99th Anniversary of the Turkish War of Independence and Remembering Two Women from Samsun: Sakine and Mariam

Turkey celebrated the 99th Anniversary of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s landing in Samsun on May 19, 1919; and his 137th birthday, yesterday. The date is regarded as the landmark of Turkish resistance to the occupation of the country following the Mudros Armistice.

Let’s go back to those years reading Villalta (1982), through William Campbell’s translation into English from Spanish:

“The text [of the armistice] consisted of twenty-five articles, of which eleven assured the British fleet of the complete control of the Straits; the Turkish army was to be demobilized,… while Article Seven placed Turkey at the mercy of her conquerors; for it said: “In the event of a situation arising which threatens the security of the Allies, the Allies will have the right to occupy any strategic points. The Turkish government foresaw that Turkey would be reduced to Anatolia and part of Thrace; however, they were confident that the Allies, who preached the right of nationalities to live in freedom, would assure the freedom of the Turkish peoples within their national frontiers.” P. 157

But, “on the signature of the armistice, the victorious Powers began a military occupation of those zones of the Ottoman Empire which they had awarded each other previously through treaties. … “The Christian elements took part in this systematic invasion, hoping to see Turkey disappear ” p. 169.

The Greeks “were working towards the creation of a Greek state on the shores of the Black Sea, with its capital at the port of Samsun. … The Armenians were equally active, since they had no doubt that a free Armenia would be created by the Supreme Peace Council…” p. 170

“Four days after the bloody occupation of Smyrna, Kemal reached the port of Samsun. … The arrival of the boat was awaited at the quayside by a large number of people. They had gone there in the hope of news of the events in Smyrna. Their nationalities could be discerned by the different expressions on their faces: the Greeks could not conceal their happiness; the imagination native to their race made them see their dreams already realised, of the Great Idea, the resurrection of the Greek Empire. The Turks could be recognised by their dejection, and by the anxious curiosity with which they looked on this young general who had just landed. The rumor spread that he was the man who had beaten the Allies in Gallipoli; it was said that he was a great patriot and a fair man.” (p. 183).

Mustafa Kemal had landed at the pier which was managed by the French who ran the tobacco plant in Samsun, since all other piers were destroyed by the Russians during the WWI. He was the only general in the Ottoman Army who had not faced any defeat during the WWI, and was inspiring hope in the hearts of beaten Turkish people.

Among the people on the quayside, there was one Turkish woman, Sakine Hanım (Baturay) on that stormy Monday. Sakine Hanım was from the Baksır-Kındız village, İspir, Erzurum. Her father was working on a ship which carried oil to Samsun from Romania-Constanta living away from home. Sakine Hanım was married to Muhsin, who did not return from the Yemen Frontier. Their son Lütfü's feet were 90 degrees inward. She somehow survived the massacres Armenians perpetrated in the village and took refuge in Samsun after a hard journey of 2.5 months with her disabled child in harsh winter conditions.

Sakine Hanım’s son Orhan Bey remembers how his mother depicted Armenian atrocities in the villages she had passed through during this dangerous journey, particularly how she used to cry when she described the Muslims who were impaled (Atatürk'ü...). In Samsun, she took her son to the state hospital his feet to be treated so that he could walk properly. The American doctors who observed her taking care of other patients during her stay in the hospital had hired her as a nurse. In the meantime, she had learnt English and the Latin alphabet from American doctors. Sakine Hanım was an active and intelligent woman, keen to capture what has been going on around. She had heard about the arrival of Mustafa Kemal and went to meet him. She has been proud of this remarkable experience and shared it with people she met all through her life. During the War of Independence she organized women to collect cotton and wool, to spin and knit undergarment and send them to the soldiers at the frontiers.*

Like Mustafa Kemal and his team, Dildilians from Merzifon (Marsuvan) were travelling a couple of days after a joyous May wedding on the 23rd, back to Samsun. “In his memoirs, Aram writes that he almost crossed paths with Mustafa Kemal during this trip: ‘We embarked upon our journey and spent the first night at an inn in Havza. We were told that Mustafa Kemal Pasha was also staying in that very inn. First, we did not care very much, but then my sister-in-law said ‘we shall not stay here’. She went and returned 15 minutes later. ‘Pack up, we have a relative who lives nearby, we are going there’. Later on, Aram will feel very sorry for missing the opportunity to take a great photograph, just because Mariam refused to pass the night in the same establishment with Mustafa Kemal…” (Bearing…, 2015).

In those hard years of conflict the Dildilians have apparently decided not to resist against the occupation but leave their homeland. The Lausanne Treaty has enabled everyone to return to the country, but those who did not take place in the resistance dared not to come back during the two year amnesty announced.

Believe it or not, the story of the Dildilian Family was the subject of an exhibition displayed at the Cultural Centre of Çankaya Municipality, Ankara for almost a month in 2015, and the Mayor was from the Republican People's Party founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk himself! If the roles were vice versa, would Armenian authorities display such an exhibition I wonder. The authorities in how many countries would approve displaying an exhibition which accuses their country with genocide despite ECHR and other courts' decisions, and bears expressions of enmity towards the founder of the country? This is the level of tolerance and generosity of some circles in our country. This, of course, does not mean that all of us are that tolerant and generous, as the open letter of criticism by Naci Kaptan addressed to the Mayor reveals.

What I would like Çankaya Municipality to do was to have Sakine Baturay’s story on one wing of the exhibition area, while displaying Dildilians Story, on the other wing, for a better understanding of this common pain, and of course I would not expect the exhibitors to use the legal term "genocide" in the absence of a court decision to this effect.

Sources

Atatürk’ü 19 Mayıs 1919 ‘da Samsun iskelesinde karşılayan tek kadın. http://samsun05.blogcu.com/ataturk-u-19-mayis-1919-da-samsun-iskelesinde-karsi/5671352

Bearing witness to the lost history of an Armenian family: through the lens of the Dildilian Brothers, 1872-1923. 3-23 November 2015, Çankaya Çağdaş Sanatlar Merkezi, Ankara.

Kaptan, Naci. (November 6, 2015). Çankaya Belediye Başkanına mektup. http://nacikaptan.com/?p=31126

Villalta, Jorge Blanco. (2014). Atatürk. Translated into English by W. Campbell. 3rd ed. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu.

* Two books about women who fought during the Turkish War of Independence are as follows:

Baykal, Bekir Sıtkı. (1996). Milli Mücadele'de Anadolu Kadınları Müdafaa-i Vatan Cemiyeti [The Role of the Society of Anatolian Women for the Defense of the Country in the War of Independence]. 2nd ed. Ankara: Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi.

Sarıhan, Zeki. (2006). Kurtuluş Savaşı Kadınları [Women of War of Independence]. Ankara:Cem Web Ofset, with the support of Çankaya Belediyesi and TODAM Toplumsal Dayanışma Merkezi. Yunus Nadi Social Sciences Award 2006 Winner.

Celebrations in Samsun, May 19, 2018 was shared on the Facebook.