May 19 is celebrated by all Turks around the world as the Turkish National Day of Youth and Sports. On that important day back in 1919, Mustafa Kemal Pasha has landed in the Black Sea town of Samsun as the Inspector of Ottoman 9th Army (which was shortly after revised as the 3rd Army Inspectorship).
What has started as an official assignment from the Sultan, turned out to be the beginning of a three year struggle to defeat the occupying enemy forces, abolish the Sultanate and create the modern Turkish Republic.
Every May 19, though, there is another date that I can't help but remember: July 10, 1919. In my mind this date is as significant as May 19. I somehow tend to believe that Mustafa Kemal's long journey towards leading a whole nation towards its miraculous salvation began not on May 19, 1919 in Samsun, but actually on the night of July 10, 1919 in Erzurum.
After landing in Samsun, Mustafa Kemal made his way to Erzurum through Havza, Amasya and Sivas. Every step of his journey was fraught with uncertainties and threats. Sultan Vahdettin in Istanbul, after realizing Mustafa Kemal's real intention of igniting a war of resistance in Anatolia, has sent his henchmen after him, setting up many traps to ensnare and capture the 38-year old hero of the Dardanelles. None of the attempts to capture Mustafa Kemal worked and he arrived in Erzurum in early July with his small staff and colleagues, including Rauf Orbay.
Erzurum was then home to General Kazim Karabekir's 15th Corps and Mustafa Kemal knew he could rely on Karabekir's backing. But still... when push came to shove, who would stand by him? And who would jump ship and obey Sultan's orders given the fact that many around him applauded his decision to resist the enemy but still made it clear that they grew up “eating Sultan's bread” and thus would never “betray their master.”
Ottoman Minister of Interior Ali Kemal had already issued a proclamation on June 23, 1919, announcing that Mustafa Kemal's commission was declared null and void, and he was basically fired from the Army. However the implementation of the proclamation was postponed after a strong protest by Ali Fuat Pasha, one of Atatürk's strongest allies in the years to come. But, the writing was on the wall for all to see...
Would the national resistance end before it began? Or would a miracle happen? What would happen next? No one knew the anwers to these questions yet in the early days of July 1919.
The inevitable final confrontation between Mustafa Kemal and the Palace arrived on the night of July 8, 1919. On that night, Mustafa Kemal is invited to the Erzurum post office by the Palace. On the other side of the telegraph line is none other than the Sultan himself.
At the conclusion of an electrified exchange, just before the Sultan fires him from his commission, Mustafa Kemal tells the Sultan (at exactly 22:50 hours) that he is resigning all his official titles and positions and “returning to the bosom of my nation.”
The Mustafa Kemal who leaves the Erzurum post office late July 8, 1919 night is a civilian, with no official authority to do anything, with no home, no address, and not a penny to his name. He has nothing but his ideals and vision to save a nation on the brink of annihilation.
July 10, 1919 does not start too well. In the morning, his Chief of Staff Kazim (Dirik) Bey stands up before him and says: “My dear Pasha, you've resigned from the Army. Thus from now on it is impossible for me to serve you in my current position. To whom shall I turn over our official documents?”
Rauf Orbay, another hero of WW1, who was in the room when this exchange has taken place, wrote in his memoirs that he had never seen Mustafa Kemal as depressed as on that day when Kazim Bey told him that he was quitting his service.
Everybody knows that the Palace had ordered Kazim Karabekir Pasha to arrest Mustafa Kemal and immediately dispatch him to Istanbul for a certain execution. Mustafa Kemal and his friends wait for Kazim Karabekir to arrive and announce his decision.
Hours tick away nervously... long tense hours, pregnant to momentous developments in one way or another...
If Karabekir Pasha obeys the Sultan and arrests Mustafa Kemal, it is the end of the story for those who are hoping to gather around Mustafa Kemal and launch a nation-wide campaign of resistance despite Istanbul's complicity with the occupation forces.
After a long wait, way into the night, Kazim Karabekir Pasha shows up at the head of a cavalier company. He enters the room where Mustafa Kemal is staying. He salutes Mustafa Kemal sharply and then makes the following historic pronouncement:
“We are in your service, my dear Pasha! I, my officers, my troops and the 15th Corps, we are all in your service from this moment onward!”
I believe that was the crucial moment when Turkey's independence was really won. That was the precise cosmic moment when all the stars have lined up, tilting the incredible odds in favor of the modern Turkish Republic.
That's why to this day whenever someone mentions “May 19,” the date “July 10” also immediately flashes at a warm spot in my memory. That spot is a shrine in time decorated with the memories of some extremely courageous men and women who gathered around Mustafa Kemal for the “mission impossible” that prevented the Turks of Anatolia from being wiped out from the surface of the earth.