July 25, 2023
Turkey 100 years after the Treaty of Lausanne
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Turkey on July 24, 2023 marked the100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, that ended the Ottoman Empire and established boundariesof the new Turkish state.
In a statement on this occasion President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: Today is the 100th anniversary of the Lausanne Peace Treaty, which constitutes one of the turning points in our history. He also said while resolutely defending the rights we have gained with the Treaty of Lausanne, we will strengthen our country's gains with new moves."
President Erdogan did not divulge on the new moves Turkey will take to strengthen its gains. However, in the past Erdogan has called for the revision of the treaty.
According to Amman-based Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told the Turkish mayors that Turkey wants to get rid of the effects of the Convention and the restoration of its rights, which were usurped by the Allies and Turkey considers also the texts of the Convention are unfair to its rights? [Can Turkey renovate its empire by the end of the Treaty of Lausanne 2023 - Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies – June 18, 2017]
Erdogan said that “opponents of Turkey” forced it to sign the “Treaty of Sevres” in 1920, and the signing of the “Treaty of Lausanne” in 1923, and because of that Turkey has abandoned the islands in the Aegean Sea to Greece.Erdogan described the Treaty of Sevres, as the first fork in the Ottoman back, because it forced Turkey to concede vast areas of land which were under its influence.
Erdogan suggested in December 2017 that “some details” in the Treaty of Lausanne were “unclear” and that they may need to be revisited. He had maps shown on Turkish television with the current borders extending beyond where they should be into Greece, Bulgaria, Armenia, Iraq and Syria. Certainly, a detail that would not elude the governments in Athens, Sophia, Yerevan, Baghdad and Damascus. [Is Erdogan out to undo the Treaty of Lausanne? By Claude Salhani - The Arab Weekly March 22, 2020]
In December, 2017, President Erdoğan questioned the fair application of the Lausanne Treaty. During a visit to Athens, he asked for its revision, arguing that “the Muslim minorities on the Greek border of Western Thrace were not able to choose their own chief mufti, while the Christian communities in Turkey enjoyed greater freedom when choosing their Patriarch.” Previously, he had declared that Lausanne was not such a great victory, because Turkey had to give away some [now Greek] islands. [Erdogan Wants to Challenge the Lausanne Treaty? Let’s Take a Look by Philippe Raffi Kalfayan - the Mirror-Spectator February 15, 2018]
In a speech delivered in September 2016 the Turkish president said the Treaty of Lausanne was essentially a defeat for Turkey because it “gave away” islands to Greece. “In Lausanne we gave away islands to Greece that were a just shout away. Is this victory? They tried to trick us into believing that Lausanne was a victory. Those who sat at that table did not do right by that treaty. Now we are suffering the consequences,” Erdoğan said. [Nordic Monitor – March 2, 2020]
And by 2023 the period of the treaty ends, which has passed a hundred years, and here we understand Erdogan's comments, as Turkey will enter a new era, and will begin oil exploration and drilling a new channel linking between the two seas Black and Marmara as a preparation to start collecting fees from passing ships, Rawabet Center said.
The Treaty of Lausanne forced Turkey
The Treaty of Lausanne forced Turkey to renounce sovereignty over Cyprus, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Syria, and Iraq among other things.
The Treaty of Lausanne also blocked Turkey from using the Bosphorus for military purposes and guaranteed open commercial shipping lanes through Turkey. The Bosphorus it is a canal that connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The Bosphorus flows down the middle of Istanbul dividing Europe from Asia; East from West. This is the only shipping route available for Russian oil to reach the West. That means that Turkey has tremendous leverage over Russia. That also means that Turkey has tremendous leverage over Europe since it gets most of its oil from Russia.
Although the Lausanne Treaty imposed a number of armament and military restrictions relating to the straits between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, the Montreux Convention, which was signed on July 20, 1936, restored Turkey's full sovereignty over the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus.
Tellingly, Turkey continued to pay the debts of the Ottoman Empire until 1954. [The Treaty of Lausanne 100 years on - Deutsche Welle (DW) - July 23, 2023]
Although Greece and Turkey have not gone to war since the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, there has been no shortage of tension and strife between the two countries in the intervening period. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said that he would like the International Court of Justice in The Hague to resolve any disagreements between the two nations. It would appear to be a reasonable approach, particularly as there is no viable alternative.
Kemal Ataturk
The nation-state of Turkey recognized by the Lausanne Treaty became the first officially secular Muslim state in the world under Mustafa Kemal.
In October 1923 Mustafa Kemal became the first president of Turkey. On assuming office, Mustafa Kemal initiated a series of radical reforms in the country's political, religious, social and economic life that aimed at rapidly transforming Turkey into a modern state. For him, modernization meant Westernization.
On November 24,1934 the Turkish Grand Assembly gave Mustafa Kemal the title of "Atatürk" meaning Father of Turks.
For Mustafa Kemal the role of Islam in Ottoman society and politics was responsible for the failure to modernize.Seeking to limit the influence of Islam on Turkish political and cultural institutions, which he regarded as one of the principal causes impeding Turkish development, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk abolished the caliphate on March 3, 1924, and established a Western-style separation of church and state ("mosque" and state) in Turkey. For himself, Atatürk rejected religion saying:
I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea. He is a weak ruler who needs religion to uphold his government; it is as if he would catch his people in a trap. My people are going to learn the principles of democracy, the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. Superstition must go. Let them worship as they will; every man can follow his own conscience, provided it does not interfere with sane reason or bid him against the liberty of his fellow-men." [Mango, Andrew. Attaturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey. Woodstock, NY: Overlook. P-464]
1934 - The Hagia Sophia (church of the Holy Wisdom, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian's sixth-century basilica, which was converted into a mosque by Mehmed II) was made into a museum. Religion-based clothing for men in public were banned. The Surname Law required all citizens to choose a fixed, hereditary surname that could not include foreign words.
Government officials were asked to swear oaths in the name of Turkey and himself. Instead of the word ‘Allāh,’ the word ‘Tanri’ (God) was used.
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The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
