A Tribal Chief in Bitlis During the National Struggle: Hacı Mr. Musa

After the signing of the Armistice of Mudros, the Eastern Anatolia Region faced an important crisis. Article 24 of the Armistice stipulated that in the event of a disturbance in the six eastern provinces, they would be occupied and left under the control of the Entente states. During the First World War, the Armenians in the region The British, who had used this region for their policies, were in the process of building an Armenia in this region. Founded in Istanbul a month after the armistice, the Vilâyât-ı Şarkiyye Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti (Association for the Defense of Law in the Eastern Province) declared that it would risk any struggle to keep these six provinces, including Bitlis, within the Ottoman borders. On the other hand, British Major Noel claimed that a Kurdistan state could be built in a region that included Diyarbakır, Van and Bitlis, and included the Mosul province in this state. Measures had to be taken to warn the people of the region against the danger of both Armenia and Kurdistan and to keep them under Ottoman unity. These military and administrative measures were expressed in telegrams written to the capital by Ottoman administrators in the region. Kazım Karabekir Pasha, who was appointed as the Commander of the 15th Corps, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who was appointed as the Inspector of the 9th Army Corps, and Haydar Bey, who was appointed as the Governor of Van, took measures against these dangers as the first thing they did. For this purpose, they contacted the people and notables of the region and tried to unite them around the defense-law societies. Mustafa Kemal Pasha contacted the leader of the Mutki Militia, Hacı Musa Bey, whom he had known while fighting against the Russians on the Bitlis-Diyarbakir line during the First World War, informed him of the current situation and threats and asked for support for the struggle that was about to begin. When he received a positive response to this call, he sent Musa Bey to Erzurum and had him elected as a member of the Congress Delegation. This duty of Hacı Musa Bey continued in the Delegation of Representation, which was expanded at the Sivas Congress and represented all of Anatolia. In dialog with Mustafa Kemal Pasha, Hacı Musa Bey, as the chief of the Mutki tribe, supported the risk of the establishment of Armenia and Kurdistan in the region. As the chief of the Mutki tribe, Hacı Musa Bey, in consultation with Mustafa Kemal Pasha, supported this struggle against the risk of the establishment of Armenia and Kurdistan in the region. In this study, the work of a tribal chief in Bitlis during the National Struggle and Mustafa Kemal Pasha's relations with religious and political leaders in the region will be discussed through archival documents and other sources.

Click to cite.

Note: You can access the citation text via the ‘Actions’ tab in Crossref.