The Treaty of Lausanne (1923)

The 1920 Treaty of Sèvres had partitioned Ottoman lands, but the Ankara government led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha refused to recognise it. After victory in the War of Independence and the Armistice of Mudanya in October 1922, a peace conference was called in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Talks went on, with a break, from November 1922 to July 1923, and the Turkish delegation was led by İsmet Pasha (İnönü). On 24 July 1923, in the Palais de Rumine, Turkey signed the treaty with Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Turkey's borders in Thrace and Anatolia were recognised, the capitulations were abolished, a separate regime was set for the Straits, and the question of Mosul was left to later talks. The population exchange between Turkey and Greece was also agreed at this conference.

The Treaty of Lausanne became the international legal basis of the new Turkish state: three months later, on 29 October 1923, the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed. In Turkey, 24 July is marked every year as the anniversary of the Lausanne peace.