//Ed. note: The Moslems in Maraş established telegraphic contact
Mustafa Kemal Paşa (Atatürk), in Sivas at the time, by setting up
a telegraph machine in a village 3 hours north of Maraş. As a result,
Mustafa Kemal Paşa sent Kılıç Ali with soldiers and machine guns
to aid the Moslems.//
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"There were a few days of calm following this incident, although in the
villages minor clashes began to occur. The French and the Armenians
were getting together and making preparations. Here and there a few
Moslems were killed. These incidents signaled that difficult times
were approaching so we gave urgency to forming our organization."
Maksutlu is directly north of Kahramanmaraş
"At that time, we obtained a copy of the 'Müdafaa-ı Hukuk' (Defense
of Rights) and we found a telegraph machine, which we set up in the
village of Maksutlu, about three hours from Maraş city, and began to
communicate with Mustafa Kemal Paşa in Sivas. The encouraging
telegrams we received from Mustafa Kemal Paşa increased our morale
tremendously. We referred to him as the 'second coming' of
Salahuddin Eyübi for his efforts to defend Anatolia from the new
Crusaders."
"Right away, we put men in the field, informing our fellow Moslems
of the link to Mustafa Kemal Paşa. Next, we established contact with
the organization in Antep that had been formed earlier. We sent a man to
İslahiye, which the French were holding, and set up a courier system
between villages to keep track of French deployments. Within five
or six hours of learning of an enemy military deployment, we were
able to lay ambushes. We killed many members of a French
detachment en route to Maraş and interrupted their deployments."
"Informing Sivas of the situation in Maraş, we asked them to send
cannon and soldiers immediately. A few days later, Mustafa Kemal
Paşa sent Kılıç Ali with a detachment of soldiers and two machine
guns to Pazarcık, which is eight hours away from Maraş. From
Pazarcık, Kılıç Ali sent an ultimatum to the French, who responded
fretfully by sending an 80-man cavalry force to reconnoiter the
situation. Along the way, a clash erupted, with the French losing 30
dead and forced to retreat. It was now certain there would be a
battle for Maraş."
"The French were continually adding more forces and the Armenians
were arming themselves. There were more than 10,000 French soldiers
and at least 10,000 Armenian fighters. They took up positions in the
churches and fortified buildings, laying in cannon and machine guns
there. We, too, were provisioning our organization, secretly getting
about 500 guns of Gendarmerie stocks from the (Ottoman) government.
In total, we armed about 1,500 Moslems."
"The French then moved to seize the (Ottoman) government but we
rebuked them, saying 'No way! If you do such a thing we will rise up
in revolt immediately. The populace is anxious so the consequence of
any kind of an initiative like that will be solely your responsibility.
The ink on the assurance you gave us that you would not seize the
government is not even dry. What is the meaning of this!' In
response, the French said that 'we have a strict order from the Great
Powers to assert control here.' Countering, we told them that 'we are
serious about this and will not allow you to interfere with the
government.'"
"The situation became quite tense. We built barricades and
fortifications in the city and stationed small squads on street corners.
We knew that in an urban fight like this would be, those who first took
possession of the streets would be the victors. We didn't want to hole
up in our homes and fight defensively from there."
//END of PART SIX//
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