page_title: Occupation of Constantinople
section_title: Solidification of the partitioning, February 1920
hierarchical_section_title: Occupation of Constantinople / Treaty of Sevres / Solidification of the partitioning, February 1920
caption_attribution_description: Türkçe: Birleşik Krallık'ın I. Dünya Savaşı sonunda kurmayı planladığı İstanbul merkezli Osmanlı kolonisi için hazırlamış olduğu bayrak. Gelibolu Çıkarması'na katılan askerlere dağıtılan mendillerde yer alan bayrak çiziminin üzerinde bir kurdele üzerinde "ay ve yıldızın tutulması" yazıyor.
context_page_description: The occupation of Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, by British, French, Italian, Greek, American and Japanese forces, took place in accordance with the Armistice of Mudros, which ended Ottoman participation in the First World War. The first French troops entered the city on November 12, 1918, followed by British troops the next day. The Italian troops landed in Galata on February 7, 1919.
  Allied troops occupied zones based on the sections of Constantinople and set up an Allied military administration early in December 1918. The occupation had two stages: the initial phase in accordance with the Armistice gave way in 1920 to a more formal arrangement under the Treaty of Sèvres. Ultimately, the Treaty of Lausanne, signed on 24 July 1923, led to the end of the occupation. The last troops of the Allies departed from the city on 4 October 1923, and the first troops of the Ankara government, commanded by Şükrü Naili Pasha, entered the city with a ceremony on 6 October 1923, which has been marked as the Liberation Day of Istanbul and is commemorated every year on its anniversary.
  1918 saw the first time the city had changed hands since the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
context_section_description: The plans for partitioning of the Ottoman Empire needed to be solidified. At the Conference of London on March 4, 1920, the Triple Entente decided to implement its previous (secret) agreements and form what would be the Treaty of Sèvres. In doing so, all forms of resistance originating from the Ottoman Empire (rebellions, Sultan, etc.) had to be dismantled. The Allies' military forces in Constantinople ordered that the necessary actions be taken; also the political side increased efforts to put the Treaty of Sèvres into writing.
  On the political side, negotiations for the Treaty of Sèvres presumed a Greek (Christian administration), a French-Armenian (Christian administration), Italian occupation region (Christian administration) and Wilsonian Armenia (Christian administration) over what was the Ottoman Empire (Muslim administration). Muslim citizens of the Ottoman Empire perceived this plan as losing their sovereignty. British intelligence registered the Turkish national movement as a movement of the Muslim citizens of Anatolia. The Muslim unrest all around Anatolia brought two arguments to the British government regarding the new establishments: the Muslim administration (Ottoman Empire) was not safe for Christians; the Treaty of Sèvres was the only way that Christians could be safe. Enforcing the Treaty of Sèvres could not happen without repressing Mustafa Kemal's (Turkish Revolutionaries) national movement.
  On the military side the British claimed that if the Allies could not control Anatolia at that time, they could at least control Constantinople. The plan was step by step beginning from İstanbul, dismantle every organization and slowly move deep into Anatolia. That meant facing what will be called the Turkish War of Independence. The British foreign department was asked to devise a plan to ease this path, and developed the same plan that they had used during the Arab revolt. This policy of breaking down authority by separating the Sultan from his government, and working different millets against each other, such as the Christian millet against the Muslim millet, was the best solution if minimal British force was to be used.
caption: "Eclipse of the star & crescent": The proposed flag for the British colony based in Constantinople, which was planned to be established by the end of WWI.
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