Today in History – 6 October

The Turkish army in İstanbul

The Allied States began to actively take over İstanbul immediately after the Armistice of Mudros signed on October 30, 1918 and officially occupied the city on March 16, 1920 under the pretext of protecting the security of minorities.

İstanbul’s liberation came to fore only after the War of Independence was won at the Armistice of Mudanya was signed. The Treaty stipulated the Allied States to vacate İstanbul within a year. The larger part of 1923 was spent evacuating the occupying forces. As the liberation of İstanbul neared, the level of excitement in the city rose and the incident came to be perceived as the second conquest of İstanbul.

On October 2, 1923, the last day of evacuation of the occupying forces, the remaining French, Italian, and British troops and their commanders boarded their ships following a ceremony held at Dolmabahçe. Meanwhile, the public had filled at the shores of İstanbul. Following the departure of the last ship at 3:00 PM, the city was overcome by a large wave of joy.

The entrance of the Iron Unit under to command of Şükrü Naili Pasha into İstanbul on October 6th created a festival effect in the city. In his article published in Akşam newspaper, Falih Refik (Atay) describes the sentiments as follows:

Can you imagine how those five years have passed? Our intention was to convey to you the pain of each moment separately; we can only imagine that your life would not be long enough to listen to what we suffered and our life would not be long enough to relate how we suffered. We were in so much pain and filled with so much sadness. We forgot it all today. We thought that our eyes had run dry, only to discover how our tears of joy are flowing!