106 History
 
History 107  
 
   
 
 
  
  
 

same time it made significant contributions to the history of civilization by embracing the cultural, artistic, and scientific heritages of all preceding Turkish and non-Turkish nations. Valuable works of art were produced in artistic branches such as sui generis architecture, stone and wood carving, china making, ornamentation, miniature painting, calligraphy and bookbinding. The Empire, influential in world politics for centuries, treated its citizens of various religions, languages and nationalities in a vast geography justly and tolerantly. The Empire allowed the nations within its borders to preserve their languages and cultures by ensuring freedom of faith and conscience.

  
 
The National War of Independence (1919-1923): After the Mondros Armistice, the Ottoman lands were shared among the victorious countries. Consequently, various defense fronts and resistance organizations started to appear in Anatolia and Thrace. The Turkish people needed to turn these resistance efforts into a movement of full independence, and this could only be achieved under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal. When Mustafa Kemal landed in Samsun on May 19, 1919 as the Inspector of the 9th Army, the four-year National War of Independence was to begin. The circular issued in Amasya was a call and declaration of  national  liberation. This  was  followed by the
 

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is together with
Congress members during Sivas Congress

  Erzurum and Sivas congresses. Through these congresses, the Turkish people manifested its determination for national independence to the whole world as follows: “The lands of the motherland within the national boundaries is a whole, and cannot be partitioned. Mandates and patronages are unacceptable”.  
 
İstanbul was occupied by the Entente States and the Ottoman Parliament was dissolved on March 16, 1920. Some deputies were arrested, and the ones who could not be apprehended fled to Ankara to join the Struggle for National Independence.
 
The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) was inaugurated on April 23, 1920 in Ankara and Mustafa Kemal was elected the President of the Assembly. This Assembly would henceforth conduct the Struggle for National Independence in the name of the nation. After the Assembly designated Mustafa Kemal Commander in Chief, war had commenced against imperialist forces on all fronts. Meanwhile, the İstanbul Government signed on August 10, 1920, the Treaty of Sevres which included very harsh provisions for the Turks. According to this agreement, which broke off the final links between Ankara and İstanbul, the Turks could only be sovereign on a small slice of Anatolia and they would be under the financial and military control of foreign countries.
 

Mustafa Kemal and the Ankara Government did not recognize the Treaty of Sevres. Firstly, a struggle was started under the command of Kazım Karabekir against the Armenians who wanted to establish an independent state in Eastern Anatolia, and this endeavor was concluded with success. As a result, the Gümrü Agreement was signed with Russia on December 2, 1920. This was the first international agreement to which the TGNA was a party. On the western front, the Greek forces which occupied İzmir on May 15, 1919 and started to advance in the Aegean region were driven back during the First and Second İnönü battles (January-April 1921), and later they suffered a crushing defeat in the Sakarya Battle (August-September 1921). The French forces were pulled back from Adana and its environs in  accordance  with  the   Ankara Agreement (October 1921)