the speech that was delivered years later before the same National Assembly at the Second General Conference of the Republican People's Party, which took part from October 15 to 20, 1927, Kemal was said to have ordered that "not an inch of the country should be abandoned until it was drenched with the blood of the citizens" once he realised that the Turkish Army was losing ground rapidly and that virtually no natural defences were left between the battle line and Ankara. Lord Curzon argued that the military situation became a stalemate with time tending favour the Turks. Their reputation by the British was improving. In his opinion, the Turkish nationalists were then more ready to negotiate. The Ankara government then signed the Treaty of Kars with the Russians and the most important Treaty of Ankara with the French, which reduced the enemy's front notably in the Cilician theatre and allowed it to concentrate against the Greeks to the west. For the Turkish troops, the battle was the turning point of the war, which would develop in a series of important military clashes against the Greeks and drive the invaders out of Asia Minor during the Turkish War of Independence. The Greeks could do nothing but fight to secure their retreat. On August 26, the Turkish offensive started with Battle of Dumlupınar. Kemal dispatched his army on a drive to the coast of the Aegean Sea to pursue the Greek Army. That would culminate in the direct assault of Smyrna from September 9 to 11, 1922. The war ended by the withdrawal of the Greeks from Asia Minor, as would be formalised by the Treaty of Lausanne, on 24 July 1923. Gallery See also First Battle of İnönü Second Battle of İnönü Mehmetçik Monument Notes References Bibliography See also Order of battle for the Battle of Sakarya Conflicts in 1921 Sakarya 1921 Angora vilayet 1921 in the Ottoman Empire 1921 in Greece History of Sakarya Province August 1921 events September 1921 events Battles of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Battles of İsmet İnönü