ASIANOVERLAND.NET WINTER EUROPEAN DAY 32/205:  IPSALA TO ISTANBUL, TURKEY

“12-1-81 WELL, ALMOST TO ISTANBUL”

The Greek/Turkish border we are on, divided Thrace into eastern (Turkish) and western (Greek) parts after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in WW1.

In return for the Greek army joining the Allies in WW1, the Allies supported the annexation of eastern Thrace and Smyrna by Greece.

On August 10, 1920, the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Sèvres ceding to Greece, all of Thrace. Turkey retained the small territories of Constantinople, the islands of Marmara, and "a tiny strip of European territory". The Straits of Bosporus were placed under an International Commission, as they were now open to all.

Turkey was forced to transfer to Greece "the exercise of her rights of sovereignty" over Smyrna in addition to "a considerable Hinterland, merely retaining a 'flag over an outer fort'. Though Greece administered the Smyrna enclave, its sovereignty remained, nominally, with the Sultan.

The treaty was never ratified by the Ottoman Empire, nor Greece

In October 1920, the Greek army advanced further east into Anatolia, with the encouragement of Britain, intended to increase pressure on the Turkish and Ottoman governments to sign the Treaty of Sèvres. The strategic objective was to defeat the Turkish Nationalists and force the emerging Turkish leader, Mustafa Kemal, into peace negotiations.

The advancing Greeks, holding superiority in numbers and modern equipment, had hoped for an early battle in which they were confident of breaking up ill-equipped Turkish forces, and met little resistance, as the Turks retreated to avoid encirclement.

Churchill said: "The Greek columns trailed along the country roads passing safely through many ugly defiles, and at their approach the Turks, under strong and sagacious leadership, vanished into the recesses of Anatolia."

In early 1921 the Greek army resumed their advance with small scale reconnaissance incursions that met stiff resistance from entrenched Turkish Nationalists, who were increasingly better prepared and equipped.

The Greek advance was halted for the first time at the First Battle of İnönü on January 11, 1921. This led to Allied proposals to amend the Treaty of Sèvres at a conference in London where both the Turkish Revolutionary and Ottoman governments were represented.

Although some agreements were reached with Italy, France and Britain, the decisions were not agreed by the Greek government, who believed they retained the strategic advantage and could negotiate from a stronger position. The Greeks initiated another attack on March 27, the Second Battle of İnönü, where the Turkish troops fiercely resisted and finally defeated the Greeks on March 30. The British favoured a Greek territorial expansion but refused to offer any military assistance in order to avoid provoking the French, while the Turkish forces received arms from Russia

By this time, France and Italy concluded private agreements with the Turkish revolutionaries in recognition of their mounting strength. They viewed Greece as a British client, and sold military equipment to the Turks. All other fronts had been won by the Turks, freeing more resources for the main threat of the Greek Army.

The new Bolshevik government of Russia became friendly to the Turkish revolutionaries, as shown in the Treaty of Moscow (1921), and supported Mustafa Kemal and his forces with money and ammunition. In 1920 alone, Russia supplied the Kemalists with 6,000 rifles, over 5 million rifle cartridges, and 17,600 shells as well as 200.6 kg (442.2 lb) of gold bullion.

The Greek Army advanced to less than 100 kilometres west of Ankara. Constantine's battle cry was "to Angira" and British officers were invited, in anticipation, to a victory dinner in the city of Kemal. It was envisaged that the Turkish Revolutionaries, who had consistently avoided encirclement, would be drawn into battle in defence of their capital and destroyed in a battle of attrition.

Despite the Russian help, supplies were short as the Turkish army prepared to meet the Greeks. Owners of private rifles, guns and ammunition had to surrender them to the army and every household was required to provide a pair of underclothing and sandals.

The advance of the Greek Army faced fierce resistance in the 21-day Battle of Sakarya (August 23 – September 13, 1921). The Turkish defense positions were on the heights, and the Greeks had to storm and occupy them. The Turks held certain hilltops and lost others, while some were lost and recaptured several times over. Yet the Turks had to conserve men, for the Greeks held the numerical advantage. The crucial moment came when the Greek army tried to take Haymana, 40 kilometres south of Ankara, but the Turks held out.

That was the furthest in Anatolia the Greeks would advance, and within a few weeks they withdrew back to the lines that they had held in June.

Having failed to reach a military solution, Greece appealed to the Allies for help, but early in 1922 Britain, France and Italy decided that the Treaty of Sèvres could not be enforced, so the Italian and French troops evacuated their positions, leaving the Greeks exposed.

The Turks finally launched a counter-attack on August 26, known to the Turks as the "Great Offensive". The major Greek defense positions were overrun on August 26. On August 30, the Greek army was defeated decisively, with half of its soldiers captured or slain and its equipment entirely lost. This date is celebrated as Victory Day, a national holiday in Turkey. On September 1, Mustafa Kemal issued his famous order to the Turkish army: "Armies, your first goal is the Mediterranean, Forward!"

Turkish cavalry entered Smyrna on September 9, with an entire Greek division surrendering. The expulsion of the Greek Army from Anatolia was completed on September 18. As historian George Lenczowski has put it: "Once started, the offensive was a dazzling success. Within two weeks the Turks drove the Greek army back to the Mediterranean Sea."

On September 10, Mustafa Kemal was quick to issue a proclamation, sentencing to death any Turkish soldier who harmed non-combatants. A few days before the Turkish capture of Smyrna, Mustafa Kemal's messengers distributed leaflets with this order written in Greek. Mustafa Kemal said that the Ankara government would not be held responsible for any massacre.

After re-capturing Smyrna, Turkish forces headed north for the Bosporus, the sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles where the Allied garrisons were reinforced by British, French and Italian troops from Constantinople. In an interview published in the Daily Mail, September 15, Mustafa Kemal stated that: "Our demands remain the same after our recent victory as they were before. We ask for Asia Minor, Thrace up to the river Maritsa and Constantinople... We must have our capital and I should in that case be obliged to march on Constantinople with my army, which will be an affair of only a few days. I must prefer to obtain possession by negotiation though, naturally I cannot wait indefinitely."

The British cabinet initially decided to resist the Turks if necessary at the Dardanelles and to ask for French and Italian help to enable the Greeks to remain in eastern Thrace, but Italian and French forces abandoned their positions at the straits and left the British alone to face the Turks. On September 24, Mustafa Kemal's troops moved into the straits zones and refused British requests to leave. The British finally decided to force the Greeks to withdraw behind the Maritsa in Thrace. This convinced Mustafa Kemal to accept the opening of armistice talks.

Under the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey and Greece agreed to an exchange of populations. Over one million Greek Orthodox Christians were displaced, most of them were resettled in the newly incorporated Greek territories of Macedonia and Thrace, and were exchanged with about 500,000 Muslims displaced from Greek territories.

↑ Day 204 ↓ Day 206