Issue 19 Supplement: Full Text of Treaty of Lausanne (1923)

Summary

The Treaty of Lausanne is a peace agreement signed in in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the twenty-fourth of July 1923 between the First World War’s victorious allies, led by Britain and France, on the one hand; and the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, on the other hand.

The treaty was signed in the wake of the Turkish War of Independence against the Allies, through which the status of Anatolia and the Turkish-European section of the Ottoman Empire was settled, after the annulment of the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) that had been signed by the Istanbul-based Ottoman government on August 10, 1920, under the pressure of the Allies.

The Treaty of Lausanne included 143 articles that were divided into several main sections, including the Turkish Straits, which was later modified by the Montreux Treaty of 1936.

The terms of the treaty stipulated the independence of Turkey and defining its borders, as well as the protection of Greek Orthodox Christian minorities in Turkey, and the protection of Muslim minorities in Greece.

Because of the importance of this treaty which has raised much controversy, the Egyptian Institute for Studies translated the treaty in full into Arabic and published it on its website.