Sivas Congress was an assembly of the Turkish National Movement held from 4 September to 11 September 1919 in the city of Sivas, in central-eastern Turkey, that united delegates from all Anatolian provinces of the Ottoman Empire, which was defunct at the time in practical terms. At the time of the convention, the state capital (İstanbul) as well as many provincial cities and regions were under occupation. The call for the congress had been issued by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with his Amasya Circular three months before and the preparatory work had been handled during Erzurum Congress. The congress at Sivas took a number of vital decisions which were fundamentally to shape the future policy to be conducted in the frame of the Turkish War of Independence.