Turkish English relations at national struggle period according to the Hakimiyet-i Milliye Newspaper

From the time, the Ottoman Empire started to weaken, Britain who was following a policy of containment of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, changed this policy to the destruction of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th century due to her interests. Great Britain, in order to capture all sorts of her wealth of State of Ottoman and to establish and fortify its global dominance, desired no competitor. Thus, Britain has always been in conflict with Italy and France after the First World War. On the other hand, when they undersigned any treaty and when they waged a military operation, Britain, same as it did at Treaty of Sèvres, did not take her allies into account. Therefore, towards the end of the ?National Struggle?Britain was left alone with only Greece which she used as a tool in her policy. Anyhow, Italy and France has signed a treaty with Mustafa Kemal, who has founded a Republic from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire and his Independent Turkish State and recognized Turkey?s independence in all senses. However, Britain, was not a belligerent state during the Turkish national independence war. They had tried to give hard times to Turkish nation by using Greeks as the last resort in Anatolia. Lloyd George had given hard times to Turkish nation by utilizing military, politics and press. Nevertheless, his policy was strongly condemned by even fanatic Britons as well as the international community. Termination of this policy, peace with an independent Turkey in the Middle East and satisfying the expectations of Turkey in the Middle East were mentioned as the elements of peace in the Middle East. In this paper, the Turkish-British relations during the national struggle period between 1920-1923 were examined from the perspective of Hakimiyet-i Milliye Newspaper. From the first issue to the last one, Hakimiyet-i Milliye, by the means of its elaborate news, voiced that Turkey?s most dangerous and oldest enemy was England and in order to be saved from this enemy the nation had to fight in unity. Thus, Hakimiyet-i Milliye played a profound role to reach the triumph at the end of national struggle.