Treaty of Lausanne

The Conference of Lausanne

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• published: 19 Jun 2015
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The Conference of Lausanne was a conference held in Lausanne, Switzerland during 1922 and 1923. Its purpose was the negotiation of a treaty to replace the Treaty of Sèvres, which, under the new government of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was no longer recognized by Turkey. The conference opened in November 1922, with representatives from the Great Britain, France, Italy and Turkey. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey selected İsmet Pasha, Rıza Nur and Chief Rabbi Nahum as their representatives. Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, was the coordinator of the conference and dominated it. France and Italy had assumed that, following the Chanak Crisis, British prestige with Turkey would be irrevocably damaged; they were shocked to discover that Turkish respect for Britain was undiminished, since British troops had held their positions at Chanak while the French had been ordered to withdraw. The conference lasted for eleven weeks. It heard speeches from Benito Mussolini of Italy and Raymond Poincaré of France. The proceedings of the conference were notable for the stubborn diplomacy of İsmet Pasha. Already partially deaf, he would simply turn off his hearing aid when Curzon launched into lengthy speeches denouncing the Turkish position. Once Curzon was finished, Pasha would restate his original demands, oblivious to Curzon's denunciations. At the conclusion, Turkey assented to the political clauses and the "freedom of the straits", which was Britain's main concern. The matter of the status of Mosul was deferred, since Curzon refused to be budged on the British position that the area was part of Iraq. The French delegation, however, did not achieve any of their goals and on 30 January 1923 issued a statement that they did not consider the draft treaty to be any more than a basis of discussion. The Turks therefore refused to sign the treaty. On 4 February 1923, Curzon made a final appeal to İsmet Pasha to sign, and when he refused the Foreign Secretary broke off negotiations and left that night on the Orient Express. The Treaty of Lausanne was finally signed on 24 July 1923. The harsh Treaty of Sevres imposed upon the government of the Ottoman Empire after World War I by the Allied Powers included provisions that demanded the partition of Anatolia. The treaty demanded the occupation of French and Italian zones of occupation in the southeast and southwest, the cession of much of western Anatolia to Greece, and the establishment of two independent states, Armenia and Kurdistan, in the east and southwest. The Ottoman state was to have a small army and navy without heavy artillery, plane, or battleships and the Ottoman budget was to be placed under the supervisions of an Allied financial commission. Unsurprisingly Turkish nationalists were vehemently apposed to these clauses and decided to fight to inhibit their effectiveness. In the Turkish War of Independence that followed, the Turkish nationalist army defeated the Greeks and created resolutions with the French and Italians in order to secure a sovereign, independent, Turkish state in Anatolia. Preliminary meetings The location of Lausanne, Switzerland was chosen as a neutral area by Britain, France, and Italy to discuss the new policies in the Near East. Representatives of the Soviet Union would be invited solely for the purpose of renegotiating the Straits Convention. Before the Conference even began, Lord Curzon of Britain expressed doubts upon the reliability of France and Italy for support for he stated, "I am not going into the conference in order to find myself let down very likely on the first day by the French or Italians." He thereto for demanded a preliminary meeting of the three nations in order to reach a preliminary strategy before traveling to Lausanne. Curzon prepared a list of British demands separated into two categories: ‘Essential’ - which included Greek retention of Western Thrace, the freedom of the Straits to shipping, demilitarized zones on the coasts and retention of Allied troops in Istanbul until a new treaty was ratified. The second category was entitled ‘Most Desirable’ and included measures for the protection of the minorities in Turkey, preliminary safeguards of the Armenian population, satisfaction of Allied requirements of the Ottoman debt, capitulations, and the future financial and economic regime in Turkey. Preliminary meetings took place in Paris between Lord Curzon and the French statesman Raymond Poincaré on 18 November 1922, lasting five hours. Poincaré addressed each of Lord Curzon’s aims point by point and reluctantly agreed to the majority of them. The two then met with Benito Mussolini who quickly agreed to the agenda due to his overall indifference to the negotiations.