132 ISLAM AT WAR
lim majorities, which meant not only Anatolia, but eastern Thrace and the
Mosul Vilayet. Istanbul would be given military security, the hated capit-
ulations should be abolished, and public debts would be reasonably
settled.
The politics of the region did not go well for the Allies. They occupied
the capital, and seized numerous nationalists. The Turkish government,
controlled by the Allies, condemned the leading nationalists to death by
extraordinary courts and issued afatwahdenouncing them as outlaws.
The Anatolian government retaliated by issuing its ownfatwahs.The sul-
tan’s government sent forces under the name of the caliphate army and
aroused counterrevolutionary outbreaks, but the nationalists succeeded in
suppressing them. These nationalist victories greatly embarrassed the
Allies, who accepted the offer of President Venizelos that the Greek army
should advance beyond the area allotted to it in order to deal with the
nationalists. In the months of June and July 1920 the Greek army oc-
cupied eastern Thrace and marched on Brusa and Ushak. On August 10,
1920, the Allies concluded the Treaty of Se`vres, with the sultan’s gov-
ernment. This treaty was aimed at destroying the independence of Tur-
key. It assigned eastern Thrace as far as the Chatalja lines, including
Gallipoli, to Greece, as well as Smyrna and the surrounding territory, at
least provisionally.
To the east, in Cilicia and Aintab, the nationalist forces successfully
fought back the French and their Armenian allies. However, the Arme-
nians continued launching raids on Turkish frontier villages. Killings,
burnings, and other atrocities were common.
In January the Greeks launched a new offensive against the Turks, but
they were twice checked by the Turkish army at Inn-Eunu. On July 10,
1921, the Greeks resumed the offensive and drove the Turkish army east
of Sakaria. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was appointed commanding general and
after a pitched battle that lasted twenty days, the Greeks were defeated
and withdrew behind the Eskishehir River. On March 24, 1922, the Allies
intervened and proposed a truce between the Turks and the Greeks. The
Turks would not consider it until the Greeks were out of Anatolia. The
Greeks refused and demanded to occupy Istanbul, which the Allies wisely
refused. On August 25, a major Turkish offensive routed the Greek army.
As the Greek army withdrew from Ushak to Smyrna, it burnt to the ground
the most prosperous towns in western Turkey and committed large-scale
atrocities. When the Turkish army entered Smyrna on September 9, the
masses of native Christians fled the town, which was then burned to the
ground on September 13. It is reported that in twenty-four hours the Turks
burnt 50,000 houses, 24 churches and 28 schools, plus an indeterminate
number of other commercial properties.