Abstract:

Foreign policy and military matters were two significant subject which frequently came to fore in the Turkish Grand National Assembly meetings during the period of the War of Independence. All members of the parliament agreed on the unity of the homeland and independence of the nation. However, they did not fully agree on the methods to achieve the aims and to receive foreign support. At this point, the year of 1921 was a breaking point. In this study, the struggle of two various approaches, which both aimed to reach the independence of the homeland with different methods, was examined as it was reflected in the period’s newspapers. While doing this, the resignation events of Turkiye's first Foreign Minister Bekir Sami Bey and the Fevzi Pasha Government were examined as an example.The study is mostly based on the periodicals (Vakit, İleri, İkdam, Akşam, Peyam-ı Sabah, Tercüman-ı Hakikat, Alemdar, Hakimiyet-i Milliye) but the archival documents, assembly registers and monographies were also vastly consulted. Why did Bekir Sami Bey, Turkiye’s first minister of foreign affairs, resign from his post? How did the Turkish press evaluate this resignation? What kind of efforts were made by Mustafa Kemal Pasha to achieve political and ideological unity in the Assembly in the frame of the National Pact? These are the questions that this study aims to respond. The study concludes that the clash of ideas diminished in May 1921 as the Group for the Defense of the Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia increased its authority under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha

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