Istanbul Press and Public Opinion Against the Occupation

In the face of the de facto occupation that took place right after the Armistice of Mudros, the Istanbul press made publications emphasizing that the occupation was temporary. In this period, the Istanbul Greeks and Greece were the target of criticism of the Istanbul press, that tried to understand the course of the process and therefore did not want to openly take a stand against the allies. In addition, two separate censorship mechanisms implemented by both the Istanbul Government and the British were already preventing the press from publicly displaying an opposition to the occupation. The fact that Greek torpedoes were among the occupation forces that came to Istanbul was the source of the criticism of the press against Greece and the local Greeks. In general, the common opinion of the Istanbul press was that Greece, using the authority of the allies, intended to first separate Istanbul from the Turkish administration and then demand that Istanbul be attached to Greece. Within the framework of this opinion, it was aimed to convey a message that the Turks did not oppose the activities carried out by international agreements, by not making heavy publications against the British or other allies who actually organized the invasion. The opposition to the occupation was constantly expressed with criticisms against Greece, Venizelos and their supporters, the Greeks of Istanbul. However, as the process progressed, the alignments between the Turkish press in Istanbul would begin to become clear, especially with the emergence of the Kuvâ-yı Milliye and the National Struggle movement and subsequent developments. It is possible to divide the Istanbul press into two main parts, those who are anti-occupation and supporters or sympathizers of the National Struggle, and those who are against the National Struggle. The press, which is completely against the National Struggle was Peyâm-ı Sabah, Alemdar and Türkçe İstanbul newspapers and Aydede ve Ümit magazines. On the other hand, although there were some differences between them in terms of overt support for the National Struggle, newspapers such as Tevhid-i Efkâr, Âtî/İleri, Yeni Gün, Hâdisât, Vakit, Akşam and İkdam represented the anti-occupation press. After the official occupation of Istanbul, some of these newspapers were closed by the British, and some of their owners and writers were among those who were exiled to Malta. As the National Struggle gained success, the anti-occupation press in Istanbul would begin to act more comfortably, and especially after the Sakarya War, the pro-National Struggle Istanbul press would draw attention with its bolder publications. In this study, the attitudes and activities of the Istanbul newspapers against the occupations will be examined within the framework of the development of the National Struggle, and the ideas and discourses of the owners of these newspapers or important writers will be evaluated comparatively in the context of the period.

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