Is Erdoğan aware of this meeting?

It was May 16.

It was the day Atatürk left Istanbul and was set to depart for Samsun.

Mustafa Kemal Pasha had met with Sultan Vahdettin at the Yıldız Palace the day before and had paid a farewell visit.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also recounted this conversation between the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and Vahdettin during a speech he gave at a ceremony at the Yıldız Palace. But he told it incompletely.

If you tell this subject and this conversation incompletely, a completely different result naturally emerges. The view arises that Vahdettin personally sent Atatürk to Anatolia to save the homeland, but that Atatürk took a stand against Vahdettin in Anatolia. It turns into the exact opposite.

Interestingly, this subject is always deliberately told incompletely so that such a view can emerge.

Yet the truth is different.

First of all, Vahdettin did not have the will or the power to save the homeland. He did not have that intelligence, in other words. He was a capitulationist. That is also why he fled abroad after the war.

That is a long story.

But let us come to the issue of Vahdettin sending Atatürk to Samsun;

The British had created a Pontus issue in the Black Sea and had incited the poor Greeks in and around Samsun. In March and April 1919, the gang activities of the Greeks in Anatolia increased. Especially in and around Samsun, they had begun to block roads, raid villages, loot, and kill people. Greek armed gangs were causing great harm to the Turkish villagers in that region. Naturally, the Turks who wanted to protect themselves also armed themselves. When this was the case, the Greeks sent a message to Istanbul and complained about the Turks who were resisting with weapons.

The British officer in Samsun also began sending reports about this to Admiral Calthorpe, who had occupied Istanbul. In the reports he sent, he claimed that Turkish gangs in and around Samsun were attacking Greek villages. Admiral Calthorpe, the Commander of the British Occupation Forces who received the reports, went to Prime Minister Damat Ferit Pasha on April 21, 1919. He issued a note, saying, "The 9th Army is not dispersing the Turkish soldiers, is not complying with the Armistice terms, and a number of units dressed as soldiers are being armed by some Turkish Councils between Erzurum and Sivas," and added, "Take measures to protect Greek villages from the attacks of Turkish gangs, otherwise we will send troops to the region in accordance with the articles of the Armistice of Mudros." He also showed the British reports from Samsun claiming that Greek and Armenian villages were being attacked.

Prime Minister Damat Ferit Pasha, who saw the reports, panicked.

-"Give me three days, I will send a commander there. There will be no problems left," he said and immediately began searching. He also informed Sultan Vahdettin about the situation. If the government could not find a solution, the British would find one. As a solution, they would occupy the Black Sea region.

They were not joking.

Upon this, the AKP Government, pardon, the Damat Ferit Government, looked for a suitable pasha to be sent to Anatolia to suppress the Turkish gangs. Fevzi Çakmak was considered, but he was in Thrace. When he was not available, Mustafa Kemal was assigned.

Mustafa Kemal had already been looking for ways to cross into Anatolia for a long time and was working with the Ministers he knew within the Damat Ferit Government to make this happen.

The subject of Mustafa Kemal Pasha's mission in Anatolia was to disperse the Turkish gangs in Anatolia in line with the wishes of the British, to collect their weapons, and to prevent council meetings, thereby improving public order in this region in favor of the Greeks and Armenians.

According to Vahdettin, who was squeezed into the deepest corners of the Yıldız Palace, if Mustafa Kemal Pasha carried out this task, the British would show mercy and would not occupy Anatolia under this pretext.

Thus, the homeland would have been saved, in other words.

This was the summary of the matter.

Since Mustafa Kemal Pasha knew this, he did the exact opposite as soon as he set foot in Anatolia. Instead of crushing the Turkish gangs, he sent them messages and united them around himself.

After the Amasya Circular, he was dismissed from his post and summoned to Istanbul.

But he did not go. He continued his struggle in Anatolia.

By fueling the National Struggle that was just beginning to stir in Anatolia, he became the leader of this struggle.

Let us come to the meeting;

Just one day after Atatürk met with Vahdettin at the Yıldız Palace, he went to his friend Princess Şivekar, who lived in Tepebaşı. Princess Şivekar was an Egyptian princess and lived in Tepebaşı. He wanted to bid her farewell as well. And he went to the princess's house. They sat opposite each other in armchairs in front of the piano. Mustafa Kemal first threw a sharp look toward the door to see if anyone was there, then he leaned forward, resting his right hand on his knee, looked at the princess with his blue eyes, and in a voice afraid of being heard, said;

-"I have come to say goodbye to you. It was deemed appropriate for me to go to Anatolia. I received orders to leave immediately. However, as you know, I am not going for the task they want from me, but on the contrary, with the order I received from my conscience, to ignite that great fire of liberation that will be born from the heart of the homeland," he said.

And he bid her farewell as well.

In other words, Mustafa Kemal Pasha is saying: No matter what Vahdettin says, I will do what I know, and by struggling with the voice coming from my conscience, I will save the Turkish Nation from occupation.

I wonder if Erdoğan, who tells the story as if Vahdettin sent Mustafa Kemal Pasha to Anatolia to save the homeland, is also aware of this meeting?

I wonder if Erdoğan, who recounts the farewell meeting between Mustafa Kemal and Vahdettin, will also recount this meeting of Mustafa Kemal with Princess Şivekar?