Conference of Lausanne

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See the disambiguation page Lausanne Conference

The Conference of Lausanne was a 1922-23 conference held in Lausanne, in order to write a new treaty with Turkey, which, under the new government of Kemal Pasha, did not recognise the Treaty of Sèvres.

With 1922, it was obvious that the military achievements of the Turkish War of Independence created a new set of conditions has to be negotiated. The Refet Bele was send to Istanbul by the Turkish Grand National Assembly of Turkey in negotiating a need for the new peace conditions. British Conservatives met at the Carlton Club and decided to withdraw from Lloyd George's wartime coalition, which initiated the Lloyd George's resignation. The new conservative leader had declared that they do not want to follow Lloyd George's policies and British could not act alone on this issue anymore. Winston Churchill, who was a strong supporter of the Lloyd George's policies against Turkish national movement defeated in the general election within the same month. Benito Mussolini become prime minister in Italy. All these changes created an atmosphere where Allies invited Grand National Assembly of Turkey to a new set of ground building process. October 27, 1922 was the date that all parties began to resolve the gap between the Treaty of Sèvres and the realities on the ground. On October 17 Tevfik Pasha (Grand Vizier of Ottoman Empire) accepted the fact that Ottoman Empire has nothing to say in this process. This gave the way for Grand National Assembly of Turkey officially becoming the only legal source in representing the people.

Turkish National Grand Assembly selected Ismet Inönü, Dr Rıza Nur and Chief Rabbi Nahum to representational group to serve in this series. Lord Curzon was the coordinator, Mussolini and Poincare gave speeches. The previous agreements with France and Soviets have already solved most of the problems. Main arguments were developed on the province of Mosul. The position of the Ismet was, "Turks and Kurds are indissolubly link to each other". British proposition was to ignore this argument as they specifically did not want this new state to extend rich oil fields. Separating Kurds into segments, instead of unifying under this new state seemed to be a better option for the British. to impose their control.

For the end results of this conference you can look into Treaty of Lausanne