Britain backs the rebellion of Mustafa Kemal and the phases of rebellion.
Shaikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum
Despite all this, had the British afterwards left Mustafa Kemal to pursue the rebellion he had started by himself, he would not have been able to take one further step towards the objective which he later achieved. This is so because had it been possible to find anyone in Turkey who would have agreed to the severance of the Arabic speaking Islamic lands from the Ottoman State and who would have been contented with the Turkish lands, it would have been on the other hand extremely difficult to have come across anyone who would have consented to the abolishment of the Khilafah or agreed to it, apart from Mustafa Kemal and some individuals whose number did not exceed the number of one’s fingers. The general consensus was in favour of maintaining the Khilafah. The love of the Khilafah and the loyalty to her were deeply rooted in the hearts of hearts, and whenever the phrase of “Badshahin Tajuk Yasha” was mentioned the right chord of every single Turk was touched, and his strongest emotions were evoked. Hence, it would have inconceivable for any representatives of the Ummah to have decided to abolish the Khilafah.
However, the styles adopted by the British and their continuous support of Mustafa Kemal and the activities they pursued, helped Mustafa Kemal achieve these results. While instigating this rebellion, Britain was preparing for an international manoeuvre in order to reap the fruits of this rebellion. Hence she launched a wide propaganda campaign for it and hyped up its news in an attempt to raise the Allies’ fears from Turkey. Reports sent by the westerners and the officers and destined to Istanbul heaped up, replete with the description of the major uproar which mushroomed in Anatolia and of the nationalist feeling which had erupted. At the same time, the telegrams and the press agencies started to cover the news of the rebellion in an exaggerated manner. Meanwhile, a peace conference in Paris with the participation of the Allies was called for, and Britain seized the opportunity to squeeze in the working agenda of the conference the news of the disturbances which Mustafa Kemal had instigated, to kindle rancour in the hearts and urge the imposition of tough conditions.France however was aware of the fact that those actions were fabricated by Britain, hence, she dismissed the news of Mustafa Kemal’s disturbances and even went a step further when she attempted to win over the government of Farid Pasha Damad; thus she led him to believe that she was not angry about this rebellion, and when she learnt of his intentions to come to Paris personally to seek the Allies sympathy and win them over, she rushed and placed an ironclad at the disposal of the Ottoman delegation, headed by the Prime Minister, who wanted to attend the peace conference in Paris to air the views of the Ottoman State, before a decision on her fate was taken. However, Britain objected to this and expressed concern over the French enthusiasm towards the Ottoman government. Hence, she attempted to prevent Farid Pasha Damad from attending at first, so he pretended that he had wanted to accompany the delegation but his poor health prevented him from doing so. He eventually travelled aboard a British ironclad.
The Paris conference laid down some very tough conditions, and it was Britain who adopted those decisions and championed them. Lloyd George delivered a speech at Guildhall on 8th November 1919 in which he said: “The peace terms have been fully approved by the Allies, especially those terms concerning the Ottoman Empire, and the whole of Europe unanimously agrees that the evil and rotten Ottoman rule must eradicated from the lands inhabited by the Greeks, the Armenians and the Arabs. The seaports situated along the Black Sea and the Mediterranean must be opened for all nations.” However, France and Italy were averse to the treaty. Nevertheless, Britain’s enthusiasm towards those terms was not with the aim of implementing them, but rather to use them as a means to threaten the Ottoman State and to incite the Turks against the Sultan so that they side with Mustafa Kemal. That is why she was later the first to call for a conference in London in order to cancel the treaty. The conference was effectively held in February 1921.
The first phase in Mustafa Kemal’s rebellion.
Nevertheless, the rebellion went on between ebb and flow, and the British were forced to come to Mustafa Kemal’s rescue whenever he was about to fall. The rebellion was at first successful, for the young officers joined Mustafa Kemal and declared their readiness to follow him. Some of the high ranking officers did also join him, but on condition that he would not undermine the Khilafah. Once the officers joined, thus gathering a considerable force, he immediately wanted to set up a government. Hence, he invited Rif’at Pasha from Sivas. Rif’at Pasha was seduced by the Western thoughts and was a great admirer of the Europeans. Mustafa Kemal invited also Ali Fuad, the army commander of the Ankara region, who was a brilliant military academic and one of the shrewdest politicians. Ali Fuad was also accompanied by Rif’at Pasha who had resigned from the Navy ministry.
A meeting between the officers was held in camera with a secretary assuming the role of writing the minutes of the delegates. Mustafa Kemal expressed his viewpoint and explained his opinions; everyone agreed with him that resistance was the only hope. Hence, they designed a strategy to be executed, which was summarised in multiplying and organising the militias facing Izmir, in order to hinder and thwart the advance of the Greek forces; then building up from these skirmishes, they would restructure a strong and unified national regular army, on the ruins of the divided armies. Hence, it was also necessary to design a strategy aimed at leading the resistance; thus they agreed that Fuad would assume the command of the troops in the west, that Kathim Qura Bakir would assume the command of the troops in the east and Mustafa Kemal would command the troops in the centre. Then Mustafa Kemal went on to say: “The central government and the Sultan are under the influence of the enemies, hence, we ought to establish a temporal government here in Anatolia.” No sooner he finished saying this than everyone flinched and expressed anger and resentment. Ra’uf expressed his opposition to the undertaking of any measure that could upset the Khalifah or his central government. All the others also opposed Mustafa Kemal and said to him as long as he was serving the country and sacrificing in the way of the country, and that although they had in him, their only condition was that he refrained from undertaking any action that would undermine the Sultan’s rights or impair his feelings. They also stressed to him that the Khilafah should be above everything else and that the Sultanate should not come to any harm.
In the face of this consensus and this persistence Mustafa Kemal was forced to back down and agree to people’s opinion; hence he declared that the Khilafah would not come to any harm and he gave them all the guarantees they wanted. Then the rebellious activity started.
However, since the rebellion was to the majority of those who joined Mustafa Kemal a rebellion against the allied occupiers, and only nominally against the Sultan, and since it was to Mustafa Kemal and a fistful of his supporters a rebellion against the Sultan in reality, Mustafa Kemal was forced to conceal his intentions and gave his assurances that he would not harm the Khilafah. Therefore, clashes with the Allies were inevitable. Hence two strange incidents took place:
The comedy of occupying Samsun
the British declared that they were determined to fortify Samsun with a stronger garrison to prevent the rebels from reaching it by sea and seizing Siwaz. Hence, Mustafa Kemal ordered Rif’at to defend Samsun at any cost. He ordered him to stand up to the British and prevent them from disembarking their troops. Hence, Rif’at obeyed and headed towards the seaport accompanied by hundred Muslim men. A British colonel had reached the seaport with a small force; however, Rif’at and his troops entered the city and encountered this force but no fighting took place between them. Then the British colonel and those with him returned to the British ship that was anchored in the port and left. Then it was declared to everyone that the British force got scared and that its commander realised that it was hopeless to resist so he retreated; thus they declared that Samsun was salvaged from the British occupation and that Sivas remained in the hands of the local people.
Mustafa Kemal’s rebellion adopts the character of armed struggle.
The second incident occurred with the Greeks. The British were preparing the Greeks to engage the Turks in a host of skirmishes, thus these could evoke the fervour of the locals. The British were reluctant to allow the British blood to be shed for this purpose since there was another blood that could be shed in order to achieve it, thus the Greeks were the scapegoat in these battles. The elaboration of this event was as follows: The Greeks would not settle for staying in Izmir and the governor of Izmir violated the instructions given to him to remain in Izmir, thus the Greeks moved to seize the neighbouring areas. The Greek commander, heading his troops, marched towards the district or Aideen, and as soon as the army moved, a hail of bullets rained down on them repeatedly. Hence, the Greek troops were shocked and panic stricken, and they lost their senses. They opened fire on the civilians, thus the Turks replied in kind. As a result of this random fighting, the Greeks were vanquished and the Turks chased them away and set fire to the Greek district. The Greek army came back once their numbers multiplied and once their military preparations increased, thus they occupied the city and set fire to the Turkish district. Then they started savagely killing the civilians to reduce the number of Turks so that they became the majority in Izmir. As a result, every Turk who was able to fight took up arms, headed for the hills and started fighting the invaders. The guerrilla warfare went on sporadically. The feeling of resentment towards the British and the Greeks was triggered as a result, and the officers started rallying under the banner of Mustafa Kemal, and he for his part started sending them to the villages to kindle their fervour. These news were hyped up and dashed to the capital and the British feigned their protest to the Sultan. The Sultan’s telegrams sent to Mustafa Kemal and his summons were to no avail, for he flagrantly displayed his disobedience, thus he ordered his dismissal and issued his orders to all the military and civilian authorities to disobey his instructions. News of his dismissal were broadcast all over the country and the Sultan struck off his name from the list of army officers and threatened anyone who contacted him with summary dismissal. Upon this Mustafa Kemal issued his instructions to the army officers, stating that in case they were dismissed, they should not stop working, provided they told the Sultan that the newly appointed officer did not gain the confidence of the army nor that of the people, thus he remained unemployed. Mustafa Kemal continued for weeks to exhort the masses to rebel, and to exhaust all his efforts to foil the governments measures and resist all moves.
The “Ardh Room” conference
On 23rd July 1919, several men gathered in a tiny building, similar to a village school, in a remote district of Mesapotamia. Those delegates were the deputies of the eastern provinces; they were of a strange mixture. Among them were former deputies, Sheikhs, senior civil servants, Kurdish tribes leaders and officers. The conference opened in the name of the Ummah, and the first item in the agenda was the issue of chairing the conference. One of the delegates stood up and said: “Could the honourable delegates give their opinion on whether Mustafa Kemal would be suitable to chair this meeting, knowing that he had never in his life been a deputy over any of the eastern provinces?” The deputy was abruptly interrupted and Mustafa Kemal was voted with an overwhelming majority as chairman of the conference. The conference lasted fourteen days and the discussions were conducted in a disorderly and agitated manner. A host of resolutions were adopted then the conference was wound up. Some of the resolutions were as follows: “The Ummah is a unit that is not subject to fragmentation or division, and all the eastern Wilayas are determined to resist any type of occupation and to stand up to foreign interference. Hence, if the Istanbul government refused to side with the people and to protect them from the foreign invasion, there will be no other option but to call for another interim government to shoulder the running of the country’s affairs, now that the situation has reached this critical point.”. The delegates also declared unequivocally that they were still loyal to the Khalifah Wahid-ud-Deen and that his Bay’a was still in their necks. It has also been decided to establish an apparatus which was named the “Executive Parliamentary Committee”, and whose task was to execute the resolutions adopted by the conference. Mustafa Kemal was elected as Chairman of this committee and the resolutions were immediately broadcast to the Ummah and copies were despatched to the European countries. Then it was decided to hold the conference of Sivas.
However, when the Istanbul government learnt of the “Ardh Room” conference, it issued a communiqué which it circulated to all the newspapers; it was also reported by newspapers world-wide. To quote from the communiqué: “Some disturbances took place in Anatolia, and a host of meetings aimed at breaching the system and flagrantly violate the constitution. It was claimed that those meetings were constitutional and parliamentary, but in fact they are not parliamentary. Therefore, all military and the civilian authorities should put an end to this movement completely and crush those rebels in the severest of manners.” These government leaflets reached the authorities in “Ardh Room”, and they replied to the Astana government by saying: “The holding of parliamentary sessions has become a pressing necessity, and if parliament were held, there would be no need for these types of meetings.”
The government pondered over its critical situation and realised that its dissolution of parliament was unconstitutional and that it had not made any provisions for fresh elections. However, it set about undertaking a host of urgent and decisive measures in order to quell the rebellion. Hence, it decided to form an army that would only comprise those who had shown genuine loyalty. Then the army was dispatched to Anatolia.
The British prevent the Sultan from sending a task force to quell Mustafa Kemal’s rebellion.
When the British learnt of this army, they prevented the Sultan, on behalf of the Allies, from forming this army, arguing that one of the clauses in the terms of truce stipulated the disbandment of the troops, not their formation again. The Sultan attempted to give himself a free hand in crush the rebellion but the Allies categorically prevented him from doing so. When it is said the Allies, it is meant in this context the British, for they dominated the country and it was the British High Commissioner and his office, together with Harrington, the Commander in Chief of the allied forces, who used to act on behalf of the Allies.
When the Sultan realised that the Allies were adamant in their refusal to allow him to send a task force to quell the disturbances, he requested that they send whom in their opinion would be able to put an end to the disturbances. He strongly persisted in his request, thus they answered him by saying that they were taking a neutral stand and that it was beyond their competence to interfere in Turkey’s domestic affairs. They told him that he alone was responsible for maintaining law and order if he wanted to rule over the country.
Farid Pasha Damad felt letdown by the British and the Sultan resorted to using his own means, so he plotted to have Mustafa Kemal arrested while on his way to Sivas from “Ardh Room”, but the plot failed because Mustafa Kemal got wind of the plot and managed to take precautions and change the time of his journey. The soldiers gathered to arrest him but failed to find him in the spot designated to them, for he had reached Sivas before then.
The Sivas conference.
Thereupon the Sultan asked Ghalib Beik, who was one of the Sultan’s greatest supporters, to head some of the Kurdish tribes and invade the city of Sivas, and arrest all the members of the conference, but he failed. The members of the conference had arrived to Sivas from all over Anatolia and the conference was held on 4th August 1919 chaired of Mustafa Kemal. However, his chairmanship was subject to objection. Shortly before the conference began, Ra’uf Beik, who was one of Mustafa Kemal’s closest friends, came to him and said: “We have looked into the chairmanship of the conference and consented that you should not accept it no matter what.”
When the conference was convened under Mustafa Kemal’s chairmanship, some stood up and objected to his autocratic actions, for h had appointed himself chairman of the conference without a ballot. Upon this Mustafa Kemal stood up to defend himself. To quote from what he said: “We are not today in conferences which allow us to fight and dispute with each other, otherwise the star of the Empire would eclipse and her influence would be inevitably obliterated.” This emotional talk had its effect and his supporters stood to applaud and cheer him; then everyone kept quiet over his chairmanship. Then the votes were taken and it was announced that Mustafa Kemal got the majority.
No sooner Mustafa Kemal was elected chairman than he stood up to deliver a speech. He started by clearly voicing his loyalty to the Sultan, then the sessions of the conference started and went on for several days in a clamorous atmosphere, heated debates and a great deal of whispering. Then several objections surfaced and one of the deputies stood up to say: “ The Executive Committee of the conference had no right to claim that it is the government; and what would they do if the Europeans interfered in the affairs of Anatolia and occupied it all? Where would they find the funds to pay the expenses of the troops and the salaries of the employees?” Another deputy stood up and said: “The United States have no colonialist ambitions, She is the only state who can save Turkey from the critical deadlock that she had fallen into. The only way that Turkey could follow if she were genuine about avoiding degeneration and extinction would be to throw herself into the embrace of America.” Then Ra’uf Beik, Bakr Sami Beik, Kathim Qura Bakir , Rif’at, Ali Fu’ad and three Pashas stood up and voiced their approval of this opinion and defended it wholeheartedly. Another deputy stood up and said: “The American mandate does not kill off independence. By this we can rid ourselves from the British protectorate; this British protectorate that is going to turn Turkey into a humiliated colony and bring her standing down to the level of slavery.”
The conference proceeded in this trend, foiling all of Mustafa Kemal’s endeavours, and after all these deliberations, the conference adopted a host of resolutions which did not differ from those adopted in “Ardh Room”. However, the conference was wound up with its members angry with Mustafa Kemal; Kathim Qura Bakir Pasha, who was the only army commander to retain his status and not to hand over his equipment to the Allies and not to surrender to them, approached Mustafa Kemal and said to him: "The undertaking of communications on your behalf has raised criticism O Pasha, you can imagine your excellency the consequences of such an action and of treading such a difficult path. So please, let the Committee from now on speak in its own behalf.”
Therefore, Mustafa Kemal was very annoyed when he left the conference. However, he incited the delegates during the conference to defend themselves, for he informed them that Ghalib Beik, who was loyal to the government, had come at the head of some Kurdish tribes to arrest the delegates of the conference; hence, they demanded a direct contact with the palace but their request was turned down. They were outraged by this and issued an ultimatum to the Prime Minister Farid Pasha Damad stating that if they were not allowed to contact the palace directly within an hour, they would sever all their links with the central government, and they would be free to act as they pleased. The deadline passed in the morning of 12th August 1919, thus they carried out their threat and all links between the deputies and the palace were severed.
Hence, Mustafa Kemal seized the opportunity and intensified his activity. He managed to alienate Istanbul from the rest of the country. Since he failed to achieve anything during the conference, and since he could not dare to form a government in Anatolia, he settled for convincing those with him to demand the changing of the government in Istanbul. They remained silent and it was not reported whether they backed or resisted such an initiative. Mustafa Kemal deemed that he could not control the army unless the officers were at the head of his supporters, and that he could not subjugate those who rebelled against him unless he was backed by the army; and the army was with the Khalifah and not him. They also made it absolutely clear to him that it would be impossible to do away with the Khalifah no matter what the circumstances were. Hence, he decided to come to terms with the Khalifah rather than with Farid Pasha Damad.
Mustafa Kemal comes to terms with the Khalifah in preparation for a fresh phase.
This was on the one hand; on the other hand, news of the Sivas conference reached Istanbul in a different light, as if it were a victory to Mustafa Kemal. This was backed by the conference’s boycott of the Istanbul government. Although this boycott was triggered by what the Prime Minister perpetrated, when he prevented direct contact between the conference and the palace, also when Ghalib Beik headed the Kurdish tribes to arrest the delegates, this boycott in itself and the success in holding the conference has portrayed events in a different picture.
Furthermore, the Allies, i.e. the British recommended to the officials in Istanbul to come to terms with Mustafa Kemal, and amidst this atmosphere, one of Mustafa Kemal closest friends, from the days of Salonika, and whose name was Abdul-Karim, came forward and proposed to the Khalifah to act as a mediator between him and Mustafa Kemal. He told him that Mustafa Kemal had always been loyal to the Khilafah and to the Khalifah, and to him personally; he also told him that he was ready to persuade him to come to terms. In the light of this reflective mood, Sultan Wahid-ud-Deen agreed to Mustafa Kemal propounding his demands to end the rebellion for good. Upon this Abdul-Karim telephoned Sivas and spoke to Mustafa Kemal, who agreed to end the rebellion and demanded the dismissal of Farid Pasha Damad’s government and the forming of a new parliament to replace the parliament that the Sultan had dissolved. Hence, Sultan Wahid-ud-Deen agreed to this.
Three days after these telephone contacts had been made, lasting one night only, i.e. on 2nd November 1919, Farid Pasha resigned from the government; he talked openly to people and told them that he had been let down by the British, because they in the past used to back him, but then they washed their hands of him. Thereupon Ali Ridha Pasha, the war minister, formed the new government. This was regarded as a victory to Mustafa Kemal.
Hence, Mustafa Kemal declared to the Ummah through a leaflet that the Executive Committee of the nationalists had recognised the new government headed by Ali Ridha and that it supported him unconditionally. He also praised his Excellency the Sultan for being gracious enough to dictate his honourable ordinance and dismiss the government of Farid Pasha Damad.
However, the Sultan was angered by this leaflet and expressed his disapprobation of Mustafa Kemal’s discourse on behalf of the Ummah. The rebellion was almost resumed but Mustafa Kemal prevented the zealous from manifesting anything. The Sivas Committee decided to avoid a confrontation with the government and most of officers heaved a deep sigh of relief, because the overwhelming majority from amongst them was averse to the renewal of the rebellion and they were all loyal to the Khalifah.
However, Mustafa Kemal started to stall the dissolution of the Committee, for his aim was to establish a republic and abolish the Sultanate and the Khilafah, but he had failed in this phase; hence, he had to maintain this Committee as a weapon to undertake another attempt. Hence, he started to fabricate all types of excuses and pretexts in order to defer the dissolution of the Committee. He was not seeking excuses for not dissolving it, he rather agreed to do so but he was using delaying tactics in order to delay its dissolution.
This delaying tactics angered his supporters and many of them expressed to him openly that the remaining of this committee was unnecessary now that the Ummah has declared her approval of the government. Some of Mustafa Kemal’s supporters and friends, such as Marshal Izzet Pasha, went even further and raised their voices in protest and admonition, demanding vehemently the end of this internal feud and shameful division. They deemed that the continuity of the Committee meant the continuity of the disunity.
However, Mustafa Kemal’s answer to them was that the new government had to prove first that it was worthy of the confidence given it by the Ummah, and that this could not be established until ample time was given to it allowing it to put forward its programme and to practically prove its sincerity. He used to say: “The point a issue at present can only be the preparation for the new parliamentary elections so that the overwhelming majority becomes that of the nationalist deputies.”
This was the first phase of Mustafa Kemal’s rebellion and these were its events. It indicates that it was the British who used to prompt and protect it. The farce of the British attempt to occupy the city of Samsun then their consequent withdrawal from the city was clearly seen as a farce aimed at gathering people around Mustafa Kemal. Otherwise, how could the British be incapable of occupying Samsun at that time, while they were sitting heavily on the heart of the Ottoman State and occupying the most impregnable of its areas? Besides, who informed Mustafa Kemal that the British were determined to occupy Samsun, thus allowing him to dispatch Rif’at to prevent her occupation? Were the hundred men led by Rif’at enough to prevent the British from occupying a city such as Samsun had they really been determined to do so? Furthermore, was Samsun really saved from the British occupation thanks to this force that he had dispatched? Was this not a deliberate farce aimed at making people believe that Mustafa Kemal was against the British and against the Allies and that he wanted to expel them from the country? Furthermore, why did the clash with the Greeks take place? the instructions given to the Greek commander by his government were to confine his operation to Izmir, so why did he overstep these instructions and attempted to occupy the surrounding areas of Izmir? Was it his own initiative or was he instructed by the General Commander of the allied forces? Why did this happen? Was it not to establish militias and give the rebellion the character of armed struggle against the occupiers by fighting the Greeks thus making people come under the banner of Mustafa Kemal to fight the occupying Allies? Was this not a prompting and a kindling of the rebellion? If Britain managed to keep a low profile while prompting and flaring up the rebellion, because she had been proceeded by twisted means, was her decision to prevent the Khalifah from preparing a task force to quell the disturbances not a flagrant protection and backing of the rebellion? It would have been possible to crush the rebellion in the summer of 1919, and the Sultan had started to prepare a task force but the Allies prevented him, i.e. the British prevented him under the pretext that this was in violation of the terms of truce which stipulated that the troops should be disbanded. Therefore why this interdiction from preparing a task force to quell the disturbances, even though there was no clause within the truce terms to stipulate that troops should be disarmed and disbanded or that they should surrender their ammunitions? It only stipulated that the Turkish army should be disbanded as soon as possible but excluded the troops necessary to protect the borders and maintain law and order in the country; so where did their claim that the forming of a task force to crush the rebellion contradicted the truce terms come from? Besides, it was the Allies themselves i.e. the British, who at the beginning of May 1919 claimed that disturbances had broken out in the Eastern provinces and demanded from the Sultan to send a commander to quell them, and they proposed Mustafa Kemal. Why did they suggest the dispatching of a task force to quell disturbances they had fabricated and which did not exist, and then prevented the Khalifah from preparing a task force to crush a declared rebellion which the world press and telegrams were covering its events?
Furthermore, when the Khalifah gave them the option of either assuming themselves the quelling of the rebellion in their quality as occupiers, or allowing him to prepare a task force to crush it, they replied: “We are taking a neutral stand.” So where is the neutrality in preventing the Khalifah from preparing a task force to crush a domestic rebellion which on the surface was against the Allies and which clashed with one of their states i.e. Greece? Was this a natural position, or was it a flagrant support and protection of the rebellion?
There is no doubt about the fact that by preventing the Sultan from preparing a task force to crush the rebellion, while the truce terms enjoined the deployment of the necessary troops to maintain law and order, the Allies, i.e. the British, wanted to protect the rebellion and neutralise the Khalifah, thus preventing him from crushing the rebellion. Nevertheless, the rebellion could not achieve its objective and establish a government to rival the Sultan, thus it was forced to come to terms with him and come under his authority; however, the rebels succeeded in inciting people against the Allies and in giving the impression that they had prevented the British from occupying Samsun. Also, their clash with the Greeks helped them generate the idea of fighting occupation and give Mustafa Kemal its leadership.
Mustafa Kemal succeeds in gathering people around him on the basis of liberating the country.
Therefore, Mustafa Kemal emerged as the winner, because he succeeded in gathering people around him on the basis of an idea that everyone was convinced of, that is the expulsion of the Allies from the country and her liberation from the nightmare of their occupation. He managed to evoke in them the possibility of fighting occupation and of undertaking actions against it. Hence, he became the object of the masses’ hope and the army officers’ admiration, although they all harboured doubt about his intentions towards the Khalifah, and they considered these intentions to be against their sanctification, because the post of the Khalifah was to them a sanctity. Hence, people’s hope was for Mustafa Kemal to come to terms with the Khalifah, so that the sanctified post of the Khalifah remained intact and so that they could achieve the expulsion of the occupying enemies, especially after sensing through the preventing of the British from occupying Samsun and the fighting of the Greeks the possibility of resisting the occupiers, thus they clung to that hope which they deemed Mustafa Kemal to be its hero, but they could not see in the Khalifah this possibility.
Therefore, all eyes were on Mustafa Kemal, because the majority of people could not discern political activity and its reaches, for they are complicated, and difficult for the ordinary man to perceive, and also difficult for the military officers if they did not undertake political activities. Hence, they failed to perceive these British games. They are also not familiar with international relations, thus they could not appreciate the British persistence to deprive their Allies in the from the spoils, even if this meant giving them or keeping them in the hands of the vanquished state, so that the international balance of power remained in their favour and so that they remained the leading power, and they did not know that Italy’s or France’s occupation of any part of the Turkish coastline would undermine the British influence in the east and their forces in the Mediterranean; thus they did not allow them to take anything; also people could not discern that Britain did not chase the Italians and the French away by her own force, nor by overt actions, but by inciting others and through manoeuvres and deceit.
Furthermore, none of the Muslims quite realise the extent of the fear in the hearts of all the states, especially the British, that the remaining of the Khilafah instils, the Khilafah which is considered a constant threat to them; thus the Muslims did not realise the filthy conspiracy which the British were plotting through Mustafa Kemal’s rebellion in order to abolish the Khilafah at the hands of the Muslims. Therefore, Mustafa Kemal took over the leadership of Turkey to fight the occupiers, thus he was considered to have won the first round.
Mustafa Kemal adopts Ankara as his centre.
Having achieved this victory, Mustafa Kemal attempted once again to seize power through legitimate means, i.e. through parliament. Preparations for the new parliamentary elections were set on foot, but they were on the old basis, i.e. an Ottoman parliament subordinate to the Khalifah’s government. However, the Prime Minister Ali Ridha was weak and he used to sense people’s drift towards Mustafa Kemal, thus he deemed it wise to come to terms with him. Hence, he sent Salih Pasha, the Navy minister to Anatolia, where on 18th October 1919, he held with the Parliamentary Committee a meeting which became later known as the “Amasia Conference”.
The conference lasted several days and Salih Pasha succeeded in reconciling between the deputies and the government. The first motion to be proposed at the conference and to be instantly agreed upon by the two parties was the “non infringement of the Sultanate and the Khilafah”. The Istanbul delegate then endorsed all the resolutions adopted at the “Ardh Room” conference and the Sivas conference. A heated argument broke out pertaining the issue of dissolving the Parliamentary Committee, and after the debate intensified, the issue was left unsettled and it was decided that would remain suspended until the members of the new parliament could meet to settle it.
Then Mustafa Kemal moved to Ankara to take up residence in there and to use it as his centre. Arrangements were made to greet him and on the morning of his scheduled arrival, the local residents were up early and the whole city reacted in anticipation; the farmers left their farms to take part in greeting him and the dervish came out in a large procession, carrying large green banners bearing the exalted Qur’anic Verses. When he arrived people cheered, women shrilled, and chants of Takbir and acclaim reverberated; then he entered the city as a hero and took up residence in there.
The fresh elections took place and Mustafa Kemal was elected as a member of parliament for Ankara. Several deputies then flocked to Ankara and held a preliminary to discuss their affairs. During the meeting, a proposal was put forward to convene parliament in the capital and to dissolve the conference now that its members have become official deputies. However, Mustafa Kemal opposed both ideas vehemently and persistently by saying: “The conference must continue until the extent of parliament’s adherence to justice becomes manifest and until its policy becomes clear. As for moving to the capital, this could only be regarded as sheer insane idiocy. If you did this, you would be under the mercy of the Western enemy, for the British are still in control of the country and the authority would interfere in your affairs, and you might be arrested. Therefore, parliament should be convened here in Ankara, so that it remains free and independent.”
However, all the deputies insisted that the inauguration of parliament should take place in the capital Istanbul and in the house of parliament, so that they could be in there under the wing of the legitimate ruler of the country, Sultan Wahid-ud-Deen, the Khalifah of the Muslims. Upon Mustafa Kemal kept silent over this and accepted it; however, he did not go to Istanbul but remained in Ankara. However, prior to this, he held a parliamentary meeting with the Ankara deputies and gave them the necessary instructions; he requested from them to vote for him as speaker of parliament in his absence.
On 11th November, parliament was inaugurated by a speech of the throne then the election of a speaker took place. the deputies refused to elect Mustafa Kemal as speaker and they opted for Ra’uf Beik instead. Then on 28th January 1920, parliament ratified the national charter known as the famous “Milli Charter”, which confirmed the resolutions of “Ardh Room” and Sivas. The charter called for the total independence and freedom of all the provinces inhabited by a Turkish majority, including Istanbul and its suburbs, stretching alongside the sea of Marmara, provided that the fate of all the parts of the Empire would be decided through a referendum.
Meanwhile, the European countries informed the Ottoman government through an official memorandum that Istanbul and the straits must remain under the disposal of the Sultan. The followers of Mustafa Kemal interpreted this as a victory to their policy and that it would be possible to come to terms with the Europeans over fairer truce terms. Therefore, Mustafa Kemal started to work towards bringing down the government of Ali Ridha Pasha and towards replacing it by an outright nationalist government. He persisted and pressed the deputies vehemently to undertake this initiative and exhausted all his efforts, but the deputies recoiled and refused to listen to Mustafa Kemal, thus he became enraged and realised that his plan to seize power through legitimate means and to replace the Khilafah system by a republican system was inevitably doomed to failure. Therefore, he set about rekindling the rebellion in order to seize power by force.
Mustafa Kemal’s return to the rebellion through a second phase.
Despite the fact that Mustafa Kemal was the one who called for the election of new members and recognised the constitutionality of the assembly, and although he approved of the selected deputies, and it was he who promised to abide by the resolutions of the assembly, who dissolved the former government and accepted the current government, and demanded that the country should be governed through a constitutional rule, despite all this, he decided to declare the rebellion once again, after he had lost all hope in seizing power through parliament. Hence, he started to equip the troops and prepare for battle. Weapons and funds started to flow towards him from Istanbul with the full knowledge of the British High Commissioner and the French High Commissioner. They both used to nominally express their objection to this but they would generally keep silent and decline to reveal anything; even an incident far more significant than this occurred, that was when Mustafa Kemal gathered trucks full of weapons and ammunition in the peninsula of Gallipoli and right under the nose of the British High Commissioner and despite his surveillance.
A guerrilla war broke out against the Allies, and Biria was besieged and forced to capitulate, thus the rebels allowed the Italian garrison to evacuate. Then the eastern side of Cilicia was attacked and the French garrison evacuated it. Hence, London and Paris called for an absolute halt to the military operations, but these went on regardless as they were.
On 7th March 1920, the Allies forced Ali Ridha to resign, thus he tendered his resignation and was replaced by Salih Pasha, who was the navy minister, and who had in the past struck a deal with Mustafa Kemal in “Amasia”. Hence, he proceeded in government while attempting to diffuse and pacify the situation.
However, on 10th March 1920, Lord Curzon delivered a speech in the House of Lord in which he said: “The Allies can no longer tolerate the level of belittlement the Europeans are having to endure in Istanbul, while Christians are being persecuted and slaughtered all over the place.”
The British occupy Istanbul.
In the wake of this statement, the harbour of Golden Horn was filled with British warships. British staff were evacuated from Anatolia and orders were issued to the remaining British garrison to evacuate as soon as possible. The British living in Ankara left the city in a hurry.The speaker of parliament in Istanbul, Ra’uf Beik, declared that the British intended to arrest the nationalist deputies and to restore the government of Farid Pasha Damad. Hence, Mustafa Kemal telegraphed his deputies urging them vehemently to flee and not to surrender themselves to the British, but they refused to flee.
In the early hours of 16th March 1920, all the measures aimed at occupying Istanbul militarily and at tightening the grip on the local residents were undertaken. This task was delegated to the British General Henri Wilson, who had been appointed earlier as the Commander in Chief of the allied forces.
Paris and Rome agreed that the three governments of Britain, France and Italy should take part in imposing sanctions. However, it was Britain alone who dispatched her marines. When France and Italy realised that Britain succeeded in occupying Istanbul, they intervened once again to block the categorically British initiative in order to preserve the international balance of power; thus they demanded to take part in ruling the country, but the British did not enable them from doing so and went it alone.Then without and delay, the British troops roamed the main streets of the city, proudly showing off, and occupied the post office and all the main government buildings, after they had terrorised the local residents and even the Turkish soldiers themselves. They arrested a number of deputies from Mustafa Kemal’s party, among whom were Ra’uf Beik and Fathi beik. They also arrested the former Prime Minister Said Halim and took them all to prison. The next morning, they were all loaded into a ship that took them to Malta. Hence, some of the deputies and army officers fled Istanbul to Ankara. The allied took over Istanbul and took total control over it, ruling it at will. Martial law was declared in Istanbul and strict censorship was on the press, postal and telegraphic communications and on the governmentwere introduced.
People’s resentment of the Sultan for his support of the British measures.
The Sultan backed the measures which the British had undertaken and the government issued a public communiqué in which it exhorted people to observe calm, stating that it was the duty of the subjects to observe calm. The government began the communiqué by saying: “The most important duty of every Turkish citizen is to abide by the orders of the Sultan.” Consequently, the masses and the Turkish soldiers were engulfed in an atmosphere of terror which in turn led to people’s resentment of the Sultan and intensified the attack on him from all corners. Then parliament was officially dissolved.
On 5th April 1920, Salih Pasah resigned and Farid Pasha Damad formed the new government at the request of the British and he started ruling the country in despotic manner. Once parliament was dissolved, he became the sole power broker and started to openly take into account the British interests and attempt to win them over through various means, until he became more British than the British themselves. The Sultan was not far behind in his attempt at winning the British over and in his attack on Mustafa Kemal’s followers. He incited Sheikh-ul-Islam to issue a fatwa against them and so he did. The fatwa stated that all the nationalists were from amongst the cursed ones and from amongst those who strayed; that the believers from amongst Allah’s servants should declare war on those revolting insurgents. A Sultanic decree was simultaneously issued endorsing this fatwa and sentencing Mustafa Kemal and his supporters to capital punishment.
When Mustafa Kemal heard of this, he arrested the small number of Britons who remained in Anatolia and did not evacuate when they were instructed to do so. Then he ordered the Turkish garrison to attack the British and besiege the city of Eskisehir were a British platoon was stationed. At that time, the British were waiting for an Italian garrison heading towards Konia. Hence, the Turkish troops attacked the British and managed to lay siege to the city. They also attacked the Italian garrison while on its way to Konia; the Italians however managed to reach Konia after suffering heavy losses. Consequently, the Italian garrison was forced to move westwards and join the Greeks in Izmir. The British evacuated Eskisehir as the Italians evacuated Konia. Therefore, not one single soldier from the allied forces was left in Anatolia; however, no clashes whatsoever took place with the British, while a single skirmish took place with the Italians while on their way to Konia to link up with the British.Then they all evacuated.
Mustafa Kemal announces fresh parliamentary elections.
In the light of these operations, the situation became crystal clear that two camps dominated the country: the British on one side, backed by the Khalifah and the government, and Mustafa Kemal’s party on the other side, backed by all the people. Hence, Mustafa Kemal became opposite to the government and people regarded him as their leader against the British. Therefore, public opinion was in his favour and most of the army officers and civil servants were on his side. Hence, amidst this favourable mood, he seized the opportunity to announce on behalf of the Parliamentary Committee, which was still in place and was never dissolved, that fresh elections would be held, and that the new parliament would have no connection with the old assembly; also that it would not be an Ottoman parliament, but a nationalist legislative institution with exceptional powers. Ankara was selected as the centre where the sessions of this nationalist institution would be held. Elections did effectively take place, but these were not proper elections, they were rather a nominal exercise aimed at making them look like elections. The general mood was that the status quo necessitated the election of the Kemalists only, to the exclusion of all others, to become the representatives of the nation; this was the case and no other deputy apart from the Kemalists was elected.
On 23rd April 1920, the nationalist conference was held in Ankara. The inaugural session was deliberately scheduled to take place on a Friday. Hence, after the Friday prayer at the mosque of Hajj Birem, the deputies came out hoisting the flags and proceeded towards the venue of the meeting. They slaughtered two sheep at the threshold, then they entered the hall and held the inaugural session. Meanwhile, similar celebrations took place in every single mosque in Anatolia, even those in the smallest of villages. During his preparation for the National Assembly and its inauguration, Mustafa Kemal was bringing the civil servants to Ankara. Local residents witnessed an influx of migrants flocking to their city, amongst them officers, teachers and senior civil servants. They did not know at first the reason for their arrival, but they later realised that they were the government staff.
Mustafa Kemal establishes a government apparatus in Ankara.
Therefore, Mustafa Kemal established a government apparatus in Ankara. He also established a regular army and several government departments. He also brought a press and a team of journalists. A newspaper called Hakmit Milla was published and Mustafa Kemal prepared Ankara to become the government centre and the capital of the country. He set about laying the foundations of the Turkish republic. However, he was undertaking this initiative with extreme caution and total secrecy. He used to pretend that his struggle was a struggle against foreign occupation and that his war was a war against the occupiers. He used to justify his actions by claiming that he was defending the country. He used to address the Europeans through official statements in which he would say: “You can occupy all the Arab countries and occupy Syria, but I shall not allow you to occupy Turkey. We are only claiming a right which every single nation should enjoy. We want to be a free nation within our national natural borders. We do not accept one carat less than that.” During and after the inauguration of the National Assembly, he used to declare: “All the measures to be taken would be aimed at maintaining the Khilafah and the Sultanate and at ridding the Sultan and the country from Western slavery.” He then gave a statement in which he said: “Since the Sultan is prisoner of the Western countries who control the capital as they please, thus he is not a free sovereign, nor does he enjoy any sovereignty whatsoever. Therefore, the Supreme National Assembly is going to assume temporarily the running of the country’s affairs.
Consequently, an executive committee was set up and delegated with the task of running the country’s affairs. It was formed of eleven ministers elected by the National Assembly, and Mustafa Kemal was voted as its president; prior to this, he had been elected as speaker of the National Assembly, then Colonel Ismat Pasha joined the government.
The National Assembly started to hold its meetings and adopt resolutions. It adopted a host of very important resolutions, one of which was the considering of all the trade agreements and treaties signed between the Istanbul government and the foreign countries as null and void. Another resolution stipulated that all the state’s revenues, even those coming from the Sultan assets, estates and Awqaf (endowments), should be placed under the disposal of the Ankara government.Hence, a government was established in Ankara, which had a parliament, governmental departments and a regular army. It adopted a host of very serious resolutions; hence, it became imperative upon the Sultan to either abolish this government or surrender to it. Hence, an armed confrontation between the two camps became inevitable.
Excerpt from 'How the Khilafah was Destroyed" by Abdul Qadeem Zallum
Available in Arabic, English and Turkish.
Islamic Revival Homepage
Site designed and maintained by Sultanah X