A Tale of Two Treaties: From Sèvres to Lausanne

September 1920 Greek Celebration of the Treaty of Sèvres
(The Joy Would Not Last)

The Treaty of Sèvres 

This postwar peace treaty was  signed by Sultan  Mehmet VI on 20 August 1920 between the Allied Powers and the Ottoman Empire. It was, however, never ratified—primarily because of intense internal, nationalist opposition. The treaty abolished the Ottoman Empire and obliged Turkey to renounce all rights over Arab Asia and North Africa. The pact also provided for an independent Armenia, for an autonomous Kurdistan, and for a Greek presence in eastern Thrace and on the Anatolian west coast, as well as Greek control over the Aegean islands commanding the Dardanelles. 

Click on Map to Enlarge

Rejection

Opposition to the treaty was widespread and coalesced around Turkey's most successful commander of the war, Mustafa Kemal, who quickly repudiated it. Many prominent Turks escaped from Istanbul to Ankara—center of opposition—including Turkish Army Chief of Staff İsmet İnönü and, after him, Fevzi (Çakmak), the sultan’s war minister. Fevzi became Mustafa Kemal’s chief of the general staff. New elections were held, and a parliament, called the Grand National Assembly (GNA), met in Ankara on 23 April 1920. The assembly elected Mustafa Kemal as its president.

Having received military aid from the Soviet Union, Kemal successfully drove the Greeks from Anatolia and Thrace and subdued the new Armenian state. The Soviet Union became the first nation to recognize the nationalist government in Ankara. 

Mustafa Kemal in Ankara, 1921

With Anatolia rid of most of the Allies, the GNA, at the behest of Mustafa Kemal, voted on 1 November 1922, to abolish the sultanate. This was soon followed by the flight into exile of Sultan Mehmed VI on 17 November. The Allies then invited the Ankara government to discussions that resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne on 24 July 1923. The nationalists occupied Istanbul on 2 October. Ankara was named the capital, and on 29 October the Turkish republic was proclaimed. Turkey was now in complete control of its territory and sovereignty.

At Lausanne

Turkish Delegation at Lausanne

The Treaty of Lausanne was signed by representatives of Turkey (successor to the Ottoman Empire) on one side and by Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) on the other. The treaty was signed at Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923, after a seven-month conference.

The treaty recognized the boundaries of the modern state of Turkey. Turkey made no claim to its former Arab provinces and recognized British possession of Cyprus and Italian possession of the Dodecanese. The Allies dropped their demands of autonomy for Turkish Kurdistan and Turkish cession of territory to Armenia, abandoned claims to spheres of influence in Turkey, and imposed no controls over Turkey’s finances or armed forces. The Turkish straits between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea were declared open to all shipping.

Click on Map to Enlarge

Sources: Britannica Online; WikiCommons