Eston Basınında Kütahya-Eskisehir ve Sakarya Muharebeleri

The objectives of the article “The Battles of Kütahya-Eskişehir and Sakarya, dated 1921, in Estonian Press“ was to determine 1) the attitude of Estonian press of that time towards these battles before, during and after them; 2) the sources to which Estonian press was referring giving information about the battles; 3) the similarities and differencies between the attitudes of Estonian press from one side and French, English presses from the other side. As the investigation’s material the biggest Estonian newspapers of that time, “Kaja“, “Postimees“, “Päevaleht“, “Tallinna Teataja“ and “Vaba Maa“ were used. Before the Battles of Kütahya-Eskişehir the main themes connected with the Turkish National War (1919-1922) and treated by Estonian newspapers were the rejection of the proposal of the intermediation of the Allies by Greece, the attitude of Greece towards the military aid of the Western countries, the attack of the Kemalists to Istanbul, the probable participation of the Balkan countries in the Turkish National War. The second theme was also important for French and English newspapers. According to Estonian press the Allies failed in intermediation because their measures were not good enough. But the Western newspapers considered only Greece guilty in their failure. During the Battles of Kütahya-Eskişehir Estonian press referred as a main source of its battle information to the radio of Berlin. The radio of Berlin got its battle information mainly from the news of Athens. Therefore, Estonian press, differently from French press, was quiet blinded by the temporary military success of the Greeks. The Battles of Sakarya was covered by Estonian newspapers mainly acording to news of the radio of London. And often the source of their news was not given. Eston Basınında Kütahya-Eskişehir ve Sakarya Muharebeleri 161 The most objective are the news received by different radios from Istanbul or from big Western News agencies. The Greek news have become more steady-going than earlier. The commentaries printed during the battle treate of the impact of the Greece’s victory on Turkey’s independence, the suspictions about the goodness of the military situation of the Greece, the strenght of Turkish army. The second theme was also an important theme for French press. And differently from Estonian press which became suspictious about the bad military perspectives only after the retreat of the Greeks had begun, French press kept stressing they had been sceptical about Greece’s perspectives all the time. The echoes of the Battle of Sakarya were quiet modest in Estonian press. Only a short review of a whole war was given and the probable attitudes of the Turks after the battle were analized. The probable attitudes of the Turks after the battle were not a main theme for the Western press. But “The Times“ marked the time has come to influence the Greeks to give in to the Turks.