Turkish Village
Copyright 1965, 1994 Paul Stirling. All rights reserved.
previous page
Page 6
Revolution and the relative weakness of Turkey.
The agreement with Greece over the exchange of populations (1923) and the flight of most Armenians rid Turkey of any numerically significant non-Muslim minority. Nationalism became the driving principle of Ataturk's party, a nationalism directed at raising the prestige of Turkey by efficient Westernisation rather than by an attempt to recover the Empire. Confusions remained, for example between the glorification of everything Turkish, carried to the point of xenophobia, and an open admiration for the technical and social achievements of the West; or between an anti-religious secularism, and a pro-Islamic hostility to Christianity. Vast administrative and social problems also remained. The illiterate peasant majority was unconcerned with, or hostile to social reforms, and the minor local officials were ignorant of the purposes and functioning of Western institutions, and incapable of administering new laws and regulations based on them. Nevertheless, so many of the confusions and problems of the Young Turks had disappeared or been cleared away, that it was possible to tackle seriously the task of converting the new Republic into a modern national state on the Western model.
Ataturk, to use the surname he adopted later, had established himself as a military commander of outstanding ability during World War I. In 1919 he was sent to the Third Army in Anatolia, as Inspector-General, to supervise its disarmament on behalf of the Sultan's government. Five days before he landed at Samsun, in May, Greek troops, with British and American naval support, landed at Smyrna on the pretext of preserving order, but in fact for reasons of international jobbery. Ataturk at once set about organising nationalist opposition to the Sultan and the Allies. His Nationalist movement secured an official General Election at which it won a big majority. The elected Assembly, meeting first unofficially in Ankara, drew up a National Pact, (17th February 1920) (Toynbee (1923) pp. 207- 10) demanding full sovereignty for a new State to include all territory of the Ottoman Empire not containing a majority of Christians or Arab-speaking Muslims, and the withdrawal of all foreign troops. They then went on to Istanbul to meet as Parliament, but their attitude was not sufficiently submissive, and the Allied authorities occupied Istanbul and arrested many
next page
Contents Page