We have arrived in the 2020s. These years will be very important years for the historians of the Republic of Türkiye. For politicians too... Ultimately, for every citizen of this country. With the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, the 100th anniversary of many events that were important in the establishment and rise of our Republic will be left behind. In this process, more than the discussions made in the past ten years over the Lausanne Peace Treaty, which will be the 100th anniversary of its signing in 2023, may take place in these three years. In our age, where it is very easy to access information quickly and easily, reading remains in the background, and reading texts are not sources of information that will distract us from wrong and distorted thoughts. What we need to do is to gain different perspectives and nurture our world of thought. Even if we have access to information quickly and easily, we should not accept it as correct because it feeds our political thinking. We have to listen/read different people and create our own thoughts. The issues I have expressed in this article also convey my point of view and my thoughts. My readings and researches have led me to make these judgments. After this very boring advice, I can now share my own judgments.
This article focuses on the first days of the conference,
"Is Lausanne 100 years old?", "What are the secret ingredients
of Lausanne?" It does not focus on dry and provocative questions such as
The answer is simple, Lausanne is not a timed treaty and it has no secret
clauses. In this article, it is not mentioned about the pieces of land that are
included in the National Pact, such as Mosul, some Aegean Islands and Hatay,
but cannot be included within the borders of Turkey in Lausanne. No matter how
much they are pierced, the fact that these pieces of land cannot be taken does
not make Lausanne worthless. Of course, they are not indisputable and
unquestionable issues, but an erroneous sentence such as "Mosul and the
Islands were lost in Lausanne" cannot be made. Such judgments are debates
that are tried to be made based on political concerns rather than historical
concerns. How many people know that there have been various conflicts with
Britain for Mosul since 1922 and that was on the verge of war in 1924? Some
issues, such as Hatay and the Straits, were resolved in favor of Turkey as a
result of great efforts in the coming years. Nothing has a single cause and a
single effect. Saying "Mosul and the Islands were lost in Lausanne"
is easy, the important thing is to learn the details and try to understand the
conditions of the period. Reading history knowing the internal-foreign
political environment of the period, making anachronism by looking at today's
political environment as loss-gain creates political discussion environments.
Lausanne is a psychological conflict area created after the
hot conflict. The conference, which was said to start on 13 November 1922,
started its first working session on 21 November 1922. Turkish delegates
arrived in Lausanne on 11 November. Curzon postponed the conference, citing the
UK elections. It was a play by Curzon. Although the GNAT (Grand National
Assembly of Türkiye) government said in its instruction to the delegation that
went to the conference, "We should all work as if success depends only on
our own talent and effort", the impositions of the other party caused
great difficulties for the Turkish delegates in the whole of the negotiations.
At the end of this psychological war, the effort to reach the most ideal
conditions is not an issue to be underestimated. After Prime Minister Rauf Bey
(Orbay) informed the parliament about the ongoing negotiations in Lausanne in
the first days of 1923, some deputies took the floor and explained their
thoughts. Bitlis Deputy Yuzuf Ziya Bey started his speech by saying, “I am
asking myself if there will be peace, but I cannot give a positive answer” and
continued by explaining the reason for this thought: “Because it is very
difficult to seek goodness and salvation for humanity in a place where English
politics has been in for centuries. It is just as difficult to seek resilience,
order, and peace. The British went to Lausanne not to make peace, but to make
politics.”
British Chief Delegate Lord Curzon made a speech after the
President of the Swiss Confederation at the opening meeting of the conference
on November 20. İsmet Pasha made a speech after Lord Curzon. However, after
Curzon, no one expected İsmet Pasha to take the podium. İsmet İnönü said,
“Before the negotiations started, they informed us how the opening ceremony of
the Swiss President would be held.” He started to describe this moment in his
memoirs by saying: “The first news was that the President (President of Swiss) would
open the conference and after that he would be step aside, the conference would
convene. A little later, the second news came: The President would open the conference,
one of the Allies would take the floor, speak and the ceremony would be closed.
As soon as he told us that, I informed him that if one of the allies spoke, we,
as a party, would also speak."
The third news is, “No one will speak after the President.”
Ismet Pasha said, “If no one speaks, I will not speak either; If someone talks,
I will definitely talk too.”.
Let's listen to the rest from İsmet İnönü: “The ceremony was
opened. The give a voice was made to Lord Curzon after the President. Lord Curzon,
with thanks, said that they came with the desire for peace, he made a speech
with a just and well-intentioned tone, showing and wishing the need for peace
for all nations.
As Lord Curzon sat down, those gathered at the ceremony saw
me on the pulpit with amazement: 'After addressing the President, I began my
speech. I said that we came with the desires of peace, that we saw a lot of
injustice; I finished the speech by wishing that the desires of peace would
dominate the whole conference and that a peace would be made for justice. I
sat.
Everyone, in an awkward situation, digested my intervention
in the ceremony, with taunts and procedural quarrels, declaring that I was a
soldier who did not know the diplomat manners at last.”
The aim of İsmet Pasha, who clearly showed his intentions
before the opening, was to emphasize that they were in Lausanne "on equal
terms". Clearly, “If no one speaks, neither will I; If someone talks, I
will definitely talk too.” even said.
In a telegram he sent to London, Lord Curzon said, "His
(Pasha's) attitude today is an example of the mentality of the Turkish
delegation coming to the conference and it is a sign that he will cause unrest
on every occasion."
They didn't want to see upbraiding. By claiming that İsmet
İnönü's attitude was not diplomatically appropriate and that the Turkish
delegates were a belligerent delegation, they wanted to show the world public
that the aggressor and non-peaceful side were the Turks. They continued their
propaganda in the following days of the conference. At the same time, the
British were conducting black propaganda in Mosul.
In his speech, which disturbed those in the hall, İsmet
Pasha briefly emphasized the importance of the war of independence that the
Turkish nation has waged with great suffering and sacrifices: "I cannot
help but remind you of the endless attacks and pains that the Turkish nation
has faced since 1918." Since his saying, perhaps, could find a response in
the conscience of the Allied Powers, they saw İsmet Pasha's speech as a speech
intended to cause unrest. The countries with which they had made peace before
could not stand up to them. Ali Naci Karacan, one of the delegates of the
Lausanne Conference, summarized this situation in his book “Lausanne”: “By the
harshest dictates, the Germans of Wilhelm in Versailles, the Austro-Hungarian
Empire in Saint Germain, and small and ambitious Bulgaria in Neuilly England,
France, Italy, Japan and the small Entente and Balkan states walking behind
these proud states want to settle their case with the Lausanne Conference and
the new Turkish state, which stood against them alone after the World War I,
and for the first time accepted a discussion on equality.”
In the same days, another exemplary incident of psychological
warfare took place during the conference. In the opening session of the
conference, a lower seat was reserved for İsmet Pasha than the seats of the
other delegates. What is wanted to be proved is that the parties are not and
cannot be on equal terms. It was an act of dictating that the Turkish delegates
were not there as winners, they were against them as the defeated of the World
War I, and that what was at issue was still Sevres. Realizing this, Pasha asked
for his chair to be changed. The chair, which was not changed at first, was
changed as a result of İsmet Pasha's insistence and the conference started
under "equal" conditions.
Great states that want to see a state that lost the World
War, not a nation that won the War of Independence, understood that the
situation was not and will not be as they imagined. In fact, according to Ismet
Pasha's telegram to the Prime Ministry on 11.21.1922, Curzon found some of
Ismet Pasha's words harsh. Thereupon İsmet İnönü replied, "Words of a
suffering nation". However, Curzon said that you had a victory over the
Greeks, but not against the Allies. İsmet İnönü responded to these words of
Curzon. As the conference progressed, neither the Entente powers nor the
Turkish delegates could fully obtain their wishes from the other side. For this
reason, the negotiations were suspended on February 4, 1923. Negotiations
resumed on April 23, 1923.
All these events took place only in the first days of the
conference, which lasted for 8 months.
"We signed a dishonorable peace in Lausanne. This is
the most sinister, unhappiest and worst of all the treaties England has ever
signed." What made the British Sir Andrew Ryan say the word? There are
many details in the Lausanne process that we cannot learn from the discussions
that turned into mutual "dogfights" in TV programs over simple
rhetoric. What did we compromise, why did we compromise? The answers to these
are not answers that can be given by looking at today's conditions, that is,
without understanding the conditions of the period. Lausanne was a long and
painful process. Although many things happened against us, a very important
process took place in terms of our history and the best possible condition was
tried to be achieved in this process. Its importance cannot be diminished by
political discourses and superficial historical readings.
For the original article in Turkish: https://tarihnutku.blogspot.com/2020/01/psikolojik-savas-lozan-konferansnn-ilk.html
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