Lausanne Treaty of 1923

signed July 24, 1923, at the Lausanne Conference of 1922–23. The parties to the Lausanne Treaty were Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Rumania, and Yugoslavia, on the one hand, and Turkey on the other.

The territorial articles of the Lausanne Treaty (arts. 2–22) established new boundaries for Turkey, thereby formalizing the fall of the Ottoman Empire and determining Turkey’s present-day boundaries. The problem of the boundary between Turkey and Iraq (the Mosul question) was postponed until Turkey and Great Britain could settle it. In “the absence of an agreement” between them the dispute was to be turned over to the League of Nations. The Lausanne Treaty abolished the system of capitulations in Turkey (art. 28), the economic and political privileges of foreigners in Turkey, and international financial control over the country. In turn, Turkey agreed to pay part of the foreign debt of the Ottoman Empire (art. 46, for example). Although it included some terms that were unfavorable to Turkey, the Lausanne Treaty was, on the whole, a major victory for that country, for it gave international recognition to the independent Turkish state that had emerged as a result of the revolution led by Mustapha Kemal Ataturk. In addition, it signified the collapse of imperialist plans with regard to Turkey, particularly those associated with the one-sided Treaty of Sèvres of 1920. The Lausanne Treaty was not ratified by Yugoslavia, which declared that it could not consent to being burdened with part of the Ottoman debt.