Turkish National Movement

Turkish National Movement
Türk Ulusal Hareketi
LeaderMustafa Kemal Pasha
Dates of operationJune 22, 1919 (1919-06-22)–October 29, 1923 (1923-10-29)
Country Turkey
Allegiance Government of the Grand National Assembly
MotivesOpposition to the partition of the Ottoman Empire
HeadquartersAnkara
Active regionsAnatolia, Thrace
IdeologyTurkish nationalism
Allies Russia
Ukraine
Azerbaijan
Bukhara
 Italy
 France (from 1921)
Opponents Entente Ottoman Empire
Georgia
Battles and warsTurkish War of Independence

The Turkish National Movement (Turkish: Millî Hareket), also known as the Anatolian Movement (Turkish: Anadolu Hareketi), the Nationalist Movement (Turkish: Milliyetçi Hareket), and the Kemalists (Turkish: Kemalîler, Kemalciler or Kemalistler), included political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resulted in the creation and shaping of the modern Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and the subsequent occupation of Constantinople and partitioning of the Ottoman Empire by the Allies under the terms of the Armistice of Mudros. The Turkish revolutionaries rebelled against this partitioning and against the Treaty of Sèvres, signed in 1920 by the Ottoman government. Most revolutionaries were former members of the Committee of Union and Progress.

This establishment of an alliance of Turkish revolutionaries during the partitioning resulted in the Turkish War of Independence, the genocides of the Anatolian native nations, the abolition of the Ottoman sultanate on 1 November 1922 and the declaration of the Republic of Turkey on 29 October 1923. The movement organized itself into the Association for the Defence of National Rights of Anatolia and Rumeli, which eventually declared that the only source of governance for the Turkish people would be the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

The movement was created in 1919 through a series of agreements and conferences throughout Anatolia and Thrace. The process was aimed to unite independent movements around the country to build a common voice and is attributed to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as he was the primary spokesperson, public figure, and military leader of the movement.