The process leading to May 19

The Armistice of Mudros, signed on October 30, 1918, although a record of a heavy defeat, meant the end of painful days for many Ottoman citizens. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, however, had foreseen from the very beginning that the Allied powers would not be content with the borders of the armistice. The British occupation of Mosul and Iskenderun immediately following the armistice confirmed this thought, and it was certain that occupations would increase in the future. Before being called to Istanbul, Mustafa Kemal Pasha had already begun to organize the resistance by distributing the weapons of the 7th Army, which he commanded, to the patriotic notables of the cities of Adana and Antep. However, due to the conditions at that time, it was not possible to achieve any positive results. Almost no resistance could be shown to the occupations carried out by the Allied powers in 1918, and efforts during this period would mostly be directed toward preserving the available resources for the war to be fought in the future.

Mustafa Kemal Pasha was aware that it would be futile to try to resist the occupations as soon as the four-year grueling war ended and that organizing the resistance would take time. When he was called from Istanbul with the hope of organizing the resistance more effectively in Istanbul, he set off without wasting any time and reached Haydarpaşa Train Station on November 13, 1918. Mustafa Kemal Pasha's goal at that time was to prevent the occupations through the state and protect the remaining lands by acting as a catalyst for the establishment of a government in which he had a say or which he managed.

He would soon realize that this delusion was far from realistic. Mustafa Kemal Pasha had initially hoped to gain the support of the Sultan to form a new anti-occupation government, but his meetings with Vahdeddin on November 15 and 29 ended in failure. Shortly after, it would become clear that the Sultan's intentions were very different from what Mustafa Kemal Pasha had thought.

When Mustafa Kemal Pasha realized that he would not have a say in the administration, he tried to organize the resistance with the nationalist officers in his close circle. From the beginning of 1919 until May 16, when he left Istanbul, Atatürk met with his high-ranking officer friends at his house in Şişli almost every day and, so to speak, turned his home into a headquarters. In these meetings, the first plans for the future resistance were prepared. In addition, commanders who were already commanding units, such as Ali Fuat Pasha, had saved their units from being demobilized and preserved their weapons by moving them to the interior of Anatolia under the orders of Mustafa Kemal Pasha.

In the meetings held at Mustafa Kemal Pasha's house, it was finalized that the center of the resistance would be Central Anatolia. Commanders like Ali Fuat and Kazım Pasha had taken their places in Anatolia with their units long before Mustafa Kemal Pasha moved to Anatolia and had begun to form anti-occupation societies by contacting local notables. Atatürk, on the other hand, preferred to take sure steps instead of rushing during this process. Likewise, although he realized in a short time that the resistance could not be carried out from Istanbul, he was looking for ways to be appointed to an official position in order to organize the armed force he would organize in Anatolia more easily. This move was a critical gamble, as more and more soldiers were being demobilized and sent home every day. Mustafa Kemal Pasha had to ensure that he did not arouse any suspicion from Sultan Vahdeddin in order to achieve this goal, and he had acted very carefully in this regard.

Baseless rumors that Bolshevism had spread to Anatolia would offer Atatürk the opportunity he was looking for. The Allied powers had received intelligence that Soviets had been established in the interior regions of Anatolia. The British had asked for help from the Ottoman army to immediately disperse the Soviets established on April 21. Mehmet Ali Bey, the Minister of the Interior of the Damat Ferit Pasha Government, who was unaware of Mustafa Kemal Pasha's true intentions, suggested Mustafa Kemal Pasha for this task, and Mustafa Kemal Pasha was appointed as the Inspector of the 9th Army on April 30. His duty was to detect and disperse the Soviets thought to have been established in Anatolia, collect weapons, and ensure order in his area of responsibility. Mustafa Kemal Pasha's powers were extraordinary, and since they covered a very large area, his expectations were fully met. He owed the powers he possessed to his cooperation with Chief of General Staff Fevzi (Çakmak) Pasha and his deputy Kazım (İnanç) Pasha.

During the five months he stayed in Istanbul, Mustafa Kemal Pasha had prepared the plans for the War of Independence he would launch in the future and had established the necessary connections with almost all of the officer cadre that would form the core of the war. The position he obtained while leaving Istanbul was much more advantageous than he had hoped, and in this respect, it was worth the wait.

Mustafa Kemal Pasha's last days in Istanbul were quite busy. On May 13, he was invited to dinner at Damat Ferit Pasha's house. Although Damat Ferit Pasha was suspicious of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, Mustafa Kemal Pasha played his role very well and dispelled Damat Ferit Pasha's suspicions at the dinner. Cevat (Çobanlı) Pasha, who would take over the chief of general staff position shortly after Fevzi Pasha, also attended the dinner. As Mustafa Kemal Pasha was leaving the mansion, Cevat Pasha asked him, "Are you going to do something, Kemal?" and Mustafa Kemal Pasha replied, "Yes, I am going to do something." On May 15, he met with Fevzi Pasha for the last time in Istanbul and received Fevzi Pasha's approval regarding the path to be followed in the future. On the same day, he met with Vahdeddin for the last time, and in the evening, he had his last meeting in Istanbul with İsmet Pasha. The next day, he boarded the Bandırma Ferry with 15 officers, including Colonel Refet (Bele) Bey, and two cipher clerks, and left Istanbul.