Author(s): Nilgün Nurhan
At the end of the World War I, the Ottomon Empire withdrew by signing the Armistice of Mudros. Considering the terms of agreement which preclude the independence of the Turkish nation, the Turkish people, who were at war for many years having many frontal attacks and be martyred, did not accept this armistice and started the War of Independence. By that time, Entente Powers already started the invasion on the Empire territory, based on the terms of agreement of the Armistice of Mudros. As can be understood by the memoirs of the witnesses of those days, the plans of the Entente Powers to split the Turkish country went into operation. These patriotic people, who witnessed the events occurring as a consequence of the Amristice of Mudros tried to warn the Turkish people about the Armristice, its terms of agreement, and its execution. Allthough making use of memoirs or dairies as a source of study might lead to some problems as a methodological tool for a historian, a notebook from Birgili Salih Vecdi Bey will be the focus of this study because his notebook is not just a memoir, but also a record which conveys us the opinions of the patriots of that time thanks to Salih Vecdi’s position as an administrator. This notebook consists of the notes, which Salih Vecdi Bey requested to be written by his patriotic friends and his adminisrators when he took leave. The notes are written during the days after the great Battle of Dumlup?nar resulted in success; and at the time when the Turkish state entered into the Lausanne agreement. It is possible to see and feel the great difficulties and imagine a genuine picture of those days in these notes. In this study, some basic themes found in these notes are examined, which are written by the patriotic friends of Salih Vecdi Bey.This study mentions some important points highlighted about Birgili Salih Vecdi Bey who witnessed the last period of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of the Turkish Repuplic and his period on the basis of the memoir of his friends. J
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