((Short description|Interwar conflict in Turkey, 1919–1923))
((Redirect|Turkish Revolution|the 1908 revolution|Young Turk Revolution))
((pp-30-500|small=yes))
((lead too long|date=June 2023))
((EngvarB|date=March 2021))
((Use dmy dates|date=April 2022))
((Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Turkish War of Independence
| partof            = the [[Revolutions of 1917–1923]]<br>in the [[aftermath of World War I]]
| image             = Türk Kurtuluş Savaşı - kolaj.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = '''Clockwise from top left''': Delegation gathered in [[Sivas Congress]] to determine the objectives of the Turkish National Movement; Turkish civilians carrying ammunition to the front; [[Kuva-yi Milliye]] infantry; Turkish horse cavalry in chase; Turkish Army's [[Turkish capture of Smyrna|capture of Smyrna]]; troops in Ankara's [[Ulus Square]] preparing to leave for the front.
| date              = [[Greek landing at Smyrna|19 May 1919]] – [[Armistice of Mudanya|11 October 1922]] (armistice)<br>[[Treaty of Lausanne|24 July 1923]] (peace)<br />(((Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=05|day1=19|year1=1919|month2=07|day2=24|year2=1923)))
| place             = [[Anatolia]], southwestern [[Caucasus]], [[Upper Mesopotamia]], and [[East Thrace]]
| result            = Turkish victory<ref>Chester Neal Tate, ''Governments of the World: a Global Guide to Citizens' Rights and Responsibilities'', Macmillan Reference USA/Thomson Gale, 2006, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vAUWAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Turkish+victory%22 p. 205.] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609013604/https://books.google.com/books?id=vAUWAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Turkish+victory%22 |date=9 June 2022 ))</ref><ref>According to John R. Ferris, "Decisive Turkish victory in Anatolia... produced Britain's gravest strategic crisis between the 1918 Armistice and Munich, plus a seismic shift in British politics..." Erik Goldstein and Brian McKerche, ''Power and Stability: British Foreign Policy'', 1865–1965, 2004 p. 139</ref>
| territory         = Establishment of the [[Turkey|Republic of Turkey]]
| combatant1        = '''[[Turkish National Movement|Turkish Nationalists]]''':<br>((nowrap|((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Government of the Grand National Assembly|Ankara Government]]))<br>((small|([[Committee of Representation|1919–1920]]; 1920–1923)))
((clist|bullets=y|title='''Also''':
|((flagicon image|Flag of Azerbaijan 1918.svg)) [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic|Azerbaijan]]<br />((small|([[Armenian–Azerbaijani war (1918–1920)|1918–1920]])))
|((flagicon image|Flag of the Republic of Aras.svg)) [[Republic of Aras|Aras Republic]]<br />((small|(1918–1919)))
|((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[:tr:Iğdır Millî Cumhuriyeti|Iğdır National Republic]]<br />((small|(1918–1920)))
|((flagicon image|Flag of the South West Caucasian Republic.svg)) [[Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus|Provisional Kars Government]]<br />((small|(1918–1919)))
|((flagicon image|Rectangular green flag.svg)) [[Kuva-yi Seyyare|Green Army]]<br />((small|(1919–1920)))
|((flagicon image|Flag of Kingdom of Syria (1920-03-08 to 1920-07-24).svg)) [[Kingdom of Syria|Syria]]<br/>((small|(1919–1920)))|((flagicon image|Zulfiqar with inscription.png)) [[Alawite revolt of 1919|Alawite rebels]]<br/>((small|(1919–1921)))|((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[:tr:Oltu Şura Hükûmeti|Oltu Council Government]]<br/>((small|(1919–1920)))|((flagicon image|Flag of Kingdom of Syria (1920-03-08 to 1920-07-24).svg)) [[Hananu Revolt|Aleppo revolt]]<br/>((small|(1920–1921)))|((flagicon image|Flag of Kingdom of Kurdistan (1922-1924).svg)) [[Kingdom of Kurdistan|Kurdistan]]((sfn|Gingeras|2022|pp=204–206))<br/>((small|([[Kurdish state (1918–1919)|1919]]; 1921–1923)))
|((flagicon image|Flag of the Senussi Dynasty.svg)) [[Senusiyya]]
))
((clist|bullets=y|title='''Supported by''':
|((flag|Russian SFSR|1918))<ref name = "jelavich">((cite book| last = Jelavich| first = Barbara| title = History of the Balkans: Twentieth century| url = https://archive.org/details/historyofbalkans0000jela| url-access = registration| year = 1983| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-0-521-27459-3| page = [https://archive.org/details/historyofbalkans0000jela/page/131 131] ))</ref>
|((flagicon|Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|1919)) [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]]<ref name =UDer>((Cite web |url=http://litopys.org.ua/ukrxx/zmist.htm |title=Українська державність у XX столітті: Історико-політологічний аналіз / Ред. кол.: О. Дергачов (кер. авт. кол.), Є. Бистрицький, О. Білий, І. Бураковський, Дж. Мейс, В. Полохало, М. Томенко та ін. – К.: Політ. думка, 1996. — 434 с. |access-date=4 July 2020 |archive-date=9 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809220615/http://litopys.org.ua/ukrxx/zmist.htm |url-status=live ))</ref>
|((flagicon|Azerbaijan SSR|1920)) [[Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic|Azerbaijan SSR]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20141221125926/http://www.camilhasanli.com/files/P46P3OLay7vK.pdf Внешняя политика Азербайджана в годы cоветской власти]</ref><ref>((Cite web|url=http://www.turksolu.com.tr/kitap/17.htm|title=Hüseyin Adıgüzel - Atatürk, Nerimanov ve Kurtuluş Savaşımız|date=24 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224073430/http://www.turksolu.com.tr/kitap/17.htm |archive-date=24 December 2014 ))</ref>
|((flagicon image|Flag of the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic.svg)) [[Bukharan People's Soviet Republic|Bukharan PSR]]<ref>((cite book| last = Andican| first = A. Ahat| title = Turkestan Struggle Abroad From Jadidism to Independence| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dWGqMQAACAAJ| year = 2007| publisher = SOTA Publications| isbn = 978-908-0-740-365| pages = 78–81| access-date = 21 October 2020| archive-date = 15 January 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230115124333/https://books.google.com/books?id=dWGqMQAACAAJ| url-status = live))</ref>|((flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy))<ref>[http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/44/671/8544.pdf ''The Place of the Turkish Independence War in the American Press (1918-1923)'' by Bülent Bilmez] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180602185231/http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/44/671/8544.pdf |date=2 June 2018 )): "...the occupation of western Turkey by the Greek armies under the control of the Allied Powers, the discord among them was evident and publicly known. As the Italians were against this occupation from the beginning, and started "secretly" helping the Kemalists, this conflict among the Allied Powers, and the Italian support for the Kemalists were reported regularly by the American press.</ref>((Ref label|bbb|b))
|((nobold|((flagcountry|French Third Republic))))<br/>((small|([[Treaty of Ankara (1921)|from 1921]])))<ref>Sforza, Diario, November 28, 1920, 61/
David Lloyd George, The Truth about the Peace Treaties, v. 2 (Gollancz, London: 1938), pp. 1348-1349 / Michael Smith, ''Ionian Vision: Greece in Asia Minor, 1919-1922'', University of Michigan Press, 1999.</ref><ref>Ζολώτα, Αναστασίου Π. (1995). ''Η Εθνική Τραγωδία'' (''National Tragedy''). Αθήνα, Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, Τμήμα Πολιτικών (University of Athens) Επιστημών και Δημοσίας Διοικήσεως. σελίδες pp. 44-58</ref><ref>''«ΤΑ ΦΟΒΕΡΑ ΝΤΟΚΟΥΜΕΝΤΑ – ΣΑΓΓΑΡΙΟΣ ΕΠΟΠΟΙΪΑ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΤΑΡΕΥΣΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΜΙΚΡΑ ΑΣΙΑ», ΔΗΜ. ΦΩΤΙΑΔΗΣ, ΕΚΔ. ΦΥΤΡΑΚΗ, ΑΘΗΝΑ, 1974''</ref>|((flagdeco|India|1931)) [[Khilafat Movement|Indian nationalists]]|((flagicon image|Flag of Afghanistan (1919–1921).svg)) [[Emirate of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]]))
| combatant2        = '''[[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]]''':<br>((flagcountry|Kingdom of Greece|state))<br />((clist|bullets=y|title=((nobold|((flagcountry|French Third Republic))))<br>((nobold|((small|([[Treaty of Ankara (1921)|until 1921]])))))((Ref label|ccc|c))
|((flagdeco|French Third Republic)) [[French West Africa]]<ref name="annualmeeting">Western Society for French History. Meeting: ''Proceedings of the ... Annual Meeting of the Western Society for French History'', New Mexico State University Press, 1996, [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZ8MAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Gouraud+now+commanded+nearly+70000+mostly+colonial+(Senegalese,+Moroccan,+Tunisian%22 sayfa 206] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609013558/https://books.google.com/books?id=oZ8MAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Gouraud+now+commanded+nearly+70000+mostly+colonial+(Senegalese,+Moroccan,+Tunisian%22 |date=9 June 2022 )).</ref>
|((flagdeco|First Republic of Armenia)) [[French Armenian Legion|Armenian Legion]]
|((flagdeco|French Third Republic)) [[French Algeria|Algeria]]<ref name="annualmeeting"/>
|((flagdeco|Morocco)) [[French Morocco|Morocco]]<ref name="annualmeeting"/>
|((flagdeco|Tunisia|1959)) [[French Tunisia|Tunisia]]<ref name="annualmeeting"/>))
((clist|bullets=y|title=((nobold|((flagcountry|UKGBI))))((Ref label|ddd|d))
|((flagcountry|British Raj))<ref>Briton Cooper Busch: ''Mudros to Lausanne: Britain's Frontier in West Asia, 1918-1923'', SUNY Press, 1976, ((ISBN|0-87395-265-0)), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Yz_OVCTNI04C&pg=PA216 sayfa 216] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115124340/https://books.google.com/books?id=Yz_OVCTNI04C&pg=PA216 |date=15 January 2023 )).</ref><ref>"[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D06E2D6143AEE32A2575BC1A9609C946195D6CF British Indian troops attacked by Turks; thirty wounded and British officer captured-- Warships' guns drive enemy back] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206094337/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D06E2D6143AEE32A2575BC1A9609C946195D6CF |date=6 December 2013 ))," ''New York Times'' (18 June 1920).</ref><ref>"[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9501E6DF173AEE32A2575BC1A9659C946195D6CF Allies occupy Constantinople; seize ministries; Turkish and British Indian soldiers killed in a clash at the War Office] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204162314/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9501E6DF173AEE32A2575BC1A9659C946195D6CF |date=4 December 2013 ))," ''New York Times'' (18 March 1920).</ref>))
((flagcountry|Democratic Republic of Armenia))<br />((small|([[Turkish–Armenian War|in 1920]])))<br />((clist|bullets=y|title='''Supported by''':|((flagcountry|United States|1912))|((flagdeco|Russian Empire|)) [[Armed Forces of South Russia|Denikin's army]]))<hr />((nowrap|((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) '''[[Ottoman Empire|Istanbul Government]]'''((Ref label|eee|e))
* [[Revolts during the Turkish War of Independence|Other pro-Istanbul rebels]]
<hr/>((flagicon|Democratic Republic of Georgia)) '''[[Democratic Republic of Georgia|Georgia]]'''<br>((small|([[Red Army invasion of Georgia|in 1921]])))<hr>((clist|bullets=y|title=((nobold|'''[[Revolts during the Turkish War of Independence|Separatists]]''':))|((flagicon image|Tr ponto2.gif)) [[Pontic Greeks|Pontic Greek]] rebels|((flagicon image|Flag of Kurdistan.svg)) [[Koçgiri rebellion|Kurdish rebels]]|((flagicon image|Flag of the Assyrian Volunteers.svg)) [[Assyrian volunteers|Assyrian rebels]]|((flagicon image|Rectangular green flag.svg)) [[Kuva-yi Seyyare|Green Army]]<br>((small|([[:tr:Çerkez Ethem Ayaklanması|1920–1921]])))))))
| strength1         = ((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) May 1919: 35,000<ref>Ergün Aybars, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti tarihi I, Ege Üniversitesi Basımevi, 1984, pg 319-334 ((in lang|tr))</ref><br />November 1920: 86,000<br />((small|(creation of [[regular army]])))<ref name="tgs1">Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225</ref><br />August 1922: 271,000<ref name="celalridvan">Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarihi'', Türkiye İş̧ Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2008, ((ISBN|9944884472)), [https://books.google.com/books?id=4TExAQAAIAAJ&q=%221+piyade+t%C3%BCmeni+ve+2+s%C3%BCvari+alay%C4%B1%22 page 339] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609013604/https://books.google.com/books?id=4TExAQAAIAAJ&q=%221+piyade+t%C3%BCmeni+ve+2+s%C3%BCvari+alay%C4%B1%22 |date=9 June 2022 )). ((in lang|tr))</ref>((refn|In August 1922 the [[Turkish Armed Forces|Turkish Army]] formed 23 [[infantry]] [[Division (military)|divisions]] and 6 [[cavalry]] [[Division (military)|divisions]]. Equivalent to 24 infantry divisions and 7 cavalry divisions, if the additional 3 infantry [[regiment]]s, 5 undersized border [[regiment]]s, 1 cavalry [[brigade]] and 3 cavalry regiments are included (271,403 men total). The troops were distributed in [[Anatolia]] as follows:<ref name="celalridvan"/> [[Turkish–Armenian War|Eastern Front]]: 2 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry division, [[Erzurum]] and [[Kars]] fortified areas and 5 border regiments (29,514 men); El-Cezire front (southeastern [[Anatolia]], eastern region of the river [[Euphrates]]): 1 infantry division and 2 cavalry regiments (10,447 men); [[Central Army (Turkey)|Central Army]] area: 1 infantry division and 1 cavalry brigade (10,000 men); [[Adana]] command: 2 [[battalion]]s (500 men); [[Gaziantep]] area: 1 infantry regiment and 1 cavalry regiment (1,000 men); Interior region units and institutions: 12,000 men; [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|Western Front]]: 18 infantry divisions and 5 cavalry divisions, if the independent brigade and regiments are included, 19 infantry divisions and 5.5 cavalry divisions (207,942 men).|group=note))
| strength2         = ((nowrap|((flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state)) Dec. 1919: 80,000<ref>Arnold J. Toynbee/Kenneth P Kirkwood, ''Turkey'', Benn 1926, p. 92</ref>))<br />((nowrap|1922: 200,000<ref>History of the Campaign of Minor Asia, General Staff of Army, Directorate of Army History, Athens, 1967, p. 140: on 11 June (OC) 6,159 officers, 193,994 soldiers (=200,153 men)</ref>–250,000<ref>A. A. Pallis: [https://books.google.com/books?id=5PsNAAAAQAAJ&q=%22the+strength+of+the+greek+army+actually+mobilized%22 ''Greece's Anatolian Venture - and After''] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609013557/https://books.google.com/books?ei=ZWl9T82hGMLLtgfx452CDQ&id=5PsNAAAAQAAJ&q=%22the+strength+of+the+greek+army+actually+mobilized%22#v=snippet&q=%22the%20strength%20of%20the%20greek%20army%20actually%20mobilized%22 |date=9 June 2022 )), Taylor & Francis, p. 56 (footnote 5).</ref><ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/09/10/102391263.pdf "When Greek meets Turk; How the Conflict in Asia Minor Is Regarded on the Spot - King Constantine's View"] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602051630/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/09/10/102391263.pdf |date=2 June 2021 )), T. Walter Williams, ''[[The New York Times]]'', 10 September 1922.</ref>))<br />((flagicon|French Third Republic)) 60,000<ref>Isaiah Friedman: ''British Miscalculations: The Rise of Muslim Nationalism, 1918-1925'', Transaction Publishers, 2012, ((ISBN|1412847109)), page 239</ref><ref>Charles à Court Repington: ''After the War'', Simon Publications LLC, 2001, ((ISBN|1931313733)), page 67</ref><br />((flagicon|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland)) 30,000<ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0715F9385E157A93CBA8178DD85F448285F9 "British in Turkey May Be Increased"] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219113317/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0715F9385E157A93CBA8178DD85F448285F9 |date=19 February 2014 )), ''The New York Times'', 19 June 1920.</ref><br />((flagicon|Democratic Republic of Armenia)) 20,000<ref>[[Anahide Ter Minassian]]: La république d'Arménie. 1918-1920 La mémoire du siècle., éditions complexe, Bruxelles 1989 ((ISBN|2-87027-280-4)), pg 220</ref><br />((flagicon|Ottoman Empire|1823)) 7,000 ((small|(at peak)))<ref>((cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmSICwAAQBAJ&q=7000+kuva-yi+Inzibatiye&pg=PT45|title=Armies of the Greek-Turkish War 1919–22|first=Philip|last=Jowett|date=20 July 2015|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|access-date=17 September 2016|via=Google Books|page=45|isbn=9781472806864|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115124333/https://books.google.com/books?id=cmSICwAAQBAJ&q=7000+kuva-yi+Inzibatiye&pg=PT45|url-status=live))</ref>
| casualties1       = ((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) 13,000 killed<ref name="fleet">Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, Reşat Kasaba: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=iOoGH4GckQgC&q=%22a+small+fraction+of+the+ottoman+casualties%22 The Cambridge History of Turkey Volume 4] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609013600/https://books.google.com/books?ei=Vuh5T9evN4Xj4QTy8tCDDw&id=iOoGH4GckQgC&q=%22a+small+fraction+of+the+ottoman+casualties%22#v=snippet&q=%22a%20small%20fraction%20of%20the%20ottoman%20casualties%22 |date=9 June 2022 ))'', Cambridge University Press, 2008, ((ISBN|0-521-62096-1)), p. 159.</ref><br />22,690 died of disease<ref name="selek1963">Sabahattin Selek: ''Millî mücadele - Cilt I (engl.: National Struggle - Edition I)'', Burçak yayınevi, 1963, page 109. ((in lang|tr))</ref><br />5,362 died of wounds or other non-combat causes<ref name="selek1963"/><br />35,000 wounded<ref name="fleet"/><br />7,000 prisoners<ref name="ahmet">Ahmet Özdemir, [http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/45/783/10069.pdf ''Savaş esirlerinin Milli mücadeledeki yeri''] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918133401/http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/45/783/10069.pdf |date=18 September 2017 )), Ankara University, Türk İnkılap Tarihi Enstitüsü Atatürk Yolu Dergisi, Edition 2, Number 6, 1990, pg 328-332</ref>((Ref label|fff|f))
| casualties2       = ((flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state)) 24,240 killed<ref name="ReferenceA">Σειρά Μεγάλες Μάχες: Μικρασιατική Καταστροφή (Νο 8), συλλογική εργασία, έκδοση περιοδικού Στρατιωτική Ιστορία, Εκδόσεις Περισκόπιο, Αθήνα, Νοέμβριος 2002, σελίδα 64 ((in lang|el))</ref><br />18,095 missing<br />48,880 wounded<br />4,878 died outside of combat<br />13,740 prisoners<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>''Στρατιωτική Ιστορία'' journal, Issue 203, December 2013, page 67</ref>((refn|According to some Turkish estimates the casualties were at least 120,000-130,000.<ref>Ali Çimen, Göknur Göğebakan: Tarihi Değiştiren Savaşlar, Timaş Yayınevi, ((ISBN|9752634869)), 2. Cilt, 2007, sayfa 321 ((in lang|tr))</ref> [[Western world|Western]] sources give 100,000 killed and wounded,<ref>Stephen Vertigans: ''Islamic Roots and Resurgence in Turkey: Understanding and Explaining the Muslim Resurgence'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, ((ISBN|0275980510)), [https://books.google.com/books?id=E9zEC045g0MC&q=%22greeks%20died%20or%20were%20wounded%22 page 41] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609013602/https://books.google.com/books?id=E9zEC045g0MC&printsec=frontcover&q=%22greeks%20died%20or%20were%20wounded%22 |date=9 June 2022 )).</ref><ref>Nicole Pope, Hugh Pope: ''Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey'', Overlook Press, 2000, ((ISBN|1585670960)), [https://books.google.com/books?id=QpNHV4jfIDAC&q=%22Greek+dead+and+wounded+were+estimated+at+around+%22 page 58] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609013557/https://books.google.com/books?id=QpNHV4jfIDAC&q=%22Greek+dead+and+wounded+were+estimated+at+around+%22&hl=de |date=9 June 2022 )).</ref> with a total sum of 200,000 casualties, taking into account that 100,000 casualties were solely suffered in [[Great Smyrna Offensive|August–September 1922]].<ref name="stillwell">Stephen Joseph Stillwell, ''Anglo-Turkish relations in the interwar era'', [[Lewiston, New York]]: [[Edwin Mellen Press]], 2003, ((ISBN|0773467769)), [https://books.google.com/books?id=_vsWAQAAIAAJ&q=%22were+upward+of+200,000.+of+whom+at+least+half+were+lost+during+the+flight+to+Smyrna+%22 page 46] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609013602/https://books.google.com/books?id=_vsWAQAAIAAJ&q=%22were+upward+of+200,000.+of+whom+at+least+half+were+lost+during+the+flight+to+Smyrna+%22 |date=9 June 2022 )).</ref><ref>Richard Ernest Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt Dupuy, ''The Harper encyclopedia of military history: from 3500 BC to the present'', ((ISBN|0062700561)), HarperCollins, 1993, page 1087</ref><ref>''Revue internationale d'histoire militaire - Issues 46-48'', University of Michigan, 1980, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SJlmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22partly+annihilated+and+partly+taken+prisoner+within+15-20+days.+The+casualties+%22 page 227] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609013601/https://books.google.com/books?id=SJlmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22partly+annihilated+and+partly+taken+prisoner+within+15-20+days.+The+casualties+%22 |date=9 June 2022 )).</ref> Material losses, during the war, were enormous too.<ref>Robert W.D. Ball: ''Gun Digest Books, 2011'', ((ISBN|1440215448)), [https://books.google.com/books?id=p40IsLJv80AC 237]((Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes ))</ref>|group=note))<br />((flagicon|Democratic Republic of Armenia)) 1,100+ killed<ref>Pars Tuğlacı: [https://books.google.com/books?id=r2UMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Bu+sava%C5%9Fta+Ermenilerden+112+subay%2C+1150+er+esir+al%C4%B1nd%C4%B1%2C+1100%27den+fazla+Ermeni+de+%C3%B6ld%C3%BC%2C+bir%C3%A7ok+malzeme+ele+ge%C3%A7irildi%22 ''Tarih boyunca Batı Ermenileri''] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609013559/https://books.google.com/books?id=r2UMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Bu+sava%C5%9Fta+Ermenilerden+112+subay%2C+1150+er+esir+al%C4%B1nd%C4%B1%2C+1100%27den+fazla+Ermeni+de+%C3%B6ld%C3%BC%2C+bir%C3%A7ok+malzeme+ele+ge%C3%A7irildi%22 |date=9 June 2022 )), Pars Yayın, 2004, ((ISBN|975-7423-06-8)), p. 794.</ref><br />3,000+ prisoners<ref>[[Christopher J. Walker]], ''Armenia: The Survival of a Nation'', Croom Helm, 1980, [https://archive.org/details/armeniasurvivalo0000walk <!-- quote="sub-governor Chalkhushian,". --> p. 310.]</ref><br />((flagicon|French Third Republic)) ~7,000
| casualties3       = 264,000 [[Greek genocide|Greek civilians killed]]<ref>Death by Government, [[Rudolph Rummel]], 1994.</ref> <br />60,000–250,000 [[Armenian genocide|Armenian civilians killed]]<ref name="Dad360-361">These are according to the figures provided by [[Aleksandr Myasnikyan|Alexander Miasnikyan]], the President of the Council of People's Commissars of Soviet Armenia, in a telegram he sent to the Soviet Foreign Minister [[Georgy Chicherin]] in 1921. Miasnikyan's figures were broken down as follows: of the approximately 60,000 Armenians who were killed by the Turkish armies, 30,000 were men, 15,000 women, 5,000 children, and 10,000 young girls. Of the 38,000 who were wounded, 20,000 were men, 10,000 women, 5,000 young girls, and 3,000 children. Instances of mass rape, murder and violence were also reported against the Armenian populace of Kars and Alexandropol: see [[Vahakn N. Dadrian]]. (2003). ''The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus''. New York: Berghahn Books, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCVJMAVoMM0C&q=%22total%20number%20killed%20by%20the%20Turks%20reached%2060%2C000%2C%20of%20which%2030%2C000%20were%20men%2C%2015%2C000%20women%2C%22&pg=PA360 pp. 360–361] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609013603/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCVJMAVoMM0C&pg=PA360&q=%22total%20number%20killed%20by%20the%20Turks%20reached%2060,000,%20of%20which%2030,000%20were%20men,%2015,000%20women,%22 |date=9 June 2022 )). ((ISBN|1-57181-666-6)).</ref><ref>Armenia : The Survival of a Nation, Christopher Walker, 1980, p. 230.</ref> <br />15,000+ Turkish civilians killed in the Western Front<ref>((cite web|last1=Rummel|first1=R.J.|title=Statistics Of Turkey's Democide Estimates, Calculations, And Sources|url=https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP5.HTM|publisher=University of Hawai'i|access-date=6 January 2017|archive-date=27 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227164226/http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP5.HTM|url-status=live))</ref><br />30,000+ buildings and 250+ villages burnt to the ground by the Hellenic Army and Greek/Armenian rebels.<ref>((cite news|last1=Özdalga|first1=Elizabeth|title=The Last Dragoman: the Swedish Orientalist Johannes Kolmodin as Scholar, Activist and Diplomat (2006), Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, p. 63))</ref><ref>((cite book|last1=Várdy|first1= Béla|title= Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. Social Science Monographs. p. 190.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFKNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA190|access-date=6 January 2019|isbn= 9780880339957|year= 2003))</ref><ref>((cite news|last1=Toynbee|first1=Arnold|title=Toynbee, Arnold (6 April 1922) [9 March 1922], "Letter", The Times, Turkey.))</ref><ref>((cite news|last1=Loder Park |first1=U.S. Vice-Consul James|title=Smyrna, 11 April 1923. US archives US767.68116/34))</ref><ref>((cite news|last1=HG |first1=Howell|title=Report on the Nationalist Offensive in Anatolia, Istanbul: The Inter-Allied commission proceeding to Bourssa, F.O. 371-7898, no. E10383.(15 September 1922)))</ref>
| notes             = ((hidden begin|title=Notes)) ((plainlist|
* ((note|aaa))a. Kuva-yi Milliye came under command of the [[Government of the Grand National Assembly|Grand National Assembly]] after 4 September 1920.
* ((note|bbb))b. Italy occupied Constantinople and a part of southwestern Anatolia but never fought the Turkish army directly. During its occupation Italian troops protected Turkish civilians, who were living in the areas occupied by the Italian army, from Greek troops and accepted Turkish refugees who had to flee from the regions invaded by the Greek army.<ref>
Mevlüt Çelebi: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130909190458/http://atam.gov.tr/milli-mucadelede-italyan-isgalleri/ ''Millî Mücadele'de İtalyan İşgalleri'' (English: Italian occupations during the National Struggle)], ''Journal of Atatürk Research Center'', issue 26.</ref> In July 1921 Italy began to withdraw its troops from southwestern [[Anatolia]].
* ((note|ccc))c. The [[Treaty of Ankara (1921)|Treaty of Ankara]] was signed in 1921 and the [[Franco-Turkish War]] thus ended. The French troops remained in [[Occupation of Constantinople|Constantinople]] with the other Allied troops.
* ((note|ddd))d. The United Kingdom occupied Constantinople, then fought directly against [[Kuva-yi Milliye|Turkish irregular forces]] in the [[Greek Summer Offensive]] with the Greek troops. However, after this the United Kingdom would not take part in any more major fighting.<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/07/19/102875743.pdf "British to defend Ismid-Black Sea line"] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225165001/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/07/19/102875743.pdf |date=25 February 2021 )), ''The New York Times'', 19 July 1920.</ref><ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/07/11/112662574.pdf "Greeks enter Brussa; Turkish raids go on"] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227083001/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/07/11/112662574.pdf |date=27 February 2021 )), ''[[The New York Times]]'', 11 July 1920.</ref><ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/07/07/102866909.pdf "Turk Nationalists capture Beicos"] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301185438/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/07/07/102866909.pdf |date=1 March 2021 )), ''The New York Times'', 7 July 1920.</ref><ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/03/18/118310149.pdf "Allies occupy Constantinople; seize ministries"] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225041628/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/03/18/118310149.pdf |date=25 February 2021 )), ''The New York Times'', 18 March 1920.</ref> Moreover, the British troops occupied several towns in Turkey such as [[Mudanya]].<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/05/01/96886774.pdf "British to fight rebels in Turkey"] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224153827/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/05/01/96886774.pdf |date=24 February 2021 )), ''The New York Times'', 1 May 1920.</ref> [[Amphibious warfare|Naval landing forces]] had tried to capture Mudanya as early as 25 June 1920, but stubborn Turkish resistance inflicted casualties on British forces and forced them to withdraw. There were many instances of successful delaying operations of small Turkish irregular forces against numerical superior enemy troops.<ref>Nurettin Türsan, Burhan Göksel: ''Birinci Askeri Tarih Semineri: bildiriler'', 1983, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nhdpAAAAMAAJ&q=%22t%C3%BCmenine+bir+g%C3%BCn+kaybettirmi%C5%9Fti%22 page 42] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115124333/https://books.google.com/books?id=nhdpAAAAMAAJ&q=%22t%C3%BCmenine+bir+g%C3%BCn+kaybettirmi%C5%9Fti%22 |date=15 January 2023 )).</ref> The United Kingdom, which also fought diplomatically against the [[Turkish National Movement]], came to the brink of a great war in September 1922 ([[Chanak Crisis]]).
* ((note|eee))e. The Ottoman controlled [[Kuva-yi Inzibatiye]] ("Caliphate Army") fought the Turkish revolutionaries during the [[Greek Summer Offensive]] and the Ottoman government in Constantinople supported other [[Revolts during the Turkish War of Independence|revolts]] (e.g. [[Revolt of Ahmet Anzavur|Anzavur]]).
* ((note|fff))f. Greece took 22,071 military and civilian prisoners. Of these were 520 officers and 6,002 soldiers. During the prisoner exchange in 1923, 329 officers, 6,002 soldiers and 9,410 civilian prisoners arrived in Turkey. The remaining 6,330, mostly civilian prisoners, presumably died in Greek captivity.<ref name="ahmet"/>
))
((hidden end))
| campaignbox       = ((Theaters of the Turkish War of Independence))
| casus             = [[Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire]]
| commander1        = ((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) '''[[Mustafa Kemal Pasha]]'''<br/>((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Mustafa Fevzi Pasha]]<br/>((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[İsmet İnönü|Mustafa İsmet Pasha]]<br/>((nowrap|((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Kazım Karabekir|Kazım Karabekir Pasha]]))<br/>((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Fahrettin Altay|Fahrettin Pasha]]<br/>((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Ali Fuat Cebesoy|Ali Fuat Pasha]]<br/>((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Refet Bele|Refet Pasha]]<br/>((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Nureddin Pasha]]<br/>((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Ali İhsan Pasha]]<br/>((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Topal Osman|Osman the Lame]]<br/>((flagicon image|Rectangular green flag.svg)) [[Ethem the Circassian]]<br/>((flagicon|Cyrenaica)) [[Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi]]((sfn|Gingeras|2022|pp=229))
| commander2        = ((flagicon image|Royal Standard of the Kingdom of Greece (1914 pattern).svg)) '''[[Constantine I of Greece|Constantine I]]'''<br />((flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state)) [[Alexander of Greece|Alexander I]]<br />((flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state)) '''[[Eleftherios Venizelos]]'''<br />((flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state)) [[Anastasios Papoulas]]<br />((flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state)) [[Georgios Hatzianestis]]((Executed))<br />((nowrap|((flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state)) [[Leonidas Paraskevopoulos]]))<br />((flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state)) [[Kimon Digenis]]((POW))<br />((flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state)) [[Nikolaos Trikoupis]]((POW))<br />((flagicon|French Third Republic)) [[Henri Gouraud (general)|Henri Gouraud]]<br />((flagicon|Democratic Republic of Armenia)) [[Drastamat Kanayan]]<br />((flagicon|Democratic Republic of Armenia)) [[Movses Silikyan]]<br />((flagicon|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland)) [[George Milne, 1st Baron Milne|Sir George Milne]]<br /><hr>((flagicon image|Imperial standard of the Ottoman Sultan.svg)) '''[[Mehmed VI]]'''<br/>((flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Damat Ferid Pasha]]<br/>((flagicon|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Süleyman Şefik Pasha]]<br/>((flagicon|Ottoman Empire|1823)) [[Anzavur Ahmed Pasha]]((executed))<br/>((flagicon image|Rectangular green flag.svg)) [[Ethem the Circassian]]<hr/>((flagicon image|Flag of Kurdistan.svg)) [[Alişer]]
))

The '''Turkish War of Independence'''((refn|group=note|((lang-tr|Kurtuluş Savaşı)) "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle")) (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns and a revolution waged by the [[Turkish National Movement]], after parts of the [[Ottoman Empire]] were occupied and [[Partition of the Ottoman Empire|partitioned]] following its defeat in [[World War I]]. The conflict was between the Turkish Nationalists against [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] and [[Revolts during the Turkish War of Independence|separatist]] forces over the application of [[Fourteen Points|Wilsonian principles]], especially [[national self-determination]], in post-World War I Anatolia and Eastern Thrace. The revolution concluded the [[Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire|collapse of the Ottoman Empire]]; the [[Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate|Ottoman monarchy]] and the [[Abolition of the Caliphate|Islamic caliphate]] were abolished, and the [[Republic of Turkey]] was declared in [[Anatolia]] and [[East Thrace|Eastern Thrace]]. This resulted in a transfer of vested sovereignty from the sultan-caliph to the [[Popular sovereignty|nation]], setting the stage for [[Atatürk's reforms|Republican Turkey's period of nationalist revolutionary reform]].((Campaignbox Revolutions of 1917–1923))
((republicanism sidebar))
While [[World War I]] ended for the Ottoman Empire with the [[Armistice of Mudros]], the [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]] continued occupying and securing land per the [[Sykes–Picot Agreement]], as well as to facilitate the prosecution of former members of the [[Committee of Union and Progress]] and those involved in the [[Armenian genocide]].<ref>Zürcher, Erik Jan. ''The Unionist Factor: The Role of the Committee of Union and Progress in the Turkish National Movement, 1905-1926''. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1984.</ref><ref name="Avedian">((cite journal|last1=Avedian|first1=Vahagn|date=2012|title=State Identity, Continuity, and Responsibility: The Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey and the Armenian Genocide|url=https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/23/3/797/399905|journal=European Journal of International Law|language=en|volume=23|issue=3|pages=797–820|doi=10.1093/ejil/chs056|issn=0938-5428|doi-access=free|access-date=14 April 2021|archive-date=7 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507161711/https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/23/3/797/399905|url-status=live))</ref> Ottoman military commanders therefore refused orders from both the Allies and the [[Government of the late Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]] to surrender and disband their forces. In an atmosphere of turmoil throughout the remainder of the empire, [[sultan]] [[Mehmed VI]] dispatched [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk)]], a well-respected and high-ranking general, to [[Anatolia]] to restore order; however, Mustafa Kemal became an enabler and eventually leader of [[Turkish National Movement|Turkish Nationalist resistance]] against the Ottoman government, Allied powers, and separatists.

In an attempt to establish control over the power vacuum in Anatolia, the Allies agreed to launch a Greek [[peacekeeping force]] into Anatolia and [[Occupation of Smyrna|occupy Smyrna]] (İzmir), inflaming sectarian tensions and beginning the Turkish War of Independence. A nationalist [[Government of the Grand National Assembly|counter government]] led by Mustafa Kemal was established in [[Ankara]] when it became clear the Ottoman government was [[Appeasement|appeasing]] the Allied powers. The Allies soon pressured the Ottoman government in Constantinople to suspend the [[Constitution of the Ottoman Empire|Constitution]], shutter [[Chamber of Deputies (Ottoman Empire)|Parliament]], and sign the [[Treaty of Sèvres]], a treaty unfavorable to Turkish interests that the "[[Ankara government]]" declared illegal.

In the ensuing war, [[Kuva-yi Milliye|Turkish]] and [[Arab Kingdom of Syria|Syrian forces]] defeated the [[Franco-Turkish War|French in the south]], and remobilized army units went on to [[Turkish–Armenian War|partition Armenia]] with the [[Red Army|Bolsheviks]], resulting in the [[Treaty of Kars]] (October 1921). The Western Front of the independence war is known as the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|Greco-Turkish War]], in which Greek forces at first encountered unorganized resistance. However, [[İsmet İnönü|İsmet Pasha (İnönü)]]'s organization of militia into a [[Turkish Land Forces|regular army]] paid off when Ankara forces fought the Greeks in the [[First Battle of İnönü|First]] and [[Second Battle of İnönü]]. The Greek army emerged victorious in the [[Battle of Kütahya–Eskişehir|Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir]] and decided to drive on the Nationalist capital of Ankara, stretching their supply lines. The Turks checked their advance in the [[Battle of the Sakarya|Battle of Sakarya]] and eventually counter-attacked in the [[Great Offensive]], which expelled Greek forces from Anatolia in the span of three weeks. The war effectively ended with the [[Turkish capture of Smyrna|recapture of İzmir]] and the [[Chanak Crisis]], prompting the signing of another [[Armistice of Mudanya|armistice in Mudanya]].

The Grand National Assembly in Ankara was recognized as the legitimate Turkish government, which signed the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] (July 1923), a treaty more favorable to Turkey than the Sèvres Treaty. The Allies evacuated Anatolia and [[Eastern Thrace]], the Ottoman government was overthrown and the [[Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate|monarchy abolished]], and the [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey]] (which remains Turkey's primary legislative body today) declared the [[Turkey|Republic of Turkey]] on 29 October 1923. With the war, a [[population exchange between Greece and Turkey]],<ref>((cite book |last1=Suny |first1=Ronald Grigor|author-link=Ronald Grigor Suny |title="They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide|title-link=They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6558-1 |pages=364–365)) The Armenian Genocide, along with the killing of Assyrians and the expulsion of the Anatolian Greeks, laid the ground for the more homogeneous nation-state that arose from the ashes of the empire. Like many other states, including Australia, Israel, and the United States, the emergence of the Republic of Turkey involved the removal and subordination of native peoples who had lived on its territory prior to its founding.
* ((lay source |template=cite encyclopedia |author=Ronald Grigor Suny |date=26 May 2015 |title=Armenian Genocide |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/armenian_genocide |encyclopedia=1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War))</ref> the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, and the [[Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate|abolition of the sultanate]], the Ottoman era came to an end, and with [[Atatürk's reforms]], the Turks created the modern, secular nation-state of Turkey. On 3 March 1924, the [[Abolition of the Caliphate|Ottoman caliphate was also abolished]].

The ethnic demographics of the modern Turkish Republic were significantly impacted by the earlier [[Armenian genocide]] and the deportations of Greek-speaking, Orthodox Christian [[Rum Millet|Rum people]].((Sfn|Landis|Albert|2012|p=264)) The Turkish Nationalist Movement carried out massacres and deportations to eliminate native [[Christians|Christian]] populations—a continuation of the Armenian genocide and [[late Ottoman genocides|other ethnic cleansing operations]] during World War I.<ref name=":0">* ((cite book |last1=Üngör |first1=Uğur Ümit |title=The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913–1950 |title-link=The Making of Modern Turkey |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-965522-9 |page=121 |language=en |quote=As such, the Greco-Turkish and Armeno-Turkish wars (1919–23) were in essence processes of state formation that represented a continuation of ethnic unmixing and exclusion of Ottoman Christians from Anatolia. |author1-link=Uğur Ümit Üngör))
* ((cite book |last1=Kieser |first1=Hans-Lukas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b53tAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Turkish+war+of+independence%22+%22ethnic+cleansing%22 |title=A Quest for Belonging: Anatolia Beyond Empire and Nation (19th-21st Centuries) |date=2007 |publisher=Isis Press |isbn=978-975-428-345-7 |page=171 |language=en |quote=The Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 officially recognized the " ethnic cleansing " that had gone on during the Turkish War of Independence ( 1919 - 1922 ) for the sake of undisputed Turkish rule in Asia Minor . |author1-link=Hans-Lukas Kieser |access-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115124334/https://books.google.com/books?id=b53tAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Turkish+war+of+independence%22+%22ethnic+cleansing%22 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |url-status=live))
* ((cite journal |last1=Avedian |first1=Vahagn |date=2012 |title=State Identity, Continuity, and Responsibility: The Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey and the Armenian Genocide |url=https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/23/3/797/399905 |url-status=live |journal=European Journal of International Law |language=en |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=797–820 |doi=10.1093/ejil/chs056 |issn=0938-5428 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507161711/https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/23/3/797/399905 |archive-date=7 May 2021 |access-date=14 April 2021 |quote=The 'War of Independence' was not against the occupying Allies – a myth invented by Kemalists – but rather a campaign to rid Turkey of remaining non-Turkish elements. In fact, Nationalists never clashed with Entente occupying forces until the French forces with Armenian contingents and Armenian deportees began to return to Cilicia in late 1919. |doi-access=free))
* ((cite book |last1=Kévorkian |first1=Raymond |title=Collective and State Violence in Turkey: The Construction of a National Identity from Empire to Nation-State |date=2020 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-78920-451-3 |editor1-last=Astourian |editor1-first=Stephan |page=165 |language=en |chapter=The Final Phase: The Cleansing of Armenian and Greek Survivors, 1919–1922 |quote=The famous 'war of national liberation', prepared by the Unionists and waged by Kemal, was a vast operation, intended to complete the genocide by finally eradicating Armenian, Greek, and Syriac survivors. |author-link=Raymond Kévorkian |editor2-last=Kévorkian |editor2-first=Raymond))
* ((cite book |last1=Gingeras |first1=Ryan |title=Fall of the Sultanate: The Great War and the End of the Ottoman Empire, 1908-1922 |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-967607-1 |page=288 |language=en |quote=While the number of victims in Ankara's deportations remains elusive, evidence from other locations suggest that the Nationalists were as equally disposed to collective punishment and population politics as their Young Turk antecedents... As in the First World War, the mass deportation of civilians was symptomatic of how precarious the Nationalists felt their prospects were. |author-link=Ryan Gingeras))
* ((cite book |last1=Kieser |first1=Hans-Lukas |title=[[Talaat Pasha: Father of Modern Turkey, Architect of Genocide]] |date=2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-8963-1 |pages=319–320 |quote=Thus, from spring 1919, Kemal Pasha resumed, with ex- CUP forces, domestic war against Greek and Armenian rivals. These were partly backed by victors of World War I who had, however, abstained from occupying Asia Minor. The war for Asia Minor— in national diction, again a war of salvation and independence, thus in- line with what had begun in 1913— accomplished Talaat's demographic Turkification beginning on the eve of World War I. Resuming Talaat's Pontus policy of 1916– 17, this again involved collective physical annihilation, this time of the Rûm of Pontus at the Black Sea. |author1-link=Hans-Lukas Kieser))
* ((lay source|template=cite encyclopedia|last1=Kieser|first1=Hans-Lukas|entry=Pasha, Talat|url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/pasha_talat|encyclopedia=1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War))
* ((cite journal |last1=Levene |first1=Mark |author-link=Mark Levene |date=2020 |title=Through a Glass Darkly: The Resurrection of Religious Fanaticism as First Cause of Ottoman Catastrophe |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=553–560 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2020.1735560 |s2cid=222145177 |quote=Ittihadist violence was as near as near could be optimal against the Armenians (and Syriacs) and in the final Kemalist phase was quantitively entirely the greater in an increasingly asymmetric conflict where, for instance, Kemal could deport "enemies" into a deep interior in a way that his adversaries could not..., it was the hard men, self-styled saviours of the Ottoman-Turkish state, and – culminating in Kemal – unapologetic génocidaires, who were able to wrest its absolute control.))
* ((Cite book |last1=Ze'evi |first1=Dror |title=The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey's Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894–1924 |last2=Morris |first2=Benny |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=2019 |isbn=9780674916456 |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=672 |language=en))
* [[Levon Marashlian]], "Finishing the Genocide: Cleansing Turkey of Armenian Survivors, 1920-1923," in Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide, ed. Richard Hovannisian (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1999), pp. 113-45: "Between 1920 and 1923, as Turkish and Western diplomats were negotiating the fate of the Armenian Question at peace conferences in London, Paris, and Lausanne, thousands of Armenians of the Ottoman Empire who had survived the massacres and deportations of World War I continued to face massacres, deportations, and persecutions across the length and breadth of Anatolia. Events on the ground, diplomatic correspondence, and news reports confirmed that it was the policy of the Turkish Nationalists in Angora, who eventually founded the Republic of Turkey, to eradicate the remnants of the empire's Armenian population and finalize the expropriation of their public and private properties."
* ((cite book |last=Marashlian |first=Levon |title=Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide |date=1998 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0-8143-2777-7 |editor-last=Hovannisian |editor-first=Richard G. |location=Detroit |pages=113–45 |chapter=Finishing the Genocide: Cleansing Turkey of Armenian Survivors, 1920-1923 |quote=Between 1920 and 1923, as Turkish and Western diplomats were negotiating the fate of the Armenian Question at peace conferences in London, Paris, and Lausanne, thousands of Armenians of the Ottoman Empire who had survived the massacres and deportations of World War I continued to face massacres, deportations, and persecutions across the length and breadth of Anatolia. Events on the ground, diplomatic correspondence, and news reports confirmed that it was the policy of the Turkish Nationalists in Angora, who eventually founded the Republic of Turkey, to eradicate the remnants of the empire's Armenian population and finalize the expropriation of their public and private properties. |author-link=Levon Marashlian))
* ((cite book |last1=Shirinian |first1=George N. |title=Genocide in the Ottoman Empire: Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks, 1913-1923 |date=2017 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-78533-433-7 |page=62 |language=en |quote=The argument that there was a mutually signed agreement for the population exchange ignores the fact that the Ankara government had already declared its intention that no Greek should remain on Turkish soil before the exchange was even discussed. The final killing and expulsion of the Greek population of the Ottoman Empire in 1920–24 was part of a series of hostile actions that began even before Turkey's entry into World War I.))
* ((cite encyclopedia |title=Ataturk, Mustafa Kemal |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Genocide: A-H |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |url=https://www.armenian-genocide.org/kemal.html |access-date=4 May 2021 |date=1999 |author1-link=Rouben Paul Adalian |editor-last=Charny |editor-first=Israel W. |language=en |isbn=978-0-87436-928-1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516032216/https://www.armenian-genocide.org/kemal.html |archive-date=16 May 2021 |quote=Mustafa Kemal completed what Talaat and Enver had started in 1915, the eradication of the Armenian population of Anatolia and the termination of Armenian political aspirations in the Caucasus. With the expulsion of the Greeks, the Turkification and Islamification of Asia Minor was nearly complete. |last1=Adalian |first1=Rouben Paul |url-status=live))
* ((cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Benny |title=The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey's Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894–1924 |title-link=The Thirty-Year Genocide |last2=Ze'evi |first2=Dror |date=2019 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-91645-6 |quote=The Greek seizure of Smyrna and the repeated pushes inland— almost to the outskirts of Ankara, the Nationalist capital—coupled with the largely imagined threat of a Pontine breakaway, triggered a widespread, systematic four- year campaign of ethnic cleansing in which hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Greeks were massacred and more than a million deported to Greece... throughout 1914–1924, the overarching aim was to achieve a Turkey free of Greeks. |author-link=Benny Morris |author2-link=Dror Ze'evi))
* ((cite journal |last1=Meichanetsidis |first1=Vasileios Th. |date=2015 |title=The Genocide of the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire, 1913–1923: A Comprehensive Overview |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/690 |url-status=live |journal=Genocide Studies International |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=104–173 |doi=10.3138/gsi.9.1.06 |s2cid=154870709 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123070747/https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/690 |archive-date=23 November 2022 |access-date=8 December 2022 |quote=The genocide was committed by two subsequent and chronologically, ideologically, and organically interrelated and interconnected dictatorial and chauvinist regimes: (1) the regime of the CUP, under the notorious triumvirate of the three pashas (Üç Paşalar), Talât, Enver, and Cemal, and (2) the rebel government at Samsun and Ankara, under the authority of the Grand National Assembly (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi) and Kemal. Although the process had begun before the Balkan Wars, the final and most decisive period started immediately after WWI and ended with the almost total destruction of the Pontic Greeks ...))</ref> Following these campaigns of ethnic cleansing, the historic Christian presence in Anatolia was destroyed, in large part, and the Muslim demographic had increased from 80% to 98%.((Sfn|Landis|Albert|2012|p=264))

== Background ==
((See also|Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire|Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire))
Following the chaotic politics of the [[Second Constitutional Era]], the Ottoman Empire came under the control of the [[Committee of Union and Progress]] in a [[1913 Ottoman coup d'état|coup]] in 1913, and then further consolidated its control after the assassination of [[Mahmud Shevket Pasha]].((Cn|date=September 2023)) Founded as a radical revolutionary group seeking to prevent a collapse of the Ottoman Empire, by the eve of World War I it decided that the solution was to implement nationalist and centralizing policies. The CUP reacted to the losses of land and the [[Ottoman Muslim genocide during the Balkan Wars|expulsion of Muslims]] from the [[Balkan Wars]] by turning even more nationalistic. Part of its effort to consolidate power was to [[Proscription|proscribe]] and exile opposition politicians from the [[Freedom and Accord Party]] to remote [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinop]].((Cn|date=September 2023))

The [[Committee of Union and Progress|Unionists]] brought the Ottoman Empire into [[World War I]] on the side of [[German Empire|Germany]] and [[Austria-Hungary]], during which a genocidal campaign was waged against Ottoman Christians, namely [[Armenian genocide|Armenians]], [[Greek genocide|Pontic Greeks]], and [[Sayfo|Assyrians]]. It was based on [[Causes of the Armenian genocide#Alleged Armenian conspiracy|an alleged conspiracy]] that the three groups would rebel on the side of the Allies, so [[collective punishment]] was applied. A similar suspicion and suppression from the Turkish nationalist government was directed towards the Arab and Kurdish populations, leading to localized rebellions. The [[Entente powers]] reacted to these developments by charging the CUP leaders, commonly known as the [[Three Pashas]], with "[[May 1915 Triple Entente declaration|Crimes against humanity]]" and threatened accountability. They also had imperialist ambitions on Ottoman territory, with a major correspondence over a post-war settlement in the Ottoman Empire being leaked to the press as the [[Sykes–Picot Agreement]]. With [[Saint Petersburg]]'s [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk|exit]] from World War I and descent into [[Russian Civil War|civil war]], driven in part from the Ottomans' closure of the [[Turkish straits]] of goods bound to [[Russian Empire|Russia]], a new imperative was given to the Entente powers to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war to restart the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]].

World War I would be the nail in the coffin of [[Ottomanism]], a monarchist and multicultural nationalism. Mistreatment of non-Turk groups after 1913, and the general context of great socio-political upheaval that occurred in the [[aftermath of World War I]], meant many minorities now wished to divorce their future from imperialism to form futures of their own by separating into (often [[Republicanism|republican]]) [[Nation state|nation-states]].((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=101))

== Prelude: October 1918 – May 1919 ==
=== Conclusion of World War I ===
[[File:İkdam, 4 Kasım 1918.jpg|thumb|Front page of ''[[İkdam]]'' on 4 November 1918, "The [[Three Pashas]] Escaped"]]
((See also|Committee of Union and Progress|Ottoman Empire in World War I))In the summer months of 1918, the leaders of the [[Central Powers]] realized that the [[Great War]] was lost, including the Ottomans'. Almost simultaneously the [[Sinai and Palestine campaign|Palestinian Front]] and then the [[Macedonian front|Macedonian Front collapsed]]. The sudden decision by [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] to sign an [[Armistice of Salonica|armistice]] cut communications from Constantinople ([[Istanbul|İstanbul]]) to [[Vienna]] and [[Berlin]], and opened the undefended Ottoman capital to Entente attack. With the major fronts crumbling, Unionist [[List of Ottoman grand viziers|Grand Vizier]] [[Talaat Pasha|Talât Pasha]] intended to sign an armistice, and resigned on 8 October 1918 so that a new government would receive less harsh armistice terms. The [[Armistice of Mudros]] was signed on 30 October 1918, ending World War I for the Ottoman Empire.<ref>((cite web
|title=MONDROS MÜTAREKESİ
|publisher=TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi
|language=Turkish
|archive-date=23 September 2019
|access-date=15 March 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923182425/https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mondros-mutarekesi
|url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mondros-mutarekesi))</ref> Three days later, the [[Committee of Union and Progress]] (CUP)—which governed the Ottoman Empire as a one-party state since [[1913 Ottoman coup d'état|1913]]—held its last congress, where it was decided the party would be dissolved. Talât, [[Enver Pasha]], [[Djemal Pasha|Cemal Pasha]], and five other high-ranking members of the CUP escaped the Ottoman Empire on a German torpedo boat later that night, plunging the country into a power vacuum.

The armistice was signed because the Ottoman Empire had been defeated in important fronts, but the military was intact and retreated in good order. Unlike other Central Powers, the Allies did not mandate an abdication of the [[Ottoman dynasty|imperial family]] as a condition for peace, nor did they request the [[Ottoman Army (1861–1922)|Ottoman Army]] to dissolve its [[Staff (military)|general staff]]. Though the army suffered from mass [[desertion]] throughout the war which led to [[banditry]], there was no threat of mutiny or revolutions like in [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|Germany]], [[Dissolution of Austria-Hungary|Austria-Hungary]], or [[October Revolution|Russia]]. This is despite famine and economic collapse that was brought on by the extreme levels of [[Seferberlik|mobilization]], destruction from the war, [[Spanish flu|disease]], and mass murder since 1914.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=101))

Due to the Turkish nationalist policies pursued by the CUP against Ottoman Christians by 1918 the Ottoman Empire held control over a mostly homogeneous land of Muslims from [[East Thrace|Eastern Thrace]] to the Persian border. These included mostly [[Turkish people|Turks]], as well as [[Kurds]], [[Circassians]], and [[Muhacir|Muhacir groups]] from [[Rumelia|Rumeli]]. Most [[Arab Muslims|Muslim Arabs]] were now outside of the Ottoman Empire and under Allied occupation, with some "imperialists" still loyal to the Ottoman Sultanate-Caliphate, and others wishing for independence or Allied protection under a [[League of Nations mandate]]. Sizable Greek and Armenian minorities remained within its borders, and most of these communities no longer wished to remain under the Empire.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=189))

=== Armistice of Mudros and occupation ===
[[File:Occupation of Constantinople 3.jpg|thumb|Allied occupation troops marching at the Grande Rue de Péra ([[İstiklal Avenue]])]]
On 30 October 1918, the [[Armistice of Mudros]] was signed between the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the [[Allies of World War I]], bringing hostilities in the [[Middle Eastern theatre of World War I]] to an end. The Ottoman Army was to demobilize, its [[Ottoman Navy|navy]] and [[Ottoman Airforce|air force]] handed to the Allies, and occupied territory in the [[Caucasus]] and [[Iran|Persia]] to be evacuated. Critically, Article VII granted the Allies the right to occupy forts controlling the [[Turkish Straits]] and the vague right to occupy "in case of disorder" any territory if there were a threat to security. The clause relating to the occupation of the straits was meant to secure a [[Southern Russia intervention|Southern Russian intervention force]], while the rest of the article permitted the was used to allow for Allied controlled [[Peacekeeping|peace-keeping]] forces. There was also a hope to follow through punishing local actors that carried out exterminatory orders from the CUP government against [[Armenians in the Ottoman Empire|Armenian Ottomans]].<ref>Mango, ''Atatürk'', chap. 10: Figures on a ruined landscape, pp. 157–85.</ref><ref>[[Edward J. Erickson|Erickson, Edward J.]], ''Ordered To Die'', chap. 1.</ref> For now, the [[Ottoman dynasty|House of Osman]] escaped the fates of the [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollerns]], [[House of Habsburg|Habsburgs]], and [[House of Romanov|Romanovs]] to continue ruling their empire, though at the cost of its remaining sovereignty.

On 13 November 1918, a French brigade entered Constantinople to begin a ''de facto'' [[occupation of Constantinople|occupation of the Ottoman capital]] and its immediate dependencies. This was followed by a fleet consisting of British, French, Italian and Greek ships deploying soldiers on the ground the next day, totaling 50,000 troops in Constantinople.<ref name=":02">Jowett, S. Philip, Kurtuluş Savaşı'nda Ordular 1919-22, çev. Emir Yener, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2015.</ref> The Allied Powers stated that the occupation was temporary and its purpose was to protect the [[Ottoman dynasty|monarchy]], the [[Ottoman Caliphate|caliphate]] and the [[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|minorities]]. [[Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe]]—the British signatory of the Mudros Armistice—stated the [[Triple Entente]]'s public position that they had no intention to dismantle the Ottoman government or place it under military occupation by "occupying Constantinople".<ref>Nur Bilge Criss, ''Istanbul under Allied Occupation 1918–1923'', p. 1</ref> However, dismantling the government and partitioning the Ottoman Empire among the Allied nations had been an objective of the Entente since the start of WWI.<ref>Paul C. Helmreich, ''From Paris to Sèvres: The Partition of the Ottoman Empire at the Peace Conference of 1919-1920'', Ohio University Press, 1974 ((ISBN|0-8142-0170-9))</ref>

A wave of seizures took place in the rest of the country in the following months. Citing Article VII, British forces demanded that Turkish troops evacuate [[Mosul]], claiming that Christian civilians in Mosul and [[Zakho]] were killed en masse.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=191)) In the Caucasus, Britain established a presence in [[Menshevik Georgia]] and the [[Lori Province|Lori]] and [[Aras (river)|Aras]] valleys as [[Peacekeeping|peace-keepers]]. On 14 November, joint Franco-Greek occupation was established in the town of [[Uzunköprü]] in [[Eastern Thrace]] as well as the railway axis until the train station of [[Hadımköy (Metrobus)|Hadımköy]] on the outskirts of Constantinople. On 1 December, British troops based in Syria occupied [[Kilis]], [[Kahramanmaraş|Marash]], [[Urfa]] and [[Birecik]]. Beginning in December, French troops began successive seizures of the [[Adana vilayet|province of Adana]], including the towns of [[Antakya|Antioch]], [[Mersin]], [[Tarsus (city)|Tarsus]], [[Ceyhan]], [[Adana]], [[Osmaniye]], and [[İslâhiye]], incorporating the area into the [[Occupied Enemy Territory Administration|Occupied Enemy Territory Administration North]]<ref>"The Armenian Legion and Its Destruction of the Armenian Community in Cilicia", Stanford J. Shaw, http://www.armenian-history.com/books/Armenian_legion_Cilicia.pdf ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021065059/https://armenian-history.com/books/Armenian_legion_Cilicia.pdf |date=21 October 2020 ))</ref> while French forces embarked by [[gunboat]]s and sent troops to the [[Black Sea]] ports of [[Zonguldak]] and [[Karadeniz Ereğli]] commanding Turkey's coal mining region. These continued seizures of land prompted Ottoman commanders to refuse demobilization and prepare for the resumption of war.

=== Prelude to resistance ===
[[File:Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1918).jpg|thumb|Mustafa Kemal Pasha in 1918, then an Ottoman army general]]The British similarly asked [[Mustafa Kemal Pasha]] [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|(Atatürk)]] to turn over the port of Alexandretta ([[İskenderun]]), which he reluctantly did, following which he was recalled to Constantinople. He made sure to distribute weapons to the population to prevent them from falling into the hands of Allied forces. Some of these weapons were smuggled to the east by members of [[Karakol society|Karakol]], a successor to the CUP's [[Special Organization (Ottoman Empire)|Special Organization]], to be used in case resistance was necessary in Anatolia. Many Ottoman officials participated in efforts to conceal from the occupying authorities details of the burgeoning independence movement spreading throughout Anatolia.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=192))

Other commanders began refusing orders from the Ottoman government and the Allied powers. After Mustafa Kemal Pasha returned to Constantinople, [[Ali Fuat Cebesoy|Ali Fuat Pasha (Cebesoy)]] brought [[XX Corps (Ottoman Empire)#After Mudros|XX Corps]] under his command.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=207)) He marched first to [[Konya]] and then to [[Ankara]] to organise resistance groups, such as the [[Circassians|Circassian]] [[çetes]] he assembled with guerilla leader [[Çerkes Ethem]]. Meanwhile, [[Kâzım Karabekir|Kazım Karabekir Pasha]] refused to surrender his intact and powerful [[XV Corps (Ottoman Empire)|XV Corps]] in [[Erzurum]].((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=208)) Evacuation from the Caucusus, puppet republics and [[Muslim uprisings in Kars and Sharur–Nakhichevan|Muslim militia groups]] were established in the army's wake to hamper with the consolidation of the new [[First Republic of Armenia|Armenian]] state. Elsewhere in the country, regional nationalist resistance organizations known as ''Şuras'' –meaning "councils", not unlike ''[[Soviet (council)|soviets]]'' in revolutionary Russia– were founded, most pledging allegiance to the [[Association for Defence of National Rights|Defence of National Rights movement]] that protested continued Allied occupation and appeasement by the [[Sublime Porte]].((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=128))

== The Armistice era ==
((See also|tr:Mütareke (dönem)))

=== Politics of de-Ittihadification ===
Following the occupation of Constantinople, [[Mehmed VI|Mehmed VI Vahdettin]] dissolved the [[Chamber of Deputies (Ottoman Empire)|Chamber of Deputies]] which was dominated by Unionists [[1914 Ottoman general election|elected back in 1914]], promising elections for the next year.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=201)) Vahdettin just ascended to the throne only months earlier with the death of [[Mehmed V Reşad]]. He was disgusted with the policies of the CUP, and wished to be a more assertive sovereign than his diseased half brother. [[Ottoman Greeks|Greek]] and [[Armenians in the Ottoman Empire|Armenian Ottomans]] declared the termination of their relationship with the Ottoman Empire through their respective [[patriarchate]]s, and refused to partake in any future election.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=210)) With the collapse of the CUP and its censorship regime, an outpouring of condemnation against the party came from all parts of [[Media of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman media]].((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=94))
[[File:Damad Ferid Pasha 1919.jpg|thumb|Grand Vizier [[Damat Ferid Pasha|Ferid Pasha]], leader of the [[Freedom and Accord Party]], and [[damat]] of the [[Ottoman dynasty|royal family]]]]
A general amnesty was soon issued, allowing the exiled and imprisoned dissidents persecuted by the CUP to return to Constantinople. Vahdettin invited the pro-[[Ottoman dynasty|Palace]] politician [[Damat Ferid Pasha]], leader of the reconstituted [[Freedom and Accord Party]], to form a government, whose members quickly set out to purge the [[Committee of Union and Progress|Unionists]] from the [[Government of the late Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]]. Ferid Pasha hoped that his [[Anglophile|Anglophilia]] and an attitude of [[appeasement]] would induce less harsh peace terms from the Allied powers. However, his appointment was problematic for nationalists, many being members of the liquidated committee that were surely to face trial. Years of corruption, unconstitutional acts, war profiteering, and enrichment from ethnic cleansing and [[Armenian genocide|genocide]] by the Unionists soon became basis of [[Prosecution of Ottoman war criminals|war crimes trials]] and [[Istanbul trials of 1919–1920|courts martial trials held in Constantinople]].((Citation needed|date=September 2021)) While many leading Unionists were sentenced lengthy prison sentences, many made sure to escape the country before Allied occupation or to regions that the government now had minimal control over; thus most were sentenced ''[[Trial in absentia|in absentia]]''. The Allies encouragement of the proceedings and the use of British [[Malta exiles|Malta]] as their holding ground made the trials unpopular. The partisan nature of the trials was not lost on observers either.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=96)) The hanging of the [[Kaymakam]] of [[Boğazlıyan]] district [[Mehmet Kemal|Mehmed Kemal]] resulted in a demonstration against the courts martials trials.

With all the chaotic politics in the capital and uncertainty of the severity of the incoming peace treaty, many Ottomans looked to Washington with the hope that the application of [[Fourteen Points|Wilsonian principles]] would mean Constantinople would stay Turkish, as Muslims outnumbered Christians 2:1. The [[United States]] never declared war on the Ottoman Empire, so many imperial elite believed Washington could be a neutral arbiter that could fix the empire's problems. [[Halide Edib Adıvar|Halide Edip (Adıvar)]] and her [[:tr:Wilson Prensipleri Cemiyeti|Wilsonian Principles Society]] led the movement that advocated for the empire to be governed by an American [[League of Nations mandate|League of Nations Mandate]] (see [[United States during the Turkish War of Independence]]).((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=97)) American diplomats attempted to ascertain a role they could play in the area with the [[Harbord Commission|Harbord]] and [[King–Crane Commission|King–Crane Commissions]]. However, with the collapse of [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s health, the United States diplomatically withdrew from the Middle East to focus on Europe, leaving the Entente powers to construct a post-Ottoman [[International order|order]].

=== Banditry and the refugee crisis ===
[[File:Balkan Göçmenleri Sirkeci'de (1912).jpg|thumb|[[Muhacir|Muhacirs]] from the [[Balkan Wars]] waiting to cross the [[Bosporus|Bosphorus]] to Anatolia, [[Sirkeci]], [[Istanbul]], 1912]]
The Entente would have arrived at Constantinople to discover an administration attempting to deal with decades of accumulated refugee crisis. The new government issued a proclamation allowing for deportees to [[Right of return|return to their homes]], but many Greeks and Armenians found their old homes occupied by desperate [[Muhacir|Rumelian and Caucasian Muslim refugees]] which were settled in their properties during the First World War. Ethnic conflict restarted in Anatolia; government officials responsible for resettling Christian refugees often assisted Muslim refugees in these disputes, prompting European powers to continue bringing Ottoman territory under their control.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=193, 197, 210, 212, 213))((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=103)) Of the 800,000 Ottoman Christian refugees, approximately over half returned to their homes by 1920. Meanwhile 1.4 million refugees from the [[Russian Civil War]] would pass through the Turkish straits and Anatolia, with 150,000 [[White émigré|White émigrés]] choosing to settle in Istanbul for short or long term (see [[Evacuation of the Crimea]]).((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=104)) Many provinces were simply depopulated from years of fighting, conscription, and ethnic cleansing (see [[Ottoman casualties of World War I]]). The province of [[Yozgat]] lost 50% of its Muslim population from conscription, while according to the governor of [[Van, Turkey|Van]], almost 95% of its prewar residents were dead or [[Internally displaced person|internally displaced]].((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=102–105))

Administration in much of the Anatolian and Thracian countryside would soon all but collapse by 1919. Army deserters who turned to [[banditry]] essentially controlled fiefdoms with tacit approval from bureaucrats and local elites.((Sfn|Gingeras|2014|p=34)) An amnesty issued in late 1918 saw these bandits strengthen their positions and fight amongst each other instead of returning to civilian life.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=108)) [[Albanians in Turkey|Albanian]] and [[Circassians in Turkey|Circassian]] [[Muhacir|muhacirs]] resettled by the government in northwestern Anatolia and [[Kurds in Turkey|Kurds]] in southeastern Anatolia were engaged in [[blood feuds]] that intensified during the war and were hesitant to pledge allegiance to the Defence of Rights movement, and only would if officials could facilitate truces. Various Muhacir groups were suspicious of the continued [[İttihadism|Ittihadist]] ideology in the Defence of Rights movement, and the potential for themselves to meet fates 'like the Armenians' especially as warlords hailing from those communities assisted the deportations of the Christians even though as many commanders in the Nationalist movement also had Caucasian and Balkan Muslim ancestry.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=148))

=== Mustafa Kemal's mission ===
[[File:Sultan Mehmed VI of the Ottoman Empire.jpg|thumb|Sultan Mehmed VI after his sword girding]]
With Anatolia in practical anarchy and the Ottoman army being questionably loyal in reaction to Allied land seizures, Mehmed VI established the military inspectorate system to reestablish authority over the remaining empire. Encouraged by Karabekir and [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|Edmund Allenby]], he assigned<ref name=":1">((Cite journal |last=Jäschke |first=Gotthard |date=1957 |title=Beiträge zur Geschichte des Kampfes der Türkei um ihre Unabhängigkeit |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1570253 |journal=Die Welt des Islams |volume=5 |issue=1/2 |pages=1–64 |doi=10.2307/1570253 |issn=0043-2539 |jstor=1570253 |access-date=25 September 2021 |archive-date=25 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925062833/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1570253 |url-status=live ))</ref> [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk)]] as the inspector of the [[Ninth Army (Ottoman Empire)#After Mudros|Ninth Army Troops Inspectorate]] –based in [[Erzurum]]– to restore order to Ottoman military units and to improve internal security on 30 April 1919, with his first assignment to suppress a rebellion by Greek rebels around the city of [[Samsun]].<ref>Andrew Mango, ''Atatürk'', John Murray, 1999, ((ISBN|978-0-7195-6592-2)), p. 214.</ref>

Mustafa Kemal was a well known, well respected, and well connected army commander, with much prestige coming from his status as the "Hero of Anafartalar"—for his role in the [[Gallipoli Campaign]]—and his title of "Honorary Aide-de-camp to His Majesty Sultan" gained in the last months of WWI. This choice would seem curious, as he was a nationalist and a fierce critic of the government's accommodating policy to the Entente powers. He was also an early member of the CUP. However Kemal Pasha did not associate himself with the fanatical faction of the CUP, many knew that he frequently clashed with the radicals of the [[Central Committee of the Committee of Union and Progress|Central Committee]] like Enver. He was therefore sidelined to the periphery of power throughout the Great War; after the CUP's dissolution he vocally aligned himself with moderates that formed the [[Ottoman Liberal People's Party|Liberal People's Party]] instead of the rump radical faction which formed the [[Renewal Party (Ottoman Empire)|Renewal Party]] (both parties would be banned in May 1919 for being successors of the CUP). All these reasons allowed him to be the most legitimate nationalist for the sultan to placate.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=171)) In this new political climate, he sought to capitalize on his war exploits to attain a better job, indeed several times he unsuccessfully lobbied for his inclusion in cabinet as [[Ministry of War (Ottoman Empire)|War Minister]].((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=187, 219)) His new assignment gave him effective [[plenipotentiary]] powers over all of Anatolia which was meant to accommodate him and other nationalists to keep them loyal to the government.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=214))

Mustafa Kemal had earlier declined to become the leader of the [[Sixth Army (Ottoman Empire)|Sixth Army]] headquartered in [[Nusaybin]].<ref>Jäschke, Gotthard (1957), p.29</ref> But according to [[Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross|Patrick Balfour]], through manipulation and the help of friends and sympathizers, he became the inspector of virtually all of the Ottoman forces in Anatolia, tasked with overseeing the disbanding process of remaining Ottoman forces.<ref>Lord Kinross. ''The Rebirth of a Nation'', Chap 19. "Kinross writes that the Erkân-ı Harbiye Reis Muavini, ie the General Commander of the Ottoman Empire at the time was Fevzi Paşa, and old friend. Although he was temporarily absent, his substitute was Kâzım (İnanç) Paşa, another old friend. Neither Mehmet VI, nor the Prime Minister Damat Ferit had actually seen the actual order."</ref> Kemal had an abundance of connections and personal friends concentrated in the post-armistice War Ministry, a powerful tool that would help him accomplish his secret goal: to lead a nationalist movement to safeguard Turkish interests against the Allied powers and a collaborative Ottoman government.

The day before his departure to [[Samsun]] on the remote Black Sea coast, Kemal had one last audience with Sultan Vahdettin, where he affirmed his loyalty to the sultan-caliph. It was in this meeting that they were informed of the botched [[Greek landing at Smyrna|occupation ceremony of Smyrna]] (İzmir) by the Greeks.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=218)) He and his carefully selected staff left Constantinople aboard the old steamer ((SS|Bandırma||6)) on the evening of 16 May 1919.<ref>Lord Kinross. ''The Rebirth of a Nation'', chap 19.</ref>

=== Negotiations for Ottoman partition ===
((Main|Partition of the Ottoman Empire))
[[File:Img010GeneralBougrain.jpg|thumb|[[Ahmet Tevfik Pasha|Ahmed Tevfik Pasha (Okday)]] and [[Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı|Rıza Tevfik (Bölükbaşı)]] at the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]]]]
On 19 January 1919, the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] was first held, at which Allied nations set the peace terms for the defeated [[Central Powers]], including the Ottoman Empire.<ref>((cite book|title=Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History|last=Kaufman|first=Will|author2=Macpherson, Heidi Slettedahl |year=2007|publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-431-8|page=696))</ref> As a special body of the Paris Conference, "The Inter-Allied Commission on Mandates in Turkey", was established to pursue the secret treaties they had signed between 1915 and 1917.<ref>The activities of commission is reported in Henry Churchill King, Charles Richard Crane ([[King-Crane Commission]]), "Report of American Section of Inter-allied Commission of Mandates in Turkey" published by American Section in 1919.</ref> Italy sought control over the southern part of Anatolia under the [[Agreement of St.-Jean-de-Maurienne]]. France expected to exercise control over [[Hatay Province|Hatay]], [[Lebanon]], [[Syria (region)|Syria]], and a portion of southeastern Anatolia based on the [[Sykes–Picot Agreement]].

Greece justified their territorial claims of Ottoman land through the [[Megali Idea]] as well as international sympathy from the suffering of [[Ottoman Greeks]] in [[1914 Greek deportations|1914]] and [[Pontic genocide|1917–1918]]. Privately, Greek prime minister [[Eleftherios Venizelos]] had British prime minister [[David Lloyd George]]'s backing not least from Greece's entrance to WWI on the Allied side, but also from his charisma and charming personality.<ref>Erickson, ''Ordered To Die'', chap. 8, extended story at the Cost section.</ref> Greece's participation in the Allies' [[Southern Russia intervention|Southern Russian intervention]] also earned it favors in Paris. His demands included parts of [[East Thrace|Eastern Thrace]], the islands of Imbros ([[Gökçeada]]), Tenedos ([[Bozcaada]]), and parts of Western Anatolia around the city of Smyrna ([[İzmir]]), all of which had large Greek populations. Venizelos also advocated a large Armenian state to check a post-war Ottoman Empire. Greece wanted to incorporate Constantinople, but Entente powers did not give permission. Damat Ferid Pasha went to Paris on behalf of the Ottoman Empire hoping to minimize territorial losses using [[Fourteen Points]] rhetoric, wishing for a return to ''[[status quo ante bellum]]'', on the basis that every province of the Empire holds Muslim majorities. This plea was met with ridicule.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=99))

At the Paris Peace Conference, competing claims over [[Anatolia|Western Anatolia]] by Greek and Italian delegations led Greece to land the flagship of the [[Greek Navy]] at Smyrna, resulting in the Italian delegation walking out of the peace talks. On 30 April, Italy responded to the possible idea of Greek incorporation of Western Anatolia by sending a warship to Smyrna as a show of force against the Greek campaign. A large Italian force also landed in [[Antalya]]. Faced with Italian annexation of parts of Asia Minor with a significant ethnic Greek population, Venizelos secured Allied permission for Greek troops to land in Smyrna per Article VII, ostensibly as a [[peacekeeping]] force to keep stability in the region. Venizelos's rhetoric was more directed against the CUP regime than the Turks as a whole, an attitude not always shared in the Greek military: "Greece is not making war against Islam, but against the anachronistic [<nowiki/>[[İttihadism|İttihadist]]] Government, and its corrupt, ignominious, and bloody administration, with a view to the expelling it from those territories where the majority of the population consists of Greeks."<ref>"Not War Against Islam-Statement by Greek Prime Minister" in ''The Scotsman'', 29 June 1920 p. 5</ref> It was decided by the Triple Entente that Greece would control a zone around Smyrna and [[Ayvalık]] in western Asia Minor.

== Organizational phase: May 1919 – March 1920 ==
((Main articles|Turkish National Movement|Kuva-yi Milliye))
=== Greek landing at Smyrna ===
((Main|Greek landing at Smyrna))
[[File:Greek army Smyrne 1919.jpg|thumb|Greek troops marching on [[İzmir]]'s coastal street, May 1919.]]
Most historians mark the Greek landing at Smyrna on 15 May 1919 as the start date of the Turkish War of Independence as well as the start of the "[[Kuva-yi Milliye]] Phase". The occupation ceremony from the outset was tense from nationalist fervor, with Ottoman Greeks greeting the soldiers with an ecstatic welcome, and Ottoman Muslims protesting the landing. A miscommunication in Greek high command led to an [[Evzones|Evzone]] column marching by the municipal Turkish barracks. The nationalist journalist [[Hasan Tahsin]] fired the "first bullet"<ref group="note">Mehmet Çavuş's fire against the French in Dörtyol was misknown until near past. But Hasan Tahsin's firing was the first bullet in Western Front.</ref> at the Greek standard bearer at the head of the troops, turning the city into a warzone. [[:tr:Süleyman Fethi Bey|Süleyman Fethi Bey]] was murdered by bayonet for refusing to shout "Zito [[Eleftherios Venizelos|Venizelos]]" (meaning "long live Venizelos"), and 300–400 unarmed Turkish soldiers and civilians and 100 Greek soldiers and civilians were killed or wounded.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=217))

Greek troops moved from Smyrna outwards to towns on the [[Karaburun Peninsula, Turkey|Karaburun]] peninsula; to [[Selçuk]], situated a hundred kilometres south of the city at a key location that commands the fertile [[Küçük Menderes River]] valley; and to [[Menemen]] towards the north. [[Guerrilla warfare|Guerilla warfare]] commenced in the countryside, as Turks began to organize themselves into irregular guerilla groups known as [[Kuva-yi Milliye]] (national forces), which were soon joined by Ottoman soldiers, bandits, and disaffected farmers. Most Kuva-yi Milliye bands were led by rogue military commanders and members of the [[Special Organization (Ottoman Empire)|Special Organization]]. The Greek troops based in cosmopolitan Smyrna soon found themselves conducting counterinsurgency operations in a hostile, dominantly Muslim hinterland. Groups of Ottoman Greeks also formed contingents that cooperated with the [[Army of Asia Minor|Greek Army]] to combat Kuva-yi Milliye within the zone of control. A [[Menemen massacre|massacre of Turks at Menemen]] was followed up with a [[Battle of Aydın|battle for the town of Aydın]], which saw intense intercommunal violence and the razing of the city. What was supposed to be a peacekeeping mission of Western Anatolia instead inflamed ethnic tensions and became a [[counterinsurgency]].
[[File:SultanahmetMitingi.jpg|thumb|[[Sultanahmet demonstrations|Sultanahmet demonstration]], 25 May 1919]]
The reaction of Greek landing at Smyrna and continued Allied seizures of land served to destabilize Turkish civil society. Ottoman bureaucrats, military, and [[bourgeoisie]] trusted the Allies to bring peace, and thought the terms offered at Mudros were considerably more lenient than they actually were.<ref name="fromkin">((Cite book |last=Fromkin |first=David |title=[[A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East]] |publisher=Macmillan |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8050-8809-0 |pages=360–373 |author-link=David Fromkin))</ref> Pushback was potent in the capital, with 23 May 1919 being largest of the [[Sultanahmet demonstrations|Sultanahmet Square demonstrations]] organized by the [[Turkish Hearths]] against the Greek occupation of Smyrna, the largest act of [[civil disobedience]] in Turkish history at that point.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=223)) The Ottoman government condemned the landing, but could do little about it. Ferid Pasha tried to resign, but was urged by the sultan to stay in his office. 

=== Organizing resistance ===
Mustafa Kemal Pasha and his colleagues stepped ashore in [[Samsun]] on 19 May<ref name=":1" /> and set up their first quarters in the Mıntıka Palace Hotel. British troops were present in Samsun,<ref>((Cite journal|last=Jäschke|first=Gotthard|date=1975|title=Mustafa Kemal und England in Neuer Sicht|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1569959|journal=Die Welt des Islams|volume=16|issue=1/4|pages=185|doi=10.2307/1569959|jstor=1569959|issn=0043-2539|access-date=25 September 2021|archive-date=25 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925074533/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1569959|url-status=live))</ref> and he initially maintained cordial contact.<ref>Jäschke, Gotthard (1975), p.186</ref> He had assured Damat Ferid about the army's loyalty towards the new government in Constantinople.<ref>Jäschke, Gotthard (1975), pp.186–187</ref> However, behind the government's back, Kemal made the people of Samsun aware of the Greek and Italian landings, staged discreet mass meetings, made fast connections via telegraph with the army units in Anatolia, and began to form links with various Nationalist groups. He sent telegrams of protest to foreign embassies and the War Ministry about British reinforcements in the area and about British aid to Greek brigand gangs. After a week in Samsun, Kemal and his staff moved to [[Havza]]. It was there that he first showed the flag of the resistance.<ref name=":2">Jäschke, Gotthard (1975), p.188</ref>

[[File:Turkish revolutionaries-Kuvva-i Milliye.ogg|thumb|[[Kuva-yi Milliye]]]]

Mustafa Kemal wrote in his memoir that he needed nationwide support to justify armed resistance against the Allied occupation. His credentials and the importance of his position were not enough to inspire everyone. While officially occupied with the disarming of the army, he met with various contacts in order to build his movement's momentum. He met with [[Hüseyin Rauf Orbay|Rauf Pasha]], Karabekir Pasha, [[Ali Fuat Cebesoy|Ali Fuat Pasha]], and [[Refet Bele|Refet Pasha]] and issued the [[Amasya Circular]] (22 June 1919). Ottoman provincial authorities were notified via telegraph that the unity and independence of the nation was at risk, and that the government in Constantinople was compromised. To remedy this, a congress was to take place in Erzurum between delegates of the [[Six vilayets|Six Vilayets]] to decide on a response, and another congress would take place in Sivas where every [[Vilayet]] should send delegates.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=230)) Sympathy and an lack of coordination from the capital gave Mustafa Kemal freedom of movement and telegraph use despite his implied anti-government tone.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=230, 232))

On 23 June, High Commissioner Admiral Calthorpe, realising the significance of Mustafa Kemal's discreet activities in Anatolia, sent a report about the Pasha to the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|Foreign Office]]. His remarks were downplayed by George Kidson of the Eastern Department. Captain Hurst of the British occupation force in Samsun warned Admiral Calthorpe one more time, but Hurst's units were replaced with the [[Brigade of Gurkhas]].((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=234–235)) 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 5 August 1919.<ref>Lord Kinross. (1999) ''Atatürk: The Re-birth of a Nation'', chap. 16.</ref> The movement of British units alarmed the population of the region and convinced them that Mustafa Kemal was right.

=== Consolidation through congresses ===
[[File:Mustafa Kemal Paşa, Erzurum, 5 Temmuz 1919.png|thumb|Mustafa Kemal and his colleagues in [[Erzurum Congress|Erzurum]], 5 July 1919]]By early July, Mustafa Kemal Pasha received telegrams from the sultan and Calthorpe, asking him and Refet to cease his activities in Anatolia and return to the capital. Kemal was in [[Erzincan]] and did not want to return to Constantinople, concerned that the foreign authorities might have designs for him beyond the sultan's plans. Before resigning from his position, he dispatched a circular to all nationalist organizations and military commanders to not disband or surrender unless for the latter if they could be replaced by cooperative nationalist commanders.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=235)) Now only a civilian stripped of his command, Mustafa Kemal was at the mercy of the new inspector of [[Third Army (Ottoman Empire)|Third Army]] (renamed from Ninth Army) Karabekir Pasha, indeed the War Ministry ordered him to arrest Kemal, an order which Karabekir refused.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=235))

The [[Erzurum Congress]] was a meeting of delegates and governors from the six Eastern Vilayets.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=238)) They drafted the [[Misak-ı Millî|National Pact]] (''Misak-ı Millî)'', which envisioned new borders for the Ottoman Empire by applying principles of [[Self-determination|national self-determination]] per [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s [[Fourteen Points]] and the abolition of [[Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire|the capitulations]].((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=239)) The Erzurum Congress concluded with a circular that was effectively a declaration of independence: All regions within Ottoman borders upon the signing of the Mudros Armistice were indivisible from the Ottoman state –Greek and Armenian claims on Thrace and Anatolia were moot– and assistance from any country not coveting Ottoman territory was welcome.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=240–241)) If the government in Constantinople was not able to attain this after electing a new parliament, they insisted a [[provisional government]] should be promulgated to defend Turkish sovereignty. The [[Committee of Representation]] was established as a provisional executive body based in Anatolia, with Mustafa Kemal Pasha as its chairman.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=239))[[File:Misak-i milli.png|thumb|282x282px|Borders and plebiscites of the [[National Pact (Turkey)|National Pact]] outlined in the [[Erzurum Congress]]]]Following the congress, the Committee of Representation relocated to Sivas. As announced in the Amasya Circular, a new congress was held there in September with delegates from all Anatolian and Thracian provinces. The [[Sivas Congress]] repeated the points of the National Pact agreed to in Erzurum, and united the various regional [[Association for Defence of National Rights|Defence of National Rights Associations]] organizations, into a united political organisation: [[Association for Defence of National Rights|Anatolia and Rumeli Defence of Rights Association]] (A-RMHC), with Mustafa Kemal as its chairman. In an effort show his movement was in fact a new and unifying movement, the delegates had to swear an oath to discontinue their relations with the CUP and to never revive the party (despite most present in Sivas being previous members).((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=245)) It was also decided there that the Ottoman Empire should not be a League of Nations mandate under the United States, especially after the [[United States Senate|U.S Senate]] failed to ratify American membership in the League.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=247–248))

Momentum was now on the Nationalists' side. A [[:tr:Ali Galip Olayı|plot]] by a [[:tr:Ali_Galip_(Elazığ_valisi)|loyalist Ottoman governor]] and a [[Edward Noel (Indian Army officer)|British intelligence officer]] to arrest Kemal before the Sivas Congress led to the cutting of all ties with the Ottoman government until a new election would be held in the lower house of parliament, the [[Chamber of Deputies (Ottoman Empire)|Chamber of Deputies]]. In October 1919, the last Ottoman governor loyal to Constantinople fled his province. Fearing the outbreak of hostilities, all British troops stationed in the Black Sea coast and [[Kütahya]] were evacuated. Damat Ferid Pasha resigned, and the sultan replaced him with a general with nationalist credentials: [[Ali Rıza Pasha]].((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=249–252)) On 16 October 1919, Ali Rıza and the Nationalists held negotiations in Amasya. They agreed in the [[Amasya Protocol]] that an election would be called for the Ottoman Parliament to establish national unity by upholding the resolutions made in the Sivas Congress, including the National Pact.

By October 1919, the Ottoman government only held ''de facto'' control over Constantinople; the rest of the Ottoman Empire was loyal to Kemal's movement to resist a partition of Anatolia and Thrace. Within a few months Mustafa Kemal went from General Inspector of the Ninth Army to a renegade military commander discharged for insubordination to leading a homegrown anti-Entente movement that overthrew a government and driven it into resistance.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=255–256))

=== Last Ottoman parliament ===
((More citations needed section|date=April 2022))
[[File:Mudanya July 1920 (1).jpg|thumb|Fire caused by the British bombardment in [[Mudanya]] (6 July 1920)]]
In December 1919, an [[1919 Ottoman general election|election was held for the Ottoman parliament]], with polls only open in unoccupied Anatolia and Thrace. It was boycotted by Ottoman Greeks, [[Armenians in the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Armenians]] and the [[Freedom and Accord Party]], resulting in groups associated with the [[Turkish National Movement|Turkish Nationalist Movement]] winning, including the A-RMHC.((Sfn|Mango|2002|p=253))((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=138)) The Nationalists' obvious links to the CUP made the election especially polarizing and [[voter intimidation]] and [[ballot box stuffing]] in favor of the Kemalists were regular occurrences in rural provinces.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=138)) This controversy led to many of the nationalist MPs organizing the [[:tr:Felâh-ı_Vatan|National Salvation Group]] separate from Kemal's movement, which risked the nationalist movement splitting in two.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=168))

Mustafa Kemal was elected an MP from Erzurum, but he expected the Allies neither to accept the [[Harbord Commission|Harbord report]] nor to respect his parliamentary immunity if he went to the Ottoman capital, hence he remained in Anatolia. Mustafa Kemal and the Committee of Representation moved from Sivas to [[Ankara]] so that he could keep in touch with as many deputies as possible as they traveled to Constantinople to attend the parliament.

Though Ali Rıza Pasha called the election as per the Amasya Protocol to keep unity between the "[[Istanbul Government|Istanbul government]]" and "[[Ankara government]]", he was wrong to think the election could bring him any legitimacy. The Ottoman parliament was under the ''de facto'' control of the British battalion stationed at Constantinople and any decisions by the parliament had to have the signatures of both Ali Rıza Pasha and the battalion's commanding officer. The only laws that passed were those acceptable to, or specifically ordered by the British.

On 12 January 1920, the last session of the [[Chamber of Deputies (Ottoman Empire)|Chamber of Deputies]] met in the capital. First the sultan's speech was presented, and then a telegram from Mustafa Kemal, manifesting the claim that the rightful government of Turkey was in Ankara in the name of the Committee of Representation. On 28 January the MPs from both sides of the isle secretly met to endorse the [[National Pact (Turkey)|National Pact]] as a peace settlement.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=139)) They added to the points passed in Sivas, calling for plebiscites to be held in West Thrace; Batum, Kars, and Ardahan, and Arab lands on whether to stay in the Empire or not.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=141)) Proposals were also made to elect Kemal president of the Chamber;((Clarify|date=January 2010)) however, this was deferred in the certain knowledge that the British would prorogue the Chamber. The Chamber of Deputies would be forcefully dissolved for passing the National Pact anyway. The National Pact solidified Nationalist interests, which were in conflict with the Allied plans.

From February to April, leaders of Britain, France, and Italy [[Conference of London (1920)|met in London]] to discuss the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire and the crisis in Anatolia. The British began to sense that the elected Ottoman government was under Kemalist influence and if left unchecked, the Entente could once again find themselves at war with the Empire. The Ottoman government was not doing all that it could to suppress the Nationalists.

Mustafa Kemal manufactured a crisis to pressure the Istanbul government to pick a side by deploying Kuva-yi Milliye [[:tr:Ali Galip Olayı#Kuvâ-yi Milliye'nin Güçlenmesi|towards İzmit]]. The British, concerned about the security of the [[Bosporus|Bosporus Strait]], demanded Ali Rıza Pasha to reassert control over the area, to which he responded with his resignation to the sultan.

== Jurisdictional conflict: March 1920 – January 1921 ==
((More citations needed section|date=December 2021))
=== Decapitation of the Istanbul government ===
((Main articles|Occupation of Istanbul))

[[File:British occupation troops marching in Beyoglu.jpg|thumb|British occupation troops marching in Istanbul's Pera ([[Beyoğlu]]) quarter]]
As they were negotiating the [[partition of the Ottoman Empire]], the Allies were growing increasingly concerned about the Turkish National Movement. To this end, the Allied occupational authorities in Istanbul began to plan a raid to arrest nationalist politicians and journalists along with occupying military and police installations and government buildings. On 16 March 1920, the coup was carried out; several [[Royal Navy]] warships were anchored in the [[Galata Bridge]] to support British forces, including the [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]], while they carried out the arrests and occupied several government buildings in the early hours of the morning.<ref name="auto">((Cite book|first=Sina|last=Aksin|title=Turkey, from Empire to Revolutionary Republic: The Emergence of the Turkish Nation from 1789 to Present|publisher=[[New York University Press]]|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8147-0722-7))</ref>

An Indian Army operation, the [[Şehzadebaşı raid]], resulted in 5 Ottoman soldiers from the [[10th Infantry Division (Ottoman Empire)|10th Infantry Division]] being killed when troops raided their barracks. Among those arrested were the senior leadership of the Turkish National Movement and former members of the CUP. 150 arrested Turkish politicians accused of [[war crime]]s were interned in Malta and became known as the [[Malta exiles]].<ref name="auto" />

Mustafa Kemal was ready for this move. He warned all the Nationalist organisations that there would be misleading declarations from the capital. He warned that the only way to counter Allied movements was to organise protests. He declared "Today the Turkish nation is called to defend its capacity for civilization, its right to life and independence((spaced ndash))its entire future".

On 18 March, the Chamber of Deputies declared that it was unacceptable to arrest five of its members, and dissolved itself. Mehmed VI confirmed this and declared the end of [[Second Constitutional Era|Constitutional Monarchy]] and a return to absolutism. University students were forbidden from joining political associations inside and outside the classroom.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=156)) With the lower elected Chamber of Deputies shuttered, the [[Constitution of the Ottoman Empire|Constitution]] terminated, and the capital occupied; Sultan Vahdettin, his cabinet, and the appointed [[Senate of the Ottoman Empire|Senate]] were all that remained of the Ottoman government, and were basically a puppet regime of the Allied powers. Grand Vizier [[Salih Hulusi Pasha]] declared Mustafa Kemal's struggle legitimate, and resigned after less than a month in office. In his place, Damat Ferid Pasha returned to the premiership. The [[Sublime Porte]]'s decapitation by the Entente allowed Mustafa Kemal to consolidate his position as the sole leader of Turkish resistance against the Allies, and to that end made him the legitimate representative of the Turkish people.<ref name="auto" />

=== Promulgation of the Grand National Assembly ===
((Main|Government of the Grand National Assembly))

((See also|Grand National Assembly of Turkey))
[[File:Opening of the Grand National Assembly, 23 April 1920.jpg|thumb|Opening of the [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|Grand National Assembly]]]]
The strong measures taken against the Nationalists by the Allies in March 1920 began a distinct new phase of the conflict. Mustafa Kemal sent a note to the governors and force commanders, asking them to [[1920 Turkish Grand National Assembly election|conduct elections]] to provide delegates for a new parliament to represent the Ottoman (Turkish) people, which would convene in Ankara. With the proclamation of the counter-government, Kemal would then ask the sultan to accept its authority.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=169)) Mustafa Kemal appealed to the [[Islamic world]], asking for help to make sure that everyone knew he was still fighting in the name of the sultan who was also the caliph. He stated he wanted to free the caliph from the Allies. He found an ally in the [[Khilafat Movement|Khilafat movement]] of [[British India]], where Indians protested Britain's planned dismemberment of Turkey.<ref>((cite book |last1=Hutchinson |first1=J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NN0m_c8p6fgC&pg=PA926 |title=Nationalism: Critical Concepts in Political Science |last2=Smith |first2=A.D. |publisher=Routledge |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-415-20112-4 |page=926 |quote=Khilafat movement which was primarily designed to prevent the allied dismemberment of Turkey after World War One. |access-date=2023-02-09 |issue=v. 3))</ref><ref>((cite book |last1=Ali |first1=A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ABvzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA273 |title=IAS Mains Paper 1 Indian Heritage & Culture History & Geography of the world & Society 2020 |last2=Sahni |first2=J. |last3=Sharma |first3=M. |last4=Sharma |first4=P. |last5=Goel |first5=P. |publisher=Arihant Publications India limited |year=2019 |isbn=978-93-241-9210-3 |page=273))</ref><ref>((cite book |last=Vipul |first=S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RX4OiM0MGZUC&pg=PA88 |title=Longman History & Civics Icse 10 |publisher=Pearson Education |year=2009 |isbn=978-81-317-2042-4 |page=88))</ref> A committee was also started for sending funds to help the soon to be proclaimed Ankara government of Mustafa Kemal.<ref name="Minault 1982">((cite book |last=Minault |first=G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAW8GreFqjkC&pg=PA137 |title=The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-231-51539-9 |page=137 |access-date=2023-07-10))</ref>
A flood of supporters moved to Ankara just ahead of the Allied dragnets. Included among them were [[Halide Edib Adıvar|Halide Edip]] and [[Adnan Adıvar|Abdülhak Adnan (Adıvar)]], [[İsmet İnönü|Mustafa İsmet Pasha (İnönü)]], [[Fevzi Çakmak|Mustafa Fevzi Pasha (Çakmak)]],<ref>[[A. L. Macfie|Macfie, A.L.]] (2014). ''Atatürk''. p.94</ref> many of Kemal's allies in the Ministry of War, and [[Celalettin Arif]], the president of the now shuttered Chamber of Deputies. Celaleddin Arif's desertion of the capital was of great significance, as he declared that the Ottoman Parliament had been dissolved illegally.

[[File:The Angora Government and its Claims.jpg|thumb|Zones of control held by the [[Ankara government]] and the Allies. Istanbul contemptuously referred to anyone who supported the nationalist movement led by Mustafa Kemal as "''Kemalî''s" or "''Kemalci''s". ''Kemalî'' was used pejoratively as a reference to the [[Celali rebellions|Celalî rebels]]. The foreign press used the term "Kemalists" interchangeably with the word "nationalists" to denote the Ankara-based movement and its armed strength.]]

Some 100 members of the Chamber of Deputies were able to escape the Allied roundup and joined 190 deputies elected. In March 1920, Turkish revolutionaries announced the establishment of a new parliament in Ankara known as the [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey]] (GNA) that was dominated by the A-RMHC.((Citation needed|date=March 2021)) The [[:tr:Meclis-i_Mebûsan_6._dönem_mebusları_listesi|parliament]] included Turks, Circassians, Kurds, and one Jew. They met in a [[War of Independence Museum|building]] that used to serve as the provincial headquarters of the local CUP chapter.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=169)) The inclusion of "Turkey" in its name reflected a increasing trend of new ways Ottoman citizens thought of their country, and was the first time it was formally used as the name of the country.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=169)) On 23 April, the assembly, assuming full governmental powers, gathered for the first time, electing Mustafa Kemal its first [[Speaker of the Grand National Assembly|Speaker]] and [[List of Ottoman grand viziers#Prime Minister of the Government of the Grand National Assembly (1920–1923)|Prime Minister]].<ref>((Cite book|last1=Heper|first1=Metin|title=The Routledge Handbook of Modern Turkey|last2=Sayari|first2=Sabri|date=7 May 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-30964-9|pages=41|language=en))</ref>

Hoping to undermine the Nationalist Movement, Mehmed VI issued a [[fatwa]] to qualify the Turkish revolutionaries as [[infidel]]s, calling for the death of its leaders.<ref name="Ardic">((cite book|last1=Ardic|first1=Nurullah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZAXNxxkJKYsC&q=fatwa+of+ankara&pg=PA251|title=Islam and the Politics of Secularism|date=21 August 2012|isbn=9781136489846|access-date=21 August 2014|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115124338/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZAXNxxkJKYsC&q=fatwa+of+ankara&pg=PA251|url-status=live))</ref> The fatwa stated that true believers should not go along with the Nationalist Movement as they committed [[apostasy]]. The [[mufti]] of Ankara [[:tr:Mehmet Rifat Börekçi|Rifat Börekçi]] issued a simultaneous fatwa, declaring that the caliphate was under the control of the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]] and the [[Damat Ferid Pasha|Ferid Pasha]] government.<ref name="Vahide">((cite book|last1=Vahide|first1=Sukran|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fdX-iggjrxwC&q=fatwa+of+ankara&pg=PA140|title=Islam in Modern Turkey|date=2012|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9780791482971|pages=140|access-date=21 August 2014|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115124343/https://books.google.com/books?id=fdX-iggjrxwC&q=fatwa+of+ankara&pg=PA140|url-status=live))</ref> In this text, the Nationalist Movement's goal was stated as freeing the sultanate and the caliphate from its enemies. In reaction to the desertion of several prominent figures to the Nationalist Movement, Ferid Pasha ordered Halide Edip, [[Ali Fuat Cebesoy|Ali Fuat]] and Mustafa Kemal to be sentenced to death in absentia for treason.<ref name=":22">((Cite book|last=Macfie|first=A.L.|title=Atatürk|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2014|isbn=978-1-138-83-647-1|pages=97|author-link=A. L. Macfie))</ref>

=== Clashes in İzmit ===
((More citations needed section|date=February 2023))
((Main|Revolts during the Turkish War of Independence|Revolt of Ahmet Anzavur|Kuva-yi Inzibatiye))

[[File:British officer inspecting Greek troops (Anatolia 1919-1922).jpg|thumb|right|A British officer inspecting Greek troops and trenches in Anatolia]]
The Istanbul government finally found an ally outside of the city walls in [[Anzavur Ahmed Pasha|Ahmet Anzavur]]. Throughout late 1919 and early 1920 the warlord recruited fellow Circassian bandits, decrying Kemal's nationalists as 'wicked Unionists and freemasons'.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=155))

On 28 April the sultan raised 4,000 soldiers known as the [[Kuva-i Inzibatiye|Kuva-yi İnzibatiye]] (Caliphate Army) to combat the Nationalists. Then using money from the Allies, another force about 2,000 strong from non-Muslim inhabitants were initially deployed in [[Iznik|İznik]]. The sultan's government sent the forces under the name of the Caliphate Army to the revolutionaries to arouse counterrevolutionary sympathy.<ref>George F. Nafziger, ''Islam at War: A History'', p. 132.</ref> The British, being skeptical of how formidable these insurgents were, decided to use irregular power to counteract the revolutionaries. The Nationalist forces were distributed all around Turkey, so many smaller units were dispatched to face them. In İzmit there were two battalions of the British army. These units were to be used to rout the partisans under the command of Ali Fuat and Refet Pasha.
[[File:Execution of a Kemalist Turk in Izmit 1920.jpg|thumb|right|Execution of a Kemalist by the British forces in Izmit (1920)]]

Anatolia had many competing forces on its soil: British troops, Nationalist militia (Kuva-yi Milliye), the sultan's army (Kuva-yi İnzibatiye), and Anzavur's bands. On 13 April 1920, an uprising supported by Anzavur against the GNA [[first conflict occurred at Düzce|occurred at Düzce]] as a direct consequence of the fatwa. Within days the rebellion spread to [[Bolu]] and [[Gerede]]. The movement engulfed northwestern Anatolia for about a month. On 14 June, Nationalist militia fought a pitched battle near İzmit against the Kuva-yi İnzibatiye, Anzavur's bands, and British units. Yet under heavy attack some of the Kuva-yi İnzibatiye deserted and joined the Nationalist militia. Anzavur was not so lucky, as the Nationalists tasked [[Ethem the Circassian]] with crushing Anzavur's revolt. This revealed the sultan did not have the unwavering support of his own men and allies. Meanwhile, the rest of these forces withdrew behind the British lines which held their position. For now, Istanbul was out of Ankara's grasp.

The clash outside İzmit brought serious consequences. British forces conducted combat operations on the Nationalists and the [[Royal Air Force]] carried out aerial bombardments against the positions, which forced Nationalist forces to temporarily retreat to more secure missions. The British commander in Turkey, General [[George Milne, 1st Baron Milne|George Milne]]—, asked for reinforcements. This led to a study to determine what would be required to defeat the Turkish Nationalists. The report, signed by French Field Marshal [[Ferdinand Foch]], concluded that 27 divisions were necessary, but the British army did not have 27 divisions to spare. Also, a deployment of this size could have disastrous political consequences back home. World War I had just ended, and the British public would not support another lengthy and costly expedition.

The British accepted the fact that a nationalist movement could not be defeated without deployment of consistent and well-trained forces. On 25 June, the forces originating from Kuva-i İnzibatiye were dismantled under British supervision. The British realised that the best option to overcome these Turkish Nationalists was to use a force that was battle-tested and fierce enough to fight the Turks on their own soil. The British had to look no further than Turkey's neighbor already occupying its territory: Greece.

=== Treaty of Sèvres ===
((More citations needed section|date=December 2021))
((Main|Treaty of Sèvres))

[[File:SevresTreaty.png|thumb|275x275px|Borders (spheres of influence not shown) of the Ottoman Empire according to the unratified [[Treaty of Sèvres]] (1920) which was annulled and replaced by the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] in 1923]]
Eleftherios Venizelos, pessimistic of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Anatolia, requested to the Allies that a peace treaty be drawn up with the hope that fighting would stop. The subsequent treaty of Sèvres in August 1920 confirmed the Arab [[Vilayet|provinces]] of the empire would be reorganized into new nations given to Britain and France in the form of [[League of Nations mandate|Mandates]] by the [[League of Nations]], while the rest of the Empire would be partitioned between Greece, Italy, [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|France (via Syrian mandate)]], [[Mandatory Iraq|Britain (via Iraqi mandate)]], [[Wilsonian Armenia|Armenia (potentially under an American mandate)]], and [[Democratic Republic of Georgia|Georgia]]. Smyrna would hold a plebiscite on whether to stay with Greece or Turkey, and the Kurdistan region would hold one on the question of independence. British, French, and Italian [[Sphere of influence|spheres of influence]] would also extend into Anatolia beyond the land concessions. The old capital of Constantinople as well as the Dardanelles would be under international League of Nations control.

However, the treaty could never come into effect. The treaty was extremely unpopular, with protests against the final document held even before its release in Sultanahmet square. Though Mehmed VI and Ferid Pasha loathed the treaty, they did not want Istanbul to join Ankara in nationalist struggle.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=213)) The Ottoman government and Greece never ratified it. Though Ferid Pasha signed the treaty, the Ottoman Senate, the upper house with seats appointed by the sultan, refused to ratify the treaty. Greece disagreed on the borders drawn. The other allies began to fracture their support of the settlement immediately. Italy started openly supporting the Nationalists with arms by the end of 1920, and the French signed another [[Treaty of Ankara (1921)|separate peace treaty]] with Ankara only months later.

Kemal's GNA Government responded to the Treaty of Sèvres by promulgating [[Turkish Constitution of 1921|a new constitution in January 1921]]. The resulting constitution consecrated the principle of popular sovereignty; authority not deriving from the unelected sultan, but from the Turkish people who elect governments representative of their interests. This document became the legal basis for the war of independence by the GNA, as the sultan's signature of the Treaty of Sèvres would be unconstitutional as his position was not elected. While the constitution did not specify a future role of the sultan, the document gave Kemal ever more legitimacy in the eyes of Turks for justified resistance against Istanbul.

==Fighting==
=== Southern Front ===
((Main|Franco-Turkish War|))

((See also|Franco-Syrian War|Hananu Revolt|Alawite revolt of 1919))
[[File:Arab Kingdom of Syria.png|thumb|Military situation of Syria and Cilicia, January 1920]][[File:Kuvai-milliye-Millitias-from Turkish wikipedia.png|thumb|Turkish militias in Cilicia]]In contrast to the Eastern and Western fronts, it was mostly unorganized Kuva-yi Milliye which were fighting in the [[Franco-Turkish War|Southern Front]] against France. They had help from the Syrians, who were fighting [[Franco-Syrian War|their own war]] with the French.

The British troops which occupied coastal Syria by the end of World War I were [[1918 Anglo-French Modus Vivendi|replaced by French troops over 1919]], with the Syrian interior going to [[Faisal I of Iraq|Faisal bin Al-Hussein]]'s self-proclaimed [[Arab Kingdom of Syria]]. France which wanted to take control of all of [[Ottoman Syria|Syria]] and [[Cilicia]]. There was also a desire facilitate the return of Armenian refugees in the region to their homes, and the occupation force consisted of the [[French Armenian Legion]] as well as various Armenian militia groups. 150,000 Armenians were repatriated to their homes within months of French occupation. On 21 January 1920, a Turkish Nationalist [[Battle of Marash|uprising and siege]] occurred against the French garrison in [[Marash]]. The French position untenable they retreated to [[İslahiye|Islahiye]], resulting in a massacre of many Armenians by Turkish militia.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=161)) A grueling siege followed in [[Siege of Aintab|Antep]] which featured intense sectarian violence between Turks and Armenians.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=176)) After a failed uprising by the Nationalists in Adana, by 1921, the French and Turks signed an [[Cilicia Peace Treaty|armistice]] and eventually a [[Treaty of Ankara (1921)|treaty]] was brokered demarcating the border between the Ankara government and French controlled Syria. In the end, there was a mass exodus of Cilician Armenians to French controlled Syria, Previous Armenian survivors of deportation found themselves again as refugees and families which avoided the worst of the six years violence were forced from their homes, ending thousands of years of Christian presence in Southern Anatolia.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=185)) With France being the first Allied power to recognize and negotiate with the Ankara government only months after signing the Treaty of Sèvres, it was the first to break from the coordinated Allied approach to the [[Eastern question]]. In 1923 the [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon]] under French authority would be proclaimed in former Ottoman territory.

Some efforts to coordinate between Turkish Nationalists and the Syrian rebels persisted from 1920 to 1921, with the Nationalists supporting the Faisal's kingdom through [[Ibrahim Hananu|Ibrahim Hanunu]] and [[Alawite revolt of 1919|Alawite groups]] which were also fighting the French.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|pp=204–206)) While the French conquered Syria, Cilicia had to be abandoned.

=== Al-Jazira Front ===
((Main|:tr:Türk Kurtuluş Savaşı El-Cezire Cephesi|Mahmud Barzanji revolts))

Kuva-yi Milliye also engaged with British forces in the "[[:tr:Türk Kurtuluş Savaşı El-Cezire Cephesi|Al-Jazira Front]]," primarily in [[Mosul]]. [[Ali İhsan Pasha|Ali İhsan Pasha (Sabis)]] and his forces defending Mosul would surrender to the British in October 1918, but the British ignored the armistice and seized the city, following which the pasha also ignored the armistice and distributed weapons to the locals.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=198)) Even before Mustafa Kemal's movement was fully organized, rogue commanders found allies in Kurdish tribes. The Kurds detested the taxes and centralization the British demanded, including [[Mahmud Barzanji|Shaykh Mahmud]] of the [[Barzani Family|Barzani family]]. Having previously supported the British invasion of Mesopotamia to become the governor of South Kurdistan, Mahmud revolted but was apprehended by 1919. Without legitimacy to govern the region, he was released from captivity to [[Sulaymaniyah]], where he again declared an uprising against the British as the [[Kingdom of Kurdistan|King of Kurdistan]]. Though an alliance existed with the Turks, little material support came to him from Ankara, and by 1923 there was a desire to cease hostilities between the Turks and British at Barzanji's expense. Mahmud was overthrown in 1924, and after a [[Mosul question|1926 plebiscite]], Mosul was awarded to [[Mandatory Iraq|British-controlled Iraq]].((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=199–202))

=== Eastern Front ===
((More citations needed section|date=June 2023))
((Main|Turkish–Armenian War))

((See also|Soviet Union–Turkey relations#Bolshevik support for Turkish revolutionaries|Armenian–Azerbaijani war (1918–1920)|Muslim uprisings in Kars and Sharur–Nakhichevan))
[[File:Ethel Franklin Betts, Save the Survivors, 1918 Cornell CUL PJM 2029 01.jpg|thumb|Fundraising poster by the [[American Committee for Relief in the Near East]]]]
Since 1917, the Caucasus was in a chaotic state. The border of newly independent [[First Republic of Armenia|Armenia]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]] was defined in the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] (3 March 1918) after the [[October Revolution|Bolshevik revolution]], and later by the [[Treaty of Batum]] (4 June 1918). To the east, Armenia was [[Armenian–Azerbaijani war (1918–1920)|at war]] with the [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] after the breakup of the [[Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic]], and received support from [[Anton Denikin]]'s [[Armed Forces of South Russia|White Russian Army]]. It was obvious that after the Armistice of Mudros (30 October 1918) the eastern border was not going to stay as it was drawn, which mandated the evacuation of the Ottoman army back to its 1914 borders. Right after the Armistice of Mudros was signed, pro-Ottoman provisional republics were proclaimed in [[Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus|Kars]] and [[Republic of Aras|Aras]] which were subsequently invaded by Armenia. Ottoman soldiers were convinced not to demobilize lest the area become a 'second [[Macedonian Struggle|Macedonia]]'.((Sfn|Gingeras|2022|p=181)) Both sides of the new borders had massive refugee populations and famine, which were compounded by the renewed and more symmetric sectarian violence (See [[Massacres of Azerbaijanis in Armenia (1917–1921)]] and [[Muslim uprisings in Kars and Sharur–Nakhichevan]]). There were talks going on with the [[Armenian diaspora|Armenian Diaspora]] and Allied Powers on reshaping the border. Woodrow Wilson agreed to transfer territories to Armenia based on the principles of national self-determination. The results of these talks were to be reflected on the [[Treaty of Sèvres]] (10 August 1920).

[[Kâzım Karabekir|Kâzım Karabekir Pasha]], commander of the [[XV Corps (Ottoman Empire)|XV corps]], encountered Muslim refugees fleeing from the Armenian army, but did not have the authority to cross the border. Karabekir's two reports (30 May and 4 June 1920) outlined the situation in the region. He recommended redrawing the eastern borders, especially around Erzurum. The Russian government was receptive to this and demanded that [[Van, Turkey|Van]] and [[Bitlis]] be transferred to Armenia. This was unacceptable to the Turkish revolutionaries. However, Soviet support was absolutely vital for the Turkish Nationalist movement, as Turkey was underdeveloped and had no domestic armaments industry. [[Bekir Sami Kunduh|Bakir Sami (Kunduh)]] was assigned to negotiate with the Bolsheviks.

On 24 September 1920, Karabekir's [[XV Corps (Ottoman Empire)|XV corps]] and Kurdish militia advance on [[Battle of Kars (1920)|Kars]], blowing through Armenian opposition, and then [[Battle of Alexandropol|Alexandropol]]. With an advance on Yerevan imminent, on 28 November 1920, the [[11th Army (RSFSR)|11th Red Army]] under the command of [[Anatoliy Gekker]] crossed over into Armenia from [[Soviet Azerbaijan]], and the Armenian government surrendered to Bolshevik forces, ending the conflict.

The [[Treaty of Alexandropol]] (2—3 December 1920) was the first treaty (although illegitimate) signed by the Turkish revolutionaries. The 10th article in the Treaty of Alexandropol stated that Armenia renounced the Treaty of Sèvres and its allotted partition of Anatolia. The agreement was signed with representatives of the former government of Armenia, which by that time had no ''de jure'' or ''de facto'' power in Armenia, since Soviet rule was already established in the country. On 16 March 1921, the Bolsheviks and Turkey signed a more comprehensive agreement, the [[Treaty of Kars]], which involved representatives of [[Soviet Armenia]], [[Soviet Azerbaijan]], and [[Soviet Georgia]].

=== Revolts ===
((Main articles|Revolts during the Turkish War of Independence))

((Expand section|date=August 2023))

=== Western Front ===
((More citations needed section|date=June 2023))
((Main|Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)))
[[File:Ermoscharge.JPG|thumb|right|A photograph of [[Hellenic Army]] troops advancing on Nationalist positions during the 1920 [[Greek Summer Offensive]]]]
The Greco-Turkish War—referred to as the "Western Front" by the Turks and the "Asia Minor Campaign" by the Greeks—started when Greek forces landed in [[Smyrna]] (now İzmir), on 15 May 1919. A perimeter around the city known as the Milne Line was established in which low-intensity guerilla war commenced.

The conflict escalated when Greece and Britain performed a joint [[Greek Summer Offensive|offensive over the summer]] of 1920, which Istanbul condemned, that took control over the Marmara coast and provided strategic depth to the İzmir occupation zone. The cities of İzmit, [[Manisa]], [[Balıkesir]], [[Aydın]], and [[Bursa]] were taken with little Turkish resistance.

A second Greek offensive in autumn was launched with the goal to pressure Istanbul and Ankara to sign the Sèvres Treaty. This peace process was temporarily halted with the fall of Venizelos when the pro-Entente [[Alexander of Greece|King Alexander]] died from sepsis after being bitten by a monkey. Much to Allied chagrin he was replaced by his anti-Entente father [[Constantine I of Greece|King Constantine]]. Greece ceased to receive much Allied support after the change in power. The [[Army of Asia Minor]] was purged of Venizelist officers, their replacements being less competent.

[[File:Mustafa Kemal at the end of the First Battle of İnönü.png|thumb|Mustafa Kemal Pasha and his comrades-in-arms at the end of the [[First Battle of İnönü]]]]

When the offensive resumed, the Turks received their first victory when the Greeks encountered stiff resistance in the battles of [[First Battle of İnönü|First]] and [[Second Battle of İnönü|Second İnönü]], due to İsmet Pasha's organization of an irregular militia into a regular army. The two victories led to Allied proposals to amend the Treaty of Sèvres where both Ankara and Istanbul were represented, but Greece refused. With the conclusion of the Southern and Eastern fronts, Ankara was able to concentrate more forces on the West against the Greeks. They also began to receive [[Soviet Union–Turkey relations#Bolshevik support for Turkish revolutionaries|support from Soviet Union]], as well as France and Italy, who sought to check British influence in the Near East.

June–July 1921 saw heavy fighting in the [[Battle of Kütahya–Eskişehir|Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir]]. While it was an eventual Greek victory, the Turkish army withdrew in good order to the [[Sakarya River|Sakarya river]], their last line of defence. Mustafa Kemal Pasha [[:tr:Başkumandanlık Kanunu|replaced]] İsmet Pasha after the defeat as commander-in-chief as well as his political duties. The decision was made in the Greek military command to march on the Nationalist capital of Ankara to force Mustafa Kemal to the negotiating table. For 21 days, the Turks and Greeks fought a pitched [[Battle of the Sakarya|battle at the Sakarya river]], which ended in Greek withdrawal. Almost of year of stalemate without much fighting followed, during which Greek morale and discipline faltered while Turkish strength increased. French and Italian forces evacuated Anatolia. The Allies offered an armistice to the Turks, which Mustafa Kemal refused.

==== Peace negotiations and the Great Offensive (1921–1922) ====
((Further|Conference of London of 1921–1922|Chanak Crisis))[[File:Turkije verjaagt Griekenland In Klein-Azië (titel op object), NG-505-108.jpg|thumb|A political cartoon: Greek king Constantine runs away from the bomb which reads "KEMAL"]]
In salvaging the Treaty of Sèvres, The Triple Entente forced the Turkish revolutionaries to agree with the terms through a series of conferences in London. The conference of London gave the Triple Entente an opportunity to reverse some of its policies. In October, parties to the conference received a report from Admiral [[Mark Lambert Bristol]]. He organised a commission to analyse the situation, and inquire into the bloodshed during the Occupation of İzmir and the following activities in the region. The commission reported that if annexation would not follow, Greece should not be the only occupation force in this area. Admiral Bristol was not so sure how to explain this annexation to [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] Woodrow Wilson as he insisted on "respect for nationalities" in the Fourteen Points. He believed that the sentiments of the Turks "will never accept this annexation".<ref name="Buzanski">((cite book | last=Buzanski | first=P.M. | title=Admiral Mark L. Bristol and Turkish-American Relations, 1919-1922 | publisher=University of California, Berkeley | year=1960 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5mtKAQAAMAAJ | page=62))</ref>

Neither the Conference of London nor Admiral Mark Lambert Bristol's report changed British prime minister [[David Lloyd George]]'s position. On 12 February 1921, he went with the annexation of the Aegean coast which was followed by the Greek offensive. David Lloyd George acted with his sentiments, which were developed during [[Gallipoli campaign|Battle of Gallipoli]], as opposed to [[George Milne, 1st Baron Milne|General Milne]], who was his officer on the ground.

[[File:Liberation of Istanbul on October 6, 1923.jpg|thumb|right|Turkish troops enter Constantinople on 6 October 1923]]

First negotiations between the sides failed during the Conference of London. The stage for peace was set after the Triple Entente's decision to make an arrangement with the Turkish revolutionaries. Before the talks with the Entente, the Nationalists partially settled their eastern borders with the Democratic Republic of Armenia, signing the [[Treaty of Alexandropol]], but changes in the Caucasus—especially the establishment of the [[Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic|Armenian SSR]]—required one more round of talks. The outcome was the [[Treaty of Kars]], a successor treaty to the earlier [[Treaty of Moscow (1921)|Treaty of Moscow]] of March 1921. It was signed in [[Kars]] with the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] on 13 October 1921<ref>((Cite web|url=http://www.amsi.ge/istoria/sab/yarsi.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070424044332/http://www.amsi.ge/istoria/sab/yarsi.html|url-status=dead|title=ყარსის ხელშეკრულება|archive-date=24 April 2007|website=www.amsi.ge))</ref> and ratified in [[Yerevan]] on 11 September 1922.<ref>((cite web|url=http://groong.usc.edu/treaties/kars.html|title=ANN/Groong -- Treaty of Berlin - 07/13/1878|access-date=17 September 2016|archive-date=11 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511142658/http://groong.usc.edu/treaties/kars.html|url-status=live))</ref>

With the borders secured with treaties and agreements at east and south, Mustafa Kemal was now in a commanding position. On August 26, 1922, in the [[Battle of Dumlupınar]], the Turks routed the Greek positions and launched the [[Great Offensive]]. The Nationalists demanded that the Greek army((clarify|date=January 2019)) evacuate East Thrace, Imbros, and Tenedos as well as Asia Minor. Mustafa Kemal sent a telegram to his commanders: "Armies! Your first goal is the Mediterranean, onwards!" The Turks recaptured all of Greece's gains in the span of three weeks, and resulted in the [[Turkish capture of Smyrna|recapture of Smyrna]] by Turkish forces right after which occurred the [[great fire of Smyrna]]. Greece's retreat from Anatolia saw its army committing scorched earth tactics and the depopulation of Muslim villages.

The British were prepared to defend the neutral zone of [[Constantinople]] and the Straits and the French asked Kemal to respect it,<ref>((Cite book |last=Psomiades |first=Harry J. |title=The Eastern Question, the Last Phase: a Study in Greek-Turkish Diplomacy |publisher=Pella |year=2000 |publication-place=New York |publication-date=2000 |page=33))</ref> to which he agreed on 28 September.<ref>A. L. Macfie, 'The Chanak affair (September–October 1922)' ''Balkan Studies'' 20(2) (1979), 332.</ref> However, France, Italy, Yugoslavia, and the British Dominions objected to a new war.<ref>Psomiades, 27-8.</ref> France, Italy and Britain called on Mustafa Kemal to enter into cease-fire negotiations. In return, on 29 September Kemal asked for the negotiations to be started at [[Mudanya]]. This was agreed on 11 October, two [[Chanak Crisis|hours before the British intended to engage Nationalist forces at Çanak]], and signed the next day. The Greeks initially refused to agree but did so on 13 October.<ref>Psomiades, 35.</ref> Factors persuading Turkey to sign may have included the arrival of British reinforcements.<ref>Macfie, 336.</ref> With the British government and public firmly anti-war, the [[Chanak Crisis]] led to the collapse of David Lloyd George's coalition government.

==== Armistice of Mudanya ====
((More citations needed section|date=December 2021))((Further|Armistice of Mudanya))
The Marmara sea resort town of [[Mudanya]] hosted the conference to arrange the armistice on 3 October 1922. İsmet Pasha—commander of the western armies—was in front of the Allies. The scene was unlike Mudros as the British and the Greeks were on the defence. Greece was represented by the Allies.

The British still expected the GNA to make concessions. From the first speech, the British were startled as Ankara demanded fulfillment of the National Pact. During the conference, the British troops in Constantinople were preparing for a Kemalist attack. There was never any fighting in Thrace, as Greek units withdrew before the Turks crossed the straits from Asia Minor. The only concession that İsmet made to the British was an agreement that his troops would not advance any farther toward the Dardanelles, which gave a safe haven for the British troops as long as the conference continued. The conference dragged on far beyond the original expectations. In the end, it was the British who yielded to Ankara's advances.

[[File:Atatürk askerî birlikleri denetlerken, İzmit, 18 Haziran 1922.png|thumb|Kemal Pasha inspects the Turkish troops (18 June 1922)]]

The [[Armistice of Mudanya]] was signed on 11 October. By its terms, the Greek army would move west of the [[Maritsa]], clearing [[East Thrace|Eastern Thrace]] to the Allies. The famous American author [[Ernest Hemingway]] was in Thrace at the time, and he covered the evacuation of Eastern Thrace of its Greek population. He has several short stories written about Thrace and Smyrna, which appear in his book ''[[In Our Time (short story collection)|In Our Time]]''. The agreement came into force starting 15 October. Allied forces would stay in Eastern Thrace for a month to assure law and order. In return, Ankara would recognise continued British occupation of Constantinople and the Straits zones until the final treaty was signed.

Refet Bele was assigned to seize control of Eastern Thrace from the Allies. He was the first representative to reach the old capital. The British did not allow the hundred gendarmes who came with him. That resistance lasted until the next day.

== Outcome ==
=== Abolition of the sultanate ===
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 Constantinople, resting on the sovereignty of an individual, had already ceased to exist when the British forces occupied the city after World War I.<ref name="Kinross, p. 348">Kinross, ''Rebirth of a Nation'', p. 348</ref> 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 National Assembly voted to [[abolition of the Ottoman sultanate|abolish the sultanate]]. Mehmed VI fled Turkey on 17 November 1922 on [[HMS Malaya]]; so ended [[Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire|the over 600 year-old monarchy]].<ref>((Cite book|last=Finkel|first=Caroline|title=Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923|page=2))</ref> [[Ahmet Tevfik Pasha|Ahmed Tevfik Pasha]] also resigned as Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) a couple days later, without a replacement.

=== Treaty of Lausanne ===
((More citations needed section|date=December 2021))[[File:Turkey-Greece-Bulgaria on Treaty of Lausanne.png|thumb|329x329px|The Treaty of Lausanne, signed in 1923 that guaranteed Turkey's independence, replacing the Treaty of Sèvres]]The [[Lausanne Conference of 1922–23|Conference of Lausanne]] began on 21 November 1922 in [[Lausanne]], [[Switzerland]] and lasted into 1923. Its purpose was the negotiation of a treaty to replace the [[Treaty of Sèvres]], which, under the new government of the Grand National Assembly, was no longer recognised by [[Turkey]]. [[İsmet İnönü|İsmet Pasha]] was the leading Turkish negotiator. İsmet 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 of the Ottoman Empire|Capitulations]], the [[Turkish Straits]] and the like, he refused any proposal that would compromise Turkish sovereignty.<ref>Shaw, ''History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey'', 365</ref> Finally, after long debates, on 24 July 1923, the [[Treaty of Lausanne (1923)|Treaty of Lausanne]] was signed. Ten weeks after the signature the Allied forces left Istanbul.<ref>Kinross, Atatürk, ''The Rebirth of a Nation'', 373.</ref>

The conference opened with representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Turkey. It heard speeches from [[Benito Mussolini]] of Italy and [[Raymond Poincaré]] of France. At its conclusion, Turkey assented to the political clauses and the "freedom of the [[Dardanelles|straits]]", which was Britain's main concern. The matter of [[Mosul question|the status of Mosul was deferred]], since [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|Curzon]] refused to be budged on the British position that the area was part of Iraq. The British Iraq Mandate's possession of Mosul was confirmed by a League of Nations brokered agreement between Turkey and Great Britain in 1926. The French delegation, however, did not achieve any of their goals and on 30 January 1923 issued a statement that they did not consider the draft treaty to be any more than a "basis of discussion". The Turks therefore refused to sign the treaty. On 4 February 1923, Curzon made a final appeal to İsmet Pasha to sign, and when he refused the Foreign Secretary broke off negotiations and left that night on the [[Orient Express]].

The [[Treaty of Lausanne]], finally signed in July 1923, led to international recognition of the Grand National Assembly as the legitimate government of Turkey and sovereignty of the [[Republic of Turkey]] as the [[successor state]] to the defunct [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref>((cite web|url=http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Treaty_of_Lausanne|title=Treaty of Lausanne - World War I Document Archive|access-date=17 September 2016|archive-date=12 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112221242/http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Treaty_of_Lausanne|url-status=live))</ref> Most goals on the condition of sovereignty were granted to Turkey. In addition to Turkey's more favourable land borders compared with Treaty of Sèvres (as can be seen in the picture to the right), capitulations were abolished, the issue of Mosul would be decided by a League of Nations [[plebiscite]] in 1926, while the border with Greece and Bulgaria would become demilitarised. The Turkish Straits would be under an international commission which gave Turkey more of a voice (this arrangement would be replaced by the [[Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits|Montreux Convention]] in 1936). The [[Maritsa]] (Meriç) River would again become the western border of Turkey, as it was before 1914.

=== Establishment of the Republic ===
((Expand section|date=December 2021))
Turkey was [[Republic Day (Turkey)|proclaimed a Republic on 29 October 1923]], with Mustafa Kemal Pasha was elected as the first President. In forming his government, he placed [[Fevzi Çakmak|Mustafa Fevzi (Çakmak)]], [[Kâzım Özalp|Köprülü Kâzım (Özalp)]], and [[İsmet İnönü|İsmet (İnönü)]] in important positions. They helped him to establish his [[Atatürk's Reforms|subsequent political and social reforms]] in Turkey, transforming the country into a modern and secular nation state.

== Historiography ==
((Main|Kemalist historiography))
The orthodox Turkish perspective on the war is based primarily on the speeches (see [[Nutuk]]) and narratives of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a high-ranking officer in World War I and the leader of the Nationalist Movement. Kemal was characterized as the founder and sole leader of the Nationalist Movement. Potentially negative facts were omitted in the orthodox historiography. This interpretation had a tremendous impact on the perception of Turkish history, even by foreign researchers. The more recent historiography has come to understand the Kemalist version as a nationalist framing of events and movements leading to the republic's founding. This was accomplished by sidelining unwanted elements which had links to the detested and genocidal CUP, and thus elevating Kemal and his policies.<ref name="Avedian" />((Rp|805–806))[[File:Halâskârân-ı İslâm afiş.jpg|thumb|Propaganda poster of the [[Turkish National Movement]]]]In the orthodox Turkish version of events, the Nationalist Movement broke with its defective past and took its strength from popular support led by Kemal, consequently giving him the surname ''Atatürk'', meaning "Father of Turks". According to historians such as [[Donald Bloxham]], [[Erik-Jan Zürcher|E.J. Zürcher]], and [[Taner Akçam]], this was not the case in reality, and a nationalist movement emerged through the backing of leaders of CUP, of whom many were war criminals, people who became wealthy with confiscated equities and they were not on trial for their crimes owing to the accelerating support for the National Movement. Kemalist figures, including many old members of the CUP, ended up writing the majority of the history of the war. The modern understanding in Turkey is greatly influenced by this nationalist and politically motivated history.<ref name="Avedian" />((Rp|806))

The claim that the Nationalist Movement emerged as a continuation of the CUP is based on the fact Nationalist leaders such as: [[Kâzım Karabekir]] and [[Fethi Okyar]] had been former members of the committee. However, their conduct during and after the war shows that various movements were competing with each other. Kazım Karabekir had [[Halil Kut]] (Enver Pasha's uncle) deported from Anatolia during the war. Suspecting that he may reorganize the CUP through [[Enver Pasha]]'s directives,<ref>((Cite web | url=https://www.haberturk.com/gundem/haber/1233106-kut-kahramani-halil-pasa-1921de-sinirdisi-edildi | title=Kut kahramanı Halil Paşa 1921'de sınırdışı edildi | date=May 2016 | access-date=15 April 2022 | archive-date=15 April 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415170916/https://www.haberturk.com/gundem/haber/1233106-kut-kahramani-halil-pasa-1921de-sinirdisi-edildi | url-status=live ))</ref> Mustafa Kemal appointed [[Ali Fuat Cebesoy]] as a representative to Moscow after learning Enver Pasha was lobbying in the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|RSFSR]] as he made promises to return Anatolia during [[Baku Congress]].<ref>((cite journal |last1=T. |first1=Ataöv |title=1-7 Eylül 1920 Doğu Hakları Birinci Kongresinde (Bakü) Enver Paşa'nın Konuşma Metni ve Bununla İlgili Kongre Kararı |journal=Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi |date=1974 |issue=29))</ref> In July 1921 Enver Pasha organized a congress in [[Batumi]] for former CUP members who were now [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|Grand National Assembly]] deputies. They intended to seize power and expected the [[Turkish National Movement|Kemalists]] would lose the [[Battle of the Sakarya]].<ref>FO 37t/Ö473/E 8417: Harington’dan Savaş Bakanlığı’na kapalı telyazısı, İstanbul 13.7.1921</ref> Due to Enver's leadership of the [[Basmachi movement]] and Djemal's visit to [[Afghanistan]], [[Fakhri Pasha|Fahri Pasha]] was appointed ambassador to Afghanistan to minimize their efforts; Turkey and Afghanistan signed a friendship treaty.<ref>Mehmet Saray, Afganistan ve Türkler, İstanbul 1987, s. 91 vd.</ref> After the war former high-ranking CUP members were semi-active in politics until they were purged following an [[İzmir plot|alleged assassination attempt]] on Mustafa Kemal's life. Former Finance minister [[Mehmed Cavid]] and Politician [[Ziya Hurşit]] were found guilty and executed and former members like Kâzım Karabekir were put on trial but acquitted <ref>Mumcu, Uğur (1992). Gazi Paşa'ya Suikast. Uğur Mumcu Vakfı Yayınları. ISBN 9758084097.</ref>

According to Mesut Uyar, the Turkish War of Independence was also a [[civil war]] which took place in [[Marmara Region|Southern Marmara]], [[Black Sea Region|Western and Eastern Black Sea]], and [[Central Anatolia Region|Central Anatolia]] regions. He states that its aspect as a civil war is pushed into the background in official and academic books as 'revolts'. The losers of civil war who neither supported sultan nor Ankara Government, which they considered a continuation of CUP, did not consider themselves rebels. He further emphasizes that casualties and financial losses that occurred in the civil war is at least as catastrophic as the war that was fought against the enemies in other fronts. Thus, he concludes that the war was similar to the [[Russian Revolution]].<ref>((Cite web|date=1 July 2020|author=Mesut Uyar|title=Kurtuluş Savaşı gerçek bir savaş mıydı?|url=https://www.indyturk.com/node/204791/t%C3%BCrkiyeden-sesler/kurtulu%C5%9F-sava%C5%9F%C4%B1-ger%C3%A7ek-bir-sava%C5%9F-m%C4%B1yd%C4%B1|access-date=13 May 2021|website=Independent Türkçe|language=tr|archive-date=22 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522110137/https://www.indyturk.com/node/204791/t%C3%BCrkiyeden-sesler/kurtulu%C5%9F-sava%C5%9F%C4%B1-ger%C3%A7ek-bir-sava%C5%9F-m%C4%B1yd%C4%B1|url-status=live))</ref><ref>((Cite book|last=Erickson|first=Edward J.|title=The Turkish War of Independence: a Military History, 1919-1923|pages=xvi, xxv))</ref>
[[File:The Abilene Daily Reporter (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 133, Ed. 1 Friday, October 13, 1922 - DPLA - 4f8cde42a03b2ac9f5ff0aa395b4babf (page 1) (cropped).jpg|thumb|''[[The Abilene Daily Reporter]]'' based in [[Texas]], U.S., called Mustafa Kemal "Turkey's [[George Washington]]" on 13 October 1922]]

Preference of the term "Kurtuluş Savaşı" (lit. Liberation War) has been criticized by Corry Guttstadt as it causes Turkey to be portrayed as "a victim of imperialist forces". In this version of events, minority groups are depicted as a pawn used by these forces. Turkish Islamists, right-wing faction and also leftists regard this historical narrative to be legitimate. In fact, Ottoman Empire had joined the First World War with expansionist goals. The CUP government intended to expand the Empire into [[Central Asia]]. When they were defeated, however, they depicted themselves as the victims, even though war brought dire consequences for non-Muslim minorities. Guttstadt states that Turkish War of Independence, which was conducted against Armenian and Greek minorities, was an Islamist campaign as National Defense Committees were organizations founded with Islamist characteristics.<ref>((Cite web|last=Gündoğan|first=Kazım|date=4 June 2021|title=Osmanlı ve Türkiye'de Yahudiler|url=https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/osmanli-ve-turkiyede-yahudiler-haber-1518332|access-date=8 June 2021|website=gazeteduvar|language=tr-TR|archive-date=8 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608111719/https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/osmanli-ve-turkiyede-yahudiler-haber-1518332|url-status=live))</ref><ref>((Cite book|last=Guttstadt|first=Corry|url=|title=Turkey, the Jews, and the Holocaust|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=4–5))</ref> On the other hand, the embrace of the Turkish War of Independence by Islamists is not common. During the war, Islamists such as Ottoman [[Shaykh al-Islām]] [[Mustafa Sabri]] accused the Ankara-based Nationalist Movement of being a rebellion against the caliphate and the monarchy. After the war, Islamists, disturbed by Mustafa Kemal's secularist [[Atatürk's reforms|reforms]] in Republican Turkey, put forward various [[Conspiracy theories in Turkey#List of conspiracy theories|conspiracy theories]] to try to discredit both the war and Kemal, the commander-in-chief of the Turkish side.<ref>((Cite web |title=İngiltere Büyükelçisi Moore'dan Kadir Mısıroğlu'nun 'Atatürk' iddiasına yanıt: Sahte tarih! |url=https://t24.com.tr/haber/ingiltere-buyukelcisi-mooredan-kadir-misiroglunun-ataturk-iddiasina-yanit-sahte-tarih,431994 |access-date=2023-01-08 |website=T24 |language=Turkish))</ref>

However, from the Turkish perspective, the term "Kurtuluş Savaşı" is widely defended, as the overwhelming majority of Turks view the event as a liberation from a foreign occupation. A speech delivered by Mustafa Kemal on 24 April 1920, to the newly established Ankara government, summed up the Turkish perspective of the situation: "It is known to all that the seat of the [[Ottoman Caliphate|Caliphate]] and [[General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire|Government]] is under temporary occupation by foreign forces and that our independence is greatly restricted. Submitting to these conditions would mean national acceptance of a slavery proposed to us by foreign powers."<ref>((Cite book|last1=Pope|first1=Nicóle|last2=Pope|first2=Hugh|title=Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey|page=52))</ref> The Treaty of Sèvres further promoted the Turkish narrative of the need to "liberate" the country. Should no action be taken, the Turkish state would be reduced to rump state in central Anatolia under heavy foreign influence.<ref>((Cite book|last=McMeekin|first=Sean|title=The Ottoman Endgame|page=439))</ref>

Armenian historian [[Richard G. Hovannisian]] writes that the Italians were "currying favor" with Turkish Nationalist forces by allowing "clandestine sale and shipment of arms" to them.<ref>((cite book |last=Hovannisian |first=Richard G. |title=The Republic of Armenia |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-520-01805-2 |volume=3 |location=Berkeley |page=408 |author-link=Richard G. Hovannisian))</ref>

== Impact ==
=== Ethnic cleansing ===
((Main|Armenian genocide#Turkish War of Independence|Greek genocide#Greco-Turkish War|Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)#Greek massacres of Turks))((Further|Turkish war crimes))((See also|Late Ottoman genocides|Population exchange between Greece and Turkey))
Historian Erik Sjöberg concludes that "It seems, in the end, unlikely that the Turkish Nationalist leaders, though secular in name, ever had any intention of allowing any sizeable non-Muslim minority to remain."((sfn|Sjöberg|2016|p=40)) According to [[Rıza Nur]], one of the Turkish delegates at Lausanne, wrote that "disposing of people of different races, languages and religions in our country is the most ... vital issue".((sfn|Sjöberg|2016|p=40)) Many Greek men were conscripted into unarmed [[Labour Battalions (Ottoman Empire)|labor battalions]] where the death rate sometimes exceeded 90 percent.<ref>((cite journal|last1=Basso|first1=Andrew|date=2016|title=Towards a Theory of Displacement Atrocities: The Cherokee Trail of Tears, The Herero Genocide, and The Pontic Greek Genocide|url=https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/gsp/vol10/iss1/5/|journal=Genocide Studies and Prevention|volume=10|issue=1|pages=5–29|doi=10.5038/1911-9933.10.1.1297|issn=1911-0359|doi-access=free|access-date=4 May 2021|archive-date=19 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619125623/https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/gsp/vol10/iss1/5/|url-status=live))</ref> [[Raymond Kévorkian]] states that "removing non-Turks from the sanctuary of Anatolia continued to be one of" the Turkish Nationalists' main activities after World War I.((sfn|Kévorkian|2020|p=149)) Preventing Armenians and other Christians from returning home, and therefore allowing their properties to be retained by those who had stolen them during the war, was a key factor in securing popular support for the Turkish Nationalist Movement.((sfn|Kévorkian|2020|p=155)) Christian civilians were subjected to forced deportation to expel them from the country, a policy that continued after the war.((sfn|Kévorkian|2020|pp=159–160)) These deportations were similar to those employed during the Armenian Genocide and caused many deaths.((sfn|Kévorkian|2020|p=164)) Over 1 million Greeks were expelled ((Citation needed|date=November 2022))as were all remaining Armenians in the areas of [[Diyarbakır|Diyarbekir]], [[Mardin]], [[Urfa]], [[Harpoot|Harput]], and [[Malatya|Malatia]]—forced across the border into French-mandate Syria.((sfn|Kévorkian|2020|p=161))

Vahagn Avedian argues that the Turkish War of Independence was not directed against the Allied Powers, but that its main objective was to get rid of non-Turkish minority groups. The Nationalist movement maintained the aggressive policy of the CUP against Christians. It was stated in a secret telegram from Foreign Minister [[Ahmet Muhtar Mollaoğlu|Ahmet Muhtar (Mollaoğlu)]] to Kazım Karabekir in mid-1921 "the most important thing is to eliminate Armenia, both politically and materially". Avedian holds that the existence of the [[Armenian Republic (disambiguation)|Armenian Republic]] was considered as the "greatest threat" for the continuation of Turkish state, and that for this reason, they "fulfilled the genocidal policy of its CUP predecessor". After the Christian population was destroyed, the focus shifted to the [[Kurdish population|Kurdish]] population. Ethnic cleansing was also carried against [[Pontic Greeks]] with the collaboration with Ankara and Istanbul governments.<ref name="Avedian" />

=== Turkey ===
[[File:Memory of Victory, 1925.jpg|thumb|200px|''Hatıra-i Zafer'' (Memory of Victory) by Hasan Sabri in 1925.]]
The [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|Grand National Assembly]] transitioned from a provisional counsel to being Turkey's primary legislative body. In 1923, A-RMHC changed its name to the People's Party. A couple years later, the name would be changed again by Mustafa Kemal to the [[Republican People's Party]] (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP), one of Turkey's major political parties as well as its oldest. CHP went on to rule [[One-party period of the Republic of Turkey|Turkey as a one party state]] until the [[1946 Turkish general election|1946 general election]].

=== Aftermath of the Chanak Crisis ===
In addition to toppling the British government, the [[Chanak Crisis]] would have far reaching consequences on British dominion policy. As the Dominion of [[Canada]] did not see itself committed to support a potential British war with Kemal's GNA, dominion foreign policy would become less committed for security for the British Empire. This attitude of no commitment to the Empire would be a defining moment in Canada's gradual movement towards independence as well as the decline of the [[British Empire]].

=== Influence on other nations ===
((Expand section|influence on nations other than Germany|date=June 2021))
The media in [[Weimar Republic|Weimar Germany]] covered the events in Anatolia extensively. Ihrig argues that Turkish War of Independence had a more definite impact on the [[Beer Hall Putsch]] than Mussolini's [[March on Rome]]. Germans, including [[Adolf Hitler]], wanted to abolish the [[Treaty of Versailles]] just like the Treaty of Sèvres was abolished. After the failed putsch media coverage on the war ceased.<ref>((Cite book|last=Ihrig|first=Stefan|title=Atatürk in the Nazi Imagination|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2014|location=London, England))</ref>

== See also ==
((Portal|Turkey))
((Commons category))
* [[Timeline of the Turkish War of Independence]]
* [[List of media during the Turkish War of Independence]]
* [[Medal of Independence (Turkey)|Medal of Independence]]
* [[Young Turk Revolution]]
* [[31 March Incident]]
* [[Celali rebellions]]
* [[List of modern conflicts in the Middle East]]

== Notes ==
((reflist|group=note))

== References ==
((Reflist))

== Bibliography ==
* ((Cite book|last=Barber|first=Noel|author-link=Noel Barber|title=Lords of the Golden Horn: From Suleiman the Magnificent to Kamal Ataturk|publisher=Arrow|location=London|year=1988|isbn= 978-0-09-953950-6))
* ((Cite book|last=Gingeras|first=Ryan|author-link=Ryan Gingeras|title=The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire|publisher=Random House|location=Dublin|year=2022|isbn= 978-0-241-44432-0))
* ((Cite book|last=Gingeras|first=Ryan|author-link=Ryan Gingeras|title=Heroin, Organized Crime, and the Making of Modern Turkey|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2014|isbn= 978-0-19-871602-0))
* [[Marjorie Housepian Dobkin|Dobkin, Marjorie Housepian]], ''Smyrna: 1922 The Destruction of City'' (Newmark Press: New York, 1988). ((ISBN|0-966 7451-0-8)).
* ((Cite book|last=Kinross|first=Patrick|author-link=John Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross|title=Atatürk: The Rebirth of a Nation|publisher=Phoenix Press|year=2003|location=London|isbn=978-1-84212-599-1|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=978-0-688-08093-8|url=https://archive.org/details/ottomancenturies00kinr))
* ((cite book |editor1-last=Landis |editor1-first=Dan |editor2-last=Albert |editor2-first=Rosita |title=Handbook of Ethnic Conflict:International Perspectives |date=2012 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781461404477 |page=264))
* ((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|author-link=Andrew Mango|title=Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey|orig-date=1999|edition=Paperback|year=2002|publisher=Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc|location=Woodstock, NY|isbn=1-58567-334-X|url=https://archive.org/details/ataturk00andr))
* Mango, Andrew, ''The Turks Today'' (New York: The Overlook Press, 2004). ((ISBN|1-58567-615-2)).
* ((Cite book|last=Milton|first=Giles|author-link=Giles Milton|title=Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance|year=2008|edition=Paperback|publisher=Sceptre; Hodder & Stoughton Ltd|location=London|isbn=978-0-340-96234-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n4B4NwAACAAJ|access-date=28 July 2010))
* ((Cite book|last=Sjöberg|first=Erik|title=Making of the Greek Genocide: Contested Memories of the Ottoman Greek Catastrophe|publisher=Berghahn Books|year=2016|isbn=978-1785333255))
* Pope, Nicole and Pope, Hugh, ''Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey'' (New York: The Overlook Press, 2004). ((ISBN|1-58567-581-4)).
* ((Cite book|last=Yapp|first=Malcolm|author-link=Malcolm Yapp|title=The Making of the Modern Near East, 1792–1923|publisher=Longman|location=London; New York|year=1987|isbn=978-0-582-49380-3|url=https://archive.org/details/makingofmodern00yapp))

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((DEFAULTSORT:Turkish War Of Independence))
[[Category:Turkish War of Independence| ]]
[[Category:Wars involving Turkey]]
[[Category:History of Greece (1909–1924)]]
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[[Category:Wars involving the United States]]<!--See the "Bombardment of Samsun".-->
[[Category:Military history of Italy]]
[[Category:1919 in the Ottoman Empire]]
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