First Roman Uprising

*"My dear countrymen, my beloved comrades and friends, my fellow Thracians - the bells toll again, for the old enemy of ours prepares to raze our lives again. Pick up your weapons, fight them with knives and stones if you need to - be not afraid, we shall all meet at the Heaven, as this is the day of martyrs!"* - radio speech of Thracian Statesman Cassius Vibidius Mironescu, June 3rd, 1952.

## Details

### Outcome

Adrianople Accords of 1954

Strength| * 17 000 UFTR militia members
* 500 Greek Volunteers
* 2 000 Turkish Gandermerie

### Civilian casualties

9 000 Thracian civilians killed2 000 Turkish civilians killed

The **First Roman Uprising** (known as *Revolt of 1952* in Turkey) was the first armed struggle for independence of Thracian populace of Turkey, lasting from 1952 to 1954). Initially a revolt of Thracian miners and steel mill workers of Adrianople, it rapidly evolved into region wide war for independence after Turkish military crackdown. The Uprising ended in UN mandated ceasefire and Adrianople Accords of 1954, officially ending ethnic discrimination of Thracians in Turkey and granting wider autonomy of Thracian Region.

Though somewhat unsuccessful in gaining statehood, The First Roman Uprising is a central turning point of Thracian people in 20th century, paving way for rise of Thracian nationalism and subsequent secession from Republic of Turkey in the 80's. The event is still largely celebrated by Thracians in ERR and abroad as the true start of Thracian statehood ever since the fall of Byzantine Empire.

## Background

After enacting radical and hypocritical ethnic policies shortly following the reform of Turkish State after World War 1, Kemalist Turkey government initiated mass exile of Thracian people from all over Anatolia to its westernmost European territories. The settling of millions new ethnic Thracians dramatically shifted the ethnic composition of the area, leading the region unofficially named as "*New Thracia*". By concentrating most of their Thracian citizens in one province, the government planned to industrialize the region like never before by using the Thracians as cheap and dispensable work force, key point being the fact that the mountains of the region held yet un-exploited mineral resources.

The region was continuously settled by more Thracians over the course of first half of 20th Century. The biggest urbanized area of the region - ancient city of Adrianople, grew rapidly, becoming one of the most industrialized, though also the most poverty stricken, cities of Turkey. With 98% of its populace being Thracians, the steel mills and iron mines provided Turkey with massive amounts of industrial resources. The cost was high - ethnic laws have deprived Thracians of most basic civic rights, which led to Turkish authorities to overlook almost inhumane working conditions and squalor their workers were living in.

The Thracians eventually would not stand the brutal treatment of their people anymore. End of World War 2 brought no changes to radical ethnic policies of Turkish government, which prompted a large scale radical response and the first ever push towards self-determination of Thracian peoples. A particular statesman of Thracian ethnicity - one Cassius Vibidius Mironescu, a socialist refugee from Romania, managed to rally a large political following which included many Thracian intellectuals and labor leaders. Inspired mainly by these socialist ideologists, tens of thousands of miners and steel mill workers organized mass strikes and hunger rallies, bringing international attention to the impoverished province of Turkey. The protesters were demanding equal rights and more self-governance. In context of ongoing Korean war, this protest was met with suspicion, as communist-socialist undertones made western allies to assume that this was a Communist Bloc orchestrated attempt to undermine the Kemalist Turkish state, even though the actual communist support would come much later. As a result, the Turks had free reign over the matter and sent armed troops to pacify the protests at all costs.

## Scipio Aurelius Square Massacre

The first significant accident which would kickstart the armed struggle occurred on April 24th of 1952 in Adrianople. As a thousand large crowd had gathered to a protest event led by Cassius Vibidius Mironescu, the local authorities had dispatched a considerable force of Turkish Gandermerie, supported by armed soldiers, to stop it from marching down the center of the city. Upon the demonstration reached *Scipio Aurelius Square* located in the center of the city, Gandermerie began beating the crowd with batons, prompting a violent response from the protesters. Eventually, the Turkish Gandermerie opened fire on the crowd and killed over 87 Thracians, wounding many more. This day would be forever noted as *Scipio Aurelius Square Massacre*. The ensuing rage over this action erupted into massive riots all over Thracian provinces in the next 3 days, leading to more deaths and rapid descent into anarchy.

Cassius Vibidius Mironescu himself managed to survive the shooting and was rushed to safety by his comrades as the order in the city started to break down. The authorities grasp on the city started to slip once the Gandermerie forces in the city were overrun by ever increasing enraged crowds and the army was told to stand down as to avoid more deaths.

## Formation of UFTR and the armed uprising (1952-1954)

Back at local municipal assembly where the protest movement was organized, Cassius Vibidius Mironescu and the rest of the movement members recognized the moment as a turning point and a possibility at gaining big leverage towards Turkish Government. Established radio contact with army units gathered outside Adrianople were futile, however, as emboldened by talks with western allies, the Turkish Government was confident in their ability to frame the protests as communist uprising. Finally, on May 4th, recognizing the potential tragedy and futility of the continued peaceful struggle, Mironescu and the rest of assembly made a hasty radio address towards their people:

*"My dear friends and kinsmen, as we have seen lately, the turks see us nothing more than animals and right now as we know and can hear from our compatriots in the hills, Kemalist jackals sent their army here. The time is short, and we declare - we and our children will perish under their shells and bullets if we do not act. <...> On this day of our Lord, I, Cassius Vibidius Mironescu, and the rest of assembly, declare formation of **United Front of Thracian Resistance (UFTR)**. We call upon all men and women here in our city and in the countryside, to gather their weapons and fight for you lives, and for the survival of our culture <...>* "

Shortly after the broadcast, the municipal building was shelled by Turkish mortars, signaling the start of the armed uprising, though Mironescu and the rest of assembly foreseen this and escaped to safety.

### Battle for Adrianople

On early morning of May 6th, Turkish armed forces entered the city and engaged in fierce firefights with UFTR militia. UFTR's armed wing was composed mainly of lightly armed militiamen, who looted weapons form local Gandermerie barracks and put up surprisingly fierce resistance. The fighters were not totally inexperienced, as a hastily organized force was led by actual World War 2 veterans - mainly refugees and exiles from Eastern Europe who had experienced war on Eastern Front.

It was quickly proven that the uprising is far stronger and more fierce than Turkish forces have expected. Squalor ghettos and streets of Adrianople were known very well by the local fighters, who utilized barricades, incendiary bombs and industrial machinery from the steel mills to blockade and ambush Turkish soldiers. The steel mills themselves have not stopped working during the fighting - local worker brigades have repurposed the plants to quickly produce materials for improvised weapons. Many surviving UFTR militiamen claim, that the tactics of the battle were inspired by Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

By May 12th of 1952, city of Adrianople was fully occupied by newly UFTR as mounting casualties forced Turkish army to pull back from the city. Limited forms of clashes were also reported in rural Thracia, resulting in several successful ambushes on local Turkish authorities, greatly raising the resolve and morale of UFTR fighters.

### Communist Bloc aid and involvement

This incident attracted attention of Communist Bloc, which could not let an opportunity to weaken the UN ally pass away that easily. Despite this, the entire world was pre-oocupied by ongoing Korean War and continued to ignore this development.

By May 27th, Stalin ordered to secretly begin supplying UFTR with arms and supplies, while also sending over military advisors to help train and shape UFTR into socialist revolutionary organization. Though an even bigger development happened beyond Turkish borders - around 4000 Thracian revolutionaries (multiple sources indicate different number) have been lifted over to Communist Romania. The so called operation *Poltergeist* (Полтергейст) by Soviet GRU intended to train them into elite communist guerrilla fighters to weaken Turkey from within. Later on, this plan would backfire horrendously, as these fighters would turn on their former handlers and form the dreaded ultra-nationalist Filii Ceasar.

On the same time, Mironescu has been in contact with Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia for a long time, who cautioned on accepting full aid of USSR and its satellite states. According to memoirs of Mironescu, Tito has cited a possible effort to subvert UFTR and convert it into Stalinist organization by USSR, which would fail to convince UN in its genuine struggle for national liberation. Mironescu also points out, that Tito had his own ambition to see independent Thracian state near Yugoslavian borders as a buffer and close ally against USSR dominated communist states in the future. Regardless of these claims, Yugoslavia provided the majority of arms and supplies throughout the conflict.

### Decline of UFTR and the Uprising

A far bigger force of Turkish armed forces has been deployed to the region at the beginning of June to retake the city and pacify the surrounding provinces which was already proving to be too problematic. Despite another significant radio address by Mironescu on 3rd of June calling for last stand, majority of UFTR decided to retreat into countryside and mountains. Turkish army entered the city shortly, failing to effectively encircle it allowing many fighters to escape. The streets of Adrianople appeared to be deserted, with only eerie silence and marks of previous urban battles. Militias of UFTR managed to sporadically resist the presence of Turkish forces by retreating into countryside and waging 2 year long guerrilla war. The struggle, however, failed to achieve the main goals of UFTR. Thracia was not liberated and ongoing international ignorance to Thracian people's plight caused dissent and disagreements among UFTR leadership, causing it to splinter. Mironescu failed to remain the central figurehead of the movement, instead remaining the official leader of its slowly shrinking socialist wing.

Ultimately the end of Korean War finally brought UN attention to the issues in Thracia. Seeing as the attempts to fully convert UFTR into hardline communist revolutionary ideology had failed and the ongoing struggle was likely doomed, USSR and Communist China agreed to allow the Security Council to deploy peacekeepers to Thracia in late 1953. Even though the fighting was far from over. Continued clashes occurred until the end of 1954, when government of Turkey finally agreed to recognize UFTR and some of its goals.

### Adrianople Accords of 1954

The ceasefire of December 12th of 1954 was signed in Adrianople, officially ending the radical ethnic laws discriminating Thracian people (important to note, that similar laws regarding treatment of Armenians and Kurds persisted until 60's). Under the supervision of UN, Turkey granted Thracia wide self-governance and other provisions, though it remained a territory of Turkey. In exchange, UFTR had been disarmed and amnesty was granted to most of militia members, save for those who engaged in banditry and marauding during the course of war. Later documents claim that many former UFTR members would turn in their ideological opponents to Turkish authorities as being marauders. This is the primary source of future ideological conflict between hardline nationalists and socialists in ERR, ultimately culminating in Red Movement Uprising in 2016.

## Aftermath

It seemed as if the end to suffering of Thracians were about to end, though these agreements were formal at best - massive ethnic tensions remained between Thracians and Turks, hindering any form of inter-ethnic dialogue from ever developing. The remnants of UFTR quickly disbanded and formed the first Thracian political entities, one of which was the National Roman Party, others chose to remain true to their socialist beginnings and formed a myriad of leftist parties.

Cassius Vibidius Mironescu himself was forced to flee Thracia for the safety of his life, as Turkish government declared him as an instigator of the Uprising and refused to grant an amnesty unlike for other members of UFTR. He was granted asylum in Yugoslavia and continued to act as important figure in Thracian affairs until his death in 1967.

Increased freedoms and self-governance led to Thracia quickly becoming an economic powerhouse in Turkey over the 60's and 70's. Many foreign investment by Thracians living in diaspora (such as US and Europe) led to an establishment of strong industrial local sector motivated in large part by renewed and growing Thracian nationalism. Living standard of Thracians rapidly improved in Thracia, though in effort to stop and hinder the development of further nationalist tendencies, Thracians living elsewhere were prohibited from moving to New Thracia. Continued alienation and discrimination of these people kept the ethnic tensions between Thracians and Turks always high and volatile.

Perhaps the most deadly consequence of the Uprising was the birth of Filii Caesar. The communist partisans originally trained by USSR were supposedly disbanded right after Adrianople Accords, though they have resurfaced a decade later as a reformed ultra-nationalist Thracian network of extremists who became the most feared and deadly terrorist organization in regional history.