Treaty of Lausanne

Treaty of Lausanne, final peace treaty between Turkey and the Allied Powers of the victorious World War I coalition, signed on July 24, 1923, at Lausanne, Switzerland. It replaced the Treaty of Sèvres imposed upon the Turks in 1920. By the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres, Turkey had renounced all claims to non-Turkish lands and suffered major territorial losses to Greece, including Izmir (Smyrna), Thrace, and islands in the Aegean Sea. Although accepted by the weak government of Sultan Muhammed VI, Sèvres was denounced by the Turkish Nationalists under the leadership of Mustapha Kemal (Atatürk), who broke unilaterally with the authorities in Constantinople (İstanbul) and waged an ultimately successful military campaign against the occupying Greek forces in Izmir. Due to these Nationalist successes and Kemal's eventual abolition of the Sultanate, the Allied Powers agreed to a revision of the peace settlement. Negotiations were opened at Lausanne in November 1922, and the treaty concluded eight months later. Turkey recovered Eastern Thrace and some Aegean Islands, and agreed to safeguard the interests of the national minorities; the Dardanelles were demilitarized, and new provisions were made for passage in times of peace and war—these were subsequently revised by the Straits Convention of 1936. It has been argued that the Treaty of Lausanne had more chance of lasting success than the other post-war peace settlements, as it was not imposed from above but freely negotiated between the interested parties, including the defeated enemy.