THE SETTLEMENT

THE TREATY OF SÈVRES CONCERNING THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE: August 1920

THE WAR OF TURKISH INDEPENDENCE: 1920 – 1922

    What was planned as the last of the treaties, the Treaty of Sèvres, was tasked with the virtual dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. Not surprisingly, the Dardanelles, the Strait between the Black and Mediterranean Seas, was taken over and made into an international waterway. In military affairs the army was to be no more than 50,000 troops; the size of its navy was to be strictly limited; and the possession of an air force was forbidden. But, it was the allocation of territory – hammered out at the San Remo Conference the previous April – that, above all, caused such widespread anger among the Turkish people and brought trouble in its wake (see map). For some years a number of Allied members – namely France, Britain, Greece and Italy – had been anticipating the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and getting ready to make their claim. Greece, for example, gained a footing in eastern Thrace, the Anatolian west coast, and the Aegean Islands, whilst Italy, having occupied Rhodes and the island of Dodeca, sought to gain ground in south-west Anatolia, and France a large area further to the east (see map). As a result, only one third of Anatolia was to remain free of some measure of occupation. And, further afield, Turkey was obliged to renounce all rights over Arab Asia and North Africa (thereby losing 80% of the former Ottoman Empire). Indeed, such was the harshness of these humiliating terms – especially the independence granted to Armenia and the promise of autonomy for Kurdistan – that after the treaty had been signed on the 10th of August, 1920, the leader of the newly formed Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (the military commander who had got the better of the British during the Gallipoli campaign), refused to accept them and, in a brave show of defiance, took up arms against the Armenians, the Italians, the French, and the Greeks …… then in the process of invading western Anatolia! Some territory might well have to be conceded, but Anatolia was the cherished “fatherland” of the Turkish nation. Not one inch of that land would be abandoned unless “drenched with the blood of its people”. The Treaty had simply and blatantly dealt with the demise of the outdated and corrupt Ottoman Empire, giving no heed to the establishment of the modern state arising from its ashes, the Turkish Republic.

THE WARxOF TURKISH INDEPENDENCE: 1920 – 1922

     As we have seen, officially, the Treaty of Mudros marked the end of the war for the Ottoman Empire. In fact, however, pockets of resistance remained in Anatolia, and the Allied occupation of this area was not achieved without loss. The French in particular came under fire from these sizeable bands of irregulars and army deserters. And this resistance became stronger with the Greek occupation of Izmir (on the west coast of Anatolia) in March 1919, and their slow but steady occupation of this whole western region. Itxwas at this stage that Mustafa Kemal openly took charge of the fight against the Allies. He did receive some opposition from the official Ottoman government, but, come the signing of the Treaty of Sèvres, he had sufficient political support to denounce its terms and launch a war for greater independence. As a distinguished military leader and a national hero, he had no difficulty in mustering support from what were, officially, demobilized troops of a defunct Ottoman Empire. However, he clearly needed more assistance, and he managed to achieve this by coming to terms with the Russian leader Lenin in April 1920 (later confirmed in the Treaty of Moscow of March 1921 and the Treaty of Kars seven months later). By these treaties, the Turks confirmed their borders between the Soviet Unions’ three Transcaucasian Republics. Given this vital assurance, plus the comforting knowledge that the Turkish Straits would not became a gateway for international imperialism – directed at Russia – the Bolshevik leader was prepared to make a treaty of friendship with the Turks in exchange for war material and economic aid. And could this new nation not be a conquest for communism?

     By the summer of 1921, the Turkish nationalists had virtually reimposed their rule over Kurdistan, and in Armenia, by the Treaty of Alexandropol (Gynmei), had taken over the cities of Kars and Ardahan, and fixed the eastern border along the Rivers Arps and Aras. At the same time, they had no real difficulty in keeping their hold on Pontos, an ancient area in the north which was ethnic Greek in origin. And,xfurther to their advantage, a few months later both France and Italy, having been constantly in battle with the Turks (especially the French), agreed to accept Turkey’s right to govern the whole of Anatolia (Treaty of Mudanya, October 1922), but at a price. In return, Turkey agreed to recognise the French right to the Mandate of Syria, and Italy’s claim to the Dodecanese Islands.

     Incidentally, the “recapture” of Armenia was, in fact, strongly opposed by the American President, Woodrow Wilson, via his fourteen points, but there was no liklihood of American intervention. The United States had already returned to its pre-war policy of isolationism.

     But the Greek invasion of Anatolia (see map), was quite another matter, and, at one point, was to question the success of the Turks in their bid to overturn the Treaty of Sèvres. Here, the support of Russia, particularly in the supply of weapons, proved crucial. The invasion was the brainchild of the Greek prime minister at that time, Eleftherios Venizolas. In what he termed his “Great Idea”, spelled out at the peace negotiations on the 30th December 1918, he claimed that “unredeemed Greeks” made up the majority of the population in western Asia Minor, Thrace, and the region of Constantinople. In accordance with Wilson’s fourteen points, this needed to be rectified. Receiving a nod from both the British and the French, he ordered the invasion of western Anatolia to achieve “the Greater Greece”.

     ThexGreeks landed at Izmir (known to them as Smyrna) in May 1919, under cover of French, British and American warships. Over 200,000 strong and well armed in comparison with the Turks, they met with some fierce opposition from small groups of irregular Turkish troops, but quickly gained control of the city. By the end of July 1920, sweeping aside any opposition, they had occupied the whole of Western Anatolia and, in the north, had reached beyond the Sea of Mamara. It was at this point that (unwisely as it proved), they decided to capture Ankara and officially claim their rightful territory. In early 1921, they did meet with setbacks at the two Battles of the River Inönü (particularly the second one), but in July they decisively won the Battle of Eskişehir – coming close to encircling the entire Turkish army! – and the Nationalists were forced to make a hasty retreat to the River Sakarya, little more than fifty miles short of Ankara (see map above).

Acknowledgements

Map of Anatolia: reddit.com Map of Greek Invasion: (part) commons.wikimedia.org Battle of Sakarya: nitiq_kamal.artstation.com. Ismet Inönü: edirne.web.tr Map of Western Anatolia: naval-208-association.com Cartoon: punch.phtogshelter.com

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     Thexbattle that took place here, however, (three weeks over August and September), proved a turning point. By now the Greeks were war weary, lacking in supplies, and poorly led, whilst the Turks, fairly well-armed and under Kemal’s leadership, were totally committed to holding on to their “capital city”. As a result, the Greeks were decisively defeated at the Battle of the River Sakarya and the Allies, wavering in their support, came out in favour of revising the Sèvres Treaty. The result was inevitable. FollowingXa build up of their forces, the Turks launched their “Great Offensive”, and, winning the Battle of Dumlupina (late August 1922), swiftly pushed the Greeks back to Izmir. By the 16th September, with the help of Allied navies, the last of the Greek troops had been evacuated, together with a large number of ethnic Greeks; the city had been set on fire; and a massacre of Christians was under way. The dream of a “Greater Greece” was over, and “the Catastrophe of Smyrna” had begun. As a result, it is estimated that by the beginning of the Lausanne Conference in the November, between 800,000 and 900,000 Greeks had already left Asia Minor.

     Incidentally, for the victories achieved by his commander Mustafa Ismet at the two Battles of the River Inönü (1921), Kemal bestowed upon him the surname “Inönü”, and it was with this title that he later served as the second president of Turkey (1938-1950), and three times as prime minister during the period 1923 to 1965.

    Havingxdriven the Greeks out of Anatolia, Kemal now turned his attention to the two other areas claimed by them: East Thrace and Constantinople (Istanbul) – see map. In early September Turkish troops were despatched to the neutral zone around the Sea of Mamora, but this was seen as a direct threat to British and French troops stationed at Canakkale, guarding the Dardanelles. This triggered what came to be known at the Chanack Crisis. The British prime minister, Lloyd George, was particularly opposed to this action and threatened to declare war. However, the Dominions were reluctant to send troops (Canada actually refused), and Kemal, anxious to avoid conflict with Britain, managed to squeeze in the Armistice of Mudanya, near Bursa, on the 11th October, just two hours before the arrival of British reinforcements at Canakkale. This ruled that Greek troops were to leave Adrianople and East Thrace (as far as the River Maritsa), within fifteen days, and that Turkey could then take over civil control of the area until a full peace treaty was completed. The final settlement was to be reached at the Treaty of Lausanne, beginning on the 21st November.

     Incidentally, the refusal of Canada to send troops to this action was the first move in the granting of political independence to British dominions, made official by the Statute of Westminster in 1931.

    Itxwas at the end of October that the Allies invited the Ankara government to a conference at Lausanne. This was a triumph for the Turks. They became the only defeated power in the war to reject the terms imposed upon it; take up arms; defeat a series of enemies – against all the odds; and go on to renegotiate a more favourable treaty! Anatolia was to be theirs! On the 1st November the newly-founded Turkish Republic formally abolished the Sultanate, putting an end to 623 years of Ottoman Rule. But it needs to be said, that it was a victory which owed much, if not all, in fact, to the military and economic support given to the beleaguered Turks by their very timely allies, the Russian Bolshevicks. Without their assistance, a Turkish victory would have been in the balance, if not impossible. In the meantime, the defeat of the Greek invasion led to a military coup at home; the king’s exile; and the execution of those held responsible for the failure of the enterprise, now appropriately known as “the Asia-Minor Catastrophe”.

     As we shall see, the Treaty of Lausanne was not only to put the world to rights as far as the Republic of Turkey was concerned, but, with the assistance of a number of minor conferences, was also assigned the task of deciding the future and fate of the remainder of the Near East. In this particular situation, however, Britain and France were involved in the settlement. So here, ipso facto, there was to be little or no room for change, no matter what promises had been made or not made to the indigenous people. The cost to these two powerful nations – the loss of a plentiful and highly valuable supply of oil (the up-and coming source of power!) – was to prove too high for any but the most carefully weighed concessions.

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