In the demonstrations held for the anniversary of the liberation of Bursa: Talking to Bursa residents, 11 September 1924

Lords!

These days, which coincide with the liberation of Bursa, I am very happy and peaceful to be here with you and join your joys. I thank you with all my heart for the true feelings, love and trust in the speech made on behalf of the country. But with your permission, I must immediately explain that all the praises shown belong to the high command and officer assemblies of the heroic Turkish armies and their devoted soldiers, and finally to the great Turkish nation, who is the mother, father and benefactor of all these heroes, rather than my personality. I am proud and happy to be a member of these glorious armies, a son of the great Turkish nation and to give my existence to its service.

My dear compatriots!

While our friend, who spoke, said that no enemy has set foot in this green land for seven centuries, the entire history of Bursa, known to all of us, of twenty-twenty-five centuries, came to life in my mind. I remembered that this long-lived beautiful city and its inhabitants had been badly damaged and had gone through very dark days. I will not talk about the times when the kings of Bithynia were able to sit on their thrones by submitting to the Hüsrevs and Alexanders, and the times when Bursa was ruled as a Roman and Byzantine province. But I would like to remind you of the pain that Bursa's stone, soil and all its people went through after becoming Turkish. How many Turkish rulers, how many Ottoman princes attacked Bursa, burned it, destroyed it, and robbed its people, after the Turks, our ancestors, owned and settled here.

Lords! It is painful for a country, the people of a country, to be harmed by the enemy. However, it is more painful for him to see evil and evil from the people he knows and carries on their heads, who are older than his own race. This is an unexpected wound for the heart and conscience.

Brothers, on the day of liberation of Bursa, it is necessary to remember those responsible for the disaster that Bursa was saved from, and curse them forever. For this reason, I would like to turn your memories back four and a half years ago. The Greek army, attacking our great homeland from the Izmir dock, had reached the south of Balıkesir. Our friend Kazım Pasha formed a front against this enemy with a handful of patriotic, self-sacrificing heroes who joined him. He was trying to prevent it from spreading to the north and east, especially from trampling our precious Bursa. However, the person who was still sitting in Istanbul with the title of caliph and sultan united with the enemies with the dream of protecting his crown and throne. Moreover, he took on the task of making it easier for them to trample on the Turkish homeland and enslave the Turkish nation. For this purpose, insignia like Anzavur, ranks, money, He gave vehicles and commissioned them to strike the nation's front in Karasi from behind. He brought some worthless people he gathered to Izmit under the name of the army of the caliph. He incited the nation to be taken prisoner by the enemy. Those who tried to save the country and the nation were sentenced to death. He rained fatwas on the nation with Greek planes.

These attacks, betrayals and defeatism from the head, from behind and from within; He reserved many of our forces against the external enemy. These murders, which aimed to stab the nation in the heart, were above all kinds of dangers. First of all, it was necessary to turn to this. He had succeeded in the betrayal of the Caliph and the Sultan, weakening the national front and loosening many nerves.

The enemies did not miss this opportunity; They attacked, marched, trampled through this green land along with many beautiful cities and towns. This is how Bursa and the people of Bursa fell into captivity, a terrible, ominous disaster that lasted for more than two years.

I cannot express how much blood we cried from this disaster and how much our consciences ached to destroy it as soon as possible. However, we needed to be strong and prepared enough to destroy the unsympathetic flocks under the name of the army of the caliph attacking us, to suppress the fires of mischief and separatism that the caliph ignited in the nation, and then to be strong enough to pour into the sea a strong enemy army that had captured the most festive parts of our homeland. After many difficult phases, the Turkish nation was successful in maintaining peace inside and found the strength to cast the enemy army into the sea. From now on, without stopping for a moment, he implemented his decision to save beautiful Bursa and all the great parts of the homeland in the hands of the enemy.

Arkadaşlar! Türk orduları düşman ordusunun gerçek kuvvetlerini Karahisar yakınlarında yakalayabilecekti. Onun için Bursa’yı elinde tutan, Bursa yollarını kapayan düşman kuvvetlerine sıra, biraz sonra gelecekti. Gerçekten Afyonkarahisar-Dumlupınar-Altıntaş üçlüsü içinde iki tarafın ana kuvvetleri çarpışırken; Gemlik, İznik gölü, Bilecik hattında düşmanın desteklenmiş olan on birinci tümeni, Halit Paşa yönetimindeki Kocaeli grubumuz ve Eskişehir’de bulunan üçüncü, onuncu ve bağımsız tümenleryle, Şükrü Naili Paşa kumandanında bulunan üçüncü kolordumuz başlangıçta yalnız tesbit etmek görevini almışlardı.

After the successful first days of the Great Field War, it was on August 28, that we sent one of our cavalry divisions in the field of the field battle, and the next day, the first infantry division and the Grand National Assembly protection battalion in the direction of Kütahya-İnönü, behind the enemy's Eskişehir group. After defeating and devastating the enemy's independent division, which left the Eskişehir group and marched to the west, in the north of Kütahya, these forces continued on their way and united near İnönü with our third corps, which followed the enemy dismounted from Eskişehir. They attacked and defeated the enemy who wanted to stand in the İnönü region. The returning enemy settled on the Karaköy ridge again. He extended the front of the eleventh divisions. Now the Kocaeli Group also took heroic action. Our third corps while attacking the ridges of Karaköy with all his might; The commander of the Kocaeli Group, with a special detachment led by him, was pressing the enemy with fierce attacks in the narrow area between Gemlik and Lake Iznik, putting the back line of the enemy front stretching as far as Karaköy in danger. In the end, the enemy, who was compelled to return on this front, withdrew to his strong places on the Kazancı ridge and Gemlik line, which he had won for a long time. Even in these places, our pursuing forces were thrown at the enemy. On September 9, while our main army was entering Izmir, our forces here began to follow them in the plains of Bursa, defeating the 3rd, 10th and 11th divisions of the enemy in the last strong places. Now Bursa was saved. But the Turkish armies, who oppressed the people of Bursa and Bursa and many more precious cities and towns and our brothers there, He couldn't leave this enemy who tortured them with this much. For this reason, after completely liberating Bursa on the evening of September 10, he pursued the retreating enemy divisions without stopping.

The eleventh division of the enemy, together with a reserve regiment that came by ships, was captured in Mudanya, with their commander at their head. The third and tenth divisions were also captured in the Kapudağı peninsula strait and almost completely destroyed. But the remnants of them were able to forcibly crave their ships waiting there.

Thus, the people of Bursa saw the punishment of the invaders and aggressors who tortured them for two years and reached the day of liberation.

Gentlemen, as I congratulate you on this day of liberation, I respectfully commemorate our martyrs who shed their blood on these mountains and these plains, and our heroic veterans who did not suffer for their homeland and their nation.

Dear Bursa citizens!

I would also like to say how great, how much effort and dedication is your duty to turn this beautiful town, this fertile region into one of the great centers of civilization of the Turkish Republic, on this Independence Day, which marks the end of sorrows and disasters.

Friends! This fertile and bright country, which is a candidate for all kinds of ascension with the Nilüfer Stream and its plain irrigated by many streams and the icy and fascinating view of its two thousand five hundred meter tall mountain, must be brought to the civilized place it deserves.

Lords! Bursa is the land of agriculture, the land of art, the land of commerce, the land of healing. Bursa is a comfortable and festive country with its natural beauties and perfection. But esteemed brothers! Let's know and let's say clearly that Bursa in its current state is nothing but the traces of wasted centuries and the evils we suffered in these centuries. This precious land is yet to show anything important that requires pride and happiness. For this reason, I must repeat that the level of vigilance and effort required by the country is great.

On the other hand, O esteemed Bursa citizens who are selfless and love their country! You will create high works on the inseparable civilization and renewal path of the republic. Thus, you will always be on the forefront of the elements that support and strengthen the Turkish Republic more and more every day. I never doubt that.

Friends! Our revolution guarantees Turkey's happiness for centuries. Our duty is to work by understanding and appreciating it.

Source: Hâkimiyet-i Milliye Gazetesi, 14.09.1924