The defeat of Venizelos in the general elections in Greece and the return of King Constantine alienated the Allies, especially France. The Greek army in Anatolia started a new offensive, but was twice checked by the Turkish army at Inn-Eunu (Jan.–April 1921). The Allies called a conference in London to which repre sentatives of both the Government of the sultan and the Govern ment of Angora were invited (Jan.–Feb. 1921). At this confer ence it became clear that the Allies realized the necessity of amending the Treaty of Sevres : the Angora delegates initialled agreements with the French and Italian Governments which were not accepted by Angora. These agreements nevertheless were the first signs of the difference of opinion between the Allies on the Turkish question. The allied high commissioners at Constantinople as a result of this dissension announced the neutrality of their Governments on May 18, 1921, and designated neutral zones for bidden to the belligerents on each shore of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. On July Io, 1921, the Greek army once more passed to the offensive and drove the Turkish army east of the Sakaria. At the suggestion of a commission of inquiry sent by the Great National Assembly to the front, Mustafa Kemal Pasha was now appointed generalissimo, and after a pitched battle which lasted 20 days the Greeks were defeated and retired to the east of Eskishehir. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was made marshal and was given the title of Ghazi by the Great National Assembly.
M. Franklin Bouillon was delegated by France to negotiate an agreement which was signed in Angora on Oct. 20, 1921. It recog nized the Angora Government and traced the Turco-Syrian Fron tier, as later reaffirmed in the Lausanne Treaty. On March 1922, the Allies intervened in common to propose a truce between Turkey and Greece, but the Turks declared that they could only negotiate after the evacuation of Anatolia. However the Angora Government sent to Europe, first the commissary of foreign affairs, and then Fethi Bey, the commissary of the interior, to seek a peaceful solution. Fethi Bey, especially, arrived in London with conciliatory proposals, but during his three weeks' stay, he was not received by any cabinet minister. The Angora Govern ment concluded that the question could be settled only by force of arms. The Greeks, to raise their moral, demanded permission to occupy Constantinople, which the Allies refused. On July 3o, 1922, Sterighiadis, the Greek high commissioner in Smyrna, pro claimed the autonomy of the Anatolian territory under Greek occupation, apparently with the intention of continuing the Ana tolian war in the guise of a local Greek national movement, in the case of the Greek army being compelled to evacuate Anatolia by diplomatic pressure. The Allies proclaimed their neutrality for
the second time on August 1 o, 1922, by the decision of the Su preme Council of War.
The Turkish offensive began on Aug. 26 and the Greek army was completely routed. On its way from Ushak to Smyrna, it burnt to the ground the most prosperous towns in the west of Turkey, and atrocities were committed on a large scale. Nearly a million people were homeless. The Turkish army entered Smyrna on September 9, and the masses of native Christians left the town in great" disorder. The burning of the town on Sept. 13 deepened the general tragedy.
The annihilation of the Greek army brought the Allies face to face with the Turkish army on the Asiatic shores of the Straits, the neutrality of which had been proclaimed by the Allies. The situation was dangerous. At first England and France agreed to act in concert in case of necessity by opposing any Turkish viola tion of the neutral zones. On Sept. 16, England further announced that the British Dominions, Yugoslavia and Rumania, had been asked to promise military support for maintaining the freedom of the Straits. This announcement incited the Turks to action, both by its threatening tone and because it contained no reference to the Nationalists' territorial demands in eastern Thrace. In conse quence, the Turkish army advanced towards the neutral zone. France and Italy withdrew their troops, and M. Franklin Bouillon was sent to Smyrna from Paris to mediate with Mustafa Kemal Pasha, and so arrest the march of the Turkish army. The British troops remained alone. On Sept. 23, Lord Curzon came to an agreement with M. Poincare which accepted the British view re garding the temporary question of the neutral zones, and the French view regarding the definitive peace terms. On the same day, in accordance with this agreement, the principal allied powers invited the Angora Government to a peace conference on two bases; that Turkish sovereignty should be restored in Thrace up to the river Maritza, and that during the interim period, pending the negotiations and entry into force of the Peace Treaty, the inviola bility of the neutral zones should be maintained. Meanwhile the Turkish cavalry had advanced almost up to the British wire at Chanak, and only the tact and the firmness of General Harington, as well as his sincere desire to prevent war, averted a disaster. The Nationalists accepted the Allied invitation of Sept. 2 which satis fied the Turkish demands for the territorial settlement in Europe, and suggested a preliminary conference on Sept. 29. On Oct. 13 a military convention was signed at Midania between the Angora delegates, the Allied generals in Constantinople and Greece.