CHAPTER 4 – HALIDE EDIP AND YAKUP KADRI
110
and thus to improve the economy of the empire, to restrain the privileges granted to
the religious minorities and to protect Turkey from the Russian threat.
She was distanced from the Unionist Triumvirate after she had given a speech in the
Türk Ocağı
in which she expressed criticism for the violence perpetrated against the
Armenians. Hülya Adak suggests that her subsequent educational activities in Syria
(1916-8) may have been like a self-imposed exile. During that time she became
involved in the organisation of schools under the auspices of the Ottoman governors
as well as of one teachers training school
28
.
In 1917 while in Syria she married Dr Adnan (Adıvar), who was in Bursa, by proxy.
Dr Adnan was very close to Mustafa Kemal and Halide Edip too had already met
him.
The war ended with Turkey’s defeat in 1918. Halide Edip returned to Istanbul and
the next five years in the course of which the nationalist resistance was born and
became eventually victorious was the period in which she played her most prominent
part in public life. Her life during these years is recounted in
The Turkish Ordeal,
written in English after her self-imposed exile from Mustafa Kemal’s Turkey in 1926
and first published in 1928.
After the Moudros Armistice of October 1918, which was in substance an Ottoman
surrender, the Sultan’s government continued to exist but was effectively under the
control of the Allies, particularly the British. In May 1919, Halide Edip famously
28
Adivar 2005, x and 431-471
CHAPTER 4 – HALIDE EDIP AND YAKUP KADRI
111
addressed a huge crowd gathered in Sultan Ahmet protesting against the landing of
the Greek troops in İzmir
29
. Of this a visual record exists not only in photographs but
also a silent newsreel. For a woman to address such a huge crowd in Istanbul under
occupation is indicative of Halide Edip’s character and strong convictions. The
meeting is described with great patriotic empathy at the beginning of Halide Edip’s
Ateşten Gömlek
30
.
A very emotional and vivid description of the demonstration is
given by Sabiha Sertel
31
and an English translation of the relevant excerpt of
Halide’s speech by Saime Göksu
32
. In 1919 Halide Edip, still trusting in president
Wilson’s Fourteen Points, was a supporter of an American mandate as were many
other future nationalists, such as İsmet (İnönü). In March 1920, with the Allied
occupation of Istanbul she left the city with her husband Dr Adnan to join the
resistance led by Mustafa Kemal as did many other supporters of the resistance in
Anatolia. Mustafa Kemal put her in charge of the
Anadolu Ajansı
(Anatolian Press
Agency) whose business was to promote the nationalist cause not only in Turkey but
abroad as well. During this time she was sentenced to death
in absentia
by a court
martial in Istanbul. The list of those sentenced to death included among other
nationalists, her husband and Mustafa Kemal
33
. In 1921 she not only served as a
nurse near the front but was also present at headquarters at the battle of Sakarya
1921 (she was raised to the rank of corporal so she could be there).
The Turkish
29
Sertel Sabiha, 10: May 1919 and Adak in Adıvar 2005, xi: 6 June 1919. In the protests other women too
addressed the public (see Şapolyo, 22-23) but none of them attracted as much attention as Halide Edip in
subsequent publications.
30
Adıvar 1926, 32-39 and Adıvar 1943, 21-23. More demonstrations of such kind occurred in Istanbul gave
impetus to the
Anadolu’ya kaçma
movement. Less if any at all is the importance given to similar demonstrations
in other parts of the country particularly in Izmir.
31
Sertel Sabiha, 27-8
32
Göksü, 10-11. Nazım Hikmet and Vala Nurettin who fled to Anatolia after Halide Edip’s recommendation to
Mustafa Kemal had attended one of the meetings on 13 January 1920.
33
Bernard Lewis, 252
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