Turkish Foreign Policy During the Atatürk Era

Turkey’s adherence to the resolutions was better tested in the aforementioned issues such as Mosul, the Ottoman debts, the Straits, and the population exchange between Greece and Turkey together with the Question of Alexandretta Sandjak (the Sandjak of İskenderun) or known as “HataySorunu” (Hatay Question) in Turkey. This former Ottoman Sandjak had become autonomous under the Article 7 of the Treaty of Ankara signed with France in 1921. The Sandjak of İskenderun later became part of the Turkish Republic through a series of events beginning in 1937 and solved in 1939 after Mustafa Kemal had passed away in 1938, which would have made him happy since it was his efforts that ensured this outcome.

The League of Nations, passed another resolution putting Mosul under the control of the British mandate in December 1925 for twenty-five years. Turkey had to accept this decision hopelessly by signing the Frontier and Friendship Treaty with Britain and Iraq on June 6, 1926.

Article 2 of the Convention specified who would not be included in the exchange. They were the Greek inhabitants of Istanbul who resided there before October 30, 1918, and the Muslim inhabitants of Western Thrace “in the region to the east of the frontier line laid down in 1913 by the Treaty of Bucharest.” (League of Nations, Treaty Series, 1925, p.77).

The Turkish government was appeased from this approach and the talks on the properties restarted, and this issue was finally solved by an agreement signed in June 1930.

The Treaty of Friendship, Neutrality, Mediation and Arbitration was signed(No. 2841) on October 30, 1930

One-step further in Turkish and Greek relations was the Balkan Entente signed in 1934. The peaceful relations between the two maintained until the 1950s when problems started in Cyprus.

Muharrem Kararnamesi was an Ottoman Imperial Decree promulgated on December 20, 1881 (28 Muharrem 1299) by the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II for the establishment of the Public Debt Commission. The decree was co-named with month in which it was accepted: Muharrem, one of the months of the Lunar Calendar used by The Ottoman Empire and the Islamic world.

Turkey also signed a friendship treaty with Iran, another neighboring state, on April 22, 1926.

Afghanistan was the second country after Soviet Russia to recognize Ankara government as the representative of Turkey by signing Turkey-Afghanistan Alliance Agreement on March 1, 1921.

The Turkish National Forces expelled the French occupation in the period from 1920 to1921 and the French forces left the National Pact borders by signing the Treaty (Accord) of Ankara on October 20, 1921. With this treaty, France became the first western power to abandon the claims imposed by the Treaty of Sèvres and to effectively recognize the new Turkish government based in Ankara.

Italian attacks on Ottoman Tripoli (modern day Libya) caused the Tripoli War between the Ottoman Empire and Italy which ended with the Ottoman defeat. Both sides signed the Treaty of Ouchy on October 18, 1912.

Locarno, a town in Switzerland, became famous when the political leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy came together on October 16, 1925 to discuss and normalize relations among the countries in Europe. The aim was to end some border issues between France, Germany, and Belgium determined at the Paris Conference after World War I.

In these meetings, the contributing countries concluded and signed four series of treaties known as the Locarno Pact. They were:

1. “A treaty of mutual guarantee of the Franco-German and the Belgian-German frontiers, with Britain and Italy as guarantors” agreeing that the Rhineland would remain a demilitarized zone,

2. German-Belgian and German-French arbitration treaties,

3. German-Czechoslovak and German-Polish arbitration treaties,

4. Treaties of mutual assistance in the event of German aggression between France and Poland, and between France and Czechoslovakia” (Goldstein, 2002, p.83).

Then Germany was accepted to the League of Nations through a resolution passed on September 8, 1926. 

The foundation of the Kellogg-Briand Pact was laid in 1928 with the aim of preserving peace because collective security and peace that concerned the major powers of Europe and the US had become fragile in the late 1920s. Although, the US did not participate at Locarno meetings, the American government put emphasis on peace in the world and supported disarmament. The main concern was a possible resurgence of German aggression. Consequently, with the initiative taken by Frank B. Kellogg, the US Secretary of State and Aristide Briand, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, a pact was signed on August 27, 1928 in Paris with the participation of the representatives from Germany, the US, Australia, Belgium, Britain and her 6 dominions(Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Irish Free State, and India), Czechoslovakia, Italy, Japan, and Poland.

Turkey extended the principle of regional security pacts eastward, and the result was the Sadabad Pact signed with the participation of Turkey Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan in 1937.

Turkey was invited to become a member of the League of Nations in 1932 by the initiative of the two representative states: Spain and Greece.

Another such organization was the Permanent Court of International Justice established by the Charter of the League of Nations as the principal judicial organ of the League of Nations on December 13, 1920.

Turkey ratified the Lausanne Peace Treaty on August 23, 1923.

Turkey was invited to join the League of Nations in 1932 and became a member of international organizations since Turkish governments complied with international laws and tried to solve problems that had been left unsolved in the Lausanne Peace Treaty.