After the victory of the Turkish national army, it was inevitable that the paragraphs in the Sevres Treaty would be altered, to Turkish advantage, to fit the Lausanne Treaty. The events which had taken place had shown that the items in the Sevres Treaty were not applicable as one of the most important actors, Russia, was absent at the signing of the treaty. Russian cooperation for the implementation of the items in the treaty, especially regarding the creation of an independent Armenian state as far as Erzurum, was essential.
However, the allies came to Lausannewith an important point of leverage over Turkey, namely the allied occupation of Constantinople. Even if the allies were to back down on the Armenian Question, in favour of the Turks, then it was still a matter of decency and loyalty of the allies to obtain some land and thus survival for the hundreds of thousands of Western Armenian refugees of the war, who had been driven away from their homes.
However, the Lausanne conference, called to review the existing Sevres Treaty, was in truth more of a jousting match for European advantage - the major powers were more preoccupied with ascertaining rights for mining, building railroads and similar constructions, instead of defending the interests of their self-sacrificing ally from the First World War. All proposals regarding the solution of the Armenian Question by returning Kars and Van or by creating an Armenian national centre in Cilicia were met by the allies' apathy and the opposition of the Turkish government.
Ultimately, as Winston Churchill remarked: "In the Lausanne Treaty, which established a new peace between the allies and Turkey, history will search in vain for the name Armenia." 37 Politics is insensitive to both honesty and shamelessness.
It is the duty and the responsibility of present and future generations not to be insensitive, and to ensure that the solution of the Armenian Question will always be the main requirement for maintenance of peace in the Near Orient.
Ironically, the hopes of the people who betrayed Armenia in Lausanne for their own economic profit, were never realised as the new Turkey refused to repay every loan taken by the Ottoman government and closed its doors to foreign entrepreneurs.
The successors to the signatories of the Lausanne Treaty may have realised that in sacrificing decency for material winnings, the European politicians lost both. 38 Yet, the issue is still controversial in the 21st century.
|
