International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

At the end of World War I, on October 30, 1918, the defeated Ottoman Empire signed the Truce of Mudros, which included 25 articles with provisions for the Allied military occupation of the Straits, control of the railways and telephone lines, demobilization and disarmament of Ottoman troops, and the freeing all Allied prisoners of war. The most perilous clauses of the truce for the Ottoman Empire were Article 7, granting Allied Powers the right to occupy Ottoman Empire lands deemed a threat to security, and Article 24, conferring Allied Powers the right to intervene militarily in the Armenian provinces in the event of breakdown of law and order. Turkish nationalists were troubled by the extensive reach the two articles granted Allied Powers. Public opinion shifted to the Turkish nationalist resistance following the decision to permit Greek troops to land in İzmir on May 15, 1919, and Allied occupation of Istanbul, seat of Ottoman power, in March 1920. The Liberation War is the name given for the Turkish struggle against Allied Powers from May 19, 1919 to July 25, 1923, a resistance extending from formal combat, underground activities of the Young Turk Unionists , and regional uprisings, stirrings, and rebellions by traditional forces against the emergent state. The Turks were weary of the wars that began in 1911, and while economically and militarily weak, continued struggling ... log in or subscribe to read full text