Occupation of Istanbul
| Occupation of Istanbul | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the partition of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish War of Independence | ||||||||||
 Louis Franchet d'Espèrey marching in Beyoğlu, 8 February 1919 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||||
 Italy Greece United States[2] Japan[2] |
 Ottoman Empire |
Turkish National Movement | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||||
|
] (1918–1921) Charalambos Simopoulos (1921–1923) |
Ali Sait Pasha¹ |
Selâhattin Âdil Pasha2 | ||||||||
| Strength | ||||||||||
|
Land forces on 13 November 1918: | ||||||||||
|
1: Commander of the XXV Corps and the Istanbul Guard (6 October 1919 – 16 March 1920[10]) 2: Commander of the Istanbul Command (10 December 1922 – 29 September 1923[11]) | ||||||||||
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2023) |
The occupation of Istanbul (
Allied troops occupied zones based on the existing divisions of
1918 saw the first time the city had changed hands since the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Along with the occupation of Smyrna, it spurred the establishment of the Turkish National Movement, leading to the Turkish War of Independence.[14]
Background
The Ottomans estimated that the population of Istanbul in 1920 was between 800,000 and 1,200,000 inhabitants, having collected
Legality of the occupation
The Armistice of Mudros of 30 October 1918, which ended Ottoman involvement in World War I, mentions the occupation of Bosporus fort and Dardanelles fort. That day, Admiral Somerset Gough-Calthorpe, the British signatory, stated the Triple Entente's position that they had no intention to dismantle the government or to place it under military occupation by "occupying Constantinople".[16] This verbal promise and lack of mention of the occupation of Istanbul in the armistice proper did not change the realities for the Ottoman Empire.[citation needed] Calthorpe put the British position as "No kind of favour whatsoever to any Turk and to hold out no hope for them".[17] The Ottoman side returned to the capital with a personal letter from Calthorpe, intended for Rauf Orbay, in which he promised on behalf of the British government that only British and French troops would be used in the occupation of the Straits fortifications. A small number of Ottoman troops could be allowed to stay on in the occupied areas as a symbol of sovereignty.[18]
Military administration
The Allies began to occupy Ottoman territory soon after the Armistice of Mudros; 13 days later, a French brigade entered Istanbul, on 12 November 1918. The first British troops entered the city on the following day. Early in December 1918, Allied troops occupied sections of Istanbul and set up an Allied military administration.
On 7 February 1919, an Italian battalion with 19 officers and 740 soldiers landed at the Galata pier; one day later they were joined by 283 Carabinieri, commanded by Colonel Balduino Caprini. The Carabinieri assumed police tasks.[3]
On 10 February 1919, the commission divided the city into three zones for police matters: Stambul (the old city) was assigned to the French,
Establishing authority
The British rounded up a number of members of the old establishment and interned them in Malta, awaiting their trial for alleged crimes during World War I. Calthorpe included only Turkish members of the Government of Ahmet Tevfik Pasha and the military/political personalities. He wanted to send a message that a military occupation was in effect and failure to comply would end with harsh punishment. His position was not shared with other partners. The French Government's response to those accused was "distinction to disadvantage of Muslim-Turks while Bulgarian, Austrian and German offenders were as yet neither arrested nor molested".[20] However, the government and the Sultan understood the message. In February 1919, Allies were informed that the Ottoman Empire was in compliance with its full apparatus to the occupation forces. Any source of conflict (including Armenian questions) would be investigated by a commission, to which neutral governments could attach two legal superintendents.[20] Calthorpe's correspondence to Foreign Office was "The action undertaken for the arrests was very satisfactory, and has, I think, intimidated the Committee of Union and Progress of Constantinople".[21]
Ottoman courts-martial
Calthorpe's message was fully noted by the Sultan. There was an eastern tradition of presenting gifts to the authority during serious conflicts, sometimes "falling of heads". There was no higher goal than preserving the integrity of the Ottoman Institution. If Calthorpe's anger could be calmed down by foisting the blame on a few members of the
A new movement
Calthorpe was alarmed when he learned that the victor of
Calthorpe was assigned to another position on 5 August 1919, and left Istanbul.
John de Robeck, August 1919–1922
In August 1919 John de Robeck replaced Calthorpe with the title of "Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, and High Commissioner at Constantinople". He was responsible for activities regarding Russia and Turkey (Ottoman Empire-Turkish national movement).
De Robeck was very worried by the defiant mood of the Ottoman parliament. When 1920 arrived, he was concerned by reports that substantial stocks of arms were reaching Turkish National Movement, some from French and Italian sources. In one of his letters to London, he asked: "Against whom would these sources be employed?"
In London, the
Treaty of Sèvres
|
Ottoman parliament of 1920
The newly elected Ottoman parliament in Istanbul did not recognize the occupation; they developed a
The Ottoman Empire lost World War I, but Misak-ı Milli with the local Khilafat Movement was still fighting the Allies.
Solidification of the partitioning, February 1920
The plans for
Negotiations for the Treaty of Sèvres presumed a Greek, French-Armenian, Wilsonian Armenia and Italian occupation region being Christian administrations, as opposed to the prior Muslim administration of the Ottoman Empire. Muslim citizens of the Ottoman Empire perceived this plan as depriving them of sovereignty. British intelligence registered the Turkish national movement as a movement of the Muslim citizens of Anatolia. The Muslim unrest in Anatolia brought two arguments to the British government regarding the new establishments: the Muslim administration was not safe for Christians; that the Treaty of Sèvres was the only way that Christians could be safe. Enforcing the Treaty of Sèvres could not happen without repressing Kemal's national movement.
The British claimed that if the Allies could not control
Military occupation of Istanbul
Dissolution of the parliament, March 1920
|
The Telegram House was occupied by Allied troops on 14 March. On the morning of 16 March, British forces, including the British Indian Army, began to occupy the key buildings and arrest nationalist politicians and journalists. A British Indian Army operation, the Şehzadebaşı raid, resulted in 5 Ottoman Army soldiers from the 10th Infantry Division being killed when troops raided their barracks. On 18 March, the Ottoman parliamentarians came together in a last meeting. A black cloth covered the pulpit of the Parliament as reminder of its absent members and the Parliament sent a letter of protest to the Allies, declaring the arrest of five of its members as unacceptable.[27]
The dissolution of the Ottoman left the Sultan as the sole legal authority of the Empire; in line with British aims to isolate the Sultan. Beginning with 18 March, the Sultan followed the directives of the British Foreign Secretary, saying, "There would be no one left to blame for what will be coming soon"; the Sultan revealed his own version of the declaration of dissolution on 11 April, after approximately 150 Turkish politicians accused of war crimes were interned in Malta. The dissolution of the parliament was followed by the raid and closing of the journal Yeni Gün (New Day). Yeni Gün was owned by Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu, an influential journalist, and was the main media organ in Turkey publishing Turkish news to global audiences.[citation needed]
Official declaration, 16 March 1920
On 16 March 1920, the third day of hostilities, the Allied forces declared the occupation:
In an effort to prevent the spread of Turkish nationalism, General Sir George Milne and an Allied force occupied İstanbul.
- The Allies gave assurances that they had no intention of taking over the government.
- The Allies sought to keep the Straits open and to protect the Armenians.
- The Allies persuaded the Ottoman government to denounce the Turkish nationalists and sent many into exile.
- The Sultan had established a
Damad Ferid government.[28]
Enforcing the peace treaty
Early pressure on the insurgency, April–June 1920
The British argued that the insurgency of the
Despite this, combined attempts by British and local forces proved unsuccessful in quelling the nationalist movement. A clash outside İzmit quickly escalated, with British forces opening fire on the nationalists, and bombing them from the air. Although the attack forced the nationalists to retreat, the weakness of the British position had been made apparent. The British commander, General George Milne, asked for reinforcements of at least twenty-seven divisions. The British were unwilling to agree to a deployment of this size, as it could have political consequences that were beyond the British government's capacity to handle.[citation needed]
Some
Presentation of the treaty to the Sultan, June 1920
The treaty terms were presented to the Sultan in the middle of June. The treaty was harsher than the Ottomans expected, because of the military pressure placed on the insurgency from April to June 1920, the Allies did not expect that there would be any serious opposition.[citation needed]
Concurrently,
End of the occupation
The success of the
Following the
Negotiations for a new peace treaty with Turkey began at the
Turkish forces of the Ankara government, commanded by Şükrü Naili Pasha (3rd Corps), entered the city with a ceremony on 6 October 1923, which has been marked as the Liberation Day of Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul'un Kurtuluşu) and is commemorated every year on its anniversary.[13] On 29 October 1923, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey declared the establishment of the Turkish Republic, with Ankara as its capital. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became the Republic's first President.
List of Allied High Commissioners
- November 1918 – 1919: Admiral Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe, also Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet
- August 1919 – 1920: Admiral John de Robeck, also Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet
- 1920 – 22 October 1923: Sir Horace Rumbold (later British ambassador)
- November 1918 – January 1919: General Louis Franchet d'Esperey
- 30 January 1919 – December 1920: Albert Defrance
- 1921 – 22 October 1923: General Maurice Pellé
- November 1918 – January 1919: Carlo Sforza
- September 1920 – 22 October 1923: Camillo Garroni
- 1918–1921: Efthimios Kanellopoulos
- 1921–1923: Charalambos Simopoulos
- August 1919-October 1923: Admiral Mark Lambert Bristol
- April 1921-October 1923: Sadatsuchi Uchida
References
- ^ "Constantinople occupied by British and Indian troops". British Pathé. 30–31 October 1918. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
- ^ a b "Occupation during and after the War (Ottoman Empire) | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)". encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net.
- ^ a b c d "Missioni all'estero:1918 – 1923. In Turchia: da Costantinopoli all'Anatolia" (in Italian). Arma dei Carabinieri. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ISBN 9754093555, page 29. (in Turkish)
- ^ Zekeriya Türkmen, (2002), İstanbul'un işgali ve İşgal Dönemindeki Uygulamalar (13 Kasım 1918 – 16 Mart 1920), Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi, XVIII (53): pages 338–339. (in Turkish)
- ISBN 1409427560, page 3.
- ISBN 9754092397, page 20. (in Turkish)
- ^ Mustafa Budak: İdealden gerçeğe: Misâk-ı Millî'den Lozan'a dış politika, Küre Yayınları, 2002, page 21. (in Turkish)
- ISBN 6054208624, page 352. (in Turkish)
- ^ T.C. Genelkurmay Harp Tarihi Başkanlığı Yayınları, Türk İstiklâl Harbine Katılan Tümen ve Daha Üst Kademelerdeki Komutanların Biyografileri, Genelkurmay Basımevi, 1972, p. 51.
- ^ T.C. Genelkurmay Harp Tarihi Başkanlığı Yayınları, Türk İstiklâl Harbine Katılan Tümen ve Daha Üst Kademelerdeki Komutanların Biyografileri, Genelkurmay Başkanlığı Basımevi, Ankara, 1972, p. 118. (in Turkish)
- ^ Network, Hellenic Resources (25 September 1997). "The Peace Treaty of Sèvres". Hellenic Resources Network. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ^ a b c "6 Ekim İstanbul'un Kurtuluşu". Sözcü. 6 October 2017.
- ^ "Turkey". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
- ^ Clarence Richard Johnson Constantinople To-day; Or, The Pathfinder Survey of Constantinople; a Study in Oriental Social Life, Clarence Johnson, ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1922) p. 164ff.
- ^ Criss, Bilge, Constantinople under Allied Occupation 1918–1923, (1999) p. 1.
- ^ Simsir BDOA, 1:6.
- ^ Yakn Tarihimiz, Vol. 2, p. 49.
- ^ "index | Arama sonuçları | Türkiye Denizcilik İşletmeleri A.Ş." tdi.gov.tr. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- ^ a b Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4172/28138
- ^ Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4172/23004
- Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 11 (1997): 31.
- ^ Dadrian, "The Turkish Military Tribunal's Prosecution", p. 45.
- ^ The verdict is reproduced in Akçam, Armenien und der Völkermord, pp. 353–64.
- ^ Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4174/118377
- ^ Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4174/136069
- ISBN 978-0-8147-0722-7.
- ^ League of Nations Archives, Palais des Nations, CH-1211, Geneva 10, Switzerland Center for the Study of Global Change,
- ^ Singh, K Gajendra (7 January 2004). "Occupation case studies: Algeria and Turkey". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 2 February 2004.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ISBN 978-1-4653-1699-8.
- ^ Current History, Volume 13, New York Times Co., 1921, "Dividing the Former Turkish Empire" pp. 441–444 (retrieved 26 October 2010)
- ISBN 0-918618-79-7.
- ^ Macfie, A. L. (1979). "The Chanak affair (September–October 1922)". Balkan Studies. 20 (2): 309–41.
- .
- ^ Stoukas, Michalis (9 April 2022). "Κωνσταντινούπολη: Το σχέδιο κατάληψής της από τον Ελληνικό Στρατό το 1922 και γιατί δεν υλοποιήθηκε". Proto Thema (in Greek).
Further reading
- Ferudun Ata: The Relocation Trials in Occupied Istanbul, 2018 Manzara Verlag, Offenbach am Main, ISBN 9783939795926.
- Uluç, Gürkan (2024). Understanding the Armenian Question: Malta Tribunal (1919-1921). Offenbach am Main: Manzara Verlag. p. 304. ISBN 9783911130004.
- Beyinli, Gökçen (2019). "At Liberty under Occupation but Bound Hand and Foot in the Republic: Istanbul Women, Corruption and Moral Decay after the First World War (1918–1923)". International Journal of Regional and Local History. 14 (2): 94–109. S2CID 211452302.
- Göknar, Erdağ (2014). "Reading Occupied Istanbul: Turkish Subject-Formation from Historical Trauma to Literary Trope". Culture, Theory and Critique. 55 (3): 321–341. S2CID 145516457.
- MacArthur-Seal, Daniel-Joseph (2017). "Intoxication and Imperialism: Nightlife in Occupied Istanbul, 1918–23". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 37 (2): 299–313. .
- MacArthur-Seal, Daniel-Joseph (2018). "Resurrecting legal extraterritoriality in occupied Istanbul, 1918–1923". Middle Eastern Studies. 54 (5): 769–787. S2CID 150066434.
- MacArthur-Seal, Daniel-Joseph (2022). "States of drunkenness: bar-life in Istanbul between empire, occupation, and republic, 1918–1923". Middle Eastern Studies. 58 (2): 271–283. S2CID 245157187.
- Mills, Amy (2017). "The Cultural Geopolitics of Ethnic Nationalism: Turkish Urbanism in Occupied Istanbul (1918–1923)". Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 107 (5): 1179–1193. S2CID 152272634.
- Bilge Criss, Nur (1999). "Constantinople under Allied Occupation 1918–1923", Brill, .
- Şenışık, Pınar (2018). "The allied occupation of İstanbul and the construction of Turkish national identity in the early twentieth century". Nationalities Papers. 46 (3): 501–513. S2CID 158927256.
- Saylan, G. F. (2014). "İstanbul'un Resmen İşgali" [The Official Occupation of Istanbul]. Öneri Dergisi. 11 (41): 17–40. .
- Yavuz, R. (2017). "The View and the Attitude of Allies High Commissioners Toward Istanbul During the Declaration of National Pact". Tarih ve Günce 1. 1 (1): 281–304.
Italian occupation of Adalia
Media related to Occupation of Constantinople at Wikimedia Commons
