Mudanya Mütareke Evi Müzesi

The Mudanya Armistice House Museum is a white-painted wooden mansion standing on 12 Eylül Caddesi, the road that runs along the Marmara shore in the centre of the Mudanya district. The Armistice of Mudanya between the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Allied Powers was signed in this house on 11 October 1922. The museum page of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism describes the armistice as the first political success of the Assembly Government. The house stands a few steps back from the coastal road and is easy to pick out from a distance by the small square and the flagpoles in front of it. With its white timber cladding, its projecting bay and the small balcony on the attic floor, it is instantly recognisable among the buildings along the shore. According to the Ministry page, the house dates from the late 19th century and belonged to Aleksandr Ganyanof, a merchant of Russian origin. It was later bought and repaired by Hayri İpar, a businessman from Mudanya, and opened in 1937 as a museum attached to the Mudanya Municipality; English Wikipedia records that İpar donated the house for use as a museum in 1936, after restoration. In 1959 the museum was transferred to the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums, and today it is a Ministry museum. The building is a two-storey timber house, not counting the basement and the attic; according to Wikipedia it covers a footprint of 400 square metres on an 800 square metre plot and has 13 rooms and two large halls. The first floor holds the hall where the armistice was signed and the study of İsmet Paşa, who represented the Assembly Government in the talks. The upper floor contains the bedrooms of İsmet Paşa, of Asım Gündüz Paşa, who was a member of the delegation, and of their aides. The furnishings of the armistice period are preserved in the house, and photographs and documents from those days are also displayed. Turkish Wikipedia notes that the marble table İsmet Paşa is said to have split in two with a blow of his fist during the negotiations is exhibited in his study. The museum was closed for renovation on 11 March 2013 and reopened on 10 October 2014 once the display work was finished; after the latest repairs it opened again on 11 October 2022, on the exact centenary of the armistice. To appreciate the house it helps to know the story of the armistice in outline. According to the entry on the Armistice of Mudanya in the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam, Greece asked the Allies to mediate immediately after the Great Offensive, and the high commissioners in Istanbul made the first armistice proposal on 4 September 1922. After the French politician Henry Franklin-Bouillon met Mustafa Kemal Paşa in İzmir on 28 September, it was agreed that the talks would begin in Mudanya on 3 October and that İsmet Paşa would represent the Turkish side. The Turkish delegation also included Asım Paşa, chief of staff of the Western Front, and staff lieutenant colonel Tevfik Bıyıklıoğlu; Britain was represented by General Harrington, France by General Charpy and Italy by General Monbelli. The Greek delegates came to Mudanya but did not take part in the talks, waiting instead on a ship anchored in the harbour. The talks broke off on 5 October; when Mustafa Kemal Paşa gave the armies freedom of movement towards the Straits and İsmet Paşa demanded the immediate evacuation of Thrace, the Allied representatives reached a new agreement in Paris. The talks resumed on 9 October and the armistice was signed on the morning of 11 October 1922. Under its terms the Greek forces were to evacuate Eastern Thrace, including Edirne, within fifteen days, and the region was to be handed over to Turkish administration under Allied supervision within thirty days at most. The Greek government, which at first refused the terms, was obliged three days later to announce that it had ratified the convention; the withdrawal of the Greek forces and the transfer of the administration were completed within thirty days. The TDV entry records that Eastern Thrace had rejoined the homeland by the end of November and that the Assembly Government was formally recognised by the Allied Powers. According to the same entry, Mustafa Kemal Paşa declared in a circular he issued that the first fruit of the great victory had been gathered at Mudanya. In this sense Mudanya is where the first step on the road to Lausanne was taken, and the museum shows the rooms in which that step was made. An hour is enough for the visit; start with the signing hall on the first floor, look at the arrangement of the table and chairs, then move on to İsmet Paşa's study and the bedrooms upstairs. The photographs on the walls introduce the members of the delegations and the appearance of Mudanya in 1922; take your time over the documents. On leaving, look out from the square in front of the house across the Marmara to the opposite shore; according to the TDV entry, the Greek delegates waited on a ship anchored in this harbour while the talks went on. The museum is closed on Mondays; check the opening hours and ticket information at muze.gov.tr. The Müzekart is accepted. According to the Culture Portal, Mudanya is reached from central Bursa by the metro and the Mudanya buses, and the museum is a walk along the shore from the town centre. It is easy to combine the museum with a stroll along the Mudanya waterfront; September and October are the most comfortable months in terms of both weather and crowds.