Talk: Turkish War of Independence

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Author's comment regarding Wikipedia's above advice (to move the page): This war was not only between Greece and Turkey. It was between the Allies and Turkey, as a consequence of the World War I. Greco-Turkish War constituted this war's western front, starting more than a year afterwards. Although the decisive battles were between Greece and Turkey, this page has more information than what can be put under the title "Greco-Turkish War". The current page of Greco-Turkish War includes an unrelated war from the previous century, therefore that page has more information than what can be placed under the title of "Turkish War of Independence". Given that neither page can possibly be a subset of the other, they can not be merged. - 18.58.1.180

I disagree with the above (which I copied from the page). The Turkish Independence War, while very important to Turks and a main part of their history, is a term only used in Turkey. Other nations refer to it as World War I (up to the Treaty of Sèvres), and then the (Second) Greco-Turkish War (up to the Treaty of Lausanne). Since this is an English Wikipedia which takes a predominantly western POV, the events that eventually lead to the creation of modern Turkey should in my opinion be treated from this POV: thus split the info in WW1-in-Turkey and 2nd Greco-Turkish war. Of course a note that these events are by Turks seen as one single war for their independence from what they saw as invading and occupying nations is needed at both places. — Jor (Talk) 11:11, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Author:

• First, there were many other wars between Greeks and Turks, so I don't see the point of naming only two as such.
• Second, the events that are included in this page are strictly limited to 1919-1922, therefore there is nothing to be split in the page to be included in WW1. The events that Turks name as their Independence War do not include WW1 as wrongly mentioned in the coment above. That's why the pre-war politics section begins by saying "WW1 ended..."
• Third, until mid-1920, Greeks weren`t even the primary enemy. As I will detail in the "western front" section, Greek troops were only in Izmir and its surroundings until that time. Even then, the Greek offensive started coordinated with an Armenian offensive in the East. The Eastern Turkish Army could not reinforce the western front until after Battle of Sakarya. As in this example, the war needs to be studied in all fronts for a proper analysis. That is why I avoided the title "Greco-Turkish War".
• just to clarify things, I don't have an aversion to that title or contents of the page, in fact, I was the one to add details to the second war in that page last week.
• Finally, they could be merged with the second one if the Greco-Turkish Wars had separate entries, but even then, the name underrepresents the number of participating countries. It is like saying Israel-Egypt War instead of Arab-Israeli War; as in that case Israel's main opponent was Egypt but they fought against their other Arab neighbors as well.
• This has nothing to do with what Turks call this war, I am trying to be accurate here. The western POV was a product/propaganda of the British, who gave this war a convenient name as an attempt to clear their name. They were ashamed of their war-mongering in the face of other nations of the world in 1922. Why do you think Lausanne Treaty was between Turkey and Allies, instead of Turkey and Greece? Because the preceding war was between Turkey and Allies too. I wouldn't object "War in Asia Minor", or "Anatolian War", or something like those, a title without reducing the entire war to one front.

The name of this article is totally incorrect. It's just a translation error. Turks call this war "Kurtuluş Savaşı" or "İstiklâl Savaşı" both of which have nothing to do with independence. Possible correct translations could be "Turkish War of Liberation" or "Turkish War of Freedom". Turkey was already a recognized independent state before the war. Zfr 21:17, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)