The cretan issue according to Tanin newspaper (1908-1913)

The nationalism movement that emerged with the French Revolution in 1789 spread to multinational states in a short time. Therefore, the Ottoman State was also affected by this situation. In 1821, the Greeks, who were the subjects of the Ottoman Empire, started a rebellion in Moldavia and this revolt soon surrounded the Aegean Islands. As a matter of fact, Crete Island was affected by the rebellion in a short time. With the independence of Greece in 1830, the Cretan Greeks revolted to annex Greece at every opportunity. In the following period, with the rebellion of 1866 and the Treaty of Aleppo, the Greeks started to have a say in the island, Crete became autonomous at the end of the 1895 Rebellion and the Ottoman Greek War in 1897. With the autonomy of Crete, a new era started on the island and Britain, France, Italy and Russia assumed the guarantors of the island. In this new period, the governors of Crete were chosen by the Greek king and the island gradually entered the process of being annexed to Greece. Thus, a competition for Crete started between the Ottoman Empire and Greece. The events that took place in the following period were tried to be told from the perspective of Tanin newspaper. Tanin newspaper evaluated the violations of the Ottoman sovereign rights, the massacres of Muslims living on the island, the policies followed by Britain, France, Italy and Russia, especially the Ottoman Empire, in the articles written between 1908 and 1913, and made recommendations for Crete to have a better future. As a result of the First Balkan War, with the Treaty of London signed on 30 May 1913, the island of Crete was annexed to Greece and the Crete issue ended. Not many documents about the Cretan issue were found in the archives between 1908 and 1913. Tanin, who has published many articles on the Cretan issue, gave very important information about the developments regarding the five-year process in the island. This period, which was the years of uncertainty regarding the future of Crete, was tried to be enlightened through the Tanin newspaper.