Part 2
At the end of 1909 there was a great uprising in Albania, a department that was sent there was not sufficient to defeat the uprising. In May 1910 the War Minister Mahmut Şevket Pasha arrived in Thessaloniki. At the beginning of a great power prepared here, Mustafa Kemal also moved to Albania, where he was a member of the Staff Council. The rebellion was completely suppressed within a month. Mustafa Kemal then returned back to Thessaloniki.
Mustafa Kemal was sent to France in September 1910 to oversee the Picardi manoeuvres while successfully carrying out his duties in Thessaloniki. Here he got to know the French army and its commanders. On 15 January 1911, Mustafa Kemal was dismissed from his position in the 3rd Army Headquarters and appointed Deputy Commander of the 38th Infantry Regiment in Thessaloniki.
He also achieved great success in this role. He still won the love and respect of his friends and the appreciation of his superiors. After serving eight months as Deputy Commander of the 38th Infantry Regiment, he was called to Istanbul by the Harbiye Ministry. Then Mustafa Kemal came to Istanbul in mid-September 1911 and was assigned to the General Staff.
On 29 September 1911 the Italians declared war on the Ottoman Empire and the Tripoli War had begun. Mustafa Kemal left Istanbul on 15 October 1911 to volunteer in the area. Upon his arrival in Tripoli, he held a position as a volunteer for the local armed forces in the Tobruk and Derne regions. At this time, on 27 November 1911, his rank was promoted to a Major.
The Balkan war began in October 1912. On 24 October 1912 Mustafa Kemal moved from Derne to Istanbul. On 25 November 1912, he was appointed director of Operation Dormitory Command on Dardanellen Street in Gelibolu, and thus also sent to Gallipoli. The events developed rapidly, Thessaloniki had fallen, the Bulgarian army had advanced and reached Çatalca. After a while he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Bolayir Corps. In this function Dimetoka and Edirne received great service from the Bulgarians. On 27 October 1913, shortly after the end of the Balkan War, Mustafa Kemal was appointed to the military attaché office in Sofia.
On 11 January 1914 he was charged with the execution of Bucharest, Belgrade and Çetine Attachments. He was also ordered to carry out the military attack. When he was appointed to the design office in Sofia, his close friend Ali Fethi was also present as an ambassador in Sofia. Mustafa Kemal was promoted to lieutenant-colonel status on 1 March 1914 during the military attache of Sofia. He remained in Sofia until the end of January 1915.
When Mustafa Kemal was in Sofia on 1 August 1914, the First World War began with the declaration of war on Russia. Mustafa Kemal observes the political and military events with great care. On the one hand, he had communicated his views and opinions to the War Ministry. According to him, the Ottoman Empire had to remain outside this great war, unless it became obligatory. However, the rapid development of events forced the Ottoman Empire to enter the war alongside the Allies on 29 October 1914.
With regard to these developments, Mustafa Kemal asked the Commander-in-Chief to render him an effective service, but his request was not fulfilled for a while. At his insistence, they appointed him Commander-in-Chief at Tekirdağ on 20 January 1915. On this order Mustafa Kemal left Sofia and returned to Istanbul. He immediately moved to his new place of service. This section was transferred from Tekirdağ to Maydos, Eceabat on February 25, 1915, when the necessity saw it. Mustafa Kemal served alongside the 19th Division as commander of the Maydos district to receive the orders of the 9th Infantry Regiment of the 9th Division and some artillery units.
There were important events on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The British and French navies marched into the Dardanelles on 18 March 1915 to pass through the Dardanelles. Against the successful defence of the coastal artillery, however, it was not possible to achieve results. The enemy, who had not managed to pass the Dardanelles with his fleet, decided to displace the Gallipoli peninsula this time. As events developed in this way, the General Staff decided to found the 5th Army in Gallipoli on 24 March 1915 and appointed Marshal Liman von Sanders as commander. Marshal Liman von Sanders divided his troops into three groups against possible enemy attacks. Mustafa Kemal ordered that the troops had secured the army. Mustafa Kemal and his division went to Bigali on 18 April 1915 according to this plan.
