Government of the Grand National Assembly |
||||||||||
Büyük Millet Meclisi Hükûmeti | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Flag
|
||||||||||
Motto Ya istiklâl ya ölüm! "Liberty or death!" |
||||||||||
Situation in Turkey following the Treaty of Sèvres.
|
||||||||||
Capital |
Istanbul (de jure) Ankara (de facto) |
|||||||||
Languages | Turkish | |||||||||
Government | Provisional government | |||||||||
Speaker | ||||||||||
• | 1920–1923 | Mustafa Kemal Atatürk | ||||||||
Prime Minister | ||||||||||
• | 1920–1921 | Mustafa Kemal Atatürk | ||||||||
• | 1921–1922 | Fevzi Çakmak | ||||||||
• | 1922–1923 | Rauf Orbay | ||||||||
• | 1923 | Ali Fethi Okyar | ||||||||
Legislature | Grand National Assembly | |||||||||
Historical era | War of Independence | |||||||||
• | Proclamation | 23 April 1920 | ||||||||
• | Constitution adopted | 20 January 1921 | ||||||||
• | Armistice signed | 11 October 1922 | ||||||||
• | Sultanate abolished | 1 November 1922 | ||||||||
• | Treaty of Lausanne | 24 July 1923 | ||||||||
• | Republic proclaimed | 29 October 1923 | ||||||||
Population | ||||||||||
• | est. | 6-7 million | ||||||||
Currency | Ottoman lira | |||||||||
|
||||||||||
Today part of | Turkey | |||||||||
^a As "Speaker of the Grand National Assembly" ^b As "Commander-in-chief of Army of the Grand National Assembly" after 1921. |
The Government of the Grand National Assembly (Turkish: Büyük Millet Meclisi Hükûmeti), commonly known as the Ankara Government (Turkish: Ankara Hükûmeti), was the name given to the provisional and revolutionary Turkish government based in Ankara during the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923) and during the final years of the Ottoman Empire. It was led by the Turkish National Movement, as opposed to the crumbling Constantinople Government, which was led by the Ottoman Sultan.
During the War of Independence, the Government of the Grand National Assembly commanded the army known as Kuva-yi Milliye ("National Forces"). After the war and victory over the monarchist Constantinople Government, the republican Ankara Government declared the end of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the Republic of Turkey from its ashes in 1923. The Grand National Assembly is today the parliamentary body of Turkey.
At the time the Ankara Government was proclaimed, there existed another Turkish government in the Allied-occupied Constantinople, namely the Imperial Ottoman Government, often known as the "Constantinople Government" (as opposed to the nationalist Ankara Government). Once the Grand National Assembly was established, on 23 April 1920, without rejecting at first the legitimacy of the Ottoman Sultanate, the new parliament in Ankara formed its own government within the Assembly. The Ministers were called "Vekil" (Acting) instead of the conventional "Nazır", to keep with the provisional nature of the government.