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| Franco-Turkish War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theTurkish War of Independence | |||||||||
 Clockwise from top to left: Turkish prisoners of war after theSiege of Aintab,Armenian volunteers in the French army, French-Armenian Legion volunteers, Turkish guerrillas in 1919, Sütçü İmam's shooting of a French soldier, Turkish guerrillas in Urfa. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Henri Gouraud |  Ali Fuat PashaAli Saip Bey"Kılıç" Ali Bey Şefik "Özdemir" BeyŞahin Bey †[2] | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| ~18,000 men (early phase)[7] Total: 25,000 men[8] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 5,000+ dead[9] | Unknown | ||||||||
| Both sides together: 15,000+ casualties[10] | |||||||||
TheFranco–Turkish War, known as theCilicia Campaign (French:La campagne de Cilicie) inFrance and as theSouthern Front (Turkish:Güney Cephesi) of theTurkish War of Independence inTurkey, was a series of conflicts fought between France (theFrench Colonial Forces and theFrench Armenian Legion) and theTurkish National Forces (led by theTurkish provisional government after 4 September 1920) from December 1918 to October 1921 in theaftermath of World War I. French interest in the region stemmed from theSykes-Picot Agreement and was further fueled by the a refugee crisis following theArmenian genocide.
After theArmistice of Mudros, the French Army had moved intoÇukurova in accordance with the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. On the one hand, that agreement gave France control ofOttoman Syria and southernAnatolia, including the key strategic locations of the fertile plain ofÇukurova, the ports ofMersin andİskenderun (Alexandretta), and the copper mines inErgani. On the other hand, the fertile lands of Mesopotamia and thevilayet of Mosul (where oil fields were suspected to exist) were priorities for the British. According to the agreement, the British would look after the cities ofAntep,Marash andUrfa, until the French arrived in the southern Anatolian regions allocated to them in the agreement.
TheFrench Armenian Legion under the command of GeneralEdmund Allenby consisted of Armenian volunteers.
After the armistice of Mudros, the first thing the French military did was to control the strategically important Ottoman coal mines in which French capital held significant stakes. The goal was both to take control of this energy source and to meet French military needs. It also prevented the distribution of coal in Anatolia, which could be used in activities to support insurgency.
On 18 March 1919, two French gunboats brought troops to the Black Sea ports ofZonguldak andKaradeniz Ereğli to command the Ottoman coal mining region.[11]Because of the resistance they faced during their one-year stay in the region, French troops began to withdraw from Karadeniz Ereğli on 8 June 1920. They continued to pursue their occupation in Zonguldak, where they occupied the whole city on 18 June 1920.
The main operations inThrace aimed to support the strategic goals of the allies.A French brigade entered Constantinople on 12 November 1918. On 8 February 1919, French generalFranchet d'Espèrey—commander-in-chief of allied occupation forces in the Ottoman Empire—arrived in Constantinople to coordinate the occupation government.[12]
The city ofBursa—a former Ottoman capital of central importance in northwest Anatolia—was also held by French forces for a brief period before the great summer offensive of the Greek army in 1920, at which time that city fell to the Greeks.
| Battle | General | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Marash | Ali Fuat Cebesoy[citation needed] | 20 Jan – 10 Feb 1920 |
| Urfa | Ali Saip Ursavaş | 9 Feb – 11 Apr 1920 |
| Antep Defense | Ali Kılıç | 1 Apr 1920 – 9 Feb 1921 |
| Siege of Antep | Şefik Özdemir Bey | 5 August 1920 – 9 Feb 1921 |
The first landing took place on 17 November 1918 atMersin with roughly 15,000 men, mainly volunteers from theFrench Armenian Legion, accompanied by 150 French officers. The first goals of that expeditionary force were to occupy ports and dismantle the Ottoman administration. On 19 November,Tarsus was occupied in order to secure the surroundings and prepare for the establishment of headquarters inAdana.
After the occupation of Cilicia proper at the end of 1918, French troops occupied the Ottoman provinces ofAntep,Marash andUrfa in southern Anatolia at the end of 1919, taking them over from British troops as agreed.
At the eastern tip of the occupation zone in the south, the city ofMardin was also occupied for one day (on 21 November 1919) until the evening, when the French thought it better to abandon the occupation attempt.
France designatedÉdouard Brémond governor of the French occupation zone in the south from January 1, 1919 – September 4, 1920, and Julien Dufieux from September 1920–23 December 1921.
In the regions they occupied, the French encountered immediate resistance from the Turkish, especially because they had associated themselves with Armenian objectives. The French soldiers were foreign to the region and were using Armenian militia to acquire their intelligence. Turkish nationals had been in cooperation with Arab tribes in this area. Compared to theGreek threat, the French seemed less dangerous toMustafa Kemal Pasha, who suggested that, if the Greek threat could be overcome, the French would not hold its territories in Turkey, especially as they mainly wanted to settle in Syria.
The strategic goal of opening a southern front by moving Armenians against the Turkish National forces was a failure after the defeat of the Greek forces to the west.
On 11 February 1920, after 22 days of theBattle of Marash, the French occupation troops, followed by members of the local Armenian community, found themselves forced to evacuate Marash by the resistance and assaults of the Turkish nationals. The loss of the city was accompanied by large-scale massacres of the Armenian population, with thousands of victims. French Armenian Legion memberSarkis Torossian suspects in his diary that the French forces gave weapons and ammunition to the Kemalists to allow the French army safe passage out of Cilicia.[13]
Marash militia forces contributed further to the war effort by taking part in the recapture of other centers in the region, forcing the French forces to retreat gradually, town by town.
The Cilicia Peace Treaty between France and the Turkish National Movement was signed on 9 March 1921. It was intended to end the Franco-Turkish war,[14] but failed to do so and was replaced in October 1921 with theTreaty of Ankara signed by representatives of the French and the Turks on 20 October 1921, and finalized withArmistice of Mudanya.
During the French occupation of southern Anatolia, heavy combat took place inMarash,Aintab, andAdana. Most of these cities were destroyed in the process with large civilian suffering.[15][16] For example, during theKaç Kaç incident, French aircraft indiscriminately bombed the 40,0000 fleeing Turkish civilians in theÇukurova area, as well as theBelemedik hospital. During the occupation and military campaigns, French troops also raped many Turkish women.[17][18] French soldiers also engaged in attacks, massacres and robbery of Turkish civilians in the countryside.[19]
The French forces withdrew from the occupation zone in the first days of 1922, about ten months before the Armistice of Mudanya. Beginning on 3 January, French troops evacuatedMersin andDörtyol. On 5 January they leftAdana,Ceyhan andTarsus. The evacuation was completed on 7 January with the last troops leavingOsmaniye.
In the early stages of theGreco-Turkish War, French and Greek troops jointly crossed theMeriç River and occupied the town ofUzunköprü in eastern Thrace and the railway route from there to the station of Hadımköy nearÇatalca on the outskirts of Constantinople. In September 1922, at the end of that war, during the Greek pull-out after the advance ofTurkish revolutionaries, French forces withdrew from their positions near theDardanelles, but the British seemed prepared to hold their ground. The British government issued a request for military support from its colonies[which?]. This was refused, and the French leaving the British on the straits signaled that the Allies were unwilling to intervene in aid of Greece. Greek troops and the French withdrew beyond theMeriç River.
France had better relations with the Turkish nationals during theTurkish War of Independence, chiefly on account of breakingTriple Entente solidarity and signing a separate agreement with theTurkish National Movement.[according to whom?] The Treaty of Ankara did not resolve the problems[clarification needed] in connection with thesanjak of Alexandretta. However, positive Franco-Turkish relations were maintained. French policy supporting the Turkish independence movement were set back during theConference of Lausanne on the abolition of theCapitulations of the Ottoman Empire. French objections during the discussions on abolition were perceived as contravening full Turkish independence and sovereignty. Furthermore, the fact that the sanjak of Alexandretta remained under French control also contributed to the tension between the two countries, as the Turks claimed the land in theMisak-ı Millî. The positive attitude developed with the Treaty of Ankara remained friendly, if limited.
The Ottoman debts were cleared by theRepublic of Turkey in line with theTreaty of Lausanne.
