Abstract:

Based on the "Special Commissions Law" of 1916, "Dardanelles Commission" was established in England to investigate the reasons for failure in Gallipoli Campaign. This commission was one of the Royal Investigation Commissions. Evelyn Baring, 75, was appointed as the chairman of this 10-person commission; however, when Baring died on January 29, 1917, Supreme Court Judge William Pickford was appointed chairman of the commission. Established before the end of the First World War, this commission would investigate the causes and consequences of the losses in the “Gallipoli Campaign” that resulted in the evacuation. If the court found it necessary, it could have used witness statements. For this purpose, from August 1916 to September 1917, the testimonies of 168 witnesses were heard in court. Çanakkale Commission published two separate reports in February and December 1917. While the purpose of the commission was mostly aimed to question the negligence of Hamilton and Winston Churchill in the operation, the picture that emerged was instrumental in the predominance of the opinion that the Gallipoli Campaign was successful for England. A document directory we came across during military archive studies revealed that this commission established in England also communicated with the Ottoman Empire. This article discusses what the Dardanelles Commission, established in England, asked the Ottoman Empire about Gallipoli Campaign and what responses it received from it.

Keywords: