The smoke screen thrown over September 9th via Gaza

On September 9, 1922, the lancers entering the Kordon on their foam-flecked horses would end more than three years of captivity. The days of shame that began with the occupation on May 15, 1919, had come to an end, and our crescent-and-star flag began to wave once again in the skies of Izmir, where flowers bloom on its mountains. It was not only the Greek Army that fled like the wind before the Turkish Army. The Greeks, who had betrayed the country whose bread they ate, whose water they drank, and of which they were citizens, and who had collaborated with the occupiers, were also in a rush to escape from Izmir to the other side of the water.

September 9, 1922, carries meanings far beyond the liberation of a city or the cleansing of the country from the enemy. First and foremost, the perception of invincibility of the imperialist bloc, led by Great Britain, which equipped the Greek Army and sent it to Anatolia, was shattered. Oppressed nations saw that imperialism could be overcome if they united under the right leadership.

Mustafa Kemal is not only the leader who led the Turkish Nation to liberation but also a role model for oppressed nations. For this reason, the oppressed nations of Asia and Africa, groaning under imperial exploitation, gave him the title of Hero of the East. The hero of the east is a symbol not only of an anti-imperialist war of independence but also of development, civilization, and enlightenment. In short, he is the pioneering model of both liberation and foundation.

September 9 should not be seen merely as a local liberation. With the destruction of the main elements of the Greek Army during the Great Offensive and the Battle of the Commander-in-Chief between August 26 and 30, 1922, the road to Izmir had already been opened for the Turkish Army. With this victory, the fighting spirit and the will to hold on in Anatolia of the fresh elements of the Greek Army in Thrace and Marmara, which had not yet entered into conflict, were also broken. In a sense, the victory of August 30 dealt a total defeat not only to the Greek Army but also to the Greek Parliament and Greek public opinion.

The political, administrative, and military center of the Turkish Nation's struggle for freedom and independence, Ankara, and the occupied Istanbul of the Armistice governments were representatives of two different understandings and two different attitudes. In the Istanbul of the Armistice, the Damat Ferit governments represented treason, while Tevfik Pasha and his likes represented cowardice and helplessness. However, the common feature of both lines was their failure to recognize the Turkish Nation and their lack of belief in victory. In the meantime, let us note that Damat Ferit's line of surrender and collaboration has reached the present day as a thought and understanding.

Look at what is being done on the 102nd anniversary of the expulsion of the Greek Army, which was sent to Anatolia as the hitman of imperialism, from the place where it landed on September 9, 1922. Those who expected September 9 to be celebrated with magnificent ceremonies at a time when postmodern Crusader coalitions are being formed against Turkey's rights and interests in the Aegean and the Mediterranean were disappointed once again. The fact that September 9 was forgotten like a baby left in front of a mosque amidst the dust and smoke of the smoke screens thrown over Gaza should be noted and definitely not forgotten! Yet, how meaningful it would have been if the first lesson on September 9th had been "To commemorate and understand September 9, 1922, on its 102nd anniversary."

Do you think the Mehmetçiks, who sleep in peace in the homeland soil for which they shed their blood and gave their lives, would have believed it if they were told that one day, September 9th would be trivialized as an unimportant detail with smoke screens thrown over Gaza?