Republic of Gumuljina

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غربی تراقیا حكومت موقته‌سی Independent Government of Western Thrace¹ Provisional, later Independent ← 1913 → Flag Capital Gümülcine Government Republic President Hoca Salih Efendi History  - Established August 31, 1913  - Disestablished October 25, 1913 Area  - 1913 8,578 km² (3,312 sq mi) ¹ Renamed from "Provisional Government of Western Thrace" and also known as the "Republic of Gumuljina" or the "Turkish Republic of Western Thrace".

The Provisional Government of Western Thrace (Ottoman Turkish: غربی تراقیا حكومت موقته‌سی - Garbi Trakya Hükûmeti Muvakkatesi, Turkish: Batı Trakya Geçici Hükümeti) and after the official renaming the Independent Government of Western Thrace (Ottoman Turkish: Garbi Trakya Hükûmeti Müstakilesi, Turkish: Batı Trakya Bağımsız Hükümeti) respectively was a small, short-lived republic that was found in the Western Thrace from August 31 to October 25, 1913. All Western Thrace (Area surrounded by: Maritsa (Turkish: Meriç, Greek: Evros) in the east, Mesta River (Nestos) of Macedonia in the west, Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria in north and the Aegean Sea in the south. Total territory encompassed was 8.578 km².

The state was created during the Balkan Wars by a Turkish and Pomak rebellion against occupying Bulgarian and Greek forces in that area. It was found provisionally as mentioned in its name in order to be annexed to Turkey again. Soon after, the Bulgarians took over Western Thrace, but in 1919 the area was transferred to Greece. Its capital was Gümülcine (Greek: Κομοτηνή, Komotini), now in Greece

Contents 1 Names 2 Overview 3 See also 4 Further reading

[edit] Names

Provisional Government of Western Thrace was also known as Republic of Gumuljina, or Gumuldjina, or Gümülcine, or Turkish Republic of Western Thrace (Turkish: Batı Trakya Türk Cumhuriyeti). "Gumuljina" is an old rendering of "Gümülcine", the Turkish name of Komotini.

[edit] Overview

President: Hoca Salih Efendi
Army: Standing force of 29,170, largely infantry. Commander of the Armed Forces was Süleyman Askerî

As soon as independence was declared, the government of the Republic of Gumuljina determined the borders of the country, put up the new flags on the official buildings, commissioned a national anthem, raised an army, published its own stamps and passports. It also prepared the budget of the new country.

A Jewish citizen, Samuel Karaso had charged by government to establish an official press agency and to publish a newspaper named Müstakil (Independence) in Turkish and French. The Ottoman Laws and Regulations were adopted without any change and the cases started to be heard by the Court of Western Thrace.

Bulgaria, after a brief period of control over the area following the Istanbul Convention, passed the sovereighty of Western Thrace to Greece at the end of the World War I, when Greece entered the war against the Central Powers. The Muslim population of Western Thrace was excluded from the population exchange of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, and possesses a legal minority status in Greece.

[edit] See also

• Republic of Tamrash
• Muslim minority of Greece
• Turks of Western Thrace

[edit] Further reading

• AYDINLI Ahmet, Batı Trakya Faciasının İç Yüzü, Akın Yayınları, İst. 1971
• BATIBEY Kemal Şevket, Bati Trakya Türk Devleti, Boğaziçi Yayınları, İst. 1978
• Batı Trakya’nın Sesi, Sayı: 65, Ağustos 1988
• BIYIKLIOĞLU Tevfik, Trakya’da Milli Mücadele, Cilt I, II. Baskı, TTK Yay., Ank.1987
• GÜNDAĞ Nevzat, Garbi Trakya Hükümet-i Müstakilesi, Kültür ve Turizm Bak. Yay. Ank.1987
• ÖZKAN Tuncay, Mit’in Gizli Tarihi, Alfa Yay., İst.2003
• YALÇIN Soner, Teşkilatın İki Silahşörü, Doğan Kitap, İst. 2001
• Dr. Tahir Tamer Kumkale, Batı Trakya, Önce VATAN 17-20 MAYIS 2003