I read his statements about this issue. He is throwing dirt to Atatürk and his friends. Criticizing Atatürk for allowing Islands to remain in the Greek possession. His words are for inner consumption.
Turcophobics jumping to his statements as usual.
When we look at the history....Atatürk started the resistance in 19 May 1919...at that time, Turkey was under the invasion of many countries, armies dispersed, no naval force, no airforce, etc...
He managed to kick out the invaders....yeah, he couldn't captured Islands.....he had no navy, 1/3 of the entire Turkish nation perished. He couldn't risk to enter a new war against United Kingdom over Musul with a devastated country, exhausted population.
And Erdoğan with all his brilliance tries to show this like a defeat.