Turan Kışlakçı
The Salvation of a Nation, the Hope of the Ummah: The War of Independence and the Kuvayi Milliye Movement
Following the Italo-Turkish War, the conflicts in Yemen, and the Balkan Wars, the flames of the First World War engulfed Ottoman lands. From Gallipoli to Salman Pak, from Kut al-Amara to the Caucasus, and from the Sinai to Palestine and Syria, Ottoman armies engaged in fierce battles on numerous fronts. The cost of these wars was staggering: one million soldiers of the Ottoman army were martyred, while hundreds of thousands were captured or went missing.
Turkish, Kurdish, Arab, and even Christian Ottoman citizens fought shoulder to shoulder on these arduous fronts. When you visit Ottoman cemeteries from Gallipoli to Libya, from the Balkans to Yemen, and from the Caucasus to Iraq, you witness the martyrs of these nations lying side by side, united in a shared destiny.
Between 1910 and 1918, nearly every family in Ottoman lands lost a martyr. Homes were left with only children, women, and the elderly, while the lands were overflowing with orphaned children and widowed women. The entire region was devastated by poverty. The Ottoman territories, filled with echoes of deep sorrow and laments, became silent witnesses to immense suffering.
In 1918, immediately after the First World War, Istanbul was occupied. Subsequently, İzmir, Thrace, and various parts of Anatolia were subjected to the occupations of British, French, Greek, and Italian forces. The capital, Istanbul, was under captivity, and the Caliph was practically confined to his palace. Nevertheless, Ottoman military commanders and soldiers, who had previously resisted occupiers in Tripolitania and Algeria, now took action to demonstrate similar resistance on Anatolian soil.
Sultan Vahdettin secretly supported these commanders, encouraging them to form units and initiate resistance against the occupiers. He provided both material and moral assistance. This resistance resembled the heroic struggles of figures such as Emir Abdelkader of Algeria, Abdelhamid Ben Badis, Abdelkrim al-Khattabi, Omar Mukhtar, and the Caucasian Eagle Sheikh Shamil. The renowned poet and writer Süleyman Nazif highlighted the lives of these heroes in his writings, presenting them as examples in the fight against imperialism.
From Edirne to Kars, from İzmir to Maraş, and from Rize to Diyarbakır, the war-weary people of a vast geography rose up one last time. News of the occupation of Istanbul, the seat of the Caliphate, and Anatolia plunged the Islamic world into deep sorrow. To support the liberation of these lands, considered the heart of the Islamic world, Muslims from Bengal to South Africa, from Indonesia to Tunisia, and from India to the far reaches of Africa mobilized. Every corner of the Islamic world rallied to provide material and moral support to the Kuvayi Milliye movement initiated by Ottoman commanders. This resistance would become a saga of salvation, resonating not only within a single nation but also in the collective conscience of the entire ummah.
In 1919, the Khilafat Movement was founded in India, encompassing the vast region of what is now Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Kashmir. It launched campaigns to collect financial aid for the Kuvayi Milliye Movement. Led by the brothers Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Ali Jauhar, along with prominent Muslim thinkers of the time such as Abul Kalam Azad, Abul Ala Maududi, and Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the movement tirelessly traversed the Indian subcontinent. They delivered impassioned speeches and wrote articles in newspapers and magazines to rally support for the cause.
The small treatise written by Abul Ala Maududi about the occupation of İzmir and the atrocities committed there was reproduced through photocopies and passed from hand to hand, mobilizing the public. However, this support was not limited to India. From the Malay Peninsula to the Arab world and across Africa, Muslim scholars and communities took to the streets in support of the Ottoman Empire, delivering sermons and organizing aid campaigns despite the pressure of occupying forces.
Between 1921 and 1923 alone, the aid sent from India to Türkiye amounted to 122,000 British pounds. This sum, equivalent to approximately 782,070 Turkish lira in the currency value of that time, was a significant contribution. Most of these funds were deposited in a bank account at the Ankara branch of the Ottoman Bank under the name of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. The Khilafat Movement in India was not merely a fundraising initiative; it was a manifestation of the ummah’s heartfelt connection and spirit of solidarity with the Ottoman Empire (Türkiye).
The primary goal of the Defense of Rights Associations (Müdafaa-yı Hukuk Cemiyetleri), which were established in almost every city in Türkiye, was to liberate Thrace, Istanbul, and Anatolian lands from occupying imperialists and then to free all oppressed Muslim regions from colonial domination. The spirit of this sacred struggle, embodied in the Kuvayi Milliye, rapidly spread like waves from Edirne to Maraş, from Kastamonu to Damascus, and even to Palestine.
Brave hearts gathering in every corner transformed whatever materials they could find into weapons. They turned stovepipes into cannons, wood into swords, and rope into stirrups, heroically fighting against imperialist forces without regard for the scarcity of resources. The inspiration for this sacrifice and resistance lay hidden in the seeds sown on the Gallipoli front. The spirit of the Kuvayi Milliye, which first sprouted in Gallipoli, grew into courage and revival across Anatolia, resonating in the hearts of the people. This spirit was not merely the name of a resistance; it was the heart of a great epic written by a nation in its struggle for independence.
The first spark of the War of Independence was ignited on December 19, 1918, in the village of Karakese in Dörtyol, when a bullet was fired at French soldiers. Those who had devised plans to partition Ottoman lands through the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement and the 1917 Balfour Declaration could never have predicted that a nation, weakened and exhausted by prolonged wars, would mount such a determined resistance. However, Anatolia became the stage for a comprehensive resistance, supported not only by its own sons but also by Muslim youth and scholars from all corners of the ummah.
Figures such as Sheikh Senussi from Libya, Uceymi Pasha and his tribe from Iraq, Izz al-Din al-Qassam from Syria and Palestine, Abdurrahman Riyaz from the Indian subcontinent, and Muhammad Salih Harp Pasha from Egypt, along with many other heroes, flocked to Anatolia to support the Kuvayi Milliye epic. Egyptian Muhammad Salih Harp Pasha, who had participated in the Italo-Turkish War, recorded important details in his memoirs about the battles of Sakarya and İzmir. Meanwhile, in the regions of Mosul, Kirkuk, and Sulaymaniyah, another leader of the National Struggle, the al-Azhar University graduate Egyptian Shafiq Özdemir Bey, fought against the British with a unit that included young men from Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Libya, and Tunisia.
Anatolia became the stage for a struggle where not only swords but also pens and sermons were turned into weapons. From Sheikh Senussi to Emir Shakib Arslan, from Mehmet Akif Ersoy to Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, many Muslim scholars and intellectuals delivered sermons from Anatolia to Aleppo, and from Mosul to Kirkuk, inspiring people to join the resistance. Mehmet Akif Ersoy, in particular, assumed the spiritual leadership of the National Struggle through his speeches across Anatolia. After being welcomed in Ankara with the title “The Poet of Islam,” he began his influential addresses from the pulpit of Kastamonu’s Nasrullah Mosque, stirring the hearts of the people.
The support of Islamic scholars was immense during the Erzurum and Sivas Congresses. Prior to the Sivas Congress, a “Conference of Islamic Unity” was organized by Mehmet Akif, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, and Sheikh Senussi, with dozens of scholars from various regions of the Islamic world in attendance. The joint declaration published at this conference proclaimed that supporting the War of Independence was a collective duty (fard al-ayn) for all Muslims. In this way, Anatolia’s resistance became not merely the struggle of a single nation but the shared conscience of the ummah.
The leadership of the National Struggle was shaped by the collective will of Ottoman military commanders and Muslim scholars. Through the publication of the Minber newspaper in 1918, Mustafa Kemal Pasha called upon the Muslim world to wage jihad against imperialist powers and was chosen as the leader of the Defense of Rights and National Struggle movements. This call resonated across the Islamic world. Through his speeches and writings, Mustafa Kemal Pasha urged Muslim peoples to join a united struggle against imperialism. His leadership became a symbol of both the resistance in Anatolia and the ummah’s aspiration for independence.
Hundreds of Muslim poets and scholars, including Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh; Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawqi; Muhammad Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan; and Iraqi poet Ma’ruf al-Rusafi, wrote poems and articles about Mustafa Kemal Pasha. In these works, he was often compared to great Islamic commanders such as Khalid ibn al-Walid and Salahuddin al-Ayyubi. Muslim communities referred to him as Asad al-Islam (The Lion of Islam), and following the defeat of the Greek army in the Great Offensive, the Mufti of Damascus honored him with the title Sayf al-Islam (The Sword of Islam).
To amplify the voice of the National Struggle, the Anadolu Agency was founded by a committee led by Halide Edip. One of its first correspondents, Abdurrahman Peshawari from Afghanistan, was a devoted fighter of the National Struggle. His efforts carried the spirit of resistance to the entire Islamic world.
Following the Great Victory, Muslim communities from India to Morocco celebrated with great enthusiasm. In Tunisia, people from across the Maghreb decorated the streets with flags, and mosques were illuminated at night. In Jerusalem, Palestinians held prayers of gratitude for the blessed victory. Across these regions, the triumph was celebrated with Mevlid-i Sharif recitations, Qur’anic readings, and expressions of joy through blessings and takbirs. Prayers were offered, dedicating the victory to the heroic army of the National Struggle and the honor of Islam. For this victory was not merely Anatolia’s but an epic of salvation that resonated in the hearts of every member of the ummah.
On April 23, 1920, the opening of the Grand National Assembly in Ankara took place in a deeply spiritual atmosphere. After Friday prayers at Hacı Bayram Mosque, a procession carried the Sancak-ı Şerif (the sacred banner), the Qur’an, and the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) blessed relic, the Sakal-ı Şerif (the Holy Beard), to the Assembly building. This sacred procession symbolized the spirit and spiritual foundation of the National Struggle.
Behind the Assembly podium, a plaque was placed inscribed with the verse from Surah Ash-Shura (42:38) of the Qur’an: “And their affairs are conducted through consultation among them” (wa amruhum shura baynahum). The banner was positioned next to the podium, while the Qur’an and the Sakal-ı Şerif were placed atop it. The opening ceremony was crowned with prayers, and sacrifices were offered outside the Assembly to mark this historic day. A room in the Assembly was designated as a prayer space, where Muezzin Hüseyin Efendi called members of parliament to prayer by reciting the adhan during Assembly sessions.
This historic opening was not just the inauguration of an Assembly but also a profound expression of the nation’s commitment to its struggle for independence. Libyan scholar Sheikh Senussi, who called upon people and scholars to embrace the spirit of the Kuvayi Milliye, described the National Struggle as the “Great Jihad,” while Mustafa Kemal Pasha referred to the government established by the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye on May 3 as “the only hope of Islam.” These words underscored that the National Struggle and the Grand National Assembly were not just hopes for one nation but for the entire Islamic world.
In speeches delivered on January 16 in İzmit to press representatives and on February 7 at Balıkesir’s Zaganos Pasha Mosque, Mustafa Kemal Pasha articulated the essence of the National Struggle and the foundational principles of the Grand National Assembly:
“The government of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye is established in accordance with the noble rules of shari’ah, based on principles of consultation (shura), justice, and obedience to rightful authority. For the Turkish state, the issue of the caliphate is not an immediate necessity. However, considering the perspective of the Islamic world, the significance and existence of the caliphate may be recognized. The caliphate is not exclusively for the Turks; it belongs to the greater Islamic world. Today, as the Islamic world is under subjugation, the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye will preserve the caliphate as a symbol of hope until the Islamic world reaches a level where it can resolve this matter.”
These statements emphasized the spiritual and moral values that underpinned the Assembly while portraying the caliphate as a unifying hope for the Islamic world. They also highlighted that the National Struggle was not merely a fight for one nation’s independence but a step toward the revival of the entire Islamic world.
Since that day, Afghanistan, one of the most oppressed nations, has been recorded in history as the first country to recognize the Grand National Assembly. For this reason, Afghanistan holds a special place in the hearts of the Turkish people. Afghanistan was also the first country to send a diplomatic representative to Ankara after officially recognizing the Anatolian government through the treaty signed in Moscow on March 1, 1921. At that time, both Türkiye and Afghanistan were engaged in relentless struggles against British imperialism, giving their friendship and solidarity profound significance.
On March 12, the Grand National Assembly adopted the İstiklâl Marşı (Independence Anthem) written by Mehmet Akif with an overwhelming majority, with only one opposing vote. After its adoption, the poem was recited once again. Hamdullah Suphi, stepping up to the podium, passionately read the anthem, while Mustafa Kemal Pasha and the deputies listened standing, showing deep respect.
In a letter to the President of the Indian Khilafat Committee on February 9, 1923, Mustafa Kemal Pasha expressed these meaningful words:
“The outcomes of our great victory will not only influence Türkiye’s fate but also encourage all oppressed nations to rise against the tyrants who keep them under subjugation and deny them their independence.”
In summary, between 1918 and 1923, the Kuvayi Milliye Movement successfully spread the struggle for independence not only across Ottoman lands but throughout the Islamic world, despite the occupation and immense suffering of its people. The Kuvayi Milliye became a symbol of resistance that resonated in the collective conscience of the ummah, uniting Muslim communities from India to Tunisia, from Indonesia to Egypt, in providing material and moral support to the Ottoman cause. This solidarity strengthened the spirit of the National Struggle.
The War of Independence was not merely the fight for a nation’s freedom but a shared battle to break the chains of oppression in all downtrodden lands. Under Mustafa Kemal Pasha’s leadership, this struggle inspired both the liberation of the Turkish people and the revival of the Islamic world. This victory not only freed Türkiye but also encouraged oppressed nations worldwide, proving that a people’s determination for independence could serve as a beacon of resistance and hope for all humanity.