The six decisions of the Misak-ı Millî taken by the late Ottoman Parliament were later used as the basis for the claims of the Grand National Assembly in the Treaty of Kars and of the new Republic of Turkey in the Treaty of Lausanne.
Misak-ı Millî (English: National Pact, or National Oath) is the set of six decisions made by the last term of the Ottoman Parliament. Parliament met on 28 January 1920 and published their decisions on 12 February 1920.
The Ottoman Minister of Internal Affairs, Damat Ferid Pasha, made the opening speech of parliament due to Mehmed VI’s illness. A group of parliamentarians called Felâh-ı Vatan was established by Mustafa Kemal’s friends to acknowledge the decisions taken at the Erzurum Congress and the Sivas Congress. Mustafa Kemal said “It is the nation’s iron fist that writes the Nation’s Oath which is the main principle of our independence to the annals of history.”
These decisions worried the occupying Allies, resulting in the Occupation of Constantinople by the British, French and Italian troops on 16 March 1920 and the establishment of a new Turkish nationalist parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, in Ankara. This also intensified the Turkish War of Independence against the Allies.
28 January, 1920
- The territories inhabited by an Ottoman Muslim majority (united in religion, race and aim) formed an indivisible whole, but the fate of the territories inhabited by an Arab majority that were under foreign occupation should be determined by a plebiscite.
- The plebiscite could determine the fate of the ‘three vilayets‘ of Batum, Kars and Ardahan, which were Russian from 1878 to 1918.
- The same should hold true for the fate of western Thrace.
- The security of the capital, Istanbul, and of the Sea of Marmara must be assured. The opening of the Straits to commercial shipping would be a subject for discussion with other interested countries.
- The rights of minorities will be established in conformity with the treaties concluded between the Entente and European states.
- The economic, financial and judicial independence of the empire should be assured and free from restrictions (in other words, a return of the capitulations would be unacceptable).
Source – Erik_Zürcher, “Turkey – a modern history”, pp. 138-139
Image – Damad Ferid Pasha (wearing the fez) with the three other signatories of the Treaty of Sèvres; to his right, Rıza Tevfik, and to his left, the Ottoman minister of education Bağdatlı Hadi Pasha and the ambassador Reşad Halis; on board an Allied warship taking them to the Paris Peace Conference.
