WW I and The Middle East, Part 2
Middle East Study Group
Grand Lake Neighborhood Center
June 3, 2006
CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES ON WWI & THE RESHAPING OF THE MIDDLE EAST—PART 2
--- 1919
Jan.—Opening of the Peace Conference in Paris. It would shift to other locations from time to time. (Between 1919 and 1922, Lloyd George attends 33 international conferences.)
Jan.-- Chaim Weizmann and Emir Faisal sign an agreement to cooperate in establishing an Arab state with a Jewish enclave in Palestine. However, Faisal adds the crucial condition that there must be an independent Arab state for the agreement to have any force.
March –In New York, Lowell Thomas launches his wildly successful lecture & photo show glorifying the wartime feats of “Lawrence of Arabia.” After running several months, it is taken to the major London venues for a six-month run, making T. E. Lawrence immensely popular throughout the English-speaking world, and politically influential.
March --In Egypt, the British reject nationalist demands for the independence that was promised to Egypt before the war. The Foreign Office also refuses to allow any Egyptian representation at the Peace Conference. Saad Zaghlul, the leader of the delegation (wafd, which subsequently became the nationalist party’s name), is arrested for his activism and deported to Malta. This sparks demonstrations and strikes throughout Egypt. Gen. Allenby is sent in to restore order and brings Zaghlul back. Years of struggle follow, with the British military, King Fuad, and the Wafd Party vying to control the shifting balance of power.
May –In Turkey, 38-yr old Mustafa Kemal, hero of the Turks’ victory at Gallipoli, is sent by the Sultan to restore order at Samsun on the Black Sea, where Greek villages have been attacked by Turkish Muslims. Instead, Kemal gathers forces in the unoccupied interior and begins the fight to undo the humiliating terms of the Mudros Armistice, signed by the captive Sultan. The National Pact, agreed upon at Angora (now Ankara) by Kemal’s shadow government, sets the terms for establishing Turkey as a secular nation-state. Militarily, the Kemalist forces will have to accomplish this by defeating French and Greek invasion forces in succession, over a three-year period.
May—In Arabia, Ibn Saud’s warrior army, also known as the Ikhwan (the “Brothers” fighting to spread puritanical Wahhabism), destroys the army of the Hijaz under Sharif Husain’s son Abdullah, at Turabu. The British, who are paying both leaders annual stipends, rescue Husain with an armistice, but Ibn Saud’s Ikhwan eventually (1924) take over the Hijaz, driving Husain into exile.
May—In Afghanistan, British forces put down a Muslim uprising that emerges after the April 1919 Amritsar Massacre in India. After bombing Afghan towns and villages into submission, the British end the 3rd Afghan War by granting independence to Afghanistan on condition that it not interfere in India.
June –The General Syrian General Congress opens in Damascus, organized by Faisal to provide a base of popular support for his demands for an Arab state at the Peace Conference. Three radical nationalist groups dominate—the al-Ahd (“Covenant”) organization (Arabic officers formerly in the Ottoman army), the Arab Club (Palestinian-based and anti-Zionist), and the broad-based Istiqlal (“Independence”) Party. They pressure Faisal to take uncompromising positions that are unlikely to succeed at the Peace Conference.
July-Aug. --The King-Crane Commission, appointed by Pres. Wilson to gather information about the political desires of formerly subject Ottoman peoples, tours Palestine and Syria. Their recommendation for an independent Arab state is ignored at the Peace Conference.
August –The Anglo-Persian Agreement is imposed by Lord Curzon on the puppet government of Ahmed Shah, last of Persia’s fading Qajar dynasty. Despite popular opposition, it gives the British control over Persia’s foreign policy and economy, including the oil. Since the Agreement cannot pass the Persian Majlis (parliament), the Shah’s ministers never submit it for ratification. The legal status of British control thus remains ambiguous and contested, just as it will be in Egypt and Iraq.
---1920
Feb. –In Palestine, anti-Zionist violence emerges in the Upper Galilee. Bedouin raiders attack Jewish settlements, killing Joseph Trumpeldor and several others.
Feb.-April --In Turkey, Mustafa Kemal’s army wages a successful military campaign against French forces, inflicting a series of defeats upon them in southern Anatolia and Cilicia (near Syria) and forcing the French to withdraw.
March --The second Syrian General Congress, dominated by militant Arab nationalists, proclaims the autonomy of Greater Syria, including present-day Lebanon and Palestine. They reject any French role in Syria and declare their opposition to the Balfour Declaration. Although Faisal is accepted as Syria’s constitutional monarch, Palestinians (“Southern Syrians”) criticize his willingness to negotiate with Weizmann and the Zionists. Mesopotamian members proclaim the independence of the former Ottoman provinces of Baghdad and Basra, naming Faisal’s brother Abdullah as king. The Congress also sides with the Kemalists in Turkey against France. This uncompromising militancy has the effect of forcing Britain back into its wartime agreements with the French.
March—British-led occupation of Constantinople, arresting uncooperative military and civilian officials, has a blow-back effect-- it transfers legitimacy from the Sultan’s government to Kemal’s government in Angora.
April –The Nabi Musa riots in Palestine. During the springtime festival honoring Moses (April 4-6), Arab mobs demonstrate against the pro-Zionist British mandate, leading to attacks on Jews in Jerusalem’s Old City that kill some and wound hundreds. Vladimir Jabotinsky’s self-defense group protects the Jews in New Jerusalem but is kept out of the Old City by the British military. This is seen as evidence of the pro-Arab bias of the military administration, leading to the installation in July of a civilian administration. In July, Herbert Samuel (ex-Cabinet member, leading Liberal, and an active Jewish supporter of the Balfour Declaration) is appointed High Commissioner of Palestine.
April—At the San Remo Conference in Italy, the already agreed-upon decisions about the postwar dispersal of the Ottoman Empire (negotiated in Feb. at the Conference of London) are made official. Syria is mandated to France, while the regions now known as Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq are mandated to Great Britain. However, Britain does not submit the draft of the mandate for Palestine for formal acceptance by the League of Nations until July 1922. It is understood that the Balfour Declaration will provide the framework of British rule in Palestine.
May –France negotiates an armistice with Mustafa Kemal, following several military defeats.
June –Rebellion breaks out in Iraq against British rule, led by Shiite ulama and tribal chiefs protesting the new tax laws in the Middle Euphrates region. By July, the revolt has spread throughout the southern Euphrates tribes. But the revolt is weakened by tribal chiefs whose landed interests are protected by the British-backed centralized government. The British military, which uses mustard gas and aerial bombing raids against rebel villages, controls the insurgency by October, although order is not fully restored until Feb. 1921.
June –An invasion of Anatolia by Greek forces based in Smyrna forces Kemal’s Turkish nationalist forces to retreat. Kemal’s strategy is to gradually wear the Greeks down while drawing them into the interior.
August 10, 1920—The Treaty of Sevres is signed by representatives of the Sultan, who collaborates with the British in occupied Constantinople. The treaty gives the Kurds and Armenians their own independent states as a result of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. However, Kemal’s military successes in Anatolia will eventually force Britain and France to withdraw the treaty.
---1921
Jan. –Winston Churchill takes over as Colonial Secretary, with the goal of reducing expenses. He asks T.E. Lawrence to join his staff as special advisor for Arab affairs. Lawrence’s friendship with Faisal helps clear the way for Faisal’s kingship in Iraq.
Feb.-- In Persia, Reza Khan, a Cossack colonel, seizes power in a coup, encouraged by the British. Reza Khan is to control the government through the armed forces while leaving the British-subsidized monarch in power. However, Reza Khan’s government repudiates Lord Curzon’s 1919 Anglo-Persian Agreement and signs a treaty with Soviet Russia, which backs the Persian, Afghan and Turkish nationalist movements against British imperialism.
Feb. –In Egypt, the Allenby Declaration unilaterally concedes the status of formal independence, while reserving certain rights (control of Suez and foreign policy) to Britain. Nationalist rejection of the British conditions makes a treaty agreement impossible. However, Allenby’s Declaration does soften some of the opposition.
March 12-22 –Churchill organizes the Cairo Conference, to plan a coherent Middle East policy. (Attended by 40 experts and officials, there are 40-50 sessions.) At this moment, Abdullah has brought a force of 200 Bedouins and 20 officers to Amman, in preparation for attacks on the French in Syria. Churchill decides to offer Abdullah the rulership of Transjordan, on condition that he establish order and not make trouble for French Syria. T.E. Lawrence argues that this fulfills the wartime pledges to the Arabs for an independent state. Churchill also decides to place Faisal (Abdullah’s younger brother) on the throne of Iraq, creating a “Hashemite solution” to the Middle East political crisis. The task is to make it appear that Faisal is the popular choice of the people of Iraq. Finally, in Arabia, Ibn Saud’s subsidy will be raised significantly, in an effort to discourage him from permitting Ikhwan attacks into the Hijaz, which threaten Sharif Husain’s survival in Mecca.
April –In Palestine, Herbert Samuel appoints Haj Amin al-Husseini as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, hoping to co-opt his activism for British purposes.
April –In Iraq, the British entrap and arrest Faisal’s main competition for the throne of Iraq—Sayyid Talib, a popular nationalist leader from Basra. He is deported to Ceylon, setting the stage for Faisal’s arrival as the king-to-be.
May—Renewed outbreak of Arab violence in Palestine, following May Day celebrations by Zionists. After a week of rioting, there are 47 Jewish dead. Herbert Samuel temporarily suspends Jewish immigration and within a year Churchill’s white paper limits it to the country’s “absorptive capacity,” as the British begin to pull back from the consequences of the Balfour Declaration. In response, Ben-Gurion’s Zionist workers’ movement resolves to bear the burden of implementing Zionism.
July –The Iraq Council of Ministers accepts Faisal as the new constitutional monarch, conditional upon the results of an August referendum.
July—After minor defeats in Jan. and March, Greek forces launch a successful offensive in Anatolia, capturing the nationalist stronghold of Eshkishehir. Kemal abandons western Anatolia and withdraws to fortify Angora, hoping to lure the Greeks into a trap.
August—Greek forces fail to take Angora in three days of savage fighting. When their supply lines are broken, they are forced to begin a long retreat, harassed by Turkish fighters.
August 23, 1921 –Having been approved by the plebiscite, Faisal is installed as king of the new nation of Iraq in a British-staged coronation ceremony. Faisal soon declares himself opposed to the terms of the mandate, which identify him as a puppet ruler. He demands a separate treaty between Iraq and Britain, setting the stage for years of negotiation and struggle over Iraqi independence. Churchill fears that maintaining a British presence in Iraq will be too expensive, but Lloyd George wants no pull-back from Britain’s postwar acquisitions. “If we leave we may find a year or two after we departed that we have handed over to the French and Americans some of the richest oilfields in the world” (Fromkin, 509).
October—In Turkey, the Angora Accord officially ends the war between the Kemalist nationalists and French forces. France and Italy renounce all claims to territory in Anatolia, freeing the Turks to fight the Greek invasion forces that are now fighting as British clients.
--- 1922
March—Winston Churchill, acting as British Colonial Secretary, issues a white paper denying that the government meant to turn Palestine into a Jewish state or give preferential treatment to Jews over Arabs. Jewish immigration is to be restricted to conform to Palestine’s “absorptive capacity.”
June—The signing of the first Anglo-Iraqi treaty, which officially establishes the British role in shaping Iraqi policies and institutions, makes Faisal unpopular with the Iraqi people.
July—The mandates for the Middle East are officially granted by the League of Nations.
Aug.-- Kemal’s forces attack the overextended Greek line along the Anatolian coast, forcing the Greeks to evacuate by sea and effectively ending the Greek military threat.
Sept.—Kemal’s forces destroy Smyrna, a major Greek stronghold. By the year’s end 1 ½ million Greeks will have fled or been driven out of Turkey.
Oct.—The Mudanya Armistice. Armistice negotiations are completed between British and Turkish forces at Mudanya, ending the threat of Allied military action in Turkey. The Turks thus regain control of Constantinople and the Dardanelles.
Nov.—Abolition of the Sultanate. Since the armistice makes dual Turkish governments unnecessary, Kemal bans the reactionary government in Constantinople. He proposes separating the Sultanate and Caliphate, abolishing the former as incompatible with a constitutional system. Given the opposition to this by conservatives, he postpones the abolition of the caliphate itself until he has further consolidated his power. Sultan Mehmed VI, who had collaborated with the Allies to stay in power, flees Turkey under British protection. He is replaced as caliph by his cousin Abdul Mecid, who is appointed with no authority to pronounce on policy.
---1923
July—The Peace Conference at Lausanne (Switz.) finally concludes (it began April 23). Kemal’s delegation secures all the goals set out in the National Pact, including an end to the capitulations, recognition of Turkey’s frontiers in the east and south (i.e., no autonomous Armenia or Kurdistan), and an arrangement for a mutual exchange of Greek and Turkish populations. The Dardanelles are to be administered by an international commission. The question of Mosul, claimed by both the British and the Turks, is set aside for later adjudication by the League of Nations.
---1924
March 3—Abolition of the Caliphate. Kemal presents a bill to the Turkish National Assembly that secularizes Turkey by abolishing the caliph’s office. Kemal’s action is prompted by political opposition gathering around the new caliph Abdel Mecid, who is sent into exile, but it is a move he has long planned. There are protests from Muslims everywhere, especially from Egypt and India, but Kemal is committed to secularism.
April—A new constitution is adopted by the Turkish National Assembly. Religious courts are abolished, although Islam is still recognized as the official state religion (this ends in 1928). The veil is discouraged by the state and wearing the fez is prohibited. Women are assured of equal rights with men in family law matters, and women begin to enter the universities and professions as well as shops, offices and factories. Voting rights, however, are withheld until 1934. Kemal is made President of the Republic as well as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. He maintains his absolute dictatorial power until his death in 1938.
Grand Lake Neighborhood Center
June 3, 2006
CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES ON WWI & THE RESHAPING OF THE MIDDLE EAST—PART 2
--- 1919
Jan.—Opening of the Peace Conference in Paris. It would shift to other locations from time to time. (Between 1919 and 1922, Lloyd George attends 33 international conferences.)
Jan.-- Chaim Weizmann and Emir Faisal sign an agreement to cooperate in establishing an Arab state with a Jewish enclave in Palestine. However, Faisal adds the crucial condition that there must be an independent Arab state for the agreement to have any force.
March –In New York, Lowell Thomas launches his wildly successful lecture & photo show glorifying the wartime feats of “Lawrence of Arabia.” After running several months, it is taken to the major London venues for a six-month run, making T. E. Lawrence immensely popular throughout the English-speaking world, and politically influential.
March --In Egypt, the British reject nationalist demands for the independence that was promised to Egypt before the war. The Foreign Office also refuses to allow any Egyptian representation at the Peace Conference. Saad Zaghlul, the leader of the delegation (wafd, which subsequently became the nationalist party’s name), is arrested for his activism and deported to Malta. This sparks demonstrations and strikes throughout Egypt. Gen. Allenby is sent in to restore order and brings Zaghlul back. Years of struggle follow, with the British military, King Fuad, and the Wafd Party vying to control the shifting balance of power.
May –In Turkey, 38-yr old Mustafa Kemal, hero of the Turks’ victory at Gallipoli, is sent by the Sultan to restore order at Samsun on the Black Sea, where Greek villages have been attacked by Turkish Muslims. Instead, Kemal gathers forces in the unoccupied interior and begins the fight to undo the humiliating terms of the Mudros Armistice, signed by the captive Sultan. The National Pact, agreed upon at Angora (now Ankara) by Kemal’s shadow government, sets the terms for establishing Turkey as a secular nation-state. Militarily, the Kemalist forces will have to accomplish this by defeating French and Greek invasion forces in succession, over a three-year period.
May—In Arabia, Ibn Saud’s warrior army, also known as the Ikhwan (the “Brothers” fighting to spread puritanical Wahhabism), destroys the army of the Hijaz under Sharif Husain’s son Abdullah, at Turabu. The British, who are paying both leaders annual stipends, rescue Husain with an armistice, but Ibn Saud’s Ikhwan eventually (1924) take over the Hijaz, driving Husain into exile.
May—In Afghanistan, British forces put down a Muslim uprising that emerges after the April 1919 Amritsar Massacre in India. After bombing Afghan towns and villages into submission, the British end the 3rd Afghan War by granting independence to Afghanistan on condition that it not interfere in India.
June –The General Syrian General Congress opens in Damascus, organized by Faisal to provide a base of popular support for his demands for an Arab state at the Peace Conference. Three radical nationalist groups dominate—the al-Ahd (“Covenant”) organization (Arabic officers formerly in the Ottoman army), the Arab Club (Palestinian-based and anti-Zionist), and the broad-based Istiqlal (“Independence”) Party. They pressure Faisal to take uncompromising positions that are unlikely to succeed at the Peace Conference.
July-Aug. --The King-Crane Commission, appointed by Pres. Wilson to gather information about the political desires of formerly subject Ottoman peoples, tours Palestine and Syria. Their recommendation for an independent Arab state is ignored at the Peace Conference.
August –The Anglo-Persian Agreement is imposed by Lord Curzon on the puppet government of Ahmed Shah, last of Persia’s fading Qajar dynasty. Despite popular opposition, it gives the British control over Persia’s foreign policy and economy, including the oil. Since the Agreement cannot pass the Persian Majlis (parliament), the Shah’s ministers never submit it for ratification. The legal status of British control thus remains ambiguous and contested, just as it will be in Egypt and Iraq.
---1920
Feb. –In Palestine, anti-Zionist violence emerges in the Upper Galilee. Bedouin raiders attack Jewish settlements, killing Joseph Trumpeldor and several others.
Feb.-April --In Turkey, Mustafa Kemal’s army wages a successful military campaign against French forces, inflicting a series of defeats upon them in southern Anatolia and Cilicia (near Syria) and forcing the French to withdraw.
March --The second Syrian General Congress, dominated by militant Arab nationalists, proclaims the autonomy of Greater Syria, including present-day Lebanon and Palestine. They reject any French role in Syria and declare their opposition to the Balfour Declaration. Although Faisal is accepted as Syria’s constitutional monarch, Palestinians (“Southern Syrians”) criticize his willingness to negotiate with Weizmann and the Zionists. Mesopotamian members proclaim the independence of the former Ottoman provinces of Baghdad and Basra, naming Faisal’s brother Abdullah as king. The Congress also sides with the Kemalists in Turkey against France. This uncompromising militancy has the effect of forcing Britain back into its wartime agreements with the French.
March—British-led occupation of Constantinople, arresting uncooperative military and civilian officials, has a blow-back effect-- it transfers legitimacy from the Sultan’s government to Kemal’s government in Angora.
April –The Nabi Musa riots in Palestine. During the springtime festival honoring Moses (April 4-6), Arab mobs demonstrate against the pro-Zionist British mandate, leading to attacks on Jews in Jerusalem’s Old City that kill some and wound hundreds. Vladimir Jabotinsky’s self-defense group protects the Jews in New Jerusalem but is kept out of the Old City by the British military. This is seen as evidence of the pro-Arab bias of the military administration, leading to the installation in July of a civilian administration. In July, Herbert Samuel (ex-Cabinet member, leading Liberal, and an active Jewish supporter of the Balfour Declaration) is appointed High Commissioner of Palestine.
April—At the San Remo Conference in Italy, the already agreed-upon decisions about the postwar dispersal of the Ottoman Empire (negotiated in Feb. at the Conference of London) are made official. Syria is mandated to France, while the regions now known as Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq are mandated to Great Britain. However, Britain does not submit the draft of the mandate for Palestine for formal acceptance by the League of Nations until July 1922. It is understood that the Balfour Declaration will provide the framework of British rule in Palestine.
May –France negotiates an armistice with Mustafa Kemal, following several military defeats.
June –Rebellion breaks out in Iraq against British rule, led by Shiite ulama and tribal chiefs protesting the new tax laws in the Middle Euphrates region. By July, the revolt has spread throughout the southern Euphrates tribes. But the revolt is weakened by tribal chiefs whose landed interests are protected by the British-backed centralized government. The British military, which uses mustard gas and aerial bombing raids against rebel villages, controls the insurgency by October, although order is not fully restored until Feb. 1921.
June –An invasion of Anatolia by Greek forces based in Smyrna forces Kemal’s Turkish nationalist forces to retreat. Kemal’s strategy is to gradually wear the Greeks down while drawing them into the interior.
August 10, 1920—The Treaty of Sevres is signed by representatives of the Sultan, who collaborates with the British in occupied Constantinople. The treaty gives the Kurds and Armenians their own independent states as a result of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. However, Kemal’s military successes in Anatolia will eventually force Britain and France to withdraw the treaty.
---1921
Jan. –Winston Churchill takes over as Colonial Secretary, with the goal of reducing expenses. He asks T.E. Lawrence to join his staff as special advisor for Arab affairs. Lawrence’s friendship with Faisal helps clear the way for Faisal’s kingship in Iraq.
Feb.-- In Persia, Reza Khan, a Cossack colonel, seizes power in a coup, encouraged by the British. Reza Khan is to control the government through the armed forces while leaving the British-subsidized monarch in power. However, Reza Khan’s government repudiates Lord Curzon’s 1919 Anglo-Persian Agreement and signs a treaty with Soviet Russia, which backs the Persian, Afghan and Turkish nationalist movements against British imperialism.
Feb. –In Egypt, the Allenby Declaration unilaterally concedes the status of formal independence, while reserving certain rights (control of Suez and foreign policy) to Britain. Nationalist rejection of the British conditions makes a treaty agreement impossible. However, Allenby’s Declaration does soften some of the opposition.
March 12-22 –Churchill organizes the Cairo Conference, to plan a coherent Middle East policy. (Attended by 40 experts and officials, there are 40-50 sessions.) At this moment, Abdullah has brought a force of 200 Bedouins and 20 officers to Amman, in preparation for attacks on the French in Syria. Churchill decides to offer Abdullah the rulership of Transjordan, on condition that he establish order and not make trouble for French Syria. T.E. Lawrence argues that this fulfills the wartime pledges to the Arabs for an independent state. Churchill also decides to place Faisal (Abdullah’s younger brother) on the throne of Iraq, creating a “Hashemite solution” to the Middle East political crisis. The task is to make it appear that Faisal is the popular choice of the people of Iraq. Finally, in Arabia, Ibn Saud’s subsidy will be raised significantly, in an effort to discourage him from permitting Ikhwan attacks into the Hijaz, which threaten Sharif Husain’s survival in Mecca.
April –In Palestine, Herbert Samuel appoints Haj Amin al-Husseini as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, hoping to co-opt his activism for British purposes.
April –In Iraq, the British entrap and arrest Faisal’s main competition for the throne of Iraq—Sayyid Talib, a popular nationalist leader from Basra. He is deported to Ceylon, setting the stage for Faisal’s arrival as the king-to-be.
May—Renewed outbreak of Arab violence in Palestine, following May Day celebrations by Zionists. After a week of rioting, there are 47 Jewish dead. Herbert Samuel temporarily suspends Jewish immigration and within a year Churchill’s white paper limits it to the country’s “absorptive capacity,” as the British begin to pull back from the consequences of the Balfour Declaration. In response, Ben-Gurion’s Zionist workers’ movement resolves to bear the burden of implementing Zionism.
July –The Iraq Council of Ministers accepts Faisal as the new constitutional monarch, conditional upon the results of an August referendum.
July—After minor defeats in Jan. and March, Greek forces launch a successful offensive in Anatolia, capturing the nationalist stronghold of Eshkishehir. Kemal abandons western Anatolia and withdraws to fortify Angora, hoping to lure the Greeks into a trap.
August—Greek forces fail to take Angora in three days of savage fighting. When their supply lines are broken, they are forced to begin a long retreat, harassed by Turkish fighters.
August 23, 1921 –Having been approved by the plebiscite, Faisal is installed as king of the new nation of Iraq in a British-staged coronation ceremony. Faisal soon declares himself opposed to the terms of the mandate, which identify him as a puppet ruler. He demands a separate treaty between Iraq and Britain, setting the stage for years of negotiation and struggle over Iraqi independence. Churchill fears that maintaining a British presence in Iraq will be too expensive, but Lloyd George wants no pull-back from Britain’s postwar acquisitions. “If we leave we may find a year or two after we departed that we have handed over to the French and Americans some of the richest oilfields in the world” (Fromkin, 509).
October—In Turkey, the Angora Accord officially ends the war between the Kemalist nationalists and French forces. France and Italy renounce all claims to territory in Anatolia, freeing the Turks to fight the Greek invasion forces that are now fighting as British clients.
--- 1922
March—Winston Churchill, acting as British Colonial Secretary, issues a white paper denying that the government meant to turn Palestine into a Jewish state or give preferential treatment to Jews over Arabs. Jewish immigration is to be restricted to conform to Palestine’s “absorptive capacity.”
June—The signing of the first Anglo-Iraqi treaty, which officially establishes the British role in shaping Iraqi policies and institutions, makes Faisal unpopular with the Iraqi people.
July—The mandates for the Middle East are officially granted by the League of Nations.
Aug.-- Kemal’s forces attack the overextended Greek line along the Anatolian coast, forcing the Greeks to evacuate by sea and effectively ending the Greek military threat.
Sept.—Kemal’s forces destroy Smyrna, a major Greek stronghold. By the year’s end 1 ½ million Greeks will have fled or been driven out of Turkey.
Oct.—The Mudanya Armistice. Armistice negotiations are completed between British and Turkish forces at Mudanya, ending the threat of Allied military action in Turkey. The Turks thus regain control of Constantinople and the Dardanelles.
Nov.—Abolition of the Sultanate. Since the armistice makes dual Turkish governments unnecessary, Kemal bans the reactionary government in Constantinople. He proposes separating the Sultanate and Caliphate, abolishing the former as incompatible with a constitutional system. Given the opposition to this by conservatives, he postpones the abolition of the caliphate itself until he has further consolidated his power. Sultan Mehmed VI, who had collaborated with the Allies to stay in power, flees Turkey under British protection. He is replaced as caliph by his cousin Abdul Mecid, who is appointed with no authority to pronounce on policy.
---1923
July—The Peace Conference at Lausanne (Switz.) finally concludes (it began April 23). Kemal’s delegation secures all the goals set out in the National Pact, including an end to the capitulations, recognition of Turkey’s frontiers in the east and south (i.e., no autonomous Armenia or Kurdistan), and an arrangement for a mutual exchange of Greek and Turkish populations. The Dardanelles are to be administered by an international commission. The question of Mosul, claimed by both the British and the Turks, is set aside for later adjudication by the League of Nations.
---1924
March 3—Abolition of the Caliphate. Kemal presents a bill to the Turkish National Assembly that secularizes Turkey by abolishing the caliph’s office. Kemal’s action is prompted by political opposition gathering around the new caliph Abdel Mecid, who is sent into exile, but it is a move he has long planned. There are protests from Muslims everywhere, especially from Egypt and India, but Kemal is committed to secularism.
April—A new constitution is adopted by the Turkish National Assembly. Religious courts are abolished, although Islam is still recognized as the official state religion (this ends in 1928). The veil is discouraged by the state and wearing the fez is prohibited. Women are assured of equal rights with men in family law matters, and women begin to enter the universities and professions as well as shops, offices and factories. Voting rights, however, are withheld until 1934. Kemal is made President of the Republic as well as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. He maintains his absolute dictatorial power until his death in 1938.
