jectedtootherconventionsthanthemilitaryperiodicals.Sinceithadamuch
biggerreadershipastheperiodicals,itdeservesspecialattentionhere.
Ina‘StormofPaper’I:TurkishVeteranOfficer’sWritings
abouttheWar
Afterthedefeatin1918,differentfactors,inparticularuntreatedtraumaand
mortificationsbytheGermanallyandbytheown(former)Ottomansuperiors,
nourishedthedesiretocommunicateone’sownpointofview.⁴⁴IntheRepubli-
caneraformerOttomanofficerscouldexpresstheirviewsabouttheGerman-Ot-
tomanalliancewithoutthelimitationsofwartimecensorship.Moreover,theim-
pressionofthevictoriousoutcomeoftheGreco-Turkishwar(1919– 19 22)shaped
theirviewonthepastmilitarycooperation.Thesememoirscontainedtheirper-
sonalreviewofaturbulentdecade,coinedbysocietalandmilitaryturmoil.But
whatroledidtheseworksplayininfluencingtheimageofthealliance?What
impactdidtheyhaveontheself-perceptionofthoseofficers?SomeTurkishoffi-
cersalsomadeuseofreferencestothememoirsofGermanofficerthathadbeen
inOttomanservice.ThisisevidentinthewritingsofKȃzımKarabekir,AliİhsanSabisandBehiç[Erkin](18 76 – 196 1).Thepost-
warautobiographicalpublicationsoftherespectiveformermembersoftheOtto-
manGeneralStaffformthebasisofthisanalysisinthissection.Allthesemen
hadleftactivemilitaryserviceintheearly1 92 0sduetodissentwiththeruling
regime.Itshouldbekeptinmindthatthosepublicevaluationshadtobewritten
inacarefullybalancedtone,sincefreespeechwasrestricted.Wecanalsostate
thattherewasanindirectlydefinedguidelineofhowthealliancewithGermany
hadtoberated.PresidentMustafaKemalstatedina1 92 3interview:
“TheonesconductingandleadingthewarwereentirelytakenascaptivesbytheGermans
[Almanlarınesiriolmuşlardır],byforgettingourexistence[mevcudiyetimizi]intheGreat
War.Totellthetruth,bysendingourforces,thatwereinadequatetodefendthefatherland,
toGalicia,MacedoniaandtheIranianplainstheydeteriorated.”⁴⁵InthisregardtheheadlineofthissubchapterisderivedfromtheGermanauthorErnstJüng-
er’smemoirs“InStahlgewittern”,firstpublishedin 1920 .Contrarytothewartimelethalrainof
metal,veteranofficersusedthewrittenwordtodefendtheircauseandunderlinetheirpercep-
tionofthewar.Cf.forasimilarwordingMarieThomas,InPapiergewittern:DieKriegssammlun-
genderBibliotheken 1914 – 1918/OragesdePapier 1914 – 1918:LesCollectionsdeGuerredesBib-
liothèques(Paris:SomogyÉditionsd’Art,2008).
Arıİnan,GaziMustafaKemalAtatürk’ün 1923 Eskişehir-İzmitKonuşmaları[GaziMustafa
KemalAtatürkʼsEskişehir-İzmitSpeeches,1 92 3](Ankara:TTK, 198 2),42.
170 4German-TurkishMilitaryCooperationafter 1918