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1920-1921 - Cilicia and S.E. Asia Minor

In February 1920 Turkish Nationalist forces began serious operations against Cilicia, then in occupation by French troops as part of the French sphere of influence. They defeated various French detachments, captured the large town of Mar'ash, and there, and elsewhere in Cilicia as opportunity offered, resumed a systematic massacre of the Armenian population. The position was the more disastrous because, relying upon French protection for the future, a great immigration of Armenians into Cilicia had taken place; it was credibly reported, indeed, that some 20,000 of the race perished in south-eastern Asia Minor during the spring of 1920. At this stage the Allied Powers, who had recently decided that Constantinople should remain in Turkish hands, threatened to reconsider their decision unless effective Turkish protection were given to non-Moslem elements of the population in Asia Minor. The warning seemed to have some effect at the time, though later developments diminished its influence.

A definite Nationalist policy lay in the Cilician operations, however haphazard and casual they may appear. The idea had been broached, chiefly among Armenians, of creating a FrancoArmenian State in south-eastern Asia Minor - of, in fact, reviving the Lesser Armenia of history, and placing it under French protection. The hope that this scheme would mature was one of the influences which brought a large Armenian population into Cilicia in 1919. Nationalist operations in this region were designed to thwart the project by exterminating the Armenians, and involving the French in irritating and costly hostilities in defence of the territory. Warfare on a small scale continued during the greater part of 1920; for not only had the French their hands full in Syria, but they were anxious to avoid pushing matters to extremes with the Nationalists. They hoped, in fact, for an arrangement.

One of the most unhappy affairs of the Cilician War was the siege and capture of Hajin by the Nationalists. The town, a remote Armenian stronghold among the Anti-Taurus mountains, was held by its inhabitants against all Turkish attacks until Oct. 1920. Ammunition, however, ran out; expected relief never came; and in the end the town was stormed, and the greater portion of the population, numbering several thousands, perished in the usual massacre.

At the beginning of 1921 the French and the Nationalists came to an agreement by which, in return for important economic concessions in wide areas of Asia Minor, France was to vacate Cilicia. The National Assembly at Angora refused to ratify the agreement, on the grounds that it surrendered too much and obtained too little. They desired, in fact, possession of the port of Alexandretta which the French had retained. Negotiations, however, were continued. The hope that a Franco-Armenian State might be established in Cilicia had small prospect of realization unless a change should take place in French policy in these regions.