Denizli in Independence War
After World War I, when the Greek army appeared in İzmir on May 15,
1919, one of first resistance movements was encountered in Denizli.
Resistance against the enemy invasion started with the first open-air
meeting held in Denizli. This golden and firm voice rising from Denizli
immediately showed its effect. As a matter of fact, the military forces
have established the Menderes front organized by Yörük Ali and Demirci
Efe's, and the voluntary patriots who could hold a weapon have joined
this front. Those volunteers under the support of the Turkish army have
never let the Greek forces enter Denizli. The Denizli people have
wholeheartedly joined at the Independence War which started on May 19,
1919, with the landing of Samsun.
In our history books written as “Mondros Truce, ” this so-called Truce
was a painful document that ended the 600 hundred years old Ottoman
Empire. But the colonialist empires did not content with this document.
In February 1919 they gathered together in Paris and took the decision
of giving İzmir, Balıkesir and Aydın Provinces to Greece. By doing that
Anatolia would have been occupied from four sides.
Old Government Building
Delikliçınar Square- Meserret Mainstreet
Old Municipality
Kayalık Mosque (1935)
Bayramyeri Square (1935)
Denizli
Governor, who had learned the occupation from İzmir Redd-i İlhak
Assembly’s telegraph, had informed İstanbul, Denizli Mayor and important
people about it. So Müftü Hulusi Efendi and the others had began to act
immediately and decided to hold a mass meeting in front of the
Municipality Building. The people had come together and Müftü Efendi had
called them to get ready for the war. Later the volunteer forces had
tried to protect The Menderes Bridge and its around, so that they had
obstructed the enemies to enter into Denizli.