The siege of AintabŞimşir, Bilâl, İngiliz Belgelerinde Atatürk, 1919–1938, Volume 3, Istanbul: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, p. 168.Documents on British foreign policy, 1919-1939, London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1970, vol. 15, p. 155. (;Abadie.Opérations au Levant - Les 4 sièges d'Aïntab (1920-1921) Paris:Charles-Lavauzelle et Cie, 1922 (French). ; ) was a military engagement between the Turkish National Forces and the French Army of the Levant occupying the city of Aintab (present-day Gaziantep) during the Turkish War of Independence (specifically its southern front, known as the Franco-Turkish War).
Fighting began in April 1920, when French forces opened fire on the city. It ended with the Kemalist defeat and the city's surrender to the French military forces on 9 February 1921.Gesar, A. "Agony of a City: The 314 Days of Aintab," Pts. 1–2, Armenian Review 30/2-3 (Summer-Autumn 1977): pp. 115–147, 265–281. However, despite a victory, the French ultimately decided to retreat from the city leaving it to Kemalist forces on 20 October 1921 in accordance with the Treaty of Ankara.Ümit Kurt, The Armenians of Aintab, Harvard University Press, 2021, p. 27 According to Ümit Kurt, born in modern-day Gaziantep and an academic at Harvard's Center for Middle East Studies, the resistance movement not just sought to regain the control of the city but also aimed at keeping the loots from the local Armenians and eradicating the Armenian community of the city.Ümit Kurt, Destruction of Aintab Armenians and Emergence of the New Wealthy Class: Plunder of Armenian Wealth in Aintab (1890s-1920s), Ph.D. Dissertation, Clark University, Worcester, MA, Strassler Center of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 19 April 2016, quoted in Robert Fisk, "A beautiful mosque and the dark period of the Armenian genocide", The Independent, 15 October 2016
Timeline
1920 1 - 16 April: 1st Turkish siege 30 April - 23 May: 2nd Turkish siege 30 May - 18 June: 1920 armistice 29 July - 10 August: 3rd Turkish siege 11 August: beginning of French siege 21 November - 18 December: Goubeau column participation
1921 7 February: last exit attempt 8 February: sending of a city parliamentary mission - cease fire 9 February: capitulation
Notes
References
Further reading Shepard, Dr. Lorin, "Fighting the Turks at Aintab," Current History 14/4 (July 1921). О 4 осадах Аинтаба // Битва Гвардий - https://btgv.ru/history/troops-history/entente/about-the-4-sieges-of-aintab/