Reflection of the I.St Đnönü War in Local Media; The Case of “Yeni Adana” Newspaper

The 1st Đnönü Victory constitutes the first of the series of victories by the Turkish regural army in the history of national struggle against the Greek occupation forces. In the period after the signing the Treaty of Sevres, the Turkish nation did not agree to this Agreement and continued resistance against the invaders. Greek occupation forces wanted both, to legitimize the occupation of Anatolia and to expand the area of occuation in order to facilitate the implementation of the Treaty of Sevres; moreover, they wanted to disabel the national resistance in Ankara, the heart of Anatolia. The Entente States after England have ratified elimintaion of barriers by impplementing the politics of occupation and invasion in order to implement the Sevres. However, the Greek occupation forces were wrong to consider that the problems of the process of transition of Turks to a regular army would be an advantage. In a tough battle lasting four to five days the Greek occupation forces could not succeed to cross the lines of defence of the Turkish army. The victory gained as a result of these battles became a source of great moral and motivation for the Army and its members. It strengthened the trust and faith in the Turkish nation, council and government. It showed to invaders that the Turkish nation could not be subdued. The victory was also instrumental in increasing the popularity of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly and the government and served in development of diplomacy. The Yeni Adana, one of the important local newspapers of the period of National struggle, has published news and reviews related to new developments in Adana and transferred the Turkish and world public opinions on developments after the victory to its readers. It is noteworthy, that the newspaper illegally reached its readers in the mostly occupied Çukurova region, and shared the the happy news of victory with its readers, which evoked joy, excitement and hope among the people over the nation’s rescue from occupation.