Relations between Greece and Turkey from its foundation until World War II

Introduction

Since the foundation of the Ottoman Empire, the first foreign society that the state came into contact with was Greeks/Greeks. When the nationalism movement spread by the French Revolution began to influence the Ottoman lands, the first Balkan people to gain independence were the Greeks.

In addition to establishing a national state, the Greeks always pursued an aggressive policy after they gained their independence, as they had set a goal called Megali Idea, which meant re-establishing the Eastern Roman Empire.

As a result, they continuously expanded their territories against the Ottoman Empire. This expansion reached as far as Ankara during the War of Independence, but as a result of the defeat they suffered, they had to leave Anatolia and Eastern Thrace completely.

Thereafter, there was no conflict until World War II. On the contrary, when the situation in Europe and the Balkans in the period between the two wars began to threaten both countries, Turkey and Greece entered into very close relations for the first time.

1. The Period from the Independence of Greece until 1912:

Greeks/Greeks have always had a privileged position in the Ottoman Empire's approach towards minorities. This situation started to change with the decline of the Ottoman Empire. After the 1789 French Revolution, the ideas of nationalism started to spread and affected not only Greeks but also other ethnic and religious communities. Especially among the Balkan peoples, who had close relations with Europe, nationalist sentiments rapidly strengthened. As a result, a national consciousness was established among the peoples of Christian origin and an intense struggle for independence against the Ottoman Empire began.

These revolt movements were led by various organisations. Among these organisations, the Filiki Eteria Society has an important position in terms of being the beginning of Greece's road to independence. Founded in 1814 in Odessa by three merchants, two of whom were Greek and one Bulgarian, the Filiki Eteria organisation established cells all over the Balkans within a few years. From 1820 onwards, the organisation was headed by Alexander Ipsilanti, who belonged to an elite Greek family from Fenerli and was a general in the Russian army. In 1821, Ipsilanti and his team decided that the time had come for an all-out revolt, which they planned to begin with the invasion of Taurus and Flak.

Their aim was to organise a general revolt in the Balkans in order to create not only a Greek national state, but a new Byzantine Empire. However, the revolt they started did not receive the support they had hoped for and failed. Because the people of Wallachia and Taurus were governed with a degree of autonomous administration, there was no unity of interests between the people and the Greek rulers, the Greeks did not sympathise with the Greek Church and the Serbs and Bulgarians were not eager to act together with the Greeks.

Only the Greeks, influenced by the programme of this organisation, started a revolt in the Peloponnese and the Aegean islands. The Ottoman army failed to defeat the rebels between 1821 and 1824. By 1824, almost all of the Peloponnese and many islands were under the control of the rebels. The success of the rebellion is partly attributed to the fact that in 1820-1822 the Ottoman administration tried to militarily suppress Ali Pasha of Ioannina (Tepedelenli or Tepelenli Ali Pasha), the most powerful of the Balkan ayans, who kept the entire region under tight control. Because when Ali Pasha was eliminated, the only power that could effectively control the region was eliminated.

When the rebellion could not be suppressed, upon the request of the Sultan, the military units of the Egyptian governor Kavalalı Mehmet Ali Pasha landed in the Peloponnese in 1825. Unlike the Janissaries, they were extremely successful and captured most of the Peloponnese within two years. However, despite this military disaster, European intervention saved the Greek rebellion from total annihilation. Europeans, especially Britain and Russia, sympathised with the Greek rebels. However, it was Russia that turned this affection into political support.

Russia tried to persuade other states to intervene in the rebellion, but the great powers refused to do so because they thought that the autonomous Greece to be established would be a puppet state of Russia. Thereupon, Russia announced in 1825 that it would intervene in the Greek Revolt on its own if an agreement could not be reached with the great powers. As a result of the negotiations, in June 1827, Britain, France and Russia decided to intervene in order to force the parties to a truce.

When the Ottoman Empire rejected the mediation offer of Britain, France and Russia, the navies of these three states attacked and destroyed the Ottoman and Egyptian navies at Navarin.

After the Ottoman Empire continued to resist despite this, the Ottoman-Russian war started. The rapidly advancing Russians occupied Edirne in 1829. Thereupon, with the Treaty of Edirne signed in September 1829, the Ottomans had to accept the independence of Greece. However, since Britain, France and Austria preferred a docile Ottoman Empire to a strong Greece under the influence of Russia, independent Greece was established as a state that was too small for the rebels' objectives.

The emergence of Greece as a state with defined political borders took place on 3 February 1830 with the protocol on the independence of Greece signed in London between France, Britain and Russia. According to the last paragraph of the second article of this protocol; Devil (North Sporat) Islands, Skyro Island, Evia (Negropont) Island, Amargo Island and Cyclopean Islands were to belong to Greece. Britain, Russia and France notified the Ottoman Empire of these decisions with a note on 8 April 1830. The Ottoman Empire officially recognised the independence of Greece on 24 April 1830.

Greece, which became an independent state on the Peloponnese Peninsula, immediately made efforts to expand in the Aegean Islands and the Balkans. For this purpose, it tried to expand its territories with the help and pressure of European states by revolting the people of Greek origin in the islands and Balkans. The first major attempt for this was made in the island of Crete. In 1866, the protests against the Ottoman misrule on the island soon turned into a rebellion demanding unification with Greece.

This situation aroused the Greek public opinion and the Muslim public opinion of the Ottoman Empire, which wanted to join the rebellion on the island, and the two countries came to the brink of war in 1867. Russia insisted on European intervention in favour of the rebels and the cession of Crete to Greece, but their hesitation prevented other states from taking direct action. The combined pressure of the European powers forced the Porte to grant a general amnesty for the rebels and reforms in the administration of the province of Crete that gave more influence to Christians, but foreign intervention went no further and the rebellion ended at the end of 1868.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 drew the attention of Britain and France to Egypt, but new developments in Europe soon drew their attention back to Europe and the Balkans. The first important development was that Italy, which had established its political unity in 1859, cemented this unity by annexing Rome to itself and declaring it its capital. Thus, Italy emerged as a new power to be taken seriously. However, it was Prussia, not Italy, that worried the great powers.

In 1871, the emergence of Prussia as a new power, which established German unity, radically changed the international balance of power in Europe and the Balkans. As a result of this development, France lost its power in Europe and had to focus more on domestic affairs. Austro-Hungary, on the other hand, turned its attention to the Balkans when its westward expansion opportunities disappeared, and started to develop policies aimed at expanding towards the Aegean and Mediterranean. This situation resulted in a power struggle between Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had eyes on the Balkans and Constantinople.

Thereupon, Britain, which had previously supported the Ottoman Empire against Russia's expansionist policies, abandoned this policy and became closer to Russia in order to balance Germany. Britain also started to support the expansion and strengthening of the small Balkan states, as it considered the capture of the Balkans by the big states contrary to its interests. Taking advantage of this policy change of England and the current conjuncture, Russia agreed with the Austro-Hungarian Empire to share the Balkan territories of the Ottoman Empire and started to attack on 24 April 1877.

In a short time, the Russians advanced from the Caucasus to the interior of Eastern Anatolia and from the Balkans to Yeşilköy, which was only 12 kilometres away from Istanbul. Fearing that Istanbul and the straits would fall under Russian sovereignty, the other great powers, especially Britain and Austria, intervened in the situation and limited the Russian advance with the Berlin Conference. As a result of this agreement, Austria occupied Bosnia-Herzegovina and Britain occupied Cyprus, which was within the borders of Greece's Megali Idea. Thessaly and the harbour of Arta on the coast of the Ionian Sea, which belonged to the Ottoman Empire, were given to Greece in 1881 in accordance with the Berlin Treaty of 1878.

After this expansion, Greece's new targets were Epirus (Ioannina Province) and the island of Crete. The Ottoman Greeks, who constituted approximately two-thirds of the population in these regions, were constantly incited against the Ottoman Empire by Greece. However, after this period, the European states reduced their pressure on the Ottoman Empire and withdrew their interest from the Balkans as they concentrated more on the balances and struggles among themselves.

Abdülhamit, who was on the throne during this period, took advantage of this struggle between the great powers and implemented a balance of power policy, and relied on Germany and Austria in order to create a balance against England, France and Russia. In order to balance the Balkan states with each other, he tried to prevent them from forming a unity by fuelling the struggle between the churches.

Greece, which could not evaluate this situation correctly and tried to gain territory, supported the rebellion in Crete. Under the pressure of the war atmosphere created in the Greek public opinion, volunteers under the command of Greek officers assigned by the government to encourage Greeks and other Christians in the Balkans to revolt tried to cross the border at gunpoint in April 1897, and the Ottoman Empire declared war on Greece. The war fought between 17 April and 18 May resulted in the decisive victory of the Ottoman army. However, Greece, with the support of the great powers, regained the territories it had lost and also obtained autonomy for Crete.

After that, there was no war with Greece, but a new process was entered into with the conflicts between the gangs of different communities in the Balkans. However, in 1908, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire, taking advantage of the instability caused by the declaration of the 2nd Constitutional Monarchy, officially annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria declared its independence by uniting with Eastern Rumelia and the rebels in Crete declared their union with Greece. Although these developments were against the principles of the Treaty of Berlin, the great powers remained silent.

The occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina drew the reaction of Russian nationalists, Serbia and other Slavic elements rather than the Ottomans. Because the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina were ethnically Slavic, it was argued that Austria had captured a Slavic land, not an Ottoman land. This situation increased the Germanic-Slavic bloc in the Balkans.

In 1909, the predominance of Bulgaria in Macedonia, which constituted a large part of the last piece of land of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, and the Young Turk movement in 1908, which gave Turkey a mobility, caused the Greek people to be uneasy and therefore to react to the government. As a result of the government's helplessness in the face of these reactions, a military coup took place in Greece in 1909.

The junta leaders did not attempt to form the government themselves and put Eleftherios Venizelos, a Cretan chauvinist, in charge of the government. This event also determined the future of Turkish-Greek relations. Because Venizelos dreamed of turning the Aegean into a Greek sea and making Greece a country that stretches to two continents and opens to five seas. Venizelos, who came to power through a coup d'état, started to look for an opportunity to realise this dream. He did not have to wait long for this opportunity. The new developments that emerged gave him the opportunity to take the first steps of his plan.

The first step of the events that created this opportunity was the Italian landing of troops in Tripolitania and then in the 12 Islands in 1911. With the Treaty of Ushi dated 17 October 1912, Tripolitania and 12 islands were left to the Italians. However, according to the Treaty of Vienna in 1815 and the Treaty of Paris in 1856, the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire was guaranteed. Despite this, no European state raised a voice against Austria's occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy's occupation of Tripolitania and 12 islands.

This situation encouraged the states that had their eyes on the Ottoman territories in the Balkans to seize these regions. However, after the Greek defeat in 1897, the Balkan States realised that they could not fight against the Ottoman Army alone, and with the encouragement of Russia, they made secret agreements to share these regions among themselves and to sign alliance treaties.

The Ottoman Empire, on the other hand, instead of undertaking activities such as breaking up the alliances that could be formed against it, took some steps that would bring about its own end in the Balkans by taking the opposite measures. In 1909, the law brought to the parliament on Turkish education in primary and secondary schools, the use of the mother tongue of the inhabitants of each region and the placing of private schools under state supervision was met with reaction among the minorities. Taking advantage of this situation, the Fener Church and its extensions started an intensive propaganda activity among the Greek minority in favour of armed resistance and joining Greece.

On 3 July 1910, the Ottoman Government took another important step that would be discussed for many years and enacted the Law on Churches. The Bulgarians had separated from the Fener Church in 1871 and established their own church called Ekserhane. Unable to prevent the establishment of a new church, Fener was trying to prevent the institutionalisation of the Ekserhane by resisting the distribution and authority of the existing church buildings and properties. This rivalry also caused tensions and conflicts between the Greeks and Bulgarians. The new administration tried to correct this duality, which had been deliberately used by Abdülhamid II, by making expenditures from the state coffers, thus preventing conflicts both between Greece and Bulgaria and between the Greeks and Bulgarians, who were Ottoman citizens, and making it possible for them to cooperate against the Ottoman Empire.

As it is known, the Committee of Union and Progress had to co-operate with the Macedonian gangs for the proclamation of the Constitutional Monarchy. With the proclamation of the Constitutional Monarchy, Muslim and Christian minorities in the Balkans had established political clubs and the gangs had become stronger by getting in contact with these political clubs. With the support of the gangs, these clubs became political parties that propagated the nationalism of their ethnic groups. In order to combat these divisive elements, a law was enacted on 16 August 1908 prohibiting the establishment of clubs under the name of ethnic groups and the existing ones were closed down. Members of these clubs, especially Bulgarians, joined gangs. Thereupon, on 27 September 1908, a draft law prohibiting gangs was prepared and put into effect immediately. This started the conflicts again.

In the meantime, the Albanian rebellion was suppressed very harshly and the weapons in the hands of Albanians were collected. There were four Albanian revolts in 1909, 1910 and 1912. These revolts were also suppressed harshly. In this way, the Muslim Albanians, who were an element of balance against the Christian Greek and Slavic elements in the Balkans, were also weakened and lost.

2. The Period Between 1912-1915:

While these developments were taking place in the Ottoman Empire, the new nation states in the Balkans were in conflict with each other. The only thing they agreed on was the desire to expel the Ottomans from the Balkans. What prevented them from acting in this direction was the dispute over the division of the spoils and the fear of the Ottoman army. However, this situation changed in 1911-1912 under the influence of the developments mentioned above.

The 1911 Tripoli War had exposed the political and military weakness of the Ottoman Empire and, coupled with internal instability, this encouraged the Balkan States to take action. On 13 March 1912, Bulgaria and Serbia entered into an alliance. The treaty was officially defensive in nature, but in fact aimed at the occupation of Turkish territories in the Balkans. A very similar treaty was concluded between Greece and Bulgaria on 29 May 1912. Montenegro and Serbia also concluded a treaty in early October of the same year.

On 2 October 1912, the allied Balkan States gave an ultimatum to Bab-ı Ali to carry out extensive reforms in Macedonia under foreign supervision. When the Ottoman Empire responded moderately on reform but negatively on the renunciation of its sovereignty, Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 8 October, followed by the others. The Ottoman army was soon defeated and lost all Balkan territory up to Catalca.

The Ottoman government accepted the armistice on 3 December and the London Conference convened on 13 December. As the Balkan states could not agree on the division of territory, no result was obtained from the conference. Meanwhile (on 22 January), the government changed with a coup d'état in Istanbul. The new government decided to continue the war, but as a result of the fall of Edirne and the failure of the counter-attacks, a new armistice was signed on 16 April. With the Treaty of London signed on 30 May, the Ottoman Empire lost all its territories west of the Midye-Enez line. Greece gained the island of Crete in addition to the territories it occupied in the Balkans, while the fate of the other islands in the Aegean Sea was left to the decision of the great powers.

With the Treaty of London, the problem between the Ottoman Empire and the allied states seemed to have been solved, but the allies could not agree on the sharing of the territories gained among themselves. The basis of the dispute was Bulgaria's claim that it should be given Manastır and Ohrid, captured by Serbia, and Thessaloniki, captured by Greece. In the face of these demands, Greece and Serbia concluded an alliance treaty against Bulgaria on 1 June 1913. Learning of this treaty, Bulgaria acted early and attacked both states at the same time on 29 May, but was defeated. Seizing the opportunity, the Ottoman Army attacked the Bulgarians and recaptured Edirne.

One of the reasons for the defeat of the Ottoman Army in the Balkan War was the inability of the Ottoman Navy to reach the Aegean Sea and support the operation by sea. The reason for this was the wrong policies implemented by the state administrators for a long time. Before the war, Greece had armed itself in accordance with its national objectives and had formed a strong naval force in line with its goal of taking the Aegean islands and controlling the Aegean Sea.

In the Ottoman Empire, on the other hand, the navy, which had been strengthened during the reign of Abdulaziz, had been left to decay and weakened due to Abdulhamid's fear of a military coup d'état. In addition to the Averof Armoured Cruiser, which was very effective in wartime, Greece had three battleships, a large number of torpedobots and auxiliary ships. The Ottoman Navy, which was too weak to fight against this power, could not land in the Aegean Sea. The Greeks occupied the islands of Limni, Taşoz, Semadirek, İmroz, Bozcaada, Ayastrati Island, Lesbos, Chios, Chios and Samos.

On 30 May 1913, with the Treaty of London, Thessaloniki, South Macedonia and Crete were given to Greece, and the future of the Aegean Islands other than the Dodecanese Islands was left to the great powers. Greece, which emerged victorious from the Second Balkan War, captured Thessaloniki, Serres, Drama and Alexandroupoli, which Bulgaria had taken at the end of the First Balkan War, with the Treaty of Bucharest (10 August 1913).

After this war, only Greece and Bulgaria remained as de facto neighbours of the Ottoman Empire. After the Treaty of Constantinople with Bulgaria, the Treaty of Athens was signed with Greece on 14 November 1913. The negotiations started in July, but some difficulties were encountered. The Athens Government wanted Greek nationals to benefit from the capitulations, the Greek Patriarch in Istanbul to be granted the privileges that had been granted to the Greek Patriarch during the reign of Mehmet the Conqueror, and the Greek Government to own the Greek properties other than the foundations.

Furthermore, it proposed that the Greeks in the Ottoman Empire should perform their military service on the basis of reciprocity with the Turks in Greece in the form of independent and special military units. Furthermore, it demanded from the Turkish government 3 million Turkish Liras in damages and loss money for the Greek ships it had seized during the war.

The Ottoman government did not accept these demands. When the relations became strained, Greece signed the treaty, unable to risk a new war. The demands of the Greeks regarding the capitulations and the privileges of the Patriarchate were left as they were before the Balkan War, the demand regarding the military service of the Greeks was not taken into consideration, and it was accepted that the problem arising from the seizure of the property of Abdülhamit II in Greece and the Greek ships would be sent to the Hague Court of Justice. It was determined that the Muslims in Greece would be subject to a status similar to that of the Istanbul Treaty with Bulgaria. Another problem, the status of the islands, was left to the decision of the Great Powers in accordance with the Treaty of London.

On 14 February 1914, the great powers notified their decision with a note. Imroz, Bozcaada and Meis were given to Turkey. Except for the Dodecanese Islands under Italian occupation, all Aegean islands captured by the Greeks were given to Greece on condition that they were demilitarised. At the end of these wars, Greece doubled its territory by capturing almost all the Aegean islands except Crete, Thessaloniki, Southern Macedonia, Southern Epirus and 12 islands held by Italy.

Meanwhile, the great powers of Europe were grouping themselves into two blocs. The Ottoman Empire had already been close to Germany during the reign of Abdul Hamid II, and had seen this state as a counterbalance to powers such as Britain, France and Russia. This situation continued to develop during the period of the Unionists, especially after the rule of Talat, Cemal and Enver Pashas, who took over the government with a coup d'état on 23 January 1913.

The Ottoman Empire, which did not want to be left without support in the Europe of that day, which was divided into two blocs, sought alliances with states such as Britain, France and Russia at different times, but a treaty was not possible due to the objectives of these states on Ottoman lands. The government officials, worried about being left without allies, approached the bloc formed by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. As a natural consequence of this situation, an alliance treaty was signed with Germany at the very beginning of the war.

With the outbreak of the war and its tendency to spread rapidly, Germany increased its pressure on the Ottoman Empire to enter the war. Bab-ı Ali also negotiated with Bulgaria and Romania to sign an alliance treaty. While a defence treaty was signed with Bulgaria, Romania refused to sign any treaty. Negotiations with Greek diplomats on the return of the Aegean islands to the Ottomans also remained deadlocked. With the influence of the Germans, the Ottoman Navy launched an attack against Russian ports and ships in the Black Sea on 29 October 1914, and the Ottoman Empire de facto joined the war.

3. The Period between 1915-1919:

When World War I started, there were debates in Greece, as in many other countries, about whether to enter the war or not. Although Prime Minister Venizelos was in favour of entering the war on the side of the Entente, King Constantine was not in favour of his country entering the war. Encouraged by the promises of Britain and France, which included Ottoman territories, Venizelos submitted a memorandum to the King in March 1915 for Greece to enter the war. Upon the King's rejection of these demands, Venizelos resigned from the prime ministership and the interim government formed under the prime ministership of Gunaris led Greece to elections in June 1915.

Although Venizelos won the elections, Gunaris did not want to hand over the power. After a brief crisis, Constantine had to intervene and call Venizelos to power. However, the ice between the King and Venizelos did not melt. In December 1915, Venizelos boycotted the re-elections and went to Thessaloniki on 29 September 1916, where he formed a revolutionary government called Etnik-i Amina (National Defence). There were now two governments in Greece, one was the pro-king Athens government and the other was the Thessaloniki government headed by Venizelos.

Since Venizelos was in favour of entering World War I, Britain and France blockaded the Athens government from the sea in order to support him. Under the blockade, the Athenian government was unable to meet the essential needs of the people and was forced to resign when joint Anglo-French troops landed at Piraeus and took control of Athens. Constantine abdicated his throne, leaving his son Alexander in his place, and left Greece.

Arriving in Athens, Venizelos formed a new government. Breaking relations with the Allied Powers, the government declared war against the Ottoman Empire on 1 July 1917. However, Greece, which was going through a turbulent period, was only able to actually participate in the conflicts on the Macedonian Front in September 1918. By the end of 1918, the Allied Powers had no hope of winning the war. On 29 September 1918, when Bulgaria withdrew from the war, the Ottoman Empire was cut off from Germany. Thrace and Istanbul became open to attacks from Greece.

Meanwhile, Germany proposed an armistice agreement on 3 October 1918. Upon all these developments, the Government of the Committee of Union and Progress authorised Grand Vizier Talat Pasha to make an attempt for an armistice. The Ottoman Government declared that it was ready to sign an armistice in the light of the Wilsonian Principles. Tevfik Pasha, who replaced Talat Pasha as Grand Vizier, repeated the application for an armistice through Switzerland, but did not receive a favourable response. Ahmet İzzet Pasha became the Grand Vizier in place of Tevfik Pasha, who left office because he could not succeed in signing an armistice, and the Entente Powers agreed to the armistice negotiations as a result of great efforts.

On 23 October, the British informed the Ottoman Government that the armistice negotiations would be held in Mondros Port of Limni Island and that British Admiral Calthorpe was authorised on behalf of the Entente. Upon this, a delegation headed by the Minister of Maritime Affairs Rauf Bey (Orbay) was sent to Mondros. After five days of negotiations, the ‘Mondros Armistice Treaty’ was signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied Powers on 30 October 1918. In the autumn of 1918, when the other Allied States withdrew from the war one after the other, a large conference was convened in Paris to determine the principles of the peace to be made.

3. The Period between 1919 and 1938:

Representatives of 32 countries attended the Paris Peace Conference convened on 18 January 1919. The aim of the conference was to discuss the conditions of peace with the states that lost the war. The British and the French invited the Greeks to the conference and asked them to defend their rights over the regions in the Ottoman Empire where they constituted the majority in terms of population. At the conference, the British, who gave great support to Greece, accepted the documents regarding Izmir and its region submitted by the Greeks to the conference as authentic documents. The aim of the Greeks attending the conference was to seize Western Anatolia and Thrace and establish a large Greek state around the Aegean Sea. For this purpose, Greek Prime Minister Venizelos demanded that Izmir, its surroundings and Thrace be given to Greece.

In the treaties concluded during the war, which envisaged the partition of the Ottoman Empire, it was agreed that Western Anatolia and the Mediterranean Region would be given to the Italians. The British, who had not previously opposed this, opposed the cession of Western Anatolia to Italy at the conference. The domination of Italy, a powerful country, in the Eastern Mediterranean could jeopardise the security of Britain's routes to its colonies. For this reason, Britain wanted to have Greece, which was under its control, in the Eastern Mediterranean instead of a strong Italy. Thereupon, Italy left the conference due to the fact that Western Anatolia, which had previously been ceded to it, was given to Greece.

Taking advantage of this atmosphere of the conference, Greek Prime Minister Venizelos claimed that the Turks were preparing to destroy the Greeks in Smyrna and that Italy was about to land troops in Smyrna. Accepting this claim of Venizelos as a fact, England and France decided that the Greek army would occupy Smyrna. With the help of Britain, the Greeks sent a strong navy to the front of Izmir on 15 May 1919 and landed troops on the same day.

The Greeks, who received the support of the great powers at the Paris Conference, started to advance towards the interior of Western Anatolia after occupying Izmir. However, the emerging Forces of Nationalisation did not allow the Greeks to advance freely. The seeds of a systematic resistance against the occupation were being sown in Anatolia. Between 23 July and 17 August 1919, the Erzurum Congress convened. Here, it was decided to protect the integrity of the country and to resist against all kinds of occupation.

In the Sivas Congress convened between 4-11 September 1919, the same issues were confirmed and the organisations established against the occupations were united under the name of ‘Anatolia and Rumelia Mudafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti’. After this date, the resistance movements against the Greeks started to be carried out from a single hand. A delegation was established under the presidency of Atatürk and this delegation moved to Ankara on 27 December 1919 and started to carry out its activities from here.

Under the guidance of this organisation in Anatolia, the last Ottoman Assembly of Deputies, which convened on 12 January 1920, adopted the Misak-ı Milli decision on 28 January. Thereupon, on 16 March 1920, Istanbul was officially occupied, and many parliamentarians were arrested by the British. As a result of these developments, on 18 March 1920, the Chamber of Deputies held its last meeting and adjourned indefinitely, and was dissolved by the Sultan on 11 April. A new parliament, consisting of those who were able to attend this parliament and the newly elected members, convened in Ankara on 23 April 1920 under the name of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM).

In the meantime, upon the Greek Army's forward movement to occupy Eastern Thrace, the Edirne Congress, convened between 9-14 May 1920 by representatives of the people from all walks of life, decided to resist the Greek advance and regional mobilisation was initiated. However, the established troops could not stop the Greek advance. On 22 June, the Greeks attacked and occupied Edirne, Kırklareli and Tekirdağ in Eastern Thrace and Bursa, Balıkesir, Uşak and Nazilli in Anatolia.

Although the Treaty of Sèvres, the principles of which were decided at the San Remo Conference, was signed by the Ottoman Government on 10 August 1920, it was protested and rejected by the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The Treaty of Sèvres provided a legal basis for Greek occupations, but could not be implemented due to the resistance of Anatolia.

The clashes with the Greeks were continued by the Kuvva-i Milliye and regular troops, and the advancement of the Greeks did not go as they had intended. On 25 October 1920, an offensive operation was launched on the initiative of Ali Fuat Pasha, who assessed that the situation of the Greek troops was suitable for an attack, but when the offensive failed, the Greeks moved forward and took İnegöl and Yenişehir and advanced until Dumlupınar. Meanwhile, when the offensive that started on the eastern front on 28 October 1920 was successful, the Treaty of Gyumri was signed with the Armenians on 2/3 December 1920. Thus, the clashes on the eastern front came to an end and it was possible to use all means against the Greeks in the west.

On the Greek side, towards the end of 1920, things were complicated in Athens. The expenditures made by the Venizelos Government for the occupation of Turkish territories increased the financial difficulties, and this time the supporters of King Constantine took action to take advantage of the financial difficulties and formed a united opposition front against Venizelos. In this environment, the death of King Alexander (25 October 1920) further complicated matters. General Kunduriotis was appointed regent and it was decided to hold a plebiscite on 3 December 1920 for the election of the new King.

On 14 November 1920, Venizelos was defeated in the elections and King Constantine returned to the throne as a result of the referendum. Although the Entente States did not officially recognise the King, they continued to have informal contacts with his government. In addition, Britain and France cut their financial support to Greece. The new Greek government decided to continue the war in order to reverse this unfavourable situation and regain the support of the Entente States.

Until the beginning of 1921, the Turkish forces were fighting against the Greek forces with a mixture of irregular volunteer forces called Kuvva-i Milliye and existing regular military units. With the suppression of the rebellion of Circassian Ethem in January 1921, the regular army was completely switched to the regular army. After that, the war between the parties continued in the form of clashes between the armies of the two countries.

In early 1921, the Greeks had reached the border of Istanbul in Thrace, and taking advantage of the environment created by the uprising of Circassian Ethem, they took action to capture Eskişehir, Kütahya and Ankara in Western Anatolia. Starting on 6 January, the Greek offensive in the direction of Afyon was halted on 7 January. Their advance in the direction of Eskişehir was repulsed by the 1st Battle of Inönü on 9/10 January.

Upon the developments, the Entente Powers decided to convene a conference in London. On 12 March 1921, the Treaty of Sèvres was to be made acceptable to the parties and the National Struggle movement was to be ended without further development. The failure of the Greek Army brought about serious changes in the approach of the Entente States to the Turkish-Greek War.

The Ankara administration, whose prestige increased with these successes, sent a delegation to Moscow in order to sign an agreement with the Soviet Union, which was the biggest enemy of imperialist Europe at that time, and to provide support. This delegation signed a treaty of friendship with Afghanistan in Moscow on 1 March 1921 and thus the new state being established in Anatolia was recognised by a foreign state for the first time. With the 16 March 1921 Moscow Treaty, the Turkish-Russian border was drawn and Russian support was provided. This situation completely ended the conflicts on the eastern front and allowed us to shift troops and weapons to the west.

The second attempt of the Greeks to advance was stopped with the 2nd Battle of Inönü on 31 March/1 April 1921. Thereupon, on 26 April 1921, the United Kingdom appealed to the French and Italian governments and suggested that the Entente States declare their neutrality in the Greek-Turkish War. The fact that Allied companies and even Soviet Russia were allowed to sell war material to the Ankara government caused the Greek government to react. Greek authorities, who had not interfered with British, French and Italian flagged ships before, started to interfere with French and Italian ships. The French and Italian governments were also protesting against Greece for these interventions.

The Greek army was preparing for a new offensive with the aim of regaining the support of Britain, neutralising the Turkish army and forcing it to sign the Treaty of Sevres. The Greek army, which brought new troops from Greece and completed its supply and integration activities, launched a major offensive operation on 10 July. As a result of this offensive, our army, which lost the Kütahya-Eskişehir battles, retreated to the east of the Sakarya River. Upon this; one division from the Eastern Front, two divisions from the southern front and one division from Amasya were shifted to the Western Front.

In order to take advantage of these successes, the Greeks started forward operations after a short preparation. The first clashes with the Greek Army, which started the offensive with the aim of destroying the Turkish army and capturing Ankara, started on 23 August, and the Greeks, who were not successful after 22 days of fighting, accepted defeat and retreated to their old positions. As a result of the Battle of Sakarya, the Greeks reached their climax and had no more power to attack. Their aim now was to protect the lands they had captured. While the Greeks began preparations for defence, the Turkish Army, which seized the initiative, began preparations for the offensive.

The international impact of the Sakarya victory was also great. After this victory, the Treaty of Kars was signed on 13 October 1921 with the three Soviet Republics; Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia through the mediation of Soviet Russia and the eastern borders were completely secured. In addition, the Syrian border was drawn with the Ankara Treaty of 20 October 1921 with the French. Thus, it was possible to obtain arms and materials from the Soviet Union and France, in addition to Italy, which had fallen out with England after the surrender of Izmir to the Greeks. At the same time, the Anglo-French front supporting Greece was disintegrated with this treaty. When the political developments in Greece were added to all these, it was inevitable for the Entente States to change their policies.

After the Battle of Sakarya, the Turkish Army tried to complete all kinds of supplies and preparations for the offensive. As a result, the Great Offensive started on 26 August 1922. On 30 August, the main forces of the Greeks were destroyed in the battle of Dumlupınar. After that, our offensive in the western direction developed rapidly and our troops reached Izmir on 9 September. The Greek armies were destroyed and the rest fled to Greece. Our troops advanced in the direction of Istanbul and reached the neutral zone. Thereupon, the British authorities intervened and proposed an armistice.

With the Mudanya Armistice signed on 11 October 1922, it was decided that the war between Turkey and Greece would end, Eastern Thrace would be evacuated by the Greeks within 15 days and handed over to the Allies, and handed over to the Government of the Turkish Grand National Assembly within 30 days, and the security of the region would be provided by a Turkish Gendarmerie unit of 8000 people. In return, the Turkish side accepted the coastal strip of the Dardanelles and Istanbul Straits, whose borders were drawn by the armistice, as a neutral zone. The Greeks, who did not participate in the negotiations, accepted this armistice on 14 October.

After this armistice, negotiations between delegations started in Lausanne, Switzerland in order to conclude a peace treaty. On 21 November 1922, the first meeting of the Lausanne Conference was held and problems such as borders, minorities, the Greek Patriarchate of Fener and population exchange were discussed. As the negotiations did not progress positively, relations became strained and the Greeks violated the Mudanya Armistice and started to mass on the right side of the Evros in January 1923. Thereupon, the Allied Governments issued a note to Greece on 17 January 1923, obliging it to comply with the provisions of the Mudanya Armistice.

In the ongoing negotiations, the border issue was resolved among the existing problems and the ‘Convention and Protocol on the Exchange of Turkish and Greek Population’ was signed between the two countries on 30 January 1923. In Thrace; the Evros River was accepted as the border, Karaağaç was left to Turkey as a war indemnity, and in the Aegean Sea; all the Eastern Aegean islands, except Imroz, Bozcaada and Dodecanese, which were left to the Italians, were left to Greece on condition that they were disarmed.

A verbal agreement was made on the Patriarchate, and it was not included in Lausanne as an institution on its own.

According to the verbal agreement, the old status of the Patriarchate, which was to be responsible for the religious affairs of the Orthodox Greeks who were to remain only in Istanbul, was terminated and the determination of its new status was left to Turkey within the framework of minority law. It was decided that the Orthodox Greeks in Turkey and the Muslims in Greece would be exchanged with the ‘Convention and Protocol on the Exchange of Turkish and Greek Populations’ signed on 30 January 1923 during the Lausanne Peace Conference and that the Greek population of Istanbul and the Muslim population of Western Thrace would be excluded from this exchange and would be considered ‘settled (etabli)’.

The exchange started in 1923 and the exchange of some Greek and Turkish peoples was achieved until April 1925 without any major problems. However, the different interpretations of the word ‘établi’ in the second article of the agreement by the Turkish and Greek commissioners led to the so-called ‘etabli problem’, which brought the relations between the two countries to a breaking point. The Turkish side argued that who were ‘inhabitants’ before 30 October 1918 could only be determined according to Turkish law, while the Greek side interpreted the article as meaning that any Greek who was in Istanbul in any way before 30 October 1918 was considered a ‘resident’.

When an agreement could not be reached, Greece requested that the issue be handled within the League of Nations based on Article 11 of the League of Nations Treaty. However, the opinion of the League also failed to provide a solution and the matter was referred to the Permanent Court of Justice in La Haye. Between 16 January and 21 February 1925, the arguments of the Greek and Turkish representatives were discussed together with their oral and written statements, and the Court of Justice issued a summary opinion on 21 February 1925. However, this opinion could not resolve the dispute either.

The failure to resolve this dispute also strained the relations between the two countries. At this stage, the Greek government confiscated the assets of the Muslim-Turkish people in Western Thrace and settled the Greek immigrants from Turkey in the region. Turkey's response to this practice of the Athens administration by confiscating the properties of the Greeks in Istanbul brought the two countries to the brink of war. In the meantime, the deportation of Constantine Arapoğlu on 30 January 1925, who had been elected as Patriarch by the Fener Patriarchate in violation of the principles of the Turkish-Greek Treaty of the Greek-Turkish Relations, increased the tension further.

Later, with the effect of the resolution of the Patriarch problem, the tense relations between the two states entered a period of softening and as a result of the negotiations between the two sides, the Ankara Treaty was signed on 21 June 1925 by the Turkish and Greek representatives of the Miscellaneous Exchange Commission. With this treaty, Turkey granted the status of resident to all Greeks present in Istanbul before 30 October 1918 and at that time. The Muslims of Western Thrace and the Greeks of Constantinople, who were recognised as residents, could freely return to their countries, except for those who left their countries without passports. If it was not possible to return their property, compensation would be paid.

Thus, Turkey was prevented from preventing the return of many Greeks who had left the country, while Greece was not forced to evict some Greeks who had settled in Muslim properties in Western Thrace. However, this treaty, which resolved the main issues of dispute between the two countries, could not be implemented. The most important reason for this was that General Pangalos, who came to power on 25 June 1925 after the fall of the Mihalakopoulos government and established a junta regime, pursued an ambitious foreign policy based on the revision of Lausanne.

General Pangalos' delay in the ratification of the treaty made Turkey distrustful. Turkey therefore decided to review this last treaty and to take new steps to ensure its implementation. As a result of Ankara's approach, the new coalition government formed after the overthrow of Pangolos in August 1926 sat down at the negotiating table with Turkey and the existing problems were discussed in detail. Mutual negotiations took place between February and December 1926.

Thus, the Treaty of Athens was signed on 1 December 1926. This last document was ratified by the parties in February 1927 and entered into force on 23 June 1927. Despite this, the tension between the two countries continued until 1929, and as relations became more tense in 1929, the parties started to strengthen their naval forces. Although these developments, which led to Turkish-Greek tension, did not turn into a war, they remained hot until 1930.

On the other hand, radical changes started to take place in Europe after the Treaty of Lausanne. The 1st World War had a negative impact on the winners as well as the losers. The economies of Britain, France and Italy were weakened as a result of the expenditures brought about by the war, and the Soviet Union started to become a new power rivaling the western world with its expansionist regime and planned economy. The United States, on the other hand, isolated itself from European affairs and focussed on itself and the American continent after the war, when it could have filled the gap as a new power and balance factor.

The defeated states, whose hands were tied by the cruel post-war treaties, were also experiencing deep social problems with heavy territorial losses and collapsing economies. The inability of democratic governments to find a solution to this situation led to the strengthening of autocratic parties and political movements that developed discourses that they would not recognise the peace treaties. This situation raised concerns that the peace established in Europe would soon disappear.

The change first started to take effect in the Mediterranean and Balkan countries. Italy, which did not gain much from the war in terms of territory and economic interests, on the contrary its economy weakened, faced internal conflicts. Mussolini's Fascist Party, which was seen as an element of balance against communist movements, filled this gap and took over the government in Italy in 1925. Italy, which experienced a certain recovery under the Fascist dictatorship, turned its eyes outwards and began to formulate expansionist discourses. Italy's activities in the Mediterranean and Mussolini's mention of Asia Minor as Italy's expansion area worried Turkey. This situation created uneasiness in other countries, especially its neighbours, which felt the Italian threat. This uneasiness led the Balkan countries to search for new alliances and security.

In 1926, Turkey made an attempt to establish a collective security system among the Balkan States in order to secure mutual borders, but no result was obtained. Later on, when some rough edges were removed among the Balkan States, an agreement was reached. In the meantime, Turkey signed an agreement on the Iraqi border in 1926 and entered into a process of rapprochement with Britain. The statements and policies of the fascist government of Italy became a fundamental factor paving the way for new rapprochement between the countries.

The economic depression of 1929 exacerbated the negative developments in world and European politics. Self-sufficiency tendencies and nationalist movements with increased executive power gained strength everywhere. Authoritarian regimes gained prestige, while democratic regimes weakened. Countries in favour of a change in the status quo switched to authoritarian regimes. As a result, the contradiction between anti-revisionist countries and revisionist countries increased. Bulgaria, which was defeated in the 1st World War and suffered great territorial losses, started to implement revisionist policies and to demand territorial claims from Greece. This situation brought Romania, Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey, who felt the Italian and Bulgarian threat, closer to each other.

At the Universal Peace Congress organised by the International Peace Bureau in Athens on 6-10 October 1929, Papanastasiu, a former prime minister of Greece, put forward the idea of establishing a Balkan union. In response to this idea, the first Balkan Conference was convened in Athens on 5 October 1930 by the unofficial representatives of Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania and Albania. Political, economic, technical and cultural co-operation among the Balkan countries was discussed at the conference.

Greece, which felt the threat of both Italy and Bulgaria, and which emerged from the Balkan Wars and World War I with the largest territorial gains, was the country that was the most anxious about this revisionist threat. For this reason, Greece sought to improve its relations with Turkey and signed the Treaty of the Exchange of Population on 10 June 1930. After the settlement of this important dispute, relations between Turkey and Greece began to improve rapidly.

Upon this, Greek Prime Minister Elefteros K. Venizelos visited Ankara between 27 October and 1 November 1930. During the talks, the principles of Turkish-Greek friendship and cooperation were accepted by the parties, taking into account the treaty dated 10 June 1930. During the visit, ‘Treaty of Friendship, Neutrality, Reconciliation and Arbitration’ was signed in Ankara on 30 October 1930. A ‘Protocol on the Limitation of Naval Forces’ was also added to the Treaty.

According to the treaty, the parties agreed to participate in political and economic treaties directed against each other, to remain neutral if one of the parties was attacked, and to resolve disputes through diplomacy. In the additional protocol, the principles of preventing expenditures for naval armaments and limiting naval forces were announced. These documents, which constituted the cornerstone of Turkish-Greek friendship, formed the core of the Balkan Pact.

In 1930, the Italian threat, the threat posed by the demands of revisionist states and the new polarisation that emerged as a result of the strengthening of radical parties in Europe brought Turkey and Greece closer to each other, who thought that they were exposed to the same threats, and as a result, Turkish-Greek relations began to experience the most positive period in their history. The attitude of Bulgaria in the Balkans was the most influential factor in Greece's efforts to improve its relations with Turkey in 1930. Because this country brought the Macedonia and Western Thrace problem to the agenda.

In 1931, Ismet Pasha paid a visit to Greece. The coming to power of the Nazis in Germany and Italy's and Bulgaria's alarming policy in the Mediterranean and the Balkans prompted Turkey to take action, and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Greece on 14 September 1933. Turkey signed a Treaty of Friendship and Non-Aggression with Romania on 17 October and with Yugoslavia on 27 November. With the initiative of Turkey, the Balkan Pact was signed between these four states on 9 February 1934 in Athens. Venizelos, Prime Minister of Greece, wrote a letter nominating Mustafa Kemal Pasha for the Nobel Peace Prize.

On 29 October 1923, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Republic, the Municipality of Thessaloniki placed a plaque on the door of the house where Atatürk was born as a sign of Turkish-Greek friendship and as a reminder of the Balkan Pact. The Municipality of Thessaloniki bought the house from the owner and presented it to Atatürk, and the key to the house was handed over to the Turkish Consulate in Thessaloniki on 19 February 1937.

The ‘Bridge of Peace’, which gradually strengthened on the foundations laid by Turkish President Atatürk and Greek Prime Minister Venizelos, reached its climax with the extension of the ‘Treaty of Friendship, Neutrality, Reconciliation and Arbitration’ signed between the two states in 1930 and the ‘Additional Treaty to the Pact of Sincere Treaty’ signed in 1933 for ten years in 1938. With this treaty, the parties once again agreed to mutually assist each other and undertook not to allow forces opposed to each other's governments to take shelter in their territories.

Conclusion

Turkey-Greece relations continued in a state of tension and conflict for a long time as a natural consequence of both the fact that Greece became an independent state after separating from the Ottoman Empire, and the fact that Greece constantly tried to expand its territory against Turkey in order to achieve the Greater Greece, which was the national goal of Greece's Megali Idea.

This expansion policy reached to the point of attacking Anatolia at the end of World War I. This tense situation reached its highest level between 1919-1924 when Turkey emerged as a new independent state.

After the Treaty of Lausanne, the relations between the two countries, which wanted to concentrate on their internal affairs, followed an up and down course due to various internal and external dynamics. The two countries, which had difficulty in solving the problems between them, tried to solve the problems between them by getting closer to each other only after the Fascist Dictator Mussolini, who came to power in Italy in 1925, began to threaten both countries and countries such as Bulgaria and Albania began to pose a threat to peace in the Balkans with their revisionist demands.

The friendship and rapprochement between the two countries took place against their will and only due to an external common threat, and even this rapprochement developed with a certain caution. This is because the national objectives and national interests of the two countries contradict at many points. Adding to this the intensity of mutual nationalist approaches, it has been very difficult for the two countries to be in a long-lasting peace and friendship.

As a matter of fact, Greece has still not given up on Megali Idea. And there is no doubt that it will take every opportunity to realise it. When there is no threatening situation, Greece constantly turns its eyes to the east within the scope of Megali Idea. It is clear that Turkey should take this situation into account in its relations with Greece and organise its relations with the countries with which it has problems and which can keep it in its region accordingly. This would be a beneficial approach not only for Turkey but also for Greece, as it is the most effective way to establish peace between the two countries.

References

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