Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations

The Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations was an agreement between the Greek and Turkish governments signed in Lausanne on January 30, 1923, in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922. The agreement provided for the simultaneous expulsion of Christians from Turkey to Greece and of Moslems from Greece to Turkey. It was ratified by the Turkish government on August 23, 1923 and by the Greek government on August 25, 1923, after the conclusion of the Treaty of Lausanne. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on January 27, 1925.^[1]

Terms

• Article 1 provided for a compulsory removal of Greek Orthodox persons from Turkey to Greece and Moslems from Greece to Turkey, to begin on May 1, 1923.
• Article 2 exempted from removal the Greeks of the city of Constantinople as well as the Moslems of Western Thrace.
• Article 3 stipulated that those Moslems who already left Greece and Greek Orthodox who already left Turkey shall be considered as having moved as part of the population exchange.
• Article 4 stipulated the exchange shall start with able-bodied Greek men located in Turkey.
• Article 5 guaranteed the rights of property of all persons removed under the agreement.
• Article 6 stipulated that persons eligible for removal who were under arrest or in prison for various crimes, shall be removed notwithstanding, and shall serve their sentences in their new country.
• Article 7 provided for granting each person removed the nationality of his new country.
• Article 8 provided for the removal of property along with its owners.
• Article 9 stipulated for the establishment of a mixed commission to dispose of immovable property left behind by persons removed.
• Articles 10-17 regulated the work of the commission.
• Article 18 obliged the Greek and Turkish governments to make all the necessary changes in internal legislation to conform to the agreement.
• Article 19 stipulated that the agreement shall enter into effect on the same day as the planned peace treaty to be signed with the Turkish government.

Notes

External links

• Text of the convention