NEWS CENTER – January 28, 1920 marked the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the “Misak-ı Milli” (National Oath, National Pledge), which defined the borders of the Republic of Turkey. The Misak-ı Milli (National Pledge) is a social contract that includes the terms agreed upon by the Turkish Nation, which had mobilized to establish a fully independent state. The Parliamentary Assembly, which was convened with the efforts of Atatürk and symbolized the recovery efforts of the Ottoman Empire, convened for the last time on January 12, 1920 and unanimously adopted the Misak-ı Milli on January 28, 1920. It consisted of a declaration containing 6 articles that determined the country’s territory as the national border during the National Struggle period.
Decisions Taken at the Meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly;
“Article 1 – The future of the sections of the Ottoman Empire, especially the Arab majority settled, under the occupation of the enemy armies at the time of the signing of the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918 (the Hatay and Mosul regions are under Turkish rule) will be determined by the votes freely announced by the peoples. All of the sections in which the Ottoman-Islamic majority settled, which are connected to each other in terms of religion, lineage and unity of purpose, cherish mutual respect and self-sacrifice, respect the relations of lineage and society and the conditions of their environment, National borders that cannot be separated from each other for any reason, be it by an action or a verdict. The Turkish homeland in it is a whole and it cannot be disintegrated.
Article 2- When its people are freed, a free vote of the people will be applied again, if necessary, for the three provinces (Kars, Ardahan and Batumi within Elviye-i Selase) that have joined the motherland with their votes .
Article 3- The determination of the legal position of Western Thrace, which has been postponed until the peace with Turkey, will also be determined by the free vote of its people. Again, the future of the Arab lands will be determined by the votes of the people living here.
Article 4- Measures will be taken to keep the city of Istanbul, the center of the Islamic Caliphate, the Supreme Sultanate and the capital of the Ottoman Government, and the Sea of Marmara away from any danger. Provided that the security of the Istanbul and Dardanelles Straits is ensured, the unanimous decision of all other states will be valid on the issue of opening the Straits to world trade and transportation.
Article 5- Christians and other minorities living in our country cannot be granted more than the rights granted to Muslims in other neighboring countries. The rights enjoyed by Muslims and the rights of these minorities will be made equal.
Article 6- In order to enable our national and economic development, restrictions (Capitulations) that prevent our national and economic development in terms of financial, administrative and political aspects will definitely not be accepted. Because: “When it comes to full independence, of course, political, financial, economic, judicial, military, cultural etc. It means full independence and full freedom in all matters. The lack of independence in any of these we have mentioned means the deprivation of all independence of the nation and country in the real sense. A fully independent state was aimed. It was stated that military, economic and political independence would not be compromised.”
HATAY
It’s interesting to observe that on the first article the turkish state said that Hatay and Mosul are under turkish control. Hatay was formerly part of the Aleppo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire, the Sanjak of Alexandretta was occupied by France at the end of the First World War and constituted part of the French Mandate of Syria. The Sanjak of Alexandretta was an autonomous sanjak from 1921 to 1923, as a result of the Franco-Turkish Treaty of Ankara, as it had a large Turkish community as well as its Arab and Armenian population. Then it was attached to the State of Aleppo, then in 1925 it was directly attached to the State of Syria, still with a special administrative status.
In 1936, the elections returned two Syrian independentist MPs (favouring the independence of Syria from France) in the sanjak, and this prompted communal riots and passionate articles in the Turkish and Syrian press. In particular, Arab nationalist Zaki al-Arsuzi was influential. In response, the Atatürk government coined the name Hatay for the Sanjak of Alexandretta, as a reference to Hittites (Syro-Hittite states), and raised the “Issue of Hatay” (Turkish: Hatay Meselesi) at the League of Nations. On behalf of the League of Nations, representatives of France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey prepared a constitution for the sanjak. The new statute came into power in November 1937, the sanjak becoming ‘distinct but not separated’ from Syria on the diplomatic level, linked to both France and Turkey for military matters.
On 7 July 1939, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey approved the law establishing the Hatay Province and incorporating districts from Adana Province (then Seyhan Province) and Gaziantep Province. By 23 July 1939, the last vestiges of the French Mandate authorities had left Antakya, and the territory was fully annexed by Turkey. The result was a flight of many Arabs and Armenians to Syria. The region’s Armenian population, having been survivors of the Armenian genocide, had fled for their lives to the French Mandate of Syria and therefore weren’t able to contemplate Turkish sovereignty. Following the annexation, almost the entire Armenian population of Hatay had settled in Aleppo, with many others moving to Lebanon where they founded the modern town of Anjar near the ruins of its historic castle.
MOSUL
At the end of World War I in October 1918, after the Armistice of Mudros, British forces occupied Mosul. After the war, the city and surrounding area became part of the British-occupied Iraq (1918–1920) and then Mandatory Iraq (1920–1932). This mandate was contested by Turkey, which continued to claim the area on the grounds that it was under Ottoman control during the signature of the Armistice.
In the Treaty of Lausanne, the dispute over Mosul was left for future resolution by the League of Nations. In 1926, Iraq’s possession of Mosul was confirmed by the League of Nations’ brokered agreement between Turkey and Great Britain. Former Ottoman Mosul Vilayet became the Nineveh Governorate of Iraq, but Mosul remained the provincial capital. After the 1991 uprisings by the Kurds, Mosul did not fall within the Kurdish-ruled area, but was included in the northern no-fly zone imposed and patrolled by the United States and Britain between 1991 and 2003. Although this prevented Saddam’s forces from mounting large-scale military operations again in the region, it did not stop his regime from implementing a steady policy of “Arabisation” by which the demography of some areas of Nineveh Governorate were gradually changed. Despite this program, Mosul and its surrounding towns and villages remained home to a mixture of Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens, Shabaks, a few Jews, and isolated populations of Yazidis, Mandeans, Kawliya and Circassians.
The fascist turkish state and it’s neo-ottoman, turanist (Turanism) plans are being put in practice since 2015, when with the help provided by OTAN, turkey started a new full-on offensive against the Freedom Fighters of the PKK, once they are the biggest stopper to their plans. Since then, on the same period and by the same technologies, turkey started to expand it’s influence in the Middle East and participate in conflicts were it could take advantage to its goals. Such as the case in Syria, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Libya, Cyprus and Greece.
Metin Külünk, who is close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, released the map on the anniversary of the battle that falls on August 26, 2021, amid tension between Turkey and Greece over a dispute on oil and gas exploration in the east Mediterranean.
The map shows what he called “Greater Turkey,” including vast territories spanning from northern Greece to the eastern Aegean islands, half of Bulgaria, Cyprus, most of Armenia and large swaths of Georgia, Iraq and Syria.
In a series of tweets, Külünk said that Turkey regained the spirit of the Manzikert Victory after the failed coup against Erdogan on July 15, 2016. After the death of Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish people fell under Western influence, until Erdogan awakened them, he said. “That’s why the West is currently pressuring us to get us out of these areas, but it is unaware that we have regained the spirit of independence. We are armed with science, technology and power,” he added.
The next invasion of Rojava that is being prepared and organized by the fascist turkish state is another major step towards the fulfilling of their plans. Since 2016 turkey already launched 4 major invasion in Rojava, NE Syria, and control major areas of the terrirtory. In Iraq, according to a report, turkey have more than 100 militares bases and control over 2259 km² of the region since its extensive incursion began in 2017 with the collaboration of the KDP.
Turkey aims to control Tall Rifaat and Minbic in their next invasion, that would give turkey the capabilities to encircle Kobane before launching an assault on the historical place and soul of the Rojava Revolution, since they know an offensive on Kobane would be greeted with ferocious resistance. If they would be able to control Mibic, they could attack from that position, from the north (turkey itself) and from the East by the region of occupied Gire Spi/Tal Abyad. If the fascist and occupier state of turkey is able to create the so called “safe zone” they would have control over the North of the Syria and the main Kurdish Regions of the AANES.
From there, they would be able to launch a second phase of their neo-ottoman plan, they would aim at Mosul as well as for Kirkuk, probably with the cooperation of KDP. Since both regions are main producers of petrol and once controlled by PDK they would be able to maintain a monopoly on the commodity, being under the control of the turkish interests. These plans are related to achieve the National Oath map, Misak-ı Milli, if the Kurdish people from Bashur don’t see the attacks on Rojava as an attack to Bashur itself (both are Kurdistan, known as Great Kurdistan), it may be too late.
