![]() Both then met with Benito Mussolini who quickly agreed to the agenda because of his overall indifference to the negotiations. Poincaré addressed each of Lord Curzon's aims point by point and reluctantly agreed to most of them. Preliminary meetings, taking place in Paris between Curzon and French Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré on 18 November 1922, lasted five hours. Most desirable ones included measures for the protection of the minorities in Turkey, preliminary safeguards of the Armenian population, the satisfaction of Allied requirements of the Ottoman debt, capitulations and the future financial and economic regime in Turkey. Essential ones included the Greek retention of Western Thrace, the freedom of the Straits to shipping, demilitarised zones on the coasts and the retention of Allied troops in Istanbul until a new treaty was ratified. ![]() Curzon prepared a list of British demands separated into two categories. He demanded a preliminary meeting of the three nations to reach a preliminary strategy before he travelled to Lausanne. Before the conference even began, Lord Curzon of Britain expressed doubts upon the reliability of France and Italy for support and stated, "I am not going into the conference in order to find myself let down very likely on the first day by the French or Italians". Representatives of the Soviet Union would be invited solely to renegotiate the Straits Convention. The location of Lausanne, Switzerland, was chosen as a neutral venue by Britain, France and Italy to discuss their new policies in the Near East. In the Turkish War of Independence that followed, the Turkish Nationalist Army defeated the Greeks and created resolutions with the French and Italians to secure a sovereign, independent Turkish state in Anatolia. Turkish nationalists were vehemently opposed to those clauses and decided to fight to inhibit their effectiveness. The Ottoman state was to have a small army and navy without heavy artillery, aeroplanes or battleships, and its budget was to be placed under the supervisions of an Allied financial commission. The treaty demanded the occupation of French and Italian zones of occupation in the southeast and southwest, the cession of much of western Anatolia to Greece and the establishment of two independent states: Armenia and Kurdistan in the east and the southwest. The harsh Treaty of Sèvres imposed upon the government of the Ottoman Empire after World War I by the Allied Powers included provisions that demanded the partition of Anatolia. The Treaty of Lausanne was finally signed on 24 July 1923. On 4 February 1923, Curzon made a final appeal to İsmet Pasha to sign, and when he refused, Curzon broke off negotiations and left that night on the Orient Express. The Turks, therefore, refused to sign the treaty. On 30 January 1923, it issued a statement that it did not consider the draft treaty to be any more than a basis of discussion. The French delegation, however, did not achieve any of its goals. The matter of the status of Mosul was deferred since Curzon refused to be budged from the British position that the area was part of Iraq. Īt the conclusion, Turkey assented to the political clauses and the "freedom of the straits", Britain's main concern. Once Curzon was finished, İsmet Pasha would restate his original demands and be oblivious to Curzon's denunciations. Already partially deaf, he would simply turn off his hearing aid when Curzon launched into lengthy speeches denouncing the Turkish position. The proceedings of the conference were notable for the stubborn diplomacy of İsmet Pasha. It heard speeches from Benito Mussolini of Italy and Raymond Poincaré of France. British troops had held their positions at Chanak, but the French had been ordered to withdraw. ![]() France and Italy had assumed that the Chanak Crisis had caused British prestige with Turkey to be irrevocably damaged, but they were shocked to discover that Turkish respect for Britain was undiminished. Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, was the co-ordinator of the conference, which he dominated. ![]() The Grand National Assembly of Turkey selected İsmet İnönü, Rıza Nur and Chief Rabbi Chaim Nahum as their representatives. The conference opened in November 1922, with representatives from Great Britain, France, Italy and Turkey. ![]() Its purpose was the negotiation of a treaty to replace the Treaty of Sèvres, which, under the new government of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was no longer recognized by Turkey. The Conference of Lausanne was a conference held in Lausanne, Switzerland, during 19. The Turkish delegation at the conference, 1923 ( İsmet İnönü in the front row, fourth from left) ![]()
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