The Middle East has always been a pain point for Europe. In particular, Turkey became the biggest problem that arose at the beginning of the 20th century. For a long time, this empire could dictate its terms to half the world, but over time it ceased to occupy such a prominent place.
Treaty of Sèvres
It was on the basis of the Treaty of Sevres that the Lausanne Conference was convened at one time. One of the main treaties, representing the end of the First World War, was formed on August 10, 1920 in the city of Sevres in France between members of the Entente and the government of the Ottoman Empire. The document was based on the division of the lands of the empire with Turkey, which is part of it, between Italy and Greece.
In addition to the division of lands, one of the agendas was the recognition of Armenia as an independent Armenian Republic, as well as its direct relationship to Turkey. The basic rights and duties of the new state were determined. Ultimately, this peace treaty was completely canceled at the Lausanne Conference of 1922-1923.
Political situation before the start of negotiations
The Treaty of Sèvres could not last long due to the instability of the leading countries of the world. The situation in the Middle East was deteriorating, and before the powerful alliance of England and France, called the Entente, lived out the last days. This led to the fact that during the offensive of the national troops in Turkey under the leadership of Kemal, the Greek troops stationed in the country simply could not influence the situation and win.
The defeat of the Greek army immediately led to several results:
- the onset of a coup in Greece, which led to the onset of a crisis in the system of government;
- the resignation of the pro-Greek Lloyd George government in England and the establishment of Bonar Low's new conservative policy.
The victory of Kemal led to the defeat of the interventionists and the proclamation of Turkey as an independent republic. All this led to the urgent need to conclude a peace treaty with the new country, which led to the appointment of the Lausanne Conference.
Parties involved
Several countries were urgently assembled at the Lausanne Conference of 1922 to resolve the issue. First of all, they were powerful European countries, such as France, Italy, Great Britain. However, the authorities of Bulgaria, Greece, Yugoslavia and Romania also took a visible part.
In addition to them, representatives of the USA and Japan acted as observers. Of course, one should not forget about the Turkish delegation. All other states, such as Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Albania, could be present only when solving particular issues that directly attracted them. Even the Russian authorities could be present only when resolving issues with the straits, since the Turkish authorities, in spite of the agreement signed between the two countries in 1921, simply did not invite Russian delegates.
Agenda
The Lausanne Conference was fully held under the chairmanship and pressure of Great Britain. All negotiations at that time were conducted by Foreign Minister Curzon, who is one of the English Lords.
First of all, delegations gathered to resolve 2 issues: concluding a new peace treaty with Turkey and determining the regime of straits in the Black Sea. The Soviet and English sides differed sharply in their opinions on these issues, which led to such a long decision.
Soviet point of view
At the first stage of the Lausanne conference, the Soviet delegation tried their best to help Turkey. The main provisions of the decision on the straits were formed by Lenin himself and consisted of the following:
- complete closure of straits in the Black Sea for foreign military courts in peacetime and wartime;
- free merchant shipping.
The initial plan of England was recognized by Russia as a complete violation of the sovereignty and independence of not only Turkey itself, but also Russia and its allies.
English point of view
This viewpoint, proclaimed at the Lausanne Conference, was supported by all countries of the Entente. It was based on the complete opening of the Black Sea straits for all warships in both peacetime and wartime. All straits were supposed to be demilitarized, and control over them was given not only to the countries of the Black Sea region, but also to the Entente itself.
By the way, it was this point of view that won, since England promised to provide all possible assistance to Turkey in economic and territorial issues under the peace treaty. However, in the end, the first project was built on unfavorable conditions for Turkey, and therefore not accepted. In early 1923, the first stage of the conference was declared completed without a substantive decision.
The second stage of the conference
The second stage of negotiations at the Lausanne Conference of 1923 continued without the participation of the Soviet side, since right before the start one of the Russian representatives, V.V. Vorovsky, was killed. The Turkish delegation was left completely without supporters, which led to noticeable concessions. However, the Entente countries also offered a number of significant bonuses to Turkey. The Soviet point of view without support was completely destroyed by British diplomats, and therefore practically was not considered.
At this stage, mainly questions were raised regarding the future peace treaty with Turkey. A number of significant documents were signed, among them the convention on the regimes of the straits and the Lausanne Peace Treaty of 1923.
Basic postulates
The decisions of the Lausanne Peace Conference were as follows:
- modern borders of Turkey were established, however, the solution of the issue of Iranian borders was postponed;
- The Armenian independent state ceased to be protected by the power of the allies, the state practically remained by itself;
- Turkey returned a number of lands taken away under the Treaty of Sevres - Izmir, European Dardanelles, Kurdistan, East Thrace.
The decisions of the Lausanne Conference for Turkey marked the beginning of friendly relations between England and Turkey. In fact, the Entente, despite all the visible concessions, showed itself to be the winner of the war, and therefore could dictate its conditions. In particular, the Kara region, which was under occupation, was never returned to Turkey, but was completely cut off from it on a legal basis. In addition to this, the ratified convention on the regime of straits became a significant leverage over the country, and the Armenian issue was completely resolved by European countries, and not Russia.
Armenian issue
It cannot be denied that the Entente countries and the Turkish side ratified the results of the convention and began to apply them. However, the Soviet Union completely refused to ratify it, because it believed that the Straits Convention was causing irreparable harm to the country's security and interests. All this led to a huge problem with the Armenian-Turkish border. The treaty legally defined the borders of Turkey, but in fact they do not coincide at all precisely because Russia did not accept the Lausanne peace treaty of July 24, 1923. Until the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the country adhered to the Moscow Treaty concluded in March 1921 directly between Russia and Turkey. However, this agreement has a significant drawback - it cannot be legally recognized, since the Armenian delegation defending its interests did not participate in the negotiations.
All this led to problems, where should the Kara region be defined. Earlier, at the Berlin Congress, held in 1878, it was officially separated from Turkey and transferred to the Russian Empire. However, at the time of signing the treaty, the region was occupied by Turkish troops, and before that it was considered part of Armenia.
The Lausanne conference was a kind of summing up the results of the First World War - while the Entente side won, and the coalition of Germany and Turkey lost. At the same time, Armenia was considered one of the countries that are part of the Allied bloc, so they simply could not reward the defeated enemy.
To this day, Turkey is pursuing a policy of discrediting Armenia - this is one of the provisions in the political doctrine of the country. In response to this, the Armenian side does not take any actions at all and prefers to remain completely inactive.
Lausanne Conference Results
The conference in the Swiss city of Lausanne was an absolute triumph of the British diplomatic corps. First of all, by the fact that the Turkish authorities completely renounced the former supporter - Russia and did not support his soft demands on the regime of the straits.
However, one cannot but admit that Britain gradually began to lose its hegemony over the world. The country's great economic and political power still allowed them to influence the whole world, but they still had to make a number of concessions. The world of Sevres was a prime example of a standard British treaty, so its liquidation has been criticized by the British media and the authorities themselves. At the time of the conclusion of the treaty, England managed to claim the oil-rich province of Mosul for itself, but they still failed to establish control over it, the creation of a new strait resembling Gibraltar also failed.
But at the same time, one cannot fail to admit that the Entente had a leading role during the conference, in particular on the Armenian issue. To date, the Turkish authorities are experiencing a problem with this agreement, but at the same time have no direct evidence of their innocence. The Kara region was not the subject of domestic issues, but international. All other documents adopted at the end of the conference dealt with private government issues such as the release of prisoners.
Ultimately, the main document concluded during the conference (convention on the regimes of straits) was abolished already in 1936. New decisions were made during the consideration of the issue in the Swiss city of Montreux.