The View and the Attitude of Allies High Commissioners Toward Istanbul During the Declaration of National Pact

Authors : Resul Yavuz

Pages : 281-304

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Publication Date : 2017-07-14

Article Type : Research

Abstract :The Ottoman State entered into a new process with the Mondros Armistice Treaty in which it was declared defeat from the World War I and the uncoocupied part of the country were subjected to occupation movements of the Allied Powers. During this period, while Ottoman Government was trying to react against occupations by diplomatic channels, it had diplomatic negotiations with the Allied Powers, especially Britain at Paris Peace Conference where the future of the State was to be determined. But despite the attitude of the government, with the passing of Mustafa Kemal to Anatolia, the organization of resistance in Anatolia against the occupations had put a struggle for Allies that they had never thought of in the Near East. This was also the beginning of a new era in which that would change the post-war Allied plans completely for Anatolia and Middle East. Although the high commissioners in Istanbul warned their governments about the resistance, the Allied Powers ignored the " Kemalist Resistance ” in the first place and this caused waste of time necessary for Turks to enforce the peace conditions without using force. Especially against the adoption of the National Pact in the Ottoman Parliament in January 1920, the reactions of the Allied High Commissioners and the Allied governments in the aftermath of these efforts soon brought new developments in Anatolia and the Near East for both sides.As a matter of fact, the occupation of Istanbul which was held to give lesson to Kemalists at the time of London negotiations became an instrument for the speed up of the developments that would lead to the emergence of a new national state in Istanbul and caused the resistance itself to find an independent place
Keywords : National Pact, Istanbul, High Commissioner, Parliament, London Conference