Treaty of Lausanne

Borders of Turkey according to the Treaty of Lausanne
Signed	July 1923
Location	Lausanne, Switzerland
Condition	Ratification by Turkey and three of United Kingdom, Italy, France or Japan.
Signatories	British Empire France Italy  Japan 22x20px Greece Romania  Turkey
Depository	French Republic
Language	Turkish, English, French, German
v t e

The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland on 24 July 1923, that ended the state of war that had existed since 1914 between Turkey on the one hand, and the British Empire, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania and the Serb-Croatian-Slovene State on the other.^[1] Although the same parties had previously signed the Treaty of Sèvres, it was rejected before it had been ratified, by the Turkish national movement led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who fought against the terms of the treaty and the occupation of Anatolia. The Treaty of Lausanne ended the conflict and defined the borders of the modern Turkish state except for details of the border with Iraq. In the treaty, Turkey gave up all claims to the remainder of the Ottoman Empire and in return the other signatories recognized Turkish sovereignty within its new borders.^[1]

The treaty was ratified by Turkey on 23 August 1923,^[2][3] Greece on 25 August 1923,^[2] Italy on 12 March 1924,^[3] and Japan on 15 May 1924.^[3] Ratification by Great Britain was announced in the House of Commons on 16 July 1924.^[4] The treaty came into force on 6 August 1924 when the instruments of ratification had been officially deposited in Paris.^[1]

Background[link]

Borders of Turkey according to the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) which was annulled and replaced by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) as a consequence of the Turkish War of Independence led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

After the destruction of the Greek forces in Asia Minor and the expulsion of Ottoman sultan by the Turkish army under the command of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the Ankara-based government of the Turkish national movement i.e. Turkey, rejected the Treaty of Sèvres that was signed by the Ottoman Empire.

Negotiations were undertaken during the Conference of Lausanne at which İsmet İnönü was the chief negotiator for Turkey. Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary of that time, was the chief negotiator for the Allies, while Eleftherios Venizelos negotiated on behalf of Greece. The negotiations took many months. On 20 November 1922, the peace conference was opened and after strenuous debate was interrupted by Turkish protest on 4 February 1923. After reopening on 23 April, and following more protests by the Turks and tense debates, the treaty was signed on 24 July as a result of eight months of arduous negotiation. The delegation on behalf of the Allies included negotiators such as the U.S. Admiral Mark L. Bristol, who served as the United States High Commissioner and championed Turkish efforts.^[5]

Stipulations[link]

The treaty was composed of 143 articles with major sections including:^[6]

• Convention on the Turkish straits
• Trade (abolition of capitulations)
• Agreements
• Binding letters.

The treaty provided for the independence of the Republic of Turkey but also for the protection of the Greek Orthodox Christian minority in Turkey and the Muslim minority in Greece. However, most of the Christian population of Turkey and the Turkish population of Greece had already been deported under the earlier Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations signed by Greece and Turkey. Only the Greeks of Constantinople, Imbros and Tenedos were excluded (about 270,000 at that time),^[7] and the Muslim population of Western Thrace (about 129,120 in 1923.)^[8] Article 14 of the treaty granted the islands of Gökçeada (Imbros) and Bozcaada (Tenedos) "special administrative organisation", a right that was revoked by the Turkish government on 17 February 1926. The Republic of Turkey also formally accepted the loss of Cyprus (which was leased to the British Empire following the Congress of Berlin in 1878, but de jure remained an Ottoman territory until World War I) as well as Egypt and Sudan (which were occupied by British forces with the pretext of "putting down the Urabi Revolt and restoring order" in 1882, but de jure remained Ottoman territories until World War I) to the British Empire, which had unilaterally annexed them on 5 November 1914.^[1] The fate of the province of Mosul was left to be determined through the League of Nations. Turkey also renounced all claims on the Dodecanese Islands, which Italy was obliged to return to Turkey according to Article 2 of the Treaty of Ouchy in 1912^[9] - also known as the First Treaty of Lausanne (1912), as it was signed at the Ouchy Castle in Lausanne, Switzerland - following the Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912).^[9]

Borders[link]

Adakale Island in River Danube was totally forgotten during the peace talks at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, which allowed it to remain a de jure Turkish territory and the Ottoman Sultan's private possession until the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 (de facto until Romania unilaterally declared its sovereignty on the island in 1919 and further strengthened this claim with the Treaty of Trianon in 1920.)^[10]

The treaty delimited the boundaries of Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey; formally ceded all Turkish claims on the Dodecanese Islands (Article 15); Cyprus (Article 20); Egypt and Sudan (Article 17); Syria and Iraq (Article 3); and (along with the Treaty of Ankara) settled the boundaries of the latter two nations.^[1]

The territories to the south of Syria and Iraq on the Arabian Peninsula which still remained under Turkish control when the Armistice of Mudros was signed on 30 October 1918 were not explicitly identified in the text of the treaty. However, the definition of Turkey's southern border in Article 3 also meant that Turkey officially ceded them. These territories included Yemen, Asir and parts of Hejaz like the city of Medina. They were held by Turkish forces until 23 January 1919.^[11][12]

Turkey officially ceded Adakale Island in the River Danube to Romania with Articles 25 and 26 of the Treaty of Lausanne; by formally recognizing the related provisions in the Treaty of Trianon of 1920.^[1][10]

Turkey also renounced its privileges in Libya which were defined by Article 10 of the Treaty of Ouchy in 1912 (per Article 22 of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.)^[1]

Agreements[link]

Among many agreements, there was a separate agreement with the United States: the Chester concession. The United States Senate refused to ratify the treaty, and consequently Turkey annulled the concession.^[6]

Aftermath[link]

The Treaty of Lausanne led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the new Republic of Turkey as the successor state of the defunct Ottoman Empire.^[1] The Convention on the Turkish Straits lasted only thirteen years and was replaced with the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Turkish Straits in 1936. The customs limitations in the treaty were shortly reworked.

Hatay Province remained a part of the French Mandate of Syria according to the Treaty of Lausanne, but in 1938 gained its independence as the Hatay State, which later joined Turkey after a referendum in 1939. Syria does not recognize the addition of Hatay Province to Turkey and continues to show it as a part of Syria on its maps.^{[citation needed]}

Political amnesty was applied. 150 personae non gratae of Turkey (descendants of the Ottoman dynasty) slowly acquired citizenship — the last one was in 1974.

See also[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Treaty of Lausanne

• Aftermath of World War I
• Turks of Western Thrace
• Greeks of Turkey
• Turks of Greece
• Greek refugees
• Turkish refugees
• Minority Treaties
• Ismet Inönü

References[link]

External links[link]

• Full text of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923)
• Treaty of Ouchy (1912), also known as the First Treaty of Lausanne

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The southern part of the region of Thrace.

Turks of Western Thrace (Turkish: Batı Trakya Türkleri) are ethnic Turks who live in Western Thrace, in the north-eastern part of Greece.

According to the Greek census of 1991, there were approximately 50,000 Turks in Western Thrace, out of the approximately 98,000 strong Muslim minority of Greece.^[1] Other sources estimate the size of the Turkish community between 120,000 and 130,000.^[2][3]

The Greek government refers to the Turkish community as part of the Greek Muslims or Hellenic Muslims, and does not recognise a separate Turkish minority in Western Thrace.^[2] Nevertheless, the fundamental rights of this community are enshrined in the Greek constitution and the Treaty of Lausanne.

History[link]

Western Thrace became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1354 and remained in Turkish hands until 1913. At this time, the Turkish community outnumbered the Greek community four to one and owned close to 84% of the land. By August 31, 1913 the Turks of Western Thrace had formed the first 'Turkish republic', the Provisional Government of Western Thrace.^[4] However, it was taken over by the Kingdom of Bulgaria on October 25, 1913, which had been victorious in the First Balkan War. France occupied the area at the end of the First World War, following the defeat of Bulgaria, and it passed into Greek hands under the Treaty of Sèvres in August 1920.^[5] By 1923, the population of Western Thrace was 191,699, of whom 129,120 (67%) were Turks and 33,910 (18%) were Greeks; the remaining 28,669 were mostly Bulgarians, along with small numbers of Jews and Armenians.^[6] Under a protocol of the same year, the Turks of Western Thrace were exempted from the 1922-1923 exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey and were granted rights within the framework of the Lausanne Treaty. However, since 1923, between 300,000 to 400,000 Turks have left Western Thrace most of which have immigrated to Turkey.^[7][8]

According to the Turkish thesis, as it was presented at Lausanne Peace Conference (1923), the general distribution of population in Western Thrace was as follows^[9]:

Demographics[link]

The Turkish community has a strong presence in Komotini (Turkish: Gümülcine) and Xanthi (Turkish: İskeçe) departments, while it is scarcely present in the Evros prefecture, the closest to the international boundary with Turkey. According to estimates, Muslims as a whole, represented 36-38% of the Rhodopi Department population, 12-24% in the Xanthi Department and less than 5% in the Evros Department.^[10]

Culture[link]

Language[link]

According to Ethnologue, in 1976 the Turkish language was spoken by 128,000 people in Greece, the majority of which are located in Western Thrace.^[11] However, the Greek language is also widely used.^{[citation needed]}

Obligations of the Treaty of Lausanne[link]

Article 37 through 45 of the Lausanne Treaty set forth the obligations of the Greek and Turkish governments to protect the Turkish and Greek minorities in their territories. Each country agreed to provide the following:^[12]

• Protection of life and liberty without regard to birth, nationality, language, race or religion
• Free exercise of religion
• Freedom of movement and of emigration
• Equality before the law
• The same civil and political rights enjoyed by the majority
• Free use of language in private, in commerce, in religion, the press and publications, at public meetings and in the courts
• The right to establish and control charitable, religious and social institutions and schools
• Primary schools in which instruction is given in both languages
• Full protection for religious establishments and pious foundation

The Lausanne Treaty defined the rights of the Muslim communities in Western Thrace, on the basis of religion, not ethnicity, as well as maintained a balance between the minority communities of both countries (Turks in Greece and Greeks in Turkey) on reciprocal obligations toward each of those minorities. The Treaty contained specific obligations for their cultural and religious rights. However, at no time since 1923 did Greek officials instigate, support, or undertake measures against the Muslims of Western Thrace similar to those undertaken by successive Turkish Governments against the Greek minority in Turkey (like forced labor battalions, the Istanbul pogrom), a minority that is nearly eliminated today (70,000 in 1923 to 3,000 in 2000).^[13]

Politics[link]

Members of the Greek Parliament[link]

In 1990 a new electoral law was introduced in Greece, which set a threshold of at least 3% of the nationwide vote for a party to be represented in the parliament, independent Turkish MPs were thus barred from election at the 1993 elections. The participation of members of the minority in the Hellenic Parliament is since then assured by Turkish candidats from nationwide political parties, and the Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace, which succeeded the Independent Muslim List in 1991, practically disappeared from the electoral scene.^[14]

Greek legislative election, 2009[link]

There are presently two Turkish MPs from Western Thrace, both affiliated to the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, Çetin Mandacı (Xanthi) and Ahmet Hacıosman (Rhodope), former president (1999–2007) of the Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace created by former (1989) MP Sadık Ahmet in 1991.^[17]

At least 14 candidates from the Turkish minority have been nominated, mainly in Rhodope and Xanthi.^[18]

For New Democracy, former MP (2004–2007) İlhan Ahmet and Ahmet Ahmet are candidates in Rhodope,^[19] and in Xanthi Aysel Zeybek and Ahmet Budur.^[20] Zeybek had lost her Greek citizenship under Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code, which allowed of its revocation for non-ethnic Greeks who left the country.^[21] After a lengthy legal battle, she finally won her case with a second appeal before the European Court of Human Rights and re-secured her Greek citizenship in 2001.

For PASOK, Çetin Mandacı and Seval Osmanoğlu are among the 5 candidates in Xanthi, Rıdvan Kocamümin and Ahmet Hacıosman among the 5 in Rhodope.^[22]

For the KKE (which presently has no MP in Xanthi or Rhodope), Faik Faik in Rhodope and Hasan Efendi in Xanthi.

For SYRIZA (which presently has no MP in Xanthi or Rhodope), Hasan Malkoç and Hüseyin Zeybek are candidates in Xanthi,^[23] and in Rhodope^[24] Dr. Mustafa Mustafa (former MP) and Celalettin Yurtçu.^[25]

Human rights issues[link]

This section relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Discussion about the problems with the sole source used may be found on the talk page. (January 2010)

Citizenship[link]

According to the former Article 19 of the 1955 Citizenship Law (No. 3370), a person of non-Greek ethnic origin leaving Greece without the intention of returning may be declared as having lost Greek nationality. According to the Greek government, between 1955 and 1998, approximately 60,000 Greek Muslim individuals, predominantly Turkish, were deprived of their citizenship under Article 19. Of these 60,000, approximately 7,182 lost their citizenship between 1981 and 1997.^[26] Article 19 was repealed in 1998, though not retroactively.^[26]

Ethnic identity[link]

Since the Treaty of Lausanne used the criterion of religion to refer to the ethnic communities, Greek Government spokesmen have usually insisted that the basis of identification is religious and not ethnic (or national).^[27] Thus Greek officials refer to the Muslim minority in Greece, but deny the existence of a Turkish minority.^[28][29][30] Greek courts have also outlawed the use of the word 'Turkish' to describe the Turkish community. In 1988, the Greek High Court affirmed a 1986 decision of the Court of Appeals of Thrace in which the Union of Turkish Associations of Western Thrace was ordered closed. The court held that the use of the word 'Turkish' referred to citizens of Turkey, and could not be used to describe citizens of Greece; the use of the word 'Turkish' to describe Greek Muslims was held to endanger public order.^[31] This led to about 10,000 people demonstrating against the decision in Western Thrace. According to members of the Turkish minority, it was the first time ethnic Turks had taken to the streets.^[32]

Freedom of expression[link]

More than 10 newspapers are issued in the Turkish language. According to some sources, newspapers, magazines and books published in Turkey are not allowed entry into Western Thrace,^[33] and Turkish television and radio stations are sometimes jammed.^[34] According to other sources the minority has full and independent access to its own newspapers radio, television, and other written media coming from Turkey, regardless of their content.^[35]

Ownership of land[link]

In 1922, Turks owned 84% of the land in Western Thrace, but now the minority estimates this figure to be between 20–40%. This stems from various practices of the Greek administration whereby ethnic Greeks are encouraged to purchase Turkish land with soft loans granted by the state.^[8][36]

Religious freedom[link]

According to the Lausanne Treaty, the Turkish minority is entitled to freedom of religion and to the right to control charitable and religious institutions. However, the Turkish community believes that these international law guarantees have been violated by the Greek government^[37] by denying permission to repair or rebuild old mosques or to build new mosques, by denying the right to choose the muftis (this chief religious officers), and by efforts to control the Turkish communities charitable foundations.^[38] According to another source, more than 5 new mosques are being built in the prefecture of Xanthi alone and 19 new mosques are being built in the prefecture of Rhodope alone, while in the same prefecture the number of mosques exceeds 160.^[39]

Incidents[link]

According to a report by a local organization there have been frequent (six in 2010 and three in the first months of 2011) attacks against the private and public property of Turks in Western Thrace. Among the recent incidents are three in 2010 (in Kahveci, Kırmahalle, Popos and Ifestos at Komotini) where attackers desecrated Turkish cemeteries and broke tombstones. There were also attacks against mosques, Turkish associations and Turkish consulates, attackers used methods like throwing stones, molotov bombs and damaging buildings.^{[40][41][42][43][44]}

Migration[link]

Internal migration[link]

In the 1980s, the Greek Government offered clerical jobs in banks and public administrations in Athens to the Turkish speaking minority^[45] allegedly to weaken their presence in Western Thrace.^[46] Moreover, those who accepted these jobs were deprived of their minority rights when they moved to Athens, which partly explains why there are no mosques or Turkish language schools in Athens.^[46] The majority who primarily come from Komotini and to a lesser extent from Xanthi live in the neighbourhood of Gazi which is close to the centre of Athens. There are different estimates about the number of people from Western Thrace living in the Athens vicinity (Attica) which vary between 5,000 to 10,000 people.^[47] By leaving Western Thrace and integrating into Athens, some Turks that are still living in Western Thrace have seen those who have migrated to Athens as 'betraying' their community.^[48]

Diaspora[link]

Between 300,000 to 400,000 Turks have left Western Thrace since 1923; most of them immigrated to Turkey.^[7][8] Western Thrace Turks have also immigrated to Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Austria and Italy. Thus, overall there are an estimated 1 million Turks whose roots are from Western Thrace.^[49]

Americas[link]

United States of America[link]

A fairly large number of ethnic Turks from Western Thrace emigrated and settled in the United States roughly between 1900 and 1914 when American immigration policies were quite liberal. These Turks were listed as Bulgarians and Greeks due to their country of origin, even though they were ethnic Turks and identified themselves as such.^[50] Moreover, many immigrant families who were ethnically Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Macedonian or Serbian included children of Turkish origin whose parents had been cleansed after Macedonia was partitioned between Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece following the Balkan War of 1912-13. These Turkish children had been sheltered, baptised and adopted, and then used as field laborers. When the adopting families had to emigrate to America, they listed these children as family members, although most of these Turkish children still remembered their ethnic origin.^[50]

Europe[link]

It is estimated that there is between 25,000 and 40,000 Western Thrace Turks living in Western Europe.^[51][52]

Germany[link]

There are some members of the Greek Muslim community among the some 350,000 Greeks living in Germany who are Turks or who espouse a Turkish identity.^[53] The majority of Turks immigrated from Western Thrace.^[54] In the 1960s and 1970s, the Thracian tobacco industry was affected by a severe crisis and many tobacco growers lost their income. This resulted in many Turks leaving their homes and immigrating to Germany with estimates suggesting that today there are now between 12,000^[55] and 25,000^[56] residing in Germany.

Netherlands[link]

A minority of Western Thrace Turks can be found in the Netherlands, especially in the Randstad region; after Germany, the Netherlands is the most popular destination for Turkish immigrants.^[57]

United Kingdom[link]

There is an estimated 600-700 Western Thrace Turks living in London although this does not include those who are British born. The total number living outside of London is unknown.^[57] However even their small number, Western Thrace Turks in the UK have a own comminty (Association of Western Thrace Turks UK)^[58]

Notable people[link]

• Sadık Ahmet, Doctor
• Cavit Çağlar
• Nimet Çalapala
• Turgay Cin
• Şerif Gören, Winner of 1982 Palme d'Or in Cannes Film Festival
• Yahya Gür
• Ahmet Hacıosman, Politician
• Hasan Hatipoğlu
• Mustafa Hüseyinoğlu, Actor
• Hadi Hüsman
• Mehmet Esat İleri, Politician
• Çetin Mandacı, Politician
• Mustafa Mustafa, Politician
• Hüseyin Mümin, Footballer

See also[link]

• 1990 Komotini events
• Cretan Turks
• Turks of the Dodecanese
• Western Thrace
• Provisional Government of Western Thrace
• Greeks in Turkey

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

External links[link]

• Human Rights Watch document: Destroying ethnic identity - The Turks of Greece, August 1990
• Human Rights Watch document: Greece - Improvements for Turkish minority - Problems remain, April 1992
• Human Rights Watch document: Greece - The Turks of Western Thrace, January 1999
• Umbrella organisation of Western Thrace Turks and UN-ECOSOC member: Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe

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