Çanakkale Araştırmaları Türk Yıllığı (Jan 2010)
Çanakkale Muharebelerinin ve Komuta Kadrosunun Türk Kurtuluş Savaşına Etkileri
Abstract
The Battles at Dardanelles (The Gallipoli Campaign) and the ensuing victory transformed the awakening which started with the disaster of Balkan Wars into a revival. People as Turks regained their self-confidence. The confidence that was gained at Dardanelles encouraged Turks to rise and start the War of Independence. The War of Independence was an audacious act. This audacity, however, arose from the selfconfidence gained from the Dardanelles. The Battles at Dardanelles also declared a muslim oriented society void. They extinguished the idea of Pan-Islamism. They rekindled the idea of Turkish nationalism and proved that what was real and applicable was Turkish nationalism. The events that had happened before the Battles at Dardanelles and the vast losses of territory created the opinion, among those who were able to see the bigger picture, that the nation reverted to the circumstances of Ergenekon (Birth of Nation) and as a result they began to expect a national hero to be saved. The Battles at Dardanelles created the national hero who was expected. He was Mustafa Kemal, the hero of the Battles at Anafartalar. Even though Mustafa Kemal resigned from his military post, and orders were put out for his arrest and later with an imperial edict he was sentenced to death, when Mustafa Kemal began the National Struggle, Turkish nation and Armed Forces accepted him as the national leader and followed him because of the fame and prestige he gained at the Dardanelles,. This atmosphere enabled the emancipation of the Turks and prevented their disappearance from the scene of history. What made this possible was the War at Dardanelles. Turkish nation owes the recovery of its national existence to Mustafa Kemal and having him to the Battles at Dardanelles
