In the north of Ottoman Kurdistan, in Anatolia, the power of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) was growing. Mustafa Kemal's Kemalist (Turkish nationalist) armies fought against the First Republic of Armenia. In this fight, the help of Kurds was important for the Kemalists' success. The Kemalists got help from the Kurds by saying that the Armenians wanted their land, and by saying that the Great Powers (the Allies of World War I) wanted Kurdistan to become part of the new Armenian state. In August 1919 Kurdish leaders were at the Erzurum Congress, and in September 1919 they were at the Sivas Congress.