ABSTRACT
Glancing at postcards of western Anatolian towns and advertisements in guidebooks from 1899 to 1920 resurrects the region's cosmopolitan past, which bustled with merchants, craftspeople, peasants and brigands of different religious and ethnic backgrounds. In response, the Representative Body ran elections in its area of control and invited the members of the Last Ottoman Parliament for the Grand National Assembly (henceforth GNA) to be convened in Ankara. The Greek Army swiftly advanced to the Anatolian heartland, broke the Turkish defence lines and captured the cities of Kütahya, Afyonkarahisar and Eskisehir. The Greek Orthodox and Armenian communities largely embraced the Greek occupation, the Levantine and Jewish communities remained distant, and amongst the Muslims, there was general disapproval. By the end of the Great Offensive, the Army of the GNA had started to concentrate its forces in the neutral zone surrounding the Turkish straits and Istanbul.
