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Mustafa Kemal Pasha came to Erzurum on 3 July 1919. Years later he described it as follows:
"My arrival in Erzurum coincided with a time when the whole nation was in a fire circle. All the people were thinking about how to get out of that circle."

Mustafa Kemal Pasha was received and greeted enthusiastically by the people of Erzurum. There was also a conversation between him and the old Mevlût Ağa, who had extra come from Çukurova to Erzurum. The old but energetic Mevlût Ağa was asked by Mustafa Kemal Pasha why he had come from Cukurova? Mevlût Ağa answered:
"We felt very comfortable. But in recent days there have been rumours that the occupiers in Istanbul will give Erzurum to the Armenians. I have come to see to whom they will give our land".

These words touched Mustafa Kemal Pasha. An old man, who was willing to give everything for his country, made the effort to be part of the resistance.

He turned around and returned to the old man:
"What we can't do with this will!

Mustafa Kemal Pasha resigned from his beloved military service and post five days after his arrival in Erzurum on July 8, 1919. Now he continued his historical mission as leader and leader of the organized resistance and took his strength and inspiration from the people and the nation.

After his resignation from the army, Mustafa Kemal Pasha was appointed Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Association for the Defence of National Law. At that time, the Committee was preparing for a Congress that would include the eastern provinces according to an earlier decision.

Mustafa Kemal Pasha was allowed to participate in this Congress as Chairman of the Executive Committee. However, he wanted to participate in this Congress especially as a representative of Erzurum. Unfortunately, there were already enough members from Erzurum. But there was also an immediate solution. The esteemed and respected sons of Erzurum, Kâzım Yurdalan and Cevat Dursunoğlu, left their places to Mustafa Kemal Pasha and Rauf Bey. So the away from Mustafa Kemal Pasha was levelled to Congress.

The Erzurum Congress was held on 23 July 1919 with 62 delegates in an old primary school hall. Hoca Raif Efendi, one of the delegates of Erzurum, opened the Congress as provisional chairman. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was elected President. The Congress of Erzurum sat for 14 days as a constituent assembly and ended its work with the publication of a declaration on 7 August 1919.

This Congress, which was the flag of the National resistance, was no accident. Erzurum was one of the regions where the resistance was strongest after the Mondros contract. Under the terms of the agreement, the occupier wanted to surrender Erzurum to an enlarged Armenia. Erzurum was land that was defended for centuries and irrigated with martyr's blood. This situation made the region a national unity of resistance. In addition, the eastern Black Sea provinces and districts were represented by 17 delegates from Trabzon. The Greeks in the region used the Mondros contract to create a Greek state called Pontus to cover the eastern Black Sea cities. This danger in the Eastern Anatolian territories had to be fought.

The Erzurum Congress met under difficult conditions. In some provinces there were great difficulties in selecting the members of the Congress and in sending the elected members to the Congress. Some of the representatives were intimidated by pressure from the government of Istanbul. Some were prevented from leaving their provinces. Some provinces even refused to send delegates because they were afraid of the occupiers.

The members elected from the provinces of Elaziz, Diyarbakır and Mardin were imprisoned under pressure from the Governor and were therefore unable to attend the Congress. For this reason Mustafa Kemal Pasha took serious and drastic steps for the convening of the Congress. While the individual provinces sent telegrams to the other provinces, the employees and the commanders were informed about the coding of the telegrams. In the end, enough representatives came together and the Congress could be assembled.

The Erzurum Congress was formed under these difficult conditions. The provinces and districts of the eastern Black Sea region were formed by 17 delegates from Trabzon, 25 delegates from provinces and districts representing Erzurum, 14 from Sivas, 4 from Bitlis and 2 from Van. A total of 62 members were gathered. Considering the current administrative division, the election of the members includes almost 30 Eastern Anatolian and Eastern Black Sea provinces and their districts.

With the meeting of the Erzurum Congress and the beginning of its activities, the palace and the government in Istanbul began intensive efforts to suppress the emerging voices of resistance in Anatolia.

It was announced that Mustafa Kemal was a traitor who rebelled against the state and the Congress of Erzurum was illegally assembled. All kinds of prevention were used to arrest Mustafa Kemal Pasha.
The efforts of the government in Istanbul to dissolve the Congress and the organizers caught increasing failed because no one followed these orders. The people wanted the congress, the people wanted the liberation of the country from the occupiers. The nation wanted the resistance and the struggle.

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