İstanbul under occupation
Immediately after the signing of the Armistice of Mudros, an enemy fleet of 55 vessels was anchored off the shores of İstanbul on November 13, 1918 and sent 3,500 soldiers ashore. The operation was justified as the protection of the nearly two hundred thousand foreigners living in İstanbul at the time; therefore, it was claimed that it was not a military operation.
However, a vehement struggle against occupations had already begun in Anatolia. U.K. Prime Minister Llyod George thus informed the Allies on March 5th that there could be no “soft peace settlement with the Turks” adding that the conditions of peace had to be imposed by force of guns. The British then raided the Şehzadebaşı Police Station on the morning of March 16th and martyred six soldiers.
Having been informed of the occupation three days in advance, the Ottoman Government, on the other hand, had left no armed soldiers in the city for fear for a struggle. Following the official occupation, Grand Vizier Salih Pasha was asked to keep his distance from Mustafa Kemal. If the government would comply with the instructions, public administration would be left untouched for the time being. Meanwhile, the Sultan found no solution except to say, “This nation is nothing but a herd of sheep. It needs a shepherd. I am that shepherd.”
The audacity the British had shown by raiding the Parliament had proved that underground operations in İstanbul would be the only way to uphold the struggle. Intellectuals and politicians fleeing İstanbul thus headed towards Ankara, the sole destination of resistance. After a perilous, two-week journey, Colonel İsmet reached Ankara on April 3, 1920.
