ISSN: 1011-727X
e-ISSN: 2667-5420

Alptekin Müderrisoğlu

Keywords: Anatolian States, Ionia, West anatolia

Abstract

On 30 July 1922, it was declared that a "Ionian State" was established in Western Anatolia with a ceremony in İzmir. This state, whose capital is Izmir, would cover an area of ​​approximately eighteen thousand square kilometers and would have a population of one and a half million. Before the state has yet completed its establishment phase, Mustafa Kemal Pasha will launch the great offensive on 26 August 1922, the Greek army will be heavily destroyed on 30 August and start to flee towards İzmir. Along with the Greek army residues leaving the Anatolia by boarding the ships in Izmir and its surroundings, the administrators of the newly formed Ionian State will also flee to the ships. With the Turkish army entering Izmir on September 9, 1922, the Ionian State would be history. The establishment of the Ionian State, which lasted only five weeks, had a long history. The starting point was the Sevres Treaty signed by the sultan's government in Istanbul. Anatolian Turks living in lands left behind from foreign occupations had been shedding blood for two years under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha to prevent the implementation of this treaty. With the Treaty of Sevres, the Izmir Region was given to Greece. In other words, a population of 16 thousand square kilometers and a population of 1 million extending to İzmir and its surroundings, Manisa, Akhisar and Ayvalık would be in Greece. Anatolian Turks did not agree with this, attempted armed resistance, and eventually turned out to be harmful. In time, the Greek army advanced and seized a vast area of ​​3 million inhabitants, covering Afyon, Kütahya, Eskişehir and Bursa, which included Afyon, Kütahya, Eskişehir and Bursa.