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The mark of a statesman. In 1920 Kemal Ataturk overthrew the collaborationist post-war Ottoman regime; defeated the Greek army (who had invaded Western Turkey with British support)at the Battle of Ankara (1924) and rolled them back into the sea; drove the French and Italians out of Cilicia, the Armenians out of eastern Turkey; and forced the British to abandon the Dardenelles. Few people today realise that Britain almost declared war on Turkey in 1924 when she realised her plans to dismember the Ottoman Empire had failed. In an effort to raise the war weary population in England Lloyd-George and Churchill made outrageous claims that the "terrible Turks" had sworn to desecrate the graves of Britain's war dead at Gallipoli and throw the bodies into the Dardenelles. It was all a lie and instead Lloyd-George was sacked as Prime Minister. Ataturk would later give this emotiional speech at Gallipoli in an effort to put to rest these outrageous fears. In death, all are equal.
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North Africa/Middle East
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