https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8125-6486
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Abstract
This article examines various rebellions against the nationalist government in Anatolia during the Turkish War of Independence (TWI) (1919–1922), which began as an insurrection against the Ottoman government and the occupation forces of the Entente. As the nationalists began to extend their authority, they met with resistance from different groups in different parts of the country. While some groups sought independent ethno-states, some consisted of war-weary Turks who simply refused to share the burden of a new conflict; others were supported by the Ottoman government in Istanbul and sought to restore the authority of the Sultan and weaken the nationalists. Most rebellions, especially those supported by the Ottoman government, involved former or current soldiers and government officials. Both sides fought in the name of what they considered to be legitimate governments and had access to heavy weapons. The rebellions often met with violent repression and the use of irregular forces, resulting in significant loss of life and damage to property and leaving a lasting impact on the collective memory of Turkish society.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Shortly after the armistice, sporadic acts of resistance were observed in the French-occupied zone in southern Anatolia. The presence of Armenian units among the French forces alarmed the local population, contributing to these resistance activities: Ahmet Hulki Saral, Türk İstiklâl Harbi IV’üncü Cilt Güney Cephesi (Ankara: Genelkurmay Basımevi, 2009), 63.
2 While the term Kuvâ-yı Milliye is commonly employed to encompass all military and political aspects of the nationalist movement, in this study, it is used to refer exclusively to the irregular units that actively fought on behalf of the nationalists.
3 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Nutuk (İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2019), 394.
4 For a detailed discussion on the definition of civil war: Nicholas Sambaris, ‘What is Civil War? Conceptual and Empirical Complexities of an Operational Definition’, The Journal of Conflict Resolution 48, no. 6, (2004), 816–31.
5 Halide Edip, Türkün Ateşle İmtihanı (İstanbul: Çan Yayınları, 1962), 136.
6 Sina Akşin, İç Savaş ve Sevr’de Ölüm (İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2010).
7 Doğu Perinçek, ‘Her Kurtuluş Savaşı İç Savaştır’, Aydınlık, <aydinlik.com.tr/koseyazisi/her-kurtulus-savasi-ic-savastir-tamami-4957>, [accessed: 15 July 2023]; Sinan Meydan, ‘İhanetin Belgesi: Atatürk ve Arkadaşlarının İdam Kararları’, Sözcü, <sozcu.com.tr/2020/yazarlar/sinan-meydan/ihanetin-belgesi-ataturk-ve-arkadaslarinin-idam-kararlari-5805880/>, [accessed: 15 July 2023]; Merdan Yanardag˘, Türk Siyasal Yaşamında Kadro Hareketi (İstanbul: Yalçın Yayınları, 1988), 21–2.
8 Mesut Uyar, ‘Kurtuluş Savaşı gerçek bir savaş mıydı?’ Independent Türkçe, <indyturk.com/node/202791/türkiyeden-sesler/kurtuluş-savaşıgerçek-bir-savaş-mıydı>, [accessed: 4 July 2022]; Mesut Uyar, ‘Türk İç Savaşı 1919–22’, Toplumsal Tarihi, (Kasım 2022), 2–5.
9 Bill Kissane, ‘Was There a Civil War in Anatolia between the Ottoman Collapse in World War I and the Establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923?’, Journal of Modern European History 20, no. 4 (2022), 452–67.
10 Fahri Belen, Türk Kurtuluş Savaşı (İstanbul: Yeditepe Yayınevi, 2014), 183.
11 Doğu Ergil, Millî Mücadelenin Sosyal Tarihi (Ankara: Turhan Kitabevi, 1981), 256–8.
12 Hamdi Ertuna, Türk İstiklâl Harbi VI’ncü Cilt, İstiklâl Harbinde Ayaklanmalar (1919–1921), (Ankara: Genelkurmay Harp Tarihi Başkanlığı, 1974), 3.
13 Sebahattin Selek, Millî Mücadele I (Ulusal Kurtuluş Savaşı) (İstanbul: Örgün Yayınevi, 2002), 119.
14 Tarık Zafer Tunaya, Türkiye’de Siyasi Partiler, II (İstanbul: Hürriyet Vakfı Yayınları, 1986), 198.
15 Sina Akşin, İstanbul Hükümetleri ve Millî Mücadele (Mutlakıyete Dönüş 1918–1919, (İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2004), 357.
16 İlhan Turan, İsmet İnönü: Konuşma, Demeç, Makale, Mesaj ve Söyleşileri (1919–1933) (Ankara: İnönü Vakfı, 2021), 561.
17 Mehmed Arif, Anadolu İnkılâbı 1335–1339, Millî Mücadele Hatıratı (İstanbul: İkdam Matbaası, 1924).
18 Atatürk, 776–7.
19 Kuruluş Safhasında Belgelerle Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi (Ankara: TBMM Basımevi, 2021), 28–39.
20 Kazım Karabekir, İstiklal Harbimiz (İstanbul: Türkiye Yayınevi, 1960), 182–5.
21 Ertuna, 38.
22 Atatürk, 129–30.
23 Ibid., 215, 1074.
24 İrfan Neziroğlu (Editorial Director), The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Ankara: GNAT Press, 2015), 16–17.
25 Nur Bilge Criss, Istanbul Under Allied Occupation 1918–1923 (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 65–6.
26 Akşin, İç Savaş ve Sevr’de Ölüm, 18–19; Fahri Belen, Türk Kurtuluş Savaşı (İstanbul: Yeditepe Yayınevi, 2014), 183.
27 Hâkimiyet-i Milliye, 13 March AH1336 (ACE 1920), No. 21.
28 Stanford J. Shaw, From Empire to Republic: The Turkish War of National Liberation 1918–1923, A Documentary Study, Vol. III, Part 1 (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 2000), 968.
29 The Grand National Assembly of Turkey, 21–3; Vahdettin’s ratification of death penalties for nationalist leaders were announced in the official government gazette: ‘Mahkûmiyet’, Takvim-i Vekâyi, 27 May AH1336 (ACE 1920).
30 Shaw, 974–5.
31 TBMM Zabıt Ceridesi, Cilt 1, Birinci İçtima, Birinci Celse, 23 April 2020.
32 Article 7 of the Ottoman Constitution of 1876 empowered the sultan to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, provided that new parliamentary elections were held and the Chamber was reconvened within four months. On 18 March 1920, the Ottoman deputies had voted unanimously to cease the Chamber’s functions, as they were unable to resume their duties under enemy occupation. The following day, Mustafa Kemal, in his call for elections to form a new assembly in Ankara, declared that the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the Ottoman state were rendered impotent, as their activities had come under the supervision of a foreign power. Though Mehmed VI formally dissolved the Chamber on 11 April 1920, in an attempt to pre-empt the nationalists’ assembly, most deputies and officials had already reached Ankara to join the nationalists. Consequently, on 23 April 1923, the Grand National Assembly convened as the sole legitimate representative body operating in accordance with the constitution: Mahmut Goloğlu, Milli Mücadele Tarihi III Üçüncü Meşrutiyet (1920): Birinci Büyük Millet Meclisi (İstanbul: İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2010), 131–51.
33 Taha Niyazi Karaca, ‘Millî Mücadelede Bozkır İsyanı’, Erciyes Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 1, no. 16 (2004), 169–90.
34 Ertuna, 56.
35 Ryan Gingeras, Sorrowful Shores: Violence, Ethnicity, and the End of the Ottoman Empire, 1912–1923 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 94.
36 Ertuna, 4.
37 Akşin, 21–4.
38 Gingeras, 100.
39 Yunus Nadi, Birinci Büyük Millet Meclisinin Açılışı ve İsyanlar (İstanbul: Sel Yayınları, 1955), 22; Harp Tarihi Vesikaları Dergisi 24, no. 72 (1975), Document No: 1557.
40 Ertuna, 74.
41 Gingeras, 103.
42 Tevfik Ercan, Türk İstiklâl Harbi Batı Cephesi II’nci Cilt 2’nci Kısım Sivas Kongresi ve Heyet-i Temsiliye Devri, İstanbul’un İtilâf Devletleri Tarafından Resmen İşgali, Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi Hükümeti’nin Kurulması, Batı Anadolu ve Trakya Cephelerinde Yunan İleri Harekâtı (4 Eylül 1919–9 Kasım 1920) (Ankara: Genelkurmay Basımevi, 1999), 105–6; Sabahattin Selek, Millî Mücadele II (Ulusal Kurtuluş Savaşı) (İstanbul: Örgün Yayınevi, 2002), 765.
43 Akşin, 75.
44 Sami Önal, Hüsrev Gerede’nin Anıları (İstanbul: Literatür Yayınları, 2003), 191–4.
45 Ertuna, 95.
46 Belen, 215.
47 Ibid., 215.
48 TBMM Zabıt Ceridesi, 29 April 1920, Cilt 1, 136–51.
49 Ercan, 105–6; Selek, 765.
50 Ertuna, 110–12.
51 Ibid, 112–13.
52 Nadi, 69.
53 Belen, 218–19.
54 Ibid, 220.
55 Ahmet Oğuz, ‘Yozgat Çapanoğlu İsyanı Hakkında Bir Değerlendirme’, Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli Üniversitesi SBE Dergisi 11, No 4, (2021), 1878–82.
56 Belen, 221–2.
57 Akşin, 89–90.
58 Çerkez Ethem, Anılarım (İstanbul: Berfin Yayınları; 1994), 74; Oğuz, 1887.
59 Nadi, 78.
60 ‘Message From Refet Bey to İsmet Bey, 10 July 1920’, Harp Tarihi Belgeleri Dergisi 24, no. 72 (1975), Document No: 1563.
61 Although Yozgat is currently considered one of the mid-sized cities in Central Anatolia, the 1914 Ottoman census reveals that Yozgat had a larger population than Central Anatolian cities like Ankara, Sivas, Eskişehir, or Tokat. It boasted an urban population of 93,437 at that time: Kemal Karpat, Ottoman Population 1830–1914 Demographic and Social Characteristics, (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), 172–86.
62 TBMM Zabıt Ceridesi, 14 August 1920, Cilt 2, 222–3.
63 Sıtkı Aydınel, Güneybatı Anadolu’da Kuvâ-yı Milliye Harekâtı (Eskişehir: Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları, 1993), 346–9.
64 Fahrettin Altay, Görüp Geçirdiklerin: 10 Yıl Savaş 1912–1922 ve Sonrası (İstanbul: İnsel Yayınları, 1970), 254–5.
65 TBMM Zabıt Ceridesi, 14 August 1920, Cilt 2, 228–9.
66 Nuran Koltuk, Batı Anadolu’da Kuvâ-yı Milliye’nin Askerî ve Malî Kaynakları (Mayıs 1919–Kasım 1920) (İstanbul: Kitabevi Yayınları, 2015), 212–13.
67 Ertuna, 184–7; Belen, 229; Fazıl Doğan, Millî Mücadele Hatıralarım, (İstanbul: İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2018), 26–7.
68 İzzet Öztoprak, ‘Düzenli Ordunun Kuruluşu’, İkinci Askerî Tarih Semineri Bildirileri (Ankara: Genelkurmay Basımevi, 1985), 269.
69 Shaw, 1008.
70 Akşin, 95.
71 Edward J. Erickson, The Turkish War of Independence A Military History 1919–1923 (Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2021), 106; Ertuna, 199–200.
72 Akşin, 262–3.
73 İzzettin Çalışlar (Yayına Hazırlayan), Orgeneral İzzettin Çalışlar’ın Anılarıyla Gün Gün, Saat Saat İstiklâl Savaşı’nda Batı Cephesi (İstanbul: İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2009), 52.
74 Atatürk, 438–9.
75 Sabahattin Selek, İsmet İnönü: Hatıralar (İstanbul: Bilgi Yayınevi, 2014), 215–18.
76 Atatürk, 443.
77 Mehmed Arif, Anadolu İnkılabı: Millî Mücadele Hatıraları 1919–1923 (İstanbul: Arba Yayınları, 1987), 54.
78 Zeki Sarıhan, Kurtuluş Savaşı Günlüğü III (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1993), 323; Belen, 279.
79 Document No: 1585–6, Harp Tarihi Belgeleri Dergisi 24, no. 73 (1975).
80 Ertuna, 235–7.
81 Selek, 228–229.
82 Doğan, 37–40; Ertuna, 242.
83 Belen, 289–91; Ertuna, 256.
84 Erickson, 89.
85 Mustafa Balcıoğlu, İki İsyan Bir Paşa (Ankara: Nobel Yayınları, 2000), 85; Ertuna, 293–4.
86 Atatürk, 545.
87 Erickson, 92. There are different opinions and disputes on the casualty figures. For different estimates and claims: Rudolph J. Rummel, Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, (Münster: LIT Verlag, 1998). For a recent discussion on the forced migration of Greeks and the Greek point of view: Nicholas Doumanis, Before the Nation: Muslim-Christian Coexistence and its Destruction in Late Ottoman Anatolia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).
88 Ertuna, 289.
89 Ibid., 289–94; Balcıoğlu, 120.
90 Ertuna, 259; Balcıoğlu, 133.
91 Suat Akgül, ‘Cumhuriyet Dönemine Kadar Dersim Sorunu’, OTAM Ankara Üniversitesi Osmanlı Tarihi Araştırma ve Uygulama Merkezi Dergisi 4, no. 4 (May 1993), 18; Ertuna, 263.
92 Necati Fahri Taş, Nureddin Paşa ve Tarihi Gerçekler (İstanbul: Nehir Yayınları, 1997), 106–7.
93 Kazım Özalp, Millî Mücadele 1919–1922 (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1998), 229; TBMM Gizli Celse Zabıtları, 4 October 1921, Cilt 13, 86’ncı İnikat, 2.
94 Nureddin submitted a series of lengthy reports to the TBMM, defending his actions against the Pontic Greek and Kurdish rebels, until January 1922. On 16–17 January 1922, the TBMM convened solely to decide Nureddin Pasha’s fate. Mustafa Kemal Pasha, then serving as the commander-in-chief, argued against a court martial, citing Nureddin’s dismissal as sufficient punishment. Despite many deputies’ insistence on a trial, they ultimately yielded to Mustafa Kemal Pasha’s will: TBMM Gizli Celse Zabıtları, 16–17 October 1921, Cilt 16, İnikat, 145–6.
95 The general amnesty protocol stated that ‘no one residing in Turkey … shall be harassed or molested in any way, on any pretext, … on account of their military or political conduct between August 1, 1914, and November 20, 1922, or for having assisted a foreign state which has signed the Lausanne Peace Treaty of today’s date, or the nationals of such a state (…) It is decided that while the first paragraph of the Declaration on General Amnesty remains in force, the Turkish Government reserves the right to prohibit the entry and residence in Turkey of one hundred and fifty persons who fall into the category of persons referred to in this article’: Lozan Barış Konferansı: Tutanaklar Belgeler, İkinci Takım Cilt İki (İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2001), 92–4.
96 Some criticised the nascent regime for its perceived leniency towards former rebels, advocating for harsher punishments after the republic’s proclamation: Celâl Erikan, Kurtuluş Savaşımızın Tarihi (İstanbul: Gerçek Yayınevi, 1971), 31.
97 Necdet Öklem, Hilafetin Sonu (İzmir: Ege Üniversitesi Rektörlüğü Yayınları, 1981), 124–5.
98 Şaduman Halıcı, ‘Yüzellilikler’, Atatürk Ansiklopedisi, <https://ataturkansiklopedisi.gov.tr/bilgi/yuzellilikler/> [accessed 18 March 2023]. The arch-enemy of the nationalists, Ferid Pasha, who had fled to France in 1922, was not included in the list since he had already died in exile in late 1923.
99 Gingeras, 142–3.
100 Oğuz, 1888.
101 He was awarded İstiklal Madalyası on 21 April 1924: ‘Demirci Mehmed Efe’, TBMM Arşivi İstiklâl Madalyaları Kayıtları.
102 Erol Akcan, ‘Millî Mücadele’den Sonra Demirci Mehmet Efe’, Ankara Üniversitesi Türk İnkılâp Tarihi Enstitüsü Atatürk Yolu Dergisi 15, no. 57 (2015), 1–16; ‘Pek çok Denizlilinin Bilmediği Kentin En Kanlı Olayı: Demirci Mehmet Efe’nin Denizli Baskını’, 24 April 2017: <https://www.denizliguncel.com/kent/pek-cok-denizlilinin-bilmedigi-kentin-en-kanli-olayi-demirci-mehmet-efenin-denizli-baskini-h2797.html> [accessed: 10 February 2024].
103 ‘Çerkes Ethem’in Yakınları Devletten Özür Bekliyor’, 6 May 2016: <https://www.haberturk.com/gundem/haber/1235484-cerkez-ethemin-yakinlari-devletten-ozur-bekliyor> [accessed: 7 July 2023].
104 Hikmet Öksüz, ‘Türk-Rum Nüfus Mübadelesi’nin Sebep ve Bazı İstisnaları’, Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi 16, no. 48 (2000), 759.
105 Between 1924 and 1938, there were almost twenty rebellions in different parts of Eastern Anatolia and each one was ultimately quelled by the Turkish Army: Reşat Hallı, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nde Ayaklanmalar (1924–1938) (Ankara: Genelkurmay Basımevi, 1972), Chronological Graphic in Appendix-8.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Emrah Özdemir
Emrah Özdemir is an associate professor of international relations in the Department of International Relations at the Turkish Military Academy in Ankara. His research focuses on irregular warfare, military strategy and security studies.
Mehmet Fatih Baş
Mehmet Fatih Baş is an assistant professor of military history in the Department of History at the Turkish Military Academy in Ankara. His research focuses on Turkish military history, spanning the late Ottoman era to contemporary Türkiye.