The Effect of the World War I on the Shape of Modern Turkey
Istanbul was occupied by the Allies in the immediate aftermath of World War I. The proclamation of the Turkish Republic in October 1923, heralding the birth of modern Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, marked a victory for the local resistance which fought a bloody war in the intervening period.
The new Turkey was to be built on the model of European nation-states of the time, based on ethnic Turkish nationalism, the separation of state from religion, and laws directly adopted from various European countries.
Foreign occupation began on Nov. 13, 1918, effectively ending the rule of Sultan Vahdettin, or Mehmed VI. The seizing of Istanbul and his de-facto imprisonment in the city by the Allies was perceived as a national humiliation and provided psychological legitimacy to the resistance movement and its leader, Mustafa Kemal, who would become the first president of Turkey in 1923. Later he would adopt the name Atatürk, meaning “Father of the Turks.”
For nearly five years, he led a resistance movement against the Allied occupation. It eventually grew into an all-out war between Turkish resistance fighters and the Greek army, which had been given permission by the Allies to attack Western Turkey with the promise of territory for Greece.
“When a capital city is occupied, it means a definite defeat…But Turkey was the only one among the defeated countries (in World War I) able to determine its own political culture and its regime”
“Regulation said that Turkish officers were obligated to salute any foreign military man regardless of rank, but they did not have to be saluted back. What a small thing, but can you imagine what this would do to a military man’s psychology?”
According to historians, the lack of unity and inter-Allied rivalry among the occupation forces in Istanbul—the British, the French and the Italians—made it easier for the Turkish resistance, some countries facilitating the movement, for example by allowing smuggling from Istanbul to the heartland. While the British upheld strict order on the European side of the city, which straddles two continents, the French and Italian zones on the Asian side were used by the resistance members to smuggle weapons and people.
Source:
The Wall Street Journal, Updated October 31, 2018