The Turkish Governments Established in the Western Thrace during the Collapse of the Ottoman State (1878- 1923)

Abstract

As the Ottoman-Russian War in 1877-1878, the Balkan Wars, and the First World War aimed to wipe off the Turkish presence and Turkish culture in the Balkans; they left deep traces in Turkish history and caused some grave consequences. Western Thracian Turks tried all the ways to keep their freedom when their national assets run into danger during these three wars related with their own destiny. They constituted political organisations that can partly be called as states in the Western Thrace in critical times. They formed some organisations that can be considered to have the status of states with titles of “Rhodope Temporary State” founded just after the Ottoman-Russian War in 1877-1878, “the Western Thracian Independent State” during the Balkan War, and the Allies’ Western Thracian State” during the First World War, each of which revealed the organisational nature of the Turks with their political structures. In this study, the governments established in Western Thrace will be analyses from different aspects.