Beyşehir in the Turkish War of Independence

From armistice to local resistance

After the Armistice of Mudros, the occupation of western Anatolia made an inland district such as Beyşehir part of a wider political crisis. Necmi Uyanık describes the district’s National Forces, or Kuvâ-yı Milliye, as an early organization in the Konya region. Its importance lay in the links between a cavalry regiment, local notables, village leaders and the emerging nationalist movement. The chapter is a study of organization and contested authority, not a claim that Beyşehir itself was a major battlefield.^[1]

Staff officer Mehmet Nazım was assigned to the 7th Cavalry Regiment at Beyşehir in March 1919. Süleyman Sırrı Koydemir, from a Chechen migrant family settled in the district, was active in trade and local civic life. Uyanık identifies the two men as central to the network, while also describing the part played by other residents. Their different roles show that military command alone does not explain how the local resistance took shape.^[2]

Protest and mobilization

The occupation of İzmir on 15 May 1919 prompted protests from Beyşehir. Telegrams dated 20 May went to the sultan and grand vizier with signatures from imams, village headmen and notables. A further telegram of 24 May named Süleyman Sırrı as head of a National Defence organization. Uyanık uses that document to argue that an organized body existed by that date; the document provides a firmer chronological anchor than later memories of its founding.^[3]

The organizers travelled around the lake, toward Kaşaklı and Şarkikaraağaç, and met village headmen. Accounts collected by Uyanık describe the distribution and concealment of arms and requests for men. This was a regional network rather than an activity confined to the town centre. Istanbul government officials and the Konya governorship contested the movement, making correspondence, local loyalties and the control of troops as consequential as any clash of arms.^[4]

Rebellion and war

The Bozkır revolts of 1919 and the Delibaş revolt of 1920 complicated nationalist control in the wider Konya area. In October 1920 insurgents entered Beyşehir, occupied government offices and the telegraph station, and installed their own local officials, according to the press and recollections cited by Uyanık. The Grand National Assembly sent Refet Bele and other forces against the rebellion. This episode shows that political allegiance within the district was contested and changed under wartime pressure.^[5]

Beyşehir’s contribution extended beyond armed volunteers. Uyanık records deliveries or collection of ammunition, grain, bedding and livestock for the war effort, alongside recruitment. Mehmet Nazım subsequently served on the western front and died in the Kütahya–Eskişehir fighting on 15 July 1921; his promotion to colonel came after his death. Süleyman Sırrı remained an important local organizer and, for a time, served as mayor before dying in 1923.^[6]

How this history is known

The chapter draws on Ottoman and military archives, parliamentary proceedings, the period newspaper Öğüt, veterans’ memories and records held by the Koydemir family. These sources are not identical: a telegram documents a dated public position, while later recollections preserve personal experience. Uyanık’s account is therefore most useful when specific actions are tied to their documentary basis. The related articles on Chechen and Ingush migrants and early Republican institutions follow the same town into its next phase.^[7]