Turkish Proponents of Wellington House

Oddly enough, the hateful anti-Turkish rhetoric developed during WWI found support among some Ottoman journalists known for their anglophile nature. These people accepted serving the British deep state and betraying their country in exchange for petty gains, which sometimes were nothing other than being linked to the British deep state. Such people have always existed throughout the history of this structure and they still do today. For instance, a Turkish journalist Refi Cevat Ulunay from Alemdar wrote the following shocking lines in his piece dated April 21, 1919: "We are waiting for the British. Turks cannot straighten themselves up on their own." And on July 14, 1919 he made the following outrageous remark:

It is imperative that Turkey leans its back to a foreign country. And that cannot be any other than Britain. There is no danger for the Islamic world in delivering the keys of Islam to the reliable hands of the British.²⁷⁵

A couple of years after the publication of The Blue Book and other anti-Turkish books of Wellington House, certain media organizations that supported the Armistice of Mudros began shouting in unison that handing over the country to the British is the best thing to do. During the years of Istanbul's occupation, they continued to praise the British. Today, some media groups and journalists with a similar mindset and acting under the wings of the British deep state continue this mission.

Provocation of the so-called missionaries and some violent, rebellious Armenians was based on the unfounded allegations that Armenians and Christians were persecuted by the Ottoman Empire and that they were treated as second-class citizens. However, it is a well-known historical fact that the non-Muslim population of the Ottoman Empire enjoyed completely the same rights as Muslims, particularly after the Edict of Reforms. By the end of the 19^th century, non-Muslims were given voting rights, represented in the Parliament and came to hold important administrative positions. For instance, during the term of Ali Pasha as the Grand Vizier, the Minister of Public Works was an Armenian named Krikor Agaton, and Ohannes Gümüşyan was another Armenian who was assigned the same office. Many Armenians served as Ministers in charge of Trade, Forestry and Mining. After the constitution was declared in 1876, the Ottoman Parliament had 46 non-Muslim MPs and 9 of them were Armenians. In the parliament set up after the declaration of the second constitution, 11 Armenian MPs served while 12 served in the Parliament of 1914. Four of those Armenian MPs were members of the Hunchak and two members of the Dashnak parties. Similarly, Parliament of 1908 had 13 Greek and 5 Jewish members.²⁷⁶

Furthermore, more than 25% of the staff in the Foreign Ministry and more than 10% of the staff in the Ministry of Justice of the Ottoman Empire were non-Muslims. In addition, between 1880 and 1912, 7% of the students of the School of Political Sciences, known to be the school of future administrators, were again non-Muslims. 

Historian Justin McCarthy exposes Wellington House

Famous American history professor Justin McCarthy, who is an expert on the Ottoman Empire, Turks and the Middle East, offers the following important details about Wellington House and its anti-Turkish propaganda activities:

Wellington House drew on some of the best minds in the British government. The historian Arnold Toynbee was an adviser to Wellington House from 1914 and sat until 1917 on the committee that met daily and set propaganda policies. … Other private and public figures and members of ostensibly non-governmental patriotic organizations cooperated with or acted under the direction of the official propagandists.¹ British Universities provided propaganda pamphlets and expertise.

By the standards of the time, the British propaganda effort was a major undertaking. By 1917, Wellington House had a staff of 54 and could call on help from other departments and ministries. …

The first report (June, 1915) of Wellington House listed distribution of approximately 2.5 million copies of books, pamphlets, and other written propaganda in 17 languages. The second report (February, 1916) listed 7 million copies circulated. In 1914, British Propaganda distributed 45 different publications; in 1915, 132; in 1916, 202; in 1917, 469.² Unfortunately no record of distribution beyond 1917 exists. It can be assumed that the numbers continued to grow. All was done in secret and was done creatively.

The Wellington House brief was simple, the same brief as that of all propagandists. They were to make the enemies look as bad as possible and make their friends, and especially British themselves, look as good as could be. Their main focus was, naturally, Germany, but much effort was expended against the Turks…

… they destroyed all the records of the Propaganda Office immediately after the war. This has made it difficult to reconstruct the activities of the wartime propaganda office. [However], some Wellington House records were sent to other offices in the British Government. Although the originals were destroyed, copies were sometimes kept in relevant Foreign Office departments, especially in the Foreign Office records for the United States. The number of documents is modest, but they indicate some small part of Wellington House operations against the Turks.

Despite the effort to blot out the historical record, a good source on the actual publications of Wellington House exists: The record of the propaganda books distributed by Wellington House was kept in a hand-written ledger book, carefully bound. … These books were sent off to the Foreign Office Library, which was eventually opened to researchers. … the ledger affords a picture of British propaganda office activities. …

The publications listed in the ledger are only books or large pamphlets. They do not include press releases, articles, and other materials. The general themes of the propaganda are consistent from work to work: [Noble Turkish nation is above such remarks]

- Turks are illegitimate rulers who have destroyed all lands in which they have ruled. European rule over the Middle East would be far preferable.

- Turks are Muslims who hate all other religions, particularly Christianity. They have always treated Christians badly.

- Turks are guilty of inhuman atrocities against Christians, including mass murder and awful sexual crimes.

- The Germans stand behind Turkish evil deeds, either because they ordered the deeds or because they had the power to stop them and refused to do so.

- The mass of the people of the Ottoman Empire look to the British for salvation. This includes Muslims, who appreciate the good government the British have given Muslims in Egypt and India.

British propaganda made special efforts to tie the Germans to the Turks. This was an intelligent ploy, especially in the United States, where there was much pro-German sentiment but Muslims were held in disdain. British propaganda "proved" that the Germans could not be true Europeans, because they consorted with evil Muslim [Muslims are above such remarks] and Asiatic Turks. …

The list of publications in the ledger is long, but for the Middle East there are a more limited number of books. The table gives only those volumes, but it provides an idea of the breadth and the scope of the Wellington House interests. They include Palestine, Jews and Zionism, and especially the Turks.³

1. George G. Bruntz, Allied Propaganda and the Collapse of the German Empire, New York: Arno Press, 1972, p. 42

2. M. L. Sanders and Philip M. Taylor, British Propaganda During The First World War, 1914-18, London: Palgrave, 1982, p. 108

3. Justin McCarthy, "Wellington House and the Turks", Louisville University, Department of History/USA

Anti-Turkish Black Propaganda Intended for Other Muslims

Efforts to show Toynbee's The Blue Book as a realistic source continued for a long time. Bryce claimed that the people presented as sources in this book were unaware of each other, and tried to prove that independent sources provided reliable information. However, the researches of American historian Justin McCarthy showed that the so-called missionaries compared notes before they sent them to Wellington House, or to put it more accurately, they made them up together. In other words, The Blue Book was nothing other than a script prepared by special agents.

Another anti-Turkish book published by Wellington House told the lie that Turks had massacred 2 million Armenians. However, during that time, the total number of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire was only around 1 million.²⁷⁷

Anti-Turkish propaganda spread not only in Britain and the US, but in other countries as well. The propaganda intended for Indian Muslims was particularly noteworthy. Up to that point, Indian Muslims regarded Turkey as a friend and a leader country. However, the British deep state viewed this sympathy as a serious threat to its interests. It knew that in case of a war with the Turks, these people would without a doubt choose to side with the Turks. Also, Indian Muslims would never accept British pressure on the Turks and the British deep state would lose its influence in this important region. This was a grave risk that the British deep state could not take, especially in India, which had been a long-time colony. Therefore, Indian Muslims and Arabs needed to be convinced that Turks were 'bad Muslims'. The subsequent propaganda efforts were designed accordingly.

Tonybee summarized the British deep state's view of the Islamic world saying that South Islam (from Morocco to Arabia), or the Ashari school, was no longer a threat as one could just buy a sheikh and control them all. But he considered North Islam (the Turkish region from Istanbul to Bukhara), or the Maturidi school, a threat because they were at peace with science and therefore, a revolutionary like Atatürk might come up any time, for which reason, he said, precautions should be taken in advance.²⁷⁸

Clearly, Atatürk completely dashed the sinister plans of the British deep state for Turkey.

After the end of WWI, all the evidence exposing the facts about the Wellington House propaganda efforts was destroyed. This is very suspicious, especially considering that Britain keeps a very systematic archive on history, which is commonly used for research purposes. However, the Wellington House publications had to be destroyed in a mysterious fashion. Nevertheless, Wellington House had sent certain documents to various ministries and institutions during the war for propaganda purposes. Currently, the only information about the Wellington House activities consists of these very limited documents. However, even this limited information reveals that around forty books were published, which included false claims that Turks exterminated Jews, Slavs, Albanians, Arabs and particularly Armenians.²⁷⁹

After the war, Arnold Toynbee travelled to Turkey as a journalist, studied the region and witnessed Turkey's losses due to war. What he saw made him change his mind completely and he admitted that The Blue Book was a book of deception written for propaganda purposes. This time, he wrote books with favorable views of Turkish people. However, The Blue Book that is full of lies is still popular today.

In 2005, the Turkish government, with support from the main opposition party, demanded that Great Britain apologize to Turkey for The Blue Book. The Turkish government emphasized the following points in making this request:

* this book included baseless allegations and was used for black propaganda during WWI,

* it was produced by the Bryce commission,

* many people including Toynbee himself later admitted that it was deliberately produced as an anti-Turkish propaganda.

Interestingly, the British government did apologize for its black propaganda against Germany, but never extended the same courtesy to the Turkish government. The apology to Germany amounted to an admission that Wellington House had been a propaganda institute, but such an apology wasn't made to the Turkish government, which should have been the first one to receive it.²⁸⁰ Despite all the efforts, this apology never came and The Blue Book kept its popularity amongst certain circles.

As previously explained, the Armenian issue was an extensive plot of the British deep state prepared as leverage against the Turks. It is important to remember that the plans of the British deep state to divide the Ottomans haven't fully succeeded yet, and the Turkish lands are still being targeted with similar policies. For this reason, the British deep state, in its bid to weaken, divide and control Turkey, will never retract its respective scenarios nor will it end its respective black propaganda. The best way to thwart such plans will be reinforcing and strengthening our bonds of brotherhood and friendship with the Armenians.

Many brave people who witnessed the events that took place during this era of intense black propaganda fearlessly spoke the truth. For instance, a French officer who was present in the region during the incidents involving Armenians, gave the following account:

They fooled us with stories of gangs. In truth, there had never been an Armenian genocide… Turks, in self-defense position, had to take some precautions… For a warring nation, the noblest cause is the effort to save the country and that cause required Turks to take action. We were fooled. Turks are good people. Talks of genocide are just myths invented to lure us and to provoke us against the Ottomans.²⁸¹

Another French author, Claude Farrére, criticized the French press that quickly passed judgments under the influence of the British deep state and sent the following message to Turkish youngsters:

Turks don't fear bullets… But I'm calling on to the Turkish youth. They should know that they are not fighting the enemy only on the battlefield. Sometimes there is a far more important war than that is fought by the armies. It is the political war. The enemies of Turks are trying to deceive, trying to fool the European public... Open your eyes and beware of this propaganda.²⁸²

It is a pleasant surprise that there were sensitive foreigners that told the truth for what it was when there were people even in the Ottoman Empire that chose to back anti-Turkish British deep state propaganda. This shows that the criticism here is not directed at the mentioned countries or their peoples, but only the mafia-like deep states present in those countries. Nations are innocent, guiltless and have always and will always be our friends. The criticism of the British deep state is only intended to unmask the said plots, to show the irrationality of what was done and to urge those people and institutions to do the right thing. 

Wellington House Influence in the US

During WWI, the British deep state cut the telegram cable that linked Germany to the US. For this reason, the American public was getting all its news from British sources and through a British filter. Similarly, the British heavily censored the accounts of the American journalists in Europe. Even though the American administration was partly aware of the censoring, the American people were completely unaware that all of this was a part of British deep state propaganda effort. The propaganda bolstered by such methods lent serious support to the deep state.

This is how Sir Gilbert Parker, the head of the propaganda campaign, explains the effects of his efforts:

We have an organisation extraordinarily widespread in the United States, but which does not know it is an organisation. It is worked entirely by personal association and inspired by voluntary effort, which has grown more enthusiastic and pronounced with the passage of time... Finally it should be noticed that no attack has been made upon us in any quarter of the United States, and that in the eyes of the American people the quiet and subterranean nature of our work has the appearance of a purely private patriotism and enterprise...²⁸³

Clearly, the deceitful -as much as deep- propaganda of the British deep state created the desired effect on the American public. Well-meaning Americans failed to see the nefarious plans behind the propaganda and were guided in the direction shown by the British deep state.

Viscount Bryce's reports, one of the co-authors of the notorious The Blue Book, was prepared with the specific purpose of creating an anti-Turkish sentiment in the American public. Here are some of the outrageous remarks of Bryce against Turks in the Bryce Report:

Turkish government has been the very worst which has afflicted humanity during the last fifteen centuries. The Turks have always been what a distinguished European historian of the last generation called them—"nothing better than a band of robbers encamped in territories which they had conquered and devastated." They have never become civilized, they have never imbibed or tried to apply any of the principles on which civilized government must be conducted. So far from progressing with the progress of the years, they have gone from bad to worse. Savages they were when they descended into Western Asia from the plains of Turkistan, savages they were when Edmund Burke [British statesman and author] so described them one hundred and thirty years ago, and their government still retains its savage and merciless character.²⁸⁴

Bryce then penned a book entitled The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and continued his defamation campaign through this book. Historian McCarthy explained that the real author of the book was Toynbee. According to McCarthy, all the techniques visible in the said Armenian report were identical to the later falsified report that detailed the German violence in Belgium. This report also included anonymous information gathered from unreliable sources but there was no conclusive evidence that the people mentioned in the report had really said or written those things.²⁸⁵

In time, it was revealed that none of the accounts of violence that Bryce's report on Germans included were true. This is what author H. C. Peterson writes about the said report:

His [Bryce's] report is one of the most extreme examples of the definition of propaganda as "assassination by word." It was in itself one of the worst atrocities of the war.²⁸⁶

The very same method was used against the Turks; the very same black propaganda campaign was directed at them using the same methods by the same people. Germany years later received an apology from Britain for the injustice done, but Turks still had to deal with the same defamation campaign.

The British deep state sent highlights from the Bryce Report to American newspapers for publication. This is what McCarthy writes about it:

Gilbert Parker reported "The New York Times, Philadelphia Public Ledger, and the Chicago Herald … devoted much space to the advance sheets of 'these Armenian horror stories'." Current History a monthly magazine feature of the New York Times made the Bryce Report the centerpiece of a series on anti-Turkish articles, quoting the entire lengthy introduction of the Bryce Report and summarizing supposedly the most ghastly portions of the book. The New York Times itself devoted three pages to extracts from the Bryce Report. The New Republic praised Bryce on his selection of sources and evidence, without mentioning that most of the sources were anonymous, then went on to summarize the material and condemn the Turks. Other papers and magazines did the same, summarizing or quoting directly from the report.²⁸⁷

In other words, no sources were provided in the British deep state publications, and the Turks were unfairly targeted as these fake allegations were blindly served to the American public. It must be remembered that the true target of the British deep state propaganda was the masses that were unaware of the truths about WWI and the Middle East. Almost all news reports read by the American and British public during those days were penned by the British deep state propagandists. British and American people were deceived with these untrue accounts. This is how the American historian McCarthy, who exposed the unfair treatment of Turks, expresses his astonishment that the said deceitful propaganda continues today:

More astonishing is the fact that British propaganda against the Turks has been ignored in scholarly publications on wartime propaganda. Every serious scholarly study of British propaganda during World War I rightly labels British propaganda against the Germans as a carefully constructed attack on the truth in the interests of victory. The same studies do not even consider British propaganda against the Turks, except when it also was an attack on the Germans. What British propagandists did to the Germans they also did to the Turks, yet no one has seemed to care. Propaganda against the Germans has been condemned while the calumnies against the Turks live on. The infamous Bryce Report on the Armenians is republished and quoted … It has acquired a patina of respectability as an "Accepted and Reliable Source," while the Bryce Report against the Germans properly lies unread on dusty library shelves. Annotated bibliographies on World War I or on genocide as a topic prominently feature the Report and other British propaganda publications directed against Turks, without any identification of them for what they were. The common rules of historical criticism, which include verification of sources, have not been applied. In fact, the Bryce Report on the Ottoman Armenians should be consigned to the same historical dustbin as the Bryce Report on the Germans. It is only a reliable source on the history of propaganda, not on the history of the Middle East.²⁸⁸

A Propaganda War: World War II

As in the case of WWI, the propaganda skills of the British deep state had a huge impact on the course of WWII. Such efforts made the greatest contribution to Britain's success. The deep British media, particularly its extensions in the BBC, played their part skillfully during and after the war. Interestingly enough, the BBC still continues its task today almost as a propaganda machine of the British deep state.

Even the German Nazi Party, that set up a propaganda ministry and effectively used propaganda methods laden with lies, couldn't come close to matching the British deep state's skills in black propaganda. Joseph Goebbels, who was the propaganda minister of Hitler, described Prime Minister Churchill, an important member of the deep state of the time, with the following words in his article 'Churchill's Lie Factory':

The astonishing thing is that Mr. Churchill … holds to his lies, and in fact repeats them until he himself believes them. … They made good use of the trick during the World War, with the difference that world opinion believed it then, which cannot be said today.… The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.²⁸⁹

Needless to say, it is important to keep the public morale high during wartimes. However, the effective propaganda policy and the manipulation of the press by the British deep state during the First and Second World Wars is important in that it shows how it is able to control the media and present lies as facts, whenever it deems fit. As a matter of fact, even after the war ended, the British deep state influence on the media persisted, especially with respect to vilification of certain countries. As a result, unrest, civil wars, and coups took place in many independent countries.

The British deep state thus managed to establish its influence over other countries, and mainly due to this black propaganda policy, many countries' administrations became indebted to deep structures. The propaganda weapon, which was the main contributing factor to Britain's last minute victory in WWII, has been and still is one of the most prominent and destructive forces of the British deep state. 

The Ugly Propaganda Continues

British deep state propaganda, which reached its peak during the world wars, continues, albeit through different methods. The effects of Wellington House propaganda haven't been limited to that period but rather persist even today. Propaganda publications of Wellington House during WWI were systematically reprinted, and many books and researches referred to them for citations. Many of those books were posted on the Internet and spread around the world.

Today, Wellington House books are still suggested as textbooks for history classes in American and European colleges and universities. The issue of Turkey and Armenia has been a topic of particular interest to Wellington House and its many publications, including those of Toynbee and El-Ghusein (an imaginary person), are used by many historians and certain Armenian scientists as basic historical reference books. New editions of deceitful propaganda material from WWI, like The Blue Book, are printed and distributed around the world as if they are historical facts. The sinister British deep state propaganda continues as if nothing has happened, as if its plots were never revealed. The goal is trying to deceive those that haven't heard and are not aware of this black propaganda.

A major part of world public is currently brainwashed with these made-up stories. Everything that the people learn from these sources is not fact, but what the propaganda office of the British deep state likes them to believe.

The breadth of the British deep state's lies and defamation during that time was so extensive, even some British figures rose in protest:

British Foreign Minister Chamberlain admitted in his speech at House of Commons in December 1925 that all of those were propaganda lies. Four years after the war, the Belgians announced that all the claims in the said publications were untrue. British MP Arthur Ponsonby gave a detailed account of false news reports prepared by the British propaganda offices during WWI… In 1938, British author and diplomat Harold Nicolson said the following during his speech at the Parliament: 'We lied damnably during the war'.²⁹⁰

Most information in The Blue Book came from Henry Morgenthau, who had stayed only 26 months in Istanbul during WWI as the American ambassador. In his book, Morgenthau told the lie that Ottomans were persecuting Armenians. Years later, the Associated Press declared these claims in Morgenthau's book untrue. American Professor Heath W. Lowry said the book was a record of "crude half-truths and outright falsehoods".²⁹¹

The Occupation of Istanbul

The Importance of Istanbul

This is ever written by the British deep state on their plans regarding the Ottoman and Turkish lands was William Ewart Gladstone's Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East, published on September 5, 1876. This book was particularly important because its author had served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom four separate times, for a period of 15 years in total. That wasn't Gladstone's only notable position though. He also acted as a member of the Privy Council -one of the key institutions under the influence of the British deep state operating as a body of advisers to the Queen- and spent 57 years in that position. Lord Curzon, Lloyd George and Horace Rumbold, about whom more will be told in the following chapters, were also members of this Council. In his notorious 64-page book, Gladstone laid out his plan to break the Ottoman Empire into pieces and presented his plan with the pretense of examining "the Question of the East".

In his book, Gladstone provided secret tactics to disintegrate empires from within. Indeed, shortly after the book was published, British politicians developed a sudden fondness for the minorities living under Ottoman rule. Supporting those with independence ambitions, they provoked the minorities against the Ottoman rule. Gladstone sided with the Bulgarians, Lloyd George with the Greeks and the Armenians, Lord Curzon with the Kurds and Winston Churchill sided with the Arabs. It should be noted that there is nothing wrong with politicians and leaders forming friendly relations with ethnical groups. On the contrary, this forms a desirable picture. Regrettably, however, these new friendships were not real and were only intended to further British interests and break apart the Ottoman Empire. Unsurprisingly, as soon as British interests ceased to exist, so did those so-called friendships.

Gladstone's book was the epitome of black propaganda (the honorable Turkish Nation is above all the ill-natured remarks made by Gladstone). In this book, he referred to Turks as 'the one great anti-human specimen of humanity' and hoped that they would clear out from the lands they ruled. Gladstone didn't refrain from defaming Turks and said, 'No Government ever has so sinned; none has so proved itself so incorrigible in sin, or which is the same, so impotent in reformation'.²⁹² The only reason behind all this defamation and slander was that Gladstone was one of the most powerful names in the British deep state, which wished to dismember the Ottoman Empire completely.

The Deep Plan that Began with the Battle of Gallipoli

The British deep state considered the Gallipoli campaign as the final stage of its plan to break apart the Ottoman Empire. However, the battle that took place in Gallipoli went down in history as an epic example of true heroism. The army of the Ottoman Empire, which the Europeans dismissed as 'the sick man', bravely defended the Gallipoli Strait at the expense of their lives, despite the full-fledged attack of the Allied Powers. As a result, the Allied Forces, which consisted of Anzacs, British, North Africans, Indians and French, had to retreat amid a humiliating defeat. This incredible military feat forced the British deep state to postpone its plans for the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire until 1918, when the Armistice of Mudros was signed.

This military success was particularly important because only four years previously, the armies of the Balkan states, which were previously the Ottoman Empire's, had heavily defeated the Empire. Indeed, had it not been for typhoid fever and the cholera epidemic, the Bulgarian army would have occupied Istanbul. Naturally, the Allied armies were confident that their success would be quick and easy in Gallipoli. However, the Turkish army, by the valor of her 250,000 martyrs, did not open the doors of Gallipoli. Military school students from Istanbul volunteered to join the fight, willingly accepting the prospect of martyrdom. Indeed, in the years 1915 and 1916, the Galatasaray High School didn't have any graduates because each and every student had been martyred in the battlefield. In 1917, there were only 5 students to graduate. 50 students of the Istanbul High School had been martyred in just one battle, which took place on May 19, 1915. Vefa High School and Çapa Teaching School for Boys also didn't have any graduates during those same years. Balıkesir High School and Balıkesir Teaching School for Boys had only 2 graduates from 1914 to 1918. Students in many schools in Thrace, after previously having their fathers martyred in the Balkan wars, didn't hesitate to volunteer to fight in the Battle of Gallipoli and become martyrs themselves. Even schools from distant cities such as Sivas, Trabzon, Konya, Erzurum and Kastamonu lost their 1916-1917 graduates as honorable and noble martyrs of Gallipoli. The effects of the loss of this educated generation would be severely felt both during the Turkish War of Independence and the first years of the Republic. Yet, it had been the bravery and the blood of those martyred innocent Turkish youngsters no older than 18 that thwarted the sinister plans of the British deep state. Today, the situation is not very different. Once again, due to the terrorist PKK, we have many martyrs that had been soldiers, officers, police, and teachers. God blessed our country with many martyrs; Anatolia is our homeland because its soil is soaked with the blood of our honorable martyrs.

The Armistice of Mudros that was signed following WWI ended the war for the Ottoman Empire. This Armistice also enabled the British deep state to put its dismemberment plans into motion. Using the clause 'The Allies to have the right to occupy any strategic points in the event of any situation arising which threatens the security of the Allies' as a pretense, they started implementing their dismemberment plan, which the British dubbed as the 'solution to the Question of the East'. The most important target in the plan was the occupation of Istanbul. Not surprisingly, only Istanbul amongst the capitals of the defeated Central Powers was occupied after the WWI. And it was Lord Curzon's idea.²⁹³

Istanbul's Occupation Would Mean Achievement of Multiple Goals for the British Deep State

Turkish bravery during the Battle of Gallipoli completely humiliated the British deep state in the international arena. They were convinced that if they occupied the capital of the Islamic world, they would have taken their revenge. The truth is, all the politicians involved in the planning, declaration and implementation of the Gallipoli campaign, were following the orders of the British deep state and naturally, after the defeat, they fell from grace with the public. They hoped that the occupation would gain them their lost influence and power. This had been their main goal.

Istanbul was not only the capital of the Ottoman Empire, but also the capital of the Islamic world. It was a city where the Caliph of the Muslims lived. To the British deep state, an occupied capital would be a tour de force of British prowess, especially in terms of influencing the Muslims living under British rule, most notably in India. They hoped that the occupation would stem any potential anti-British sentiment or independence movements, as well as preventing Muslims from uniting under a single flag, and that British rule would be further cemented.

The decision to occupy Istanbul involved the control of two straits, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. The British navy anchored in the Bosphorus Strait supervised exits from Marmara, and the Dardanelles Strait was also kept under the control of the British. In other words, the British had the control of the entrance and the exit to the Marmara Sea, and consequently to the Black Sea. Thus, they could keep the Russian warships under control and impose taxes on Russian trade. This meant having the upper hand of the newly established Bolshevik Russia. St. Petersburg, or Leningrad as it was known during Soviet times, was the only Russian port close to Europe. It was frozen for 6 months of the year and lacked the geographical or strategic infrastructure wanted by the Russian navy. The Russians always wanted to have access to warmer waters. Although the Black Sea was under Russian control, any state that controlled the Straits could easily override that control. The British, through the occupation of Istanbul and the Straits, also wanted to keep post-revolution Russia under control.

The British deep state was anxiously watching the growing affinity between the Bolsheviks and the Turkish independence movement. They feared the Russians could get stronger again and pursue an imperialist policy and believed that if it could control the Straits and Istanbul, it would be able to prevent such an expansion.

Another objective of the British occupation of Istanbul was undermining the authority of the Caliph over British colonies to give the impression that British rule had now taken the place of the Sultan; the Caliph and the entire Ottoman Empire was now under British control. The British hoped they could dishearten the Muslim subjects and intimidate the regional tribal leaders, religious leaders and minority leaders. They wanted to give a clear message to everyone that there is no coming back for the Ottoman Empire. The occupation marked the peak of the British Empire. Through occupation, they wished to suppress the Islamic awakening and find new prospective colonies.

The most important symbolic message of the Istanbul occupation was the removal of the Turks from Europe, whereby the Ottoman Empire would no longer be considered a part of Europe. Istanbul had always been the 'Eastern Capital' of Europe. Ancient Greeks, Venetians, Romans, Genoese and Byzantines had chosen this beautiful city as their home. The 600-year Ottoman rule in Istanbul made the Ottoman Empire European. An occupation would, therefore, mean the removal of the Turks from Europe.

The British public considered the Ottoman alliance with Germany in WWI as a betrayal and wanted this 'betrayal' to be punished. However, as reviewed in the previous pages, this alliance was somehow forced by the British deep state, but various circles voiced that this so-called betrayal should not be left unpunished. The British deep state was convinced that the occupation of Istanbul would give the Ottoman Empire the harshest punishment and would make the Turks pay the heavy price of betrayal. Indeed, many believed that Istanbul being taken from the Turks would be the surest sign of their defeat and the Islamic world would stop viewing the Turks as the 'victorious soldiers of Islam'. According to the British deep state, this occupation had to be extremely humiliating and conclusive so that everyone would be convinced that the Turks were irreversibly defeated. The British deep state believed that this was essential for the purposes of its domination policy, yet another display of its twisted mentality regarding the Ottoman Empire.

However, the British plans wouldn't work because they didn't take Anatolian people into account. The Anatolian independence movement led by Mustafa Kemal and his colleagues reminded the whole world once again why the Turks were considered the victorious soldiers of Islam. Over the next three years, the victors of the WWI completely retreated from Ottoman lands, having suffered a humiliating defeat. French, Italians, Greeks and British, one by one, conceded defeat, signed peace treaties and sent their troops back home. 

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. 

British Tactics for the Justification of the Occupation

The British deep state used various methods to occupy Istanbul and similar practices can be still spotted across the world today. Unmasking these tactics is crucial to understanding the danger the world is facing. The plan of removing the Turks from Anatolia, still underway even after 100 years, reached its height with the occupation of Istanbul. To attain this goal, the British deep state didn't refrain from deceiving even its own public and allies. Millions have been used in this scheme, by a few deep state actors. Let's see how.

The British Deep State Initially Claimed that It Didn't Want Anatolia

British Prime Minister Lloyd George, during his speech to Parliament on January 5, 1918, reassured Parliament's Members that there wouldn't be a war for Istanbul, Anatolia or Thrace. In these lands, the Turkish population was the majority. The truth is, Lloyd George was only trying to cause a diversion and tried to convince his people and the Ottoman Empire that it would not claim these territories.

Furthermore, there was no suggestion of the occupation of Istanbul in the Armistice of Mudros that marked the end of WWI for the Ottoman Empire. On the contrary, Admiral Calthorpe, who signed the Armistice on behalf of the Allied Powers, gave his verbal assurance that the British didn't intend to occupy Istanbul and terminate the Ottoman administration or seize the control of the Ottoman military forces. The Ottoman delegation that returned to Istanbul after the Armistice brought along the personal letter of Calthorpe with them. In this letter, Calthorpe reassured that French and British soldiers would be stationed only at the Straits and a small unit from the Turkish army would be allowed to remain there as a sign of Ottoman sovereignty.

However, only thirteen days after the Armistice, the British and French troops entered Istanbul. Calthorpe, who had personally promised that Istanbul wouldn't be occupied, was appointed as the British high commissioner and the first thing he did was arrest two hundred people from Tevfik Pasha's government and exile thirty of them to Malta. All those who were arrested were Turkish and Muslim administrators. With this move, Calthorpe gave a clear message that Istanbul was under occupation and that anyone refusing to cooperate with the occupational forces would be punished in the harshest manner. He later sent a message to Foreign Office, assuring them that the arrests were "very satisfactory" and intimidated the leaders of a potential insurgency in Istanbul.²⁹⁴

Many officers, who were previously blacklisted during the war, were also exiled. When the British set foot in Istanbul, they started a manhunt not only in Istanbul, but all of Turkey. Their first demand was the capture and punishment of nine Turkish commanders: Ali Ihsan Pasha (Commander of the Sixth Army), Fahrettin Pasha (Commander of V Cavalry Corps), Nuri Pasha (Commander of the Islamic Army of the Caucasus), Mürsel Bey (Commander of the 5^th Caucasian Division), Yakub Shevki Pasha (Commander of the Ninth Army), Nihat Pasha (Chief of Staff of the Second Army in Pozanti), Galip Pasha (Commander of the 40th Yemen division) and Tewfik Pasha (Commander of the Seventh Corps in Yemen). It was clear that these Turkish commanders were specifically selected for their outstanding performance against and/or defeat of the British as they bravely defended their country. However, the British deep state failed terribly in its judgment of Turkish patriotism as it believed that targeting commanders would work. As the following days would make clear, capturing and exiling 100-150 people of a deeply patriotic nation who had always lived independently would do nothing to cause them to falter in their fight for independence.

Yakub Shevki Pasha, who refused to dissolve the Ninth Army, ignored the British order to hand over arms and ammunition and instead moved his food stocks to the West. Naturally, he was on top of the 'to be exiled to Malta' list of the British. Like him, all the members of the Kars Parliament would be exiled to Malta. Halil Pasha and Mehmed Djemal Pasha from the Caucasian Army, and many Turkish officers like Ali Rifat and Mürsel Bey, who were division commanders, were blacklisted by the British in the first months of the Armistice. Meanwhile, the plans to capture, try and exile these commanders were underway in the occupation headquarters.

Many pro-British intellectuals and diplomats considered the promises made prior to the occupation as guarantees. However, after the Armistice, British Prime Minister Lloyd George claimed that his previous statements weren't a guarantee for the Turks, but were rather intended to reassure his own public and particularly the Indian Muslims who didn't want to fight other Muslims. He hoped that this would justify the occupation.

It is important to keep one thing in mind: the British deep state might make statements to create a diversion, they might pretend to be friends, make promises or sign official letters. However, all these promises have absolutely no effect on the representatives of the deep state and their determination to carry out their original plans. They will never stop trying to realize their sinister plans made centuries ago behind closed doors. Therefore, falling for deceptive words could prove disastrous for the future.

The British Deep State Assured Its Allies that Anatolia Would Be a US Mandate

In the aftermath of WWI, maps were redrawn in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Representatives from 32 countries attended the conference. It started on January 18, 1919 and a total of 1646 sessions took place in the months-long event. However, this wide attendance was only to keep up appearances. The real decisions in the conference were made by the so-called 'Big Four': British Prime Minister Lloyd George, US President Woodrow Wilson, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, and Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando.

The five treaties that ended the war were drafted in the Paris Peace Conference: The Treaty of Versailles that was signed with Germany the same year, the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye with the Republic of German-Austria, Treaties of Neuilly-sur-Seine with Bulgaria and Trianon with Hungary, and the Treaty of Sèvres with the Ottoman Empire were all outlined during this conference.

Before moving on to examining the plans to break apart the Ottoman Empire, we should briefly touch on the Treaty of Versailles. Prior to Versailles, the German public was assured that the principles known as Wilson's Fourteen Points would be the foundations for the treaty. However, once the time for signatures arrived, a heavy colonization plan appeared that was a complete insult to Germans in every way. The harsh conditions forced the German economy to work for the Allied Powers for years. Many historians agree that the harsh terms of this treaty led to the rise of Nazi regime and vengeful sentiments in the German public.

Britain and France made a deal during the Paris Peace Conference to share the Ottoman lands in Arabia, Thrace, the Mediterranean and the Aegean amongst themselves. They wanted to make Turkey a small Asian country trapped inside Anatolia. According to their plan, little Turkey trapped in this piece of land would be placed under US mandate.

In other words, the plan of the British deep state for the Paris Peace Conference was placing countries they considered incapable of ruling themselves under the mandate of developed countries. The Middle East was distributed according to this plan. Britain presented a proposal to the Conference on May 21, 1919 and suggested that Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine be placed under French and British mandate, and the Ottoman Empire under US mandate. Let's find out about the truth of this plan from the telegram Halide Edip Adıvar sent to Mustafa Kemal Pasha on August 10, 1919:

The situation in Constantinople relating to foreign affairs is this:

Although France, Italy and England have offered a mandate over Turkey to the American Senate, they are trying by all possible means to prevent them from accepting it.

There is no doubt that each of these Powers wants to make certain of their share when the country is divided up.

France, having met with disappointments in Syria, wants to compensate herself in Turkey. Italy, being frankly and openly imperialistic, declares plainly that she has entered the war with the sole object of getting a good share of the Anatolian booty.

The part played by England is rather more complicated.

With an eye to the future, England has no desire that Turkey shall remain united or become modernised or enjoy real independence. A Turco-Mohamedan State, powerful and equipped with all modern requirements and ideas, and particularly with a Caliph at its head, would be an exceedingly bad example to the Mohamedan subjects of England.

If she could get power over Turkey without being interfered with at all, she would soon decapitate and dismember her without any compunction, and would try within a few years to convert her into a loyal colony.²⁹⁵

Clearly, the plans of the British deep state have always been more sinister and more complicated. Supporting a US mandate was just an act. The true desire of the British deep state, for a long time, had been a completely disintegrated, weakened, devastated Turkish state.

In order to accurately analyze the plans of the British deep state, it is important to look a couple steps ahead. We shouldn't forget that although intended for Churchill, the statement "he was 'first, last and all the time a great Englishman, more interested in preserving England's position in Europe than in preserving the peace"²⁹⁶ actually applies to every member of the deep state because for the British deep state, there are no allies or friends. Everyone in the plan is a means to get to an end. Their existence serves the deep state plans. This is true even for the seemingly most powerful leaders of the world as they have no option other than playing along according to the script they have been given.

Italians Weren't Spared the Deep Strategies of the British Deep State, Either

As the WWI raged on, the Allied Powers had secret meetings to agree on a plan for the partition of the Ottoman Empire. The first secret agreement, known as the Treaty of London, was signed in 1915. According to this secret pact between the Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia) and Italy, Italians were promised Antalya and surrounding Mediterranean regions in exchange for joining the war on the side of the Allied Powers. Due to the Bolshevik Revolution, this treaty was replaced by the Agreement of St.-Jean-de-Maurienne of 1917, which was signed by only Italy, France and Britain. According to the new plan, Italians would also be given Western Anatolia including Izmir, in addition to the coastline of the Mediterranean.

Once again, the post-war scene wasn't playing out according to the expectations of the Italians, but was very conveniently going according to the original plans of the British. Eleftherios Venizelos-Lloyd George cooperation resulted in the Greek forces' occupation of Izmir on May 15, 1919, and Western Anatolia remained under Greek occupation until September 9, 1922, when they were forced to retreat by the Turkish army. The British deep state, taking advantage of the imperialist Greek dreams, built an army in Anatolia that would do its bidding. This also effectively prevented Italy from having the sole say in the region. The whole occupation plan was based on the propaganda that local Christian people needed protection from the so-called Muslim gangs and this sinister plan was thus given international legitimacy. However, it was clearly established with the following report of the Inter-Allied Commission of Inquiry, based in Istanbul, on October 12, 1919 that those allegations were complete lies:

The inquiry has proven that the general situation of Christians in the vilayet of Aydin has been satisfactory since the armistice and that they have not been in danger. – Security in the vilayet of Aydin, and in Smyrna [Izmir] in particular, in no way justified the occupation of Smyrna's forts by application of Article 7 of the armistice. Furthermore, the situation in the vilayet did not justify the landing of allied troops in Smyrna.²⁹⁷

Even this report wasn't enough to stop the British deep state plans.

The British deep state used Italians when it needed, with the pretense of being a reliable ally and with a couple of promises. But when it no longer needed Italy, it left it alone. Needless to say, Italians themselves had nefarious occupation plans regarding the Ottoman lands just like other Allied powers, and in this regard, Italy then was just as guilty as others. The point is, even towards its own allies, the British deep state always follows a self-centered and double-faced policy.

Mustafa Kemal, the leader of the Turkish War of Independence and the savior of the Turkish people and Turkey, took advantage of this double-faced policy of the British: After 1920, the Italian government began to provide weapons, logistics and intelligence to the Turkish nationalists.

A Claim of Upholding Minority Rights is a Typical British Deep State Method for Justification of Its Occupations

According to the Armistice of Mudros signed after the war, the Allied armies should have stayed in their current positions and no occupation would take place unless there was a threat. However, as explained previously, the British nevertheless occupied Istanbul and the Greek landed and took over Izmir. The only so-called justification for these occupations was the false claim that the Christian minorities were in danger. The 7^th clause of the Armistice of Mudros gave the Allied Powers the right to occupy strategic locations in case of a security threat. By combining the occupation right granted under the 7^th clause with the so-called threats the minorities supposedly faced, the occupation of Anatolia was cunningly made compliant with the international law.

However, the air in the capital in the first few days after the Armistice was signed was very different. The Ottoman Parliament unanimously ratified the Armistice. The Ottoman Postal Office printed stamps for the Armistice, as if celebrating good news. Only ten days after the optimistic statements of the Ottoman Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Bey, on November 13, 1918, the 55-unit enemy fleet passed through the Dardanelles Strait and anchored in Dolmabahce. This huge fleet consisted of 22 British, 17 Italian, 12 French and 4 Greek warships.

This occupation represented the pinnacle of the centuries-old British deep state plans to disintegrate the Ottoman Empire and remove the Turks from Europe. The capital was occupied, the army was dissolved, and commercial vessels, shipyards, ports, railways and communication channels were made available for the sole use of the occupation forces. This entire plan was carried out with a legal pretense and was supported by military force. Furthermore, black propaganda was used widely to stem any potential public support for the Ottoman administration.

The anti-Ottoman sentiment that was propagated in Europe and the United States for years through newspapers, novels and theatrical plays were all intended to make this occupation easier. Hundreds of books, pamphlets and brochures printed with caricatures depicting Turks as savage people served the purpose of building a Muslim Turk image that supposedly massacred Christians. The propaganda machine raged on to convince the world opinion, most notably the US and British public, that the Ottoman Empire had to come down for the sake of Christianity, freedom and human rights. Any opposing voices that might have stood up for the rights of the Ottoman and for justice were silenced in advance. The British deep state made sure that there were no loopholes in the plan. Even though this sinister plan came to a staggering 100-year-old halt with the Anatolian War of Independence, today it is still on the agenda. Currently, the Anatolian lands are surrounded from every direction, and the spirit of solidarity and patriotism is the only power that can stand up to this conspiracy.

If God helps you, no one can vanquish you. If He forsakes you, who can help you after that? So the believers should put their trust in God. (Qur'an, 3:160)

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A journalist with the British deep state: Walter Lippmann

According to many sources, Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were supposed to be the basis of the treaties to be signed after WWI, were prepared by the British government with the input of Walter Lippmann, a Harvard graduate who worked as an adviser to the US President Wilson. These principles were supposed to be used for the peace negotiations. However, it later became clear both at Versailles and Sèvres that the document didn't have a trace of a peaceful approach or the signature of Wilson. Journalist Lippmann, who drafted the Fourteen Points, later became an executive in CFR (Council on Foreign Relations), the American sister organization of Chatham House, which is known as an institute under the influence of the British deep state. He worked as a non-official adviser to eight US presidents. With the book he wrote in 1946, he was the first to introduce the concept of 'Cold War'. Today, many call Lippmann the 'most influential journalist of the 20^th century', or 'the founding father of modern journalism'. Presidents, prime ministers, ministers might change; but the members of the deep state, deeply embedded, do not change.