Siege of Aintab

The siege of Aintab^[8][9] (French: Les Quatres Sièges d'Aïntab;^[10] Ottoman Turkish: عین تاب قوشاتماسى; Turkish: Antep Kuşatması) 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).

Siege of Aintab
Part of the Franco-Turkish War
After the siege of Aïntab and the Turkish surrender of February 8, 1921, the Turkish authorities of the city presented themselves to General de Lamothe, commanding the 2nd division.
Date 1 April 1920 – 8 February 1921[1] Location Aintab, Aleppo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire Result French victory[2]
Belligerents
Kuva-yi Milliye	France French Armenian Legion
Commanders and leaders
"Kılıç" Ali Bey Şahin Bey Şefik "Özdemir" Bey Colonel Kenan Bey	Henri Gouraud Louis Albert Quérette Fernand Goubeau Pierre Flye Sainte-Marie Maurice-Jean-Joseph Abadie C.J. E. Andréa
Strength
Total force:[3][4][Note 1] 2.920 militia fighters, 6 machine guns,[5] 3 mountain guns[5]	Total force:[3][4][Note 2] 12,000 French soldiers,[6] 1,500 Armenian soldiers,[Note 3] 4 tanks, 11 artillery batteries, 1,400 military animals,[5] 6 aircraft, 1 mobile hospital[5]
Casualties and losses
6,317 killed (mostly civilians)[7] over 2,000 prisoners 1,400 guns 10 machine guns	on 10 September: 1,600 French soldiers, including 4 high rank officers, killed according to French Army sources[5]

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.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]