Istanbul: The Center that Unraveled the Deep European Plots

The British deep state knew that Istanbul was an important center that effectively disturbed balances in Europe. They also believed that as long as the Turks controlled it, they would continue to disrupt their plans, and so they wanted to remove Istanbul, the Straits and Thrace from the possession of the Turks. They were convinced that the Turkish administration without Istanbul would no longer have a say in matters concerning Europe.

However, the British deep state has always chosen to hide its plans to dismember the Ottoman Empire behind various disguises. During WWI, the pretense this imperialist project used was the supposed goal of protecting minority rights. They spread the wrong notion to the British public that the Ottoman Empire was being ruthless to its Christian subjects, and that Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and Christian Arabs in the Ottoman lands were under threat. They built these claims on the false allegations that Christians were the real owners of Anatolia and that the Turks had taken it by force. For instance, a member of Parliament Viscount James Bryce said during a speech at the House of Lords, "Asia Minor, Syria, Armenia, and Arabia—have been the homes of ancient civilisations; some of them enjoyed under the Governments which they lead a thousand or fifteen hundred years ago a real national life and prosperity, and had a sense of their place and mission in the world which they have lost under the desolating tyranny that has brooded over them for the last six centuries." Very conveniently, he maintained that Britain should extend help to those ancient civilizations so that they could regain their freedom. The British deep state claimed that once Istanbul was occupied, the so-called 'unjust' policies would come to an end. British newspapers kept claiming that Istanbul wasn't the national capital of the Turks and that a majority of the population was non-Muslim. However, according to the census of 1919, 67% of the residents of Istanbul were Muslims. The number had been higher, but most Muslims had already been martyred in the Balkan wars and WWI that closely followed it.

Contrary to the rumors the British deep state sought to spread, minority policies of the Ottoman Empire were impressively liberal and generous. The Ottoman Empire had protected minority rights for 600 years and minorities lived as important parts of the Ottoman nation. As a matter of fact, the members of the minority communities had no trouble ascending the social ladder to achieve administrative positions. Most were engaged in art and commerce and had lived relatively affluent lives in the most beautiful parts of Istanbul and the Ottoman lands in general, and they enjoyed robust support from the Ottoman government. Even after the breakup of the Empire, they continued their presence in Turkey and offered their support for the new Turkish state. The rumors that were spread regarding the minorities were nothing other than black propaganda. Even some of the British spies that came to Istanbul during those years to gather intelligence later admitted that Turkish minority policies were admirable.

Nevertheless, the British deep state continued to spread its black propaganda using the minorities as it was convinced that false claims of 'persecuted groups, faiths' would be an effective leverage for influence. They were right. The occupation policies of the British deep state found support in some minority representatives. The Greek Patriarch of Istanbul stated in a letter sent to the Paris Peace Conference that the Question of the East (the plan to break apart the Ottoman Empire) would never be solved until Istanbul was Greek again.

Similarly, the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire like the Copts in Egypt, Maronites in Lebanon and Christian Assyrians in Syria, considered Istanbul's occupation as a step towards their independence and backed the plan. Only the Jews amongst the Ottoman subjects, most notably the Chief Rabbi Nahum Effendi, stood with the Turks against the greedy European occupiers.