Later Roman Empire

This "national pact" formulated the demands which the nation alists made during the whole struggle, and which they obtained eventually at Lausanne. It proposed self-determination for the Arab provinces south of the armistice line ; it agreed to the open ing of the Straits to commerce ; it proposed to grant to non-Turk ish minorities the same rights as they had secured in Europe under various post-war treaties. The pact also demanded, either explic itly or implicitly, that Turkey should retain all territories inhab ited by non-Arab Ottoman Muslim majorities, which meant not only Anatolia but eastern Thrace and the Mosul vilayet; that Constantinople should be given military security; that the capitu lations should be abolished ; and that there should be a reasonable settlement of the public debts.

The Allies were watching with some anxiety the nationalist activities which consisted mostly of smuggling in arms and am munition and organizing the defence. Mustafa Kemal Pasha stayed in Anatolia to conduct these activities. The Allies, in con junction with the sultan and the entente liberale Party, decided to strike at the Nationalist movement through the persons of the leading deputies and intelligentsia in Constantinople. On March 16, 1920, the Allied forces in the capital seized a large number of nationalists, including Rauf Bey, the leader of the Nationalist Party in parliament, and Kara Vasif Bey, the head of the nation alist organization in Constantinople, arresting them in the parlia ment house itself. Parliament was then closed by the orders of the sultan. Some deputies and a few of the intelligentsia escaped to Angora, which had become the Nationalist centre.

The Great National Assembly.

Mustafa Kemal Pasha issued a proclamation inviting Anatolia to elect its deputies for the new assembly which might become a constituent body. The assembly was opened in Angora and on April 23, 192o, Mustafa Kemal Pasha was elected president both of the assembly and of the Government. Thus came into existence a new Turkish Gov ernment over all territories not under foreign occupation. A new constitution proclaimed the sovereignty to belong to the nation without restriction, and the Great National Assembly to be the sole and lawful representative of the nation, and to exercise sov ereignty in the name of the nation. But Mustafa Kemal Pasha tried to make use of those who were still loyal to the sultan by declaring in his speeches that the sultan-caliph was a prisoner in the hands of the Allies, and that he would be restored after the realization of the national ideal. The Government of Constanti nople, controlled by the Allies, condemned the leading nationalists to death by extraordinary courts, and issued a fetva denouncing them as outlaws. The Anatolian Government retaliated by issuing

corresponding fetvas. The Sultan's Government sent forces under the name of the Caliphate army and roused counter-revolutionary outbreaks around Angora, which, however, were put down by the nationalists. When the Allies found themselves embarrassed by the nationalist success, they accepted the offer of Venizelos that the Greek army should advance beyond the area allotted to it in order to deal with the nationalists. In the months of June and July 192o the Greek army occupied eastern Thrace, and marched on to Brusa and Ushak. On August io, 192o, the Allies concluded with the sultan's Government in Constantinople the Treaty of Sevres, which aimed at destroying the independence of Turkey. In Europe, eastern Thrace nearly as far as the Chatalja lines, including Gallipoli, was assigned to Greece, and provisionally Greece was also given Smyrna and a zone around it. A tripartite agreement between England, France and Italy laid out French and Italian spheres of influence in parts of those Anatolian terri tories which under the peace treaty were nominally left to Turkey. The outlines of the Armenia which was to be formed in eastern Anatolia were left to President Wilson to define. The Treaty strengthened the nationalist cause by arousing unanimous indigna tion. The British forces in Eskishehir withdrew under the pres sure of Ali Fuad Pasha's forces. In Cilicia and Aintab the nation alist forces were struggling successfully against the French army and against the Armenian legions under them.

The continual raids by the Armenians of the Armenian republic on the Turkish frontier villages, accompanied by killings and burn ings, as well as the necessity for a direct route to Russia, led Turkey to attack the Armenian Republic. The Turkish army cap tured Kars and Alexandropol, and a victorious peace was con cluded with Armenia at Alexandropol, Jan. 3, 1921. A Turkish delegation sent by the Angora Government signed a treaty of friendship with Russia by which Russia recognized the Govern ment of Angora. This, the first recognition of the Angora Govern ment, united her with Russia against the West. The Menshevik government of Georgia was overthrown, and Turkey with the consent of Georgia occupied Ardahan, Artvin and Batum. When the Caucasian republics were federated to Russia, a treaty signed in Kars Oct. 16, 1921, between Russia, the Government of Angora, and the three Caucasian republics, left Kars, Ardahan and Artvin to Turkey and restored Batum to Russia.