Turkish National Pact
TURKISH NATIONAL PACT
A resolution that stated the goal of political independence for Turkey.
This resolution adopted by the Ottoman parliament in Istanbul on 17 February 1920, declared support for the demands of the nationalist movement led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk). It included: the integrity of all territories inhabited by "an Ottoman Islamic majority"; popular plebiscites to determine the future of territories whose status was in doubt (Kars, Ardahan, and Batum in the Caucasus; western Thrace; and areas with Arab majorities); "protection" of the city of Istanbul and the Sea of Marmara and negotiation regarding trade and commerce in the Bosporus and the Dardanelles; recognition of minority rights provided reciprocal rights were extended to Muslim minorities in other countries; and recognition of full independence and sovereignty for "the country." This was essentially the program implemented in the wake of the defeat of the Greek army in western Anatolia and the withdrawal of British power from Istanbul and its environment in 1922. Functionally, the national pact served as a declaration of independence by nationalist Turkey.
Bibliography
Shaw, Stanford J., and Shaw, Ezel Kural. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Vol. 2: Reform, Revolution, and Republic: The Rise of Modern Turkey, 1808-1975. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
frank tachau