Page 584 - Mastermind: The Truth of the British Deep State Revealed

We declared many times that vilayet of Mosul is a part of the land within our

national borders. The parties opposing us at Lausanne are perfectly aware of
this. We made great sacrifices to build the borders of our country. We adopt-

ed a peaceful attitude although it was against our interests. From now on, try-
ing to take apart even the smallest part of our national land from Turkey
would be highly unfair. We will never accept it. 358

During the independence war, Mustafa Kemal's plan had always been
making Mosul a part of Turkey again and he made his intentions clear on nu-

merous occasions. When the special correspondent of the newspaper Tanin
sent a telegram to Mustafa Kemal and asked him about the Mosul vilayet, 359

Mustafa Kemal answered in Amasya on October 22, 1919 and said, "Mosul
vilayet is within the borders that were effective on the day the ceasefire was

signed, which is October 30, 1918. It is a Muslim majority province and will
never leave the Ottomans." 360

Mustafa Kemal, on December 28, 1919, the day after his arrival in Ankara,

gave a speech to his visitors and counted Mosul, Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah

among the places under Turkish control on the day of the signing of the
ceasefire and reiterated that those places constituted national borders. 361

When the United Telegraph correspondent asked Mustafa Kemal about

how the Turkish nationalists saw the US and Britain, in an interview on Jan-
uary 17, 1921 he said that the US was friendlier and continued: ... As to Britain,

our nation is offended by their imperialist and exploitative attitude. 362

Mustafa Kemal also explained why Mosul was important for the British:

Mosul is very important for the British as it is the region closest to Kurdistan.
British desired to keep Mosul for various reasons because Mosul is the closest

route to Soviet Union, to Iran and the most convenient region to exert pres-
sure on Turkey. 363

In other words, Mustafa Kemal was perfectly aware that the British deep
state focused on Mosul for the purpose of being able to corner Turkey, and

he knew that Mosul was going to be one of the most challenging topics in Lau-
sanne.

Mastermind: The Truth of the British Deep State Revealed