July 24 marks the 87th anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, the international treaty that established peace between Turkey and the nations that occupied the decimated Ottoman Empire, and recognized the international boundaries of the Republic of Turkey, which was proclaimed shortly after the Treaty was signed, on October 29, 1923.
The treaty followed the signing of the Armistice at Mudanya on October 11, 1922, after decisive victories by the Turkish national forces, led Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The final defeat of the Greek forces, which invaded Anatolia as Britain’s surrogates, and with the occupying Italian and French forces decidedly moving toward non-confrontation with the Turkish national forces, forced Britain to lift its occupation of Istanbul and the Turkish straits and to call for a peace conference.
The Turkish delegation to Lausanne was led by Ismet Inonu, the victorious commander of the Turkish national resistance forces. Countries represented at the peace talks were Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania and Serbo-Croatia. Russia, Belgium and Portugal entered the treaty negotiations at later stages to discuss the status of the Turkish straits and financial matters concerning the defunct Ottoman Empire. The Unites States attended the treaty negotiations as an observer.
The negotiations began on November 21, 1922 and lasted over eight months. Turkey’s main concern was to achieve recognition of its borders as defined in its National Pact of 1920; gain control over the Turkish straits and end the capitulations. At the end of the conference, the Turkish borders gained international recognition with special provisions placed on Iskenderun and Mosul. The status of Iskenderun was later determined by a local referendum and the province legally joined Turkey’s borders on June 23, 1939. However, Mosul remained outside of Turkey’s borders and became part of Iraq. On the status of the Turkish straits, Turkey gained control of the straits with special provisions to regulate international commercial traffic and rights by the Black Sea littoral countries, which were codified in the Montreux Treaty on July 20, 1936.
The Turkish War of National Liberation was fought by a decimated nation against the most powerful imperial states of the time. It culminated in a military victory on the battlefields and a diplomatic victory at Lausanne for the Turkish people and the international recognition of the Republic of Turkey. This victory became a source of inspiration for many nations in their struggle against Western imperialism and independence for years to come.
