The Conference and Treaty of
Lausanne
*History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern
Turkey 1280-1975
Stanford Shaw-Professor of History, University
of California, Los Angeles
"In the meantime the Lausanne Conference began on November 21, 1922.
The Ankara government was represented by Ismet Inönü, who had a very
difficult task. He was representing the nation that had overturned the
Sèvres peace settlement, but the Allies still tried to treat him as
representative of a defeated nation. Ismet had been chosen because of his
firmness at Mudanya, but just to make sure that he made no concessions
Minister of Health Rıza Nur was set beside him. He was hardly needed,
however. Whenever offensive proposals were made by the Allies, Ismet long
hard of hearing, simply pretended not to hear. Ismet maintained the basic
position of the Ankara government, that it had to be treated as an
independent and sovereign state, equal with all others at the conference.
In discussing matters regarding control of Turkish finances and justice,
protection for the minorities, the Capitulation's, the Straits, and the
like, he absolutely refused to budge on any proposal that in any way would
compromise Turkish sovereignty. Lord Curzon, the British delegate, "often
assumed the role of a weary schoolmaster admonishing a stupid pupil. Ismet
refused to learn. When the American observer brought the two men together
to discuss the judicial capitulation's in Turkey, Curzon shouted and beat
the wall with his cane. Ismet held out for complete sovereignty and said
that the adjustment of such matters took time." One of the British
representatives, reported that "Ismet Pasha, who was well-attended by a
phalanx of forbidding-looking Turks seemed impervious to all argument of
the subject, and his obtuseness and obstinacy put the patience of the
Allied delegates to a severe test." Ismet used his deafness to gain time
and think out his replies, exasperating some of the other delegates but
gaining his points. He used the rivalries of the Allies and their fear of
the Bolsheviks to Turkish advantage. As the conference went on, Kemal
further strengthened the Turkish position by occupying the last towns in
eastern Thrace. He improved his political position at home by organizing
his own political party, the People's Party (Halk Fırkası) on December 6.
He also sent a huge volume to Lausanne chronicling the Greek atrocities in
Thrace and Anatolia. An economic congress was held at Izmir to stress the
need for Turkish economic and financial independence. After long months of
stalemate the Lausanne Conference recessed (February 4, 1923). When Ismet
returned to Ankara, he was severely criticized for the few concessions he
had made. The Grand National Assembly then drew up its own peace proposals
(March 8, 1923), which Ismet brought back to Lausanne, stimulating new
arguments when the conference reconvened on April 23. Three more months of
haggling followed, with Ismet making only the most essential concessions
while wearing down the opposition, whose press and public became more and
more anxious for peace.
Finally, on July 24, 1923, the articles of the Treaty of Lausanne were
signed. The territorial integrity of the Turkish nation, as specified by
the National Pact, was confirmed with the sole exception of Mosul. Turkey
retained eastern Thrace to the Maritsa River along with the railroad town
of Karaağaç, on the western bank, added in return for Turkish withdrawal
of all reparation claims from Greece. Greece got the Aegean Islands
themselves because of their Greek populations, but excluded were the
surrounding waters and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos because of their
strategic importance at the entrance to the Dardanelles. The boundary with
Syria followed the provisions of the Franklin-Bouillon agreement, thus
excluding both Hatay (Alexandretta) and Antioch for the moment. Despite
the largely Kurdish and Turkish nature of its inhabitants, Britain
retained control of the Mosul area in its capacity as mandatory for Iraq
because of the oil deposits of the area. Though its final disposition was
left to the direct negotiation of the parties, in the end the League of
Nations awarded it permanently to Iraq. Armenia and Kurdistan were not
mentioned, and the regions in question were given to Turkey in accordance
with the principle of self-determination. In return Turkey renounced "all
rights and title whatsoever over or respecting the territories situated
outside the frontiers laid down in the present Treaty and the islands
other than those over which her sovereignty is recognized by the said
Treaty", thus establishing an anti-irredentist policy that has remained a
basic element of the Turkish Republic's foreign policy ever since.
Though the treaty provided for Turkey to gain full sovereignty within
its own boundaries, its terms were vague and implementation took time. For
instance, it was stated that "each of the High Contracting Parties hereby
accepts, insofar as it is concerned, the complete abolition of the
Capitulations in Turkey in every respect." Yet Turkey also was forced to
accept the continued application of all concessionary contracts entered
into force before October 20, 1914, and it was only in 1929 that it was
able to gain full control over its own customs policies. Other privileges
and concessions previously granted to foreigners were eliminated later
only as a result of the firm policy of the Turkish government. Insofar as
the public debt was concerned, the treaty only determined its size and
allocated its obligations among Turkey and the other successor states of
the Ottoman Empire. Important questions such as the status of the Public
Debt Commission and the monetary value of the debt were so hotly disputed
during the conference that they were finally left out of the treaty. The
Public Debt Commission had not actually been abolished during the war, but
all the enemy representatives and staff had left and the debt payments had
been suspended except to the bondholders in the Central Power states. When
the Allies took over in Istanbul, they resuscitated the commission with
their own representatives, while those of the Central Powers went home,
thus reversing the situation. In the end, after long negotiation, the debt
of the former empire as a whole was evaluated at 129.4 million Turkish
liras (100 kuruş equal 1 lira) and the annual payments at 8.66 million
liras, with the Turkish Republic's share being 84.6 and 5.8 million liras
respectively. However, the Turkish Republic refused to accept Abdulhamit's
Decree of Muharrem, which allocated revenues to the Public Debt Commission
to make these payments, and no provisions were inserted at Lausanne for
its restoration. In fact, it never was restored. Turkey continued to
protest the amount of its obligation as set by the treaty, and no further
payments were made until 1929. In the end, through the mediation of the
League of Nations, a settlement was reached whereby the Turkish debt was
reduced to 8 million gold liras (80 million paper liras) and the annual
payments to 700,000 gold liras (7 million paper liras), starting in 1933.
These payments continued until the last bonds were liquidated in 1944.
The non economic provisions of Lausanne were more definite and final.
The foreign and mixed courts were abolished and foreign subjects forced to
accept the jurisdiction of Turkish counts. Foreign observers were allowed
to watch over the latter, but they could only report and complain if
necessary. All foreign postal systems in Turkey were ended. The Turks were
allowed to build their military forces without any limitation of size or
armament. They were, however, required to leave a demilitarized zone along
the Greek border in Thrace to prevent any incidents. The problem of
reparation claims was solved when Greece recognized "her obligation to pay
for the damage caused in Anatolia by the acts of the Greek army or
administration which were contrary to the was of war", and Turkey
renounced its claims "in consideration of the financial situation of
Greece resulting from the prolongation of the war and its consequences."
The Turks and the Allies mutually renounced reparation claims against each
other for all wartime damage. All foreign rights to supervise Turkish
handling of its minorities were ended. Turkey simply declared that it
would protect the life and liberty of all inhabitants, regardless of
birth, nationality, language. Turkish nationals of non-Turkish speech
would be allowed to use their own language in public and private
intercourse and even before the courts. Finally, non-Muslim Turks would be
allowed to establish and operate whatever charitable, religious, social,
and educational institutions they wished. These provisions were accepted
by the Turkish government, and have been observed in full to the present
day.
All properties of Allied nationals confiscated during the war were
restored, with a mixed arbitration tribunal set up to settle disputes on
the subject. The only real limitation placed on Turkish sovereignty
outside the financial field came in regard to the Straits, which were
internationalized under the control of a mixed commission whose chairman
always was to be Turkish. The lands on both sides of the Straits were
demilitarized, but Turkey was allowed to send its troops through the
neutral zones as needed as well as to station as many as 12,000 men in
Istanbul. Turkey finally regained full control over the Straits by the
Agreement of Montreux in 1936.
Finally, a separate agreement between Greece and Turkey arranged for a
compulsory exchange of population, involving about 1.3 million Greeks and
a half-million Turks in all. It included all Greeks living in Anatolia and
Thrace with the exception of those who had lived in Istanbul before 1918,
and all Turks in Greece except those in western Thrace. The exchange had
in fact begun during the latter days of the War for Independence when
thousands of Greeks were transported from Izmir to Greece. It left both
sides far more homogeneous than before.
The Treaty of Lausanne thus certified and legalized the victory won by
the Turkish War for Independence. The National boundaries were secured
almost completely. There were no more foreign rights and privileges in the
new Turkey. Some deputies in Ankara criticized the abandonment of Mosul
and Hatay, but the Assembly approved the accord on August 23 by a vote of
227 to 14.
The achievement at Lausanne gave Kemal the prestige and authority
needed to finish the job of creating a new state. But first the Allied
troops had to leave. The final evacuation of the British troops in
Istanbul was prepared for the final ceremony. Guards of honor representing
the different Allied armies marched by. As the British soldiers saluted
the Turkish flag, the Turkish crowd broke through the lines of the guards
and swarmed into the midst of the ceremony in a happy boisterous spirit of
celebration. When the British Coldstream Guards marched to their boats,
the Turks began to clap and whistle in tune with the cadence. The
Coldstream band played "Mustafa Kemal Is Our Commander", and the Turks
applauded. The soldiers embarked onto their launches and sailed into the
middle of the Bosporus while the British band played "Auld Lang Syne." The
fist-and last-foreign occupation of Muslim Istanbul had come to an end. On
October 6 a full division of the Turkish national army marched into
Istanbul amid the cheers of thousands of Turks. The same day, Damat Ferit
Paşa, who had fled to Yugoslavia, died of natural casuse in Niş. On
October 13 the Grand National Assembly passed a new law making Ankara the
official capital of the Turkish state. On October 29 it accepted a new
constitution that declared the state to be a republic with sovereignty
coming from the people. Kemal was elected first president and Ismet Inönü
first prime minister of the Turkish Republic.
There was only one step left, elimination of the caliphate. Abdulmecit
had held the office in a reasonably inoffensive way. But as the thrill of
Lausanne wore out, he became the center for the opponents of the new
regime, who began to intrigue to restore the sultanate and the sultan.
When the caliph wrote Kemal asking for increased privileges, the president
reacted: "Let the caliph and the whole world know that the caliph and the
caliphate which have been preserved have no real meaning and no real
existence. We cannot expose the Turkish Republic to any sort of danger to
its independence by its continued existence. The position of Caliphate in
the end has for us no more importance than a historic memory." On February
29 Abdulmecit attended his last Friday Selamlık, the last such ceremony
ever attended officially by a member of the Ottoman dynasty. Four days
later, on March 3, 1924, the Grand National Assembly abolished the
caliphate, thus ending the Ottoman dynasty and empire. The next day
Abdulmecit left Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire was finally extinguished,
almost 640 years from the time that Osman had founded the dynasty. A new
era in Turkish history had begun.
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