemal issued his famous order to the Turkish army: "Armies, your first goal is the Mediterranean, Forward!" Greeks asked for an armistice on September 6.. By 10 September, the remainder of the Greek forces have left Anatolia, the Turkish mainland. Praising Mustafa Kemal's military capabilities, Noel Barber wrote: quote|A man born out of due season, an anachronism, a throwback to the Tartars of the steppes, a fierce elemental force of a man. With his military genius and his ruthless determination, … in a different age he might well have been a Genghis Khan, conquering empires… [Barber, "Lords of the Golden Horn : from Suleiman the Magnificent to Kamal Ataturk", 265] |Noel Barber

tage for peace, March 1922 – April 1923

The Treaty of Kars on October 23, 1921, had already settled the conflicts at the eastern border of Turkey and returned the sovereignty of the cities of Kars and Ardahan to the Turks, which were three decades earlier captured by the Russian Empire during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878.

Kemal had long ago made up his mind to abolish the Sultanate when the moment was ripe. After facing opposition from some members of the assembly, using his influence as a war hero, he managed to prepare a draft law for the abolition of the Sultanate, which was then submitted to the National Assembly for voting. In that article, it was stated that the form of the government in Istanbul, resting on the sovereignty of an individual, had already ceased to exist when the British forces occupied the city after the World War I. [Kinross, Rebirth of a Nation, p. 348] Furthermore, it was argued that although the Caliphate had belonged to the Ottoman Empire, it rested on the Turkish state by its dissolution and Turkish National Assembly would have right to choose a member of the Ottoman family in the office of Caliph. On 1 November, The Turkish Grand Assembly voted for the abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate. The last Sultan left Turkey on November 17 1922, in a British battleship on his way to Malta. Such was the last act in the decline and fall of the Ottoman Empire.

The Conference of Lausanne began on November 21 1922. İsmet İnönü was the leading Turkish negotiator. Ismet maintained the basic position of the Ankara government that it had to be treated as an independent and sovereign state, equal with all other states attending the conference. In accordance with the directives of Mustafa Kemal, while discussing matters regarding the control of Turkish finances and justice, the Capitulations, the Turkish Straits and the like, he refused any proposal that would compromise Turkish sovereignty. [Shaw, "History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey", 365] Finally, after long debates, on July 24 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, thus putting an end to long years of warfare which had consumed the country. Ten weeks after the signature the Allied forces left Istanbul. [Kinross, Atatürk, The Rebirth of a Nation, 373.] Through the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey finally entered into a period of peace.

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Notes

References

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*cite book |last=Ahmad |first=Feroz|title=The Making of Modern Turkey|publisher=Routledge|location=London ; New York|year=1993|isbn=978-0415078351
*cite book |last=Barber |first=Noel|authorlink=Noel Barber|title=Lords of the Golden Horn: From Suleiman the Magnificent to Kemal Ataturk|publisher=Arrow|location=London|year=1988|isbn=978-0099539506
*cite book |last=Kinross |first=Patrick|authorlink=John Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross|title=Atatürk: The Rebirth of a Nation |publisher=Phoenix Press |year=2003 |location=London|isbn=978-1842125991|oclc=55516821
*cite book |last=Kinross |first=Patrick|title=The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire |publisher=Morrow |year=1979 |location=New York|isbn=978-0688080938
*cite book |last=Landau |first=Jacob M |title=Atatürk and the Modernization of Turkey |year=1983 |publisher=Westview Press |location=Boulder, Colorado|isbn=978-0865319868
*cite book |last=Lengyel |first=Emil|title=They Called Him Atatürk|publisher=The John Day Co|location=New York|year=1962|oclc= 1337444
*cite book |last=Mango |first=Andrew|authorlink=Andrew Mango|title=Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey |origyear=1999 |edition=Paperback |year=2002 |publisher=Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc |location=Woodstock, NY|isbn=1-58567-334-x
*cite book |last=Shaw |first=Stanford Jay|authorlink=Stanford J. Shaw|coauthors=Shaw, Ezel Kural |title=History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge; New York|year=1976–1977|isbn=978-0521212809
*cite book |last=Yapp |first=Malcolm|title=The Making of the Modern Near East, 1792–1923|publisher=Longman|location=London ; New York|year=1987|isbn=978-0582493803; Journals; News