Franco-Turkish War 1920-1921

After World War I ended, the victorious British, French, Greek and Italian forces occupied parts of the Ottoman Empire with the secret intention of dismembering it. Throughout 1919, the occupations were largely unopposed. The sultan, Mhammad VI Vahideddin, was convinced that resistance was futile but the emerging Turkish Nationalist movement, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal refused to accept capitulation. Kemal and the Turkish Nationalist movement were instrumental in promoting violent resistance to the occupying powers and this resulted in a series of locally organized uprisings in various centers of the French area of occupation known as Cilicia. France had a limited number of troops available from the Army of the Levant to defend its occupation which included the Armenian Legion.

Beginning January 21, 1920, Turkish Nationalists besieged the French garrison of Maras. A French relief force arrived on February 8th but the difficulties of supplying Maras led to an evacuation order the following day when another uprising began in Urfa. Turkish Nationalist liberated the Maras on February 20th. Urfa was liberated on April 11th. By then, since April 1st, Turkish Nationalists were fighting the French occupation of Antep. The French negotiated a twenty-day truce with the Turks beginning on May 29th.

By this time, the Ottoman parliament had been shuttered after calling for the retention of all territories under Ottoman control at the time of the armistice; the closure seriously undermined the legitimacy of the Porte. To the British the French armistice represented a step towards recognizing the Turkish Nationalists as a government and threatened to undermine the government in Constantinople even more as negotiations for the Treaty of Sevres were proceeding with it.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Nationalist denounced the truce on June 18th, because French reinforcements were arriving, and public opinion in France was turning against the occupation of Cilicia. The Turks were becoming increasingly successful in their campaign to liberate Cilicia and the French position there became untenable. After the Treaty of Sevres had been signed by Ottoman representatives in August, the Turkish Nationalists established the Grand National Assembly in Ankara, directly challenging the legitimacy of the government in Constantinople. In November, as the Turks were establishing a regular army, the French concluded the cost of holding Cilicia outweighed the benefits.

In January 1921, the Greeks initiated a war with the Turkish Nationalist government and planned to advance on Ankara. France negotiated a preliminary peace treaty with the Turks on March 9th, aware of the Greek defeats at Inonu, but the terms proved unsatisfactory to the Grand National Assembly. Italy, which had conducted a relatively non-violent occupation in 1919, negotiated its exit from Anatolia with the Turks on March 13th. French attempts to negotiate peace resumed in May but were delayed somewhat in hopes of a Greek victory in their renewed offensive. The Greek defeat resulted in the willingness of the French to accept the terms of the Treaty of Ankara, signed on October 20, 1921, and withdrew from Turkey. The treaty gave formal recognition to the Turkish government in Ankara and was the foundation for the Armistice of Mudanya signed by France, Italy and the UK on October 11, 1922 and Greece on October 14th and the Treaty of Lausanne, of July 24, 1923, establishing peace with Turkey.

Notes

[1] The Correlates of War Project lists the initiation date as November 11, 1919 but available sources do not justify accepting this date as the start of the war.

References

COW116; EB - Treaty of Ankara; Guclu, 580-603; Kohn, 501.

Yucel Guclu, The Struggle for Mastery in Cilicia: Turkey, France, and the Ankara Agreement of 1921, International History Review 23(3), 2001.

Category

Inter-State War

Region

West Asia

Belligerents

France, Turkey

Dispute

Territory, Governance

Initiation Date

January 21, 1920^[1]

Termination Date

October 20, 1921

Duration

1 year, 9 months
(639 days)

Outcome

Negotiated Settlement
(Turkish victory)

Fatalities

Total: 40,000
France: 5,000
Turkey: 35,000

Magnitude

4.6