Slanders On Muslims In History

Lloyd George

Lloyd George was the British Prime Minister when the plan to partition the Ottoman Empire was being implemented. This is how Churchill described Lloyd George's outlook and his plans for the future of Turks and Turkish territory:

The Greek [Lloyd George asserted] are the people of the culture in Eastern Mediterranean. … A greater Greece will be an invaluable advantage to our British Empire. … they will possess all the most important islands in the Eastern Mediterranean. These islands are the potential submarine bases of the future; they lie on the flank of our communications through the Suez Canal with India, the Far East and Australia.

In December 22, 1920, Lloyd George stated the importance of friendship of the Greek people in Asia Minor as, 'vital to Great Britain, more vital than to any other country in the world.'³¹⁵

What Lloyd George meant was a so-called 'Greater Greece' incorporating Anatolia, one that would be safeguarding the borders of the British Empire. To this end, George helped Greeks launch an offensive in East Thrace and Izmir. The British supposed that this way, they wouldn't be risking British soldiers as they tried to defeat Turks at their homeland, and use Greek Prime Minister Venizelos instead, who entertained dreams of a 'Greater Greece'. By means of the Greek offensive, George wanted to destroy the remaining vestiges of Turkish resistance and facilitate the process of distributing the Turkish lands amongst the Allies. He indeed put this plan into practice, and completely abandoned the Greeks after their humiliating defeat, in a volte-face from his previous unwavering support for the Greeks.

The British Prime Minister didn't refrain from clearly displaying his racist approach to Turks with statements like, "You cannot trust them,… and they are a decadent race".³¹⁶ In order to get the necessary approval from his Cabinet and the British parliament to start the occupation of Istanbul, he claimed that Turks could be brought to reason only by using a power they could not resist.³¹⁷

The remarks of Lloyd George about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, made in the House of Commons on October 19, 1922, clearly displayed who foiled the plots of the British deep state:

The centuries rarely produce a genius. … the great genius of our era was granted to the Turkish nation..³¹⁸

When his plans to dismember Turkey failed, Lloyd George had no option but to step down. By the 1930s, he had already sunk into oblivion and had no more public support or political influence.