Kuva-yi Milliye

Kuvâ-yi Milliye
Kuvâ-yi Milliye
	Ethem the Circassian, his Circassian men (Kuva-yi Seyyare) and Mustafa Kemal Pasha in front of the main building of the station, who were on their way to the Yozgat rebellion (June 1920)
Active	1918–1921
Country	Ottoman Empire
Allegiance	Grand National Assembly (until 27 December 1920)
Type	Militia
Role	Turkish Independence
Size	5,000 (1919); 15,000 (peak in 1920)
Motto(s)	Ya istiklâl ya ölüm!; (Independence or death!)[citation needed]
Colors	Red and White
Engagements	Turkish War of Independence
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Mustafa Kemal Pasha; (Nominally commander-in-chief); Ethem the Circassian (Main commander until 1921); Yörük Ali Efe (Commander, Western Front); Şahin Bey (Commander, Southern Front); Topal Osman (Commander)

The Kuva-yi Milliye (Ottoman Turkish: قواى مليه; lit. 'National Forces'^[2]^[3] or 'Nationalist Forces'^[4]) were irregular Turkish militia forces^[4] active in the early period of the Turkish War of Independence. These irregular forces emerged after the occupation of the parts of Turkey by the Allied forces in accordance with the Armistice of Mudros. Later, Kuva-yi Milliye were integrated to the regular army (Kuva-yi Nizamiye)^[4] of the Grand National Assembly. Some historians call this period (1918–20) of the Turkish War of Independence the "Kuva-yi Milliye phase".^[5]

^ Selek, Sabahattin (1987), Anadolu ihtilâli (in Turkish), vol. 1, Kastaş AŞ Yayınları, p. 127
^ Akşin, Sina (2007), Turkey: From Empire to Revolutionary Republic: The Emergence of the Turkish Nation from 1789 to the Present, New York University Press, p. 126, ISBN 978-0-8147-0722-7
^ Shaw, Stanford J; Shaw, Ezel Kural (1977), History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, p. 341, ISBN 978-0-521-29166-8
^ ^a ^b ^c Smith, Elaine Diana (1959), Turkey: Origins of the Kemalist Movement and The Government of the Grand National Assembly, 1919–1923, The American university, p. 68
^ Kasalak, Kadir (November 1998), "Kuva-yı Milliye'nin Askeri Açıdan Etüdü", Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi (in Turkish), XIV (42), Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nin: 75, archived from the original on 2011-12-10, retrieved 2011-07-24. Yılı Özel Sayısı.