Turkish National Struggle in the Spanish press (1918-1923)

After the Mudros Armistice, The Allies had started military occupation in different parts of the Ottoman Empire and tried to put in force the partition projects of Turkey which the Allies were accorded before and during the First World War. Against these occupations a nationalist movement raised in Anatolia and the movement started a resistance from the beginnings of the occupations. The resistance movement which has started with the irregular forces called National Forces, made progress in the path of being an organized movement, after Mustafa Kemal Pasha landed to Samsun. Turkish National Struggle that was organized in a short time by Mustafa Kemal Pasha, entered in an intense conflict in Eastern, Western and Southern Anatolia. Western front was the most engaging front of the National Struggle. Turkish forces could suppress the Greek expansionism which was started with the occupation of Smyrna after perennial wars. Turkish advance movement has started in the summer of 1922 and drove Greek armies till Smyrna and wiped out all the occupiers from the Anatolia. Turkish National Struggle not only met with success by military operations but also in the diplomatic field. Especially after the year 1920, Mustafa Kemal Pasha and Ankara Government also started to gain political victories. Signing sequentially agreements with Russia, France and Italy, Turkish Government made Great Britain stand alone. Same politics was followed after the Turkish victory in the Mudanya and Lausanne conferences and thus peace with best conditions for Turkey was settled. If one compares the armistice of Sevres which has severe requirements for Turkey with the articles of Lausanne Peace Agreement, he/she can see the diplomatic victory of the Turkish National Struggle. With this work, all these military and diplomatic developments were tried to succeed by the newspapers which were published in Spain who didn't damaged her friendship and neutrality against Turkey in the First World War and the National Struggle era. In this frame, with a search in the newspaper archives of Spanish National Library and Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports it was seen that Spanish press was keeping abreast of the National Struggle. Almost 8000 news which are related to the National Struggle within 15 thousand determined registers were translated and the flow of the work was set on these news. There are also different works which are trying to follow the National Struggle from the press but we couldn't identify one which is related to the press of a neutral state. In the National Struggle era, there has also been a propaganda war between the Allies and Turkey. In this era, continuing its neutrality and liberty Spanish press differentiated fake news and published important comments and evaluations concerned both the Allies and Turkey. These comments and evaluations constitutes an important part of this work.