Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
BALKANISTICA:A JOURNAL OF SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN STUDIES, cilt.38, ss.1-29, 2025 (Scopus)
The Lausanne Peace Treaty was signed as a result of months of negotiations. An examination of the text of the treaty can lead one to make certain misleading assumptions. For example, some scholars, such as Menning (2018:6), and especially Oran (2010, 2007:38), claim that the only ethnic or cultural identities in question were all non-Muslim minorities and that they gained certain special rights according to the Lausanne Treaty. This is because the Turkish delegation repeatedly insisted that minorities consisted only of Greeks, Armenians and Jews (Taşdemir and Saraçlı 2007:32; Eryılmaz and Bektaş 2017:28; Winter 2022:7; Toktaş and Aras 2010:699). The following statements by Lord Curzon, however, demonstrate that other Muslim minorities also existed but were ultimately left out of the treaty (Lausanne Conference 1923:296):
The sub-commission originally pressed for the inclusion of all racial minorities, Moslem and non-Moslem—for instance, the Kurds, Circassians and Arabs. The Turkish delegation insisted that these minorities required no protection and were quite satisfied with their lot under Turkish rule. I hope that this will be the case. Anyhow, the sub-commission, relying on this assurance, agreed, though reluctantly, to restrict the demand for protection to non-Moslems. I believe they hope that in article 2 may be found sufficient protection for these minorities. I do not feel very confident, but I hope for the best.