The Sivas Congress and the first newspaper of the National Struggle

Along with Ankara and Afyon, Sivas is one of the symbolic cities of the National Struggle.

It is the place where the foundations of our Republic, as well as our liberation, were laid...

The War of Independence, which Mustafa Kemal Pasha initiated by landing in Samsun on May 19, 1919, turned into a torch of independence and freedom with the slogan "The integrity of the homeland and the independence of the nation are in danger. The future of the nation will be saved by the determination and resolve of the nation itself" in the Amasya Circular on June 22, 1919, and was subsequently reinforced at the Erzurum Congress on July 23, 1919, with the principles that "The homeland is a whole, it can never be divided or partitioned" and "It is essential to make the National Forces effective and the national will dominant."

The Sivas Congress, which convened between September 4-11, 1919, rejected the ideas of an American mandate and protection, and raised the password of liberation with the determination of "Either independence or death."

Also extremely important are the decisions taken at the congress: "It is essential to ensure the effectiveness of national forces and the supremacy of national sovereignty; the nation will defend and resist as a whole against all kinds of occupation and intervention; the associations established to realize national resistance have been united as the 'Society for the Defense of the Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia' and a Representative Committee has been elected."

The decisions of the Sivas Congress are among the most important documents that formed the foundations of the fully independent Republic of Turkey, which is based on national sovereignty.

The first newspaper of the National Struggle, 'İrade-i Milliye' (National Will), also began publication with a decision taken at the Sivas Congress.

The newspaper, which published its first issue on September 14, 1919, remained influential until the publication of 'Hakimiyet-i Milliye' (National Sovereignty) began.

'İrade-i Milliye' is Atatürk's third newspaper, following the secret handwritten newspaper he prepared with his friends during his years at the War Academy, and 'Minber,' which he later published with Ali Fethi Okyar.

The newspaper described itself with the words, 'Metâlib ve Âmâl-i Milliyenin Müdafiidir,' meaning 'It is the defender of the desires and wishes of the nation'...

We are in the 106th year of the Sivas Congress... With the hope that, in addition to the importance of the decisions taken at the congress, the necessity of an idea, consensus, and a publication organ for this idea will be better understood...