1921 in Greece - Internal Situation

Internal Situation

The internal situation in Greece, notwithstanding all official assurances to the contrary, continued to be serious, particularly in Macedonia, Salonica, and Crete, and consequently on April 12 martial law was proclaimed and a censorship of the press reintroduced. During the month of May the military situation in Anatolia remained indefinite, the Greeks suspending their offensive in order to prepare for a renewal of operations on a larger scale. On May 18 the Allied high commissioners issued a proclamation regarding the neutrality of Constantinople and the Straits. By the beginning of June the preparations for the new Greek offensive were near completion, and on the 11th King Constantine once more left for Smyrna accompanied by the Diadoch, Prince Nicholas and Prince Andrew, the premier, Gounaris, the minister of war, Theotokis, and General Dousmanis, chief of the general staff. On June 20 the Allies despatched a note to Greece renewing their offer of intervention between the two warring parties. The Greek government, after having submitted its decision to King Constantine in Smyrna for approval, replied by a note dated June 25 in which it in effect refused the proffered negotiations. Preparations for the new offensive were continued. The Greeks in the meantime evacuated Ismidt, thus considerably weakening the defensive of the Kemalists. In the early part of July the Greeks made some progress in their offensive, occupying Nicaea and advancing from Brussa to Yenisher, reoccupying by July 15 Afium Karahissar, evacuated in the spring retreat, and three days later Kutahia, an important key position. The battle of Kutahia ended in a rout of the Kemalist forces with a great haul of booty and prisoners for the Greeks, the fall of Eskishehr, and the general retreat of the Turks.