Conference of Lausanne

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The Conference of Lausanne was a conference held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1922–1923 in order to negotiate a new treaty with Turkey, which, under the new government of Kemal Pasha, did not recognise the Treaty of Sèvres.

The conference opened in November 1922, with representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Turkey. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey selected İsmet İnönü, Dr Rıza Nur and Chief Rabbi Nahum as their representatives. Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, was the co-ordinator of the conference and dominated it. France and Italy had assumed that, following the Chanak Crisis, British prestige with Turkey would be irrevocably damaged; they were shocked to discover that Turkish respect for Britain was undiminished, since British troops had held their positions at Chanak while the French had been ordered to withdraw.

The conference lasted for eleven weeks. It heard speeches from Benito Mussolini of Italy and Raymond Poincaré of France. At the conclusion, Turkey assented to the political clauses and the "freedom of the straits", which was Britain's main concern. The matter of the status of Mosul was deferred, since Curzon refused to be budged on the British position that the area was part of Iraq. The French delegation, however, did not achieve any of their goals and on 30 January 1923 issued a statement that they did not consider the draft treaty to be any more than a "basis of discussion". The Turks therefore refused to sign the treaty. On 4 February 1923, Curzon made a final appeal to Ismet Pasha to sign, and when he refused the Foreign Secretary broke off negotiations and left that night on the Orient Express.

The Treaty of Lausanne was finally signed on 24 July 1923.