Treaty of Lausanne (1923): Founding Peace of Modern Turkey

The Treaty of Lausanne was the peace settlement signed on 24 July 1923 in Lausanne, Switzerland, between Turkey and the Allied powers of the First World War. It replaced the punitive Treaty of Sevres, recognised the borders of the new Turkish state and confirmed a compulsory exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey. It is often called the founding international document of the Republic of Turkey.

Background

At the end of the First World War the Allies planned to partition the defeated Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of Sevres, signed by the Sultan’s government in August 1920, would have given large areas to Greece, Armenia, Britain, France and Italy and left only a small Turkish state in Anatolia.

The Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal refused to accept it. During the Turkish War of Independence they defeated Armenian forces in the east, made peace with France and Italy and, in August and September 1922, routed the Greek army in western Anatolia. The Armistice of Mudanya in October 1922 ended the fighting, and the Allies invited both the nationalist government in Ankara and the Sultan’s government to a peace conference. In response the Grand National Assembly abolished the sultanate on 1 November 1922, leaving Ankara as the sole Turkish voice.

The conference

The Lausanne conference opened on 20 November 1922. The Turkish delegation was led by Ismet Pasha, a general and close ally of Mustafa Kemal, while Lord Curzon, the British foreign secretary, dominated the Allied side. Eleftherios Venizelos represented Greece. Ismet, who was hard of hearing, became known for stubbornly refusing concessions on Turkish sovereignty.

Talks broke down on 4 February 1923, mainly over economic issues, the capitulations and the oil-rich province of Mosul. They resumed on 23 April and the treaty was signed on 24 July 1923. It came into force on 6 August 1924.

Main terms

• Borders: Turkey kept Anatolia and Eastern Thrace up to the Maritsa (Evros) river, including Istanbul and Edirne. It renounced claims to the former Arab provinces of the empire, recognised British control of Cyprus and Italian rule over the Dodecanese, and regained the Aegean islands of Imbros and Tenedos.
• Sovereignty: The capitulations, privileges that had exempted foreigners from Ottoman law and taxes, were abolished. The foreign financial controls of Sevres were dropped, and Turkey paid no war reparations.
• The Straits: The Bosporus and Dardanelles were demilitarised and opened to shipping under an international commission.
• Minorities: Non-Muslim minorities in Turkey and Muslims in Greece received guarantees of protection. There was no provision for an Armenian state or Kurdish autonomy, both mentioned at Sevres.
• Unresolved issues: The border with British-ruled Iraq, including Mosul, was left to later negotiation; the League of Nations awarded Mosul to Iraq in 1925, a decision confirmed by treaty in 1926.

The population exchange

A separate convention, signed at Lausanne on 30 January 1923, provided for the compulsory exchange of the Greek Orthodox population of Turkey and the Muslim population of Greece. The criterion was religion, not language, so Turkish-speaking Orthodox Christians and Greek-speaking Muslims were also moved. The Greeks of Istanbul and the Muslims of Western Thrace were exempted.

Around 1.2 million Orthodox Christians were affected, most of whom had already fled Anatolia during the war, including after the Great Fire of Smyrna. Roughly 400,000 Muslims were moved from Greece to Turkey. The exchange caused great suffering, but it was later cited, controversially, as a model for resolving ethnic conflicts by moving populations.

Key people

• Ismet Pasha (later Ismet Inonu): chief Turkish negotiator, who later served as prime minister and, after Ataturk’s death in 1938, as the second president of Turkey.
• Lord Curzon: British foreign secretary, who led the Allied side in the first phase of the conference; Sir Horace Rumbold signed for Britain in July 1923.
• Eleftherios Venizelos: former Greek prime minister, who represented Greece and negotiated directly with Ismet on the population exchange and on reparations.
• Fridtjof Nansen: the League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who had proposed an organised exchange of populations in late 1922.

Legacy

Lausanne secured international recognition for the new Turkish state. Allied troops left Istanbul in October 1923, Ankara became the capital, and the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed on 29 October 1923. Of all the peace settlements after the First World War, it proved one of the longest-lasting.

For Greece the treaty confirmed the end of hopes for a greater Greece in Asia Minor. For Armenians and Kurds it closed the possibilities raised at Sevres, which remains a source of grievance. The Straits regime was replaced by the Montreux Convention of 1936, which returned control of the Straits to Turkey.

Timeline

• 1920, 10 August: The Treaty of Sevres is signed but never ratified.
• 1922, 11 October: The Armistice of Mudanya ends the Greco-Turkish fighting.
• 1922, 1 November: The Ottoman sultanate is abolished.
• 1922, 20 November: The Lausanne conference opens.
• 1923, 30 January: The Greek-Turkish population exchange convention is signed.
• 1923, 4 February - 23 April: The conference is suspended.
• 1923, 24 July: The Treaty of Lausanne is signed.
• 1923, 29 October: The Republic of Turkey is proclaimed.
• 1924, 6 August: The treaty enters into force.

Why it matters

The Treaty of Lausanne turned a military victory into lasting international recognition and drew most of the borders of modern Turkey that exist today. Its population exchange permanently reshaped Greek and Turkish society and remains one of the most debated precedents of the twentieth century.