What did they ask of İsmet Pasha at Lausanne?

They asked for a lot. What didn't they ask for?

They all joined forces, using pressure, threats, and promises.

Led by Great Britain, the foreigners at Lausanne acted as if they had agreed to continue the Capitulations that had gnawed at the Ottoman Empire and ultimately caused its collapse and destruction. They wanted the Capitulations to continue and not be abolished.

In other words, they wanted us to remain an economic colony.

İsmet Pasha resisted. We said no. We abolished them.

The Straits.

Friends, when İsmet Pasha was heading to Lausanne, the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus were in the hands of the Allied Powers. They were not in our hands. We had lost them with the Treaty of Sèvres. At Lausanne, they demanded that the Straits be open to warships and managed by an international commission. They wanted them to be managed by an international commission. 

İsmet Pasha said no. We did not accept it. 

After long discussions, the administration of the Straits was left to an international commission chaired by a Turkish delegate. For the time being. Later, with the 1936 Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits, it became ours.

What else did they ask for at Lausanne?

They wanted us to partially return to Sèvres. That is, they wanted the establishment of an Armenian/Kurdish state in Eastern Anatolia. Why did they want this? Because before the Ottoman Government collapsed, it had signed the Treaty of Sèvres. They were using that as a basis. But we said no. We said we do not recognize any aspect of Sèvres.

There were very long discussions. In the end, it was decided that the most suitable homeland for the Armenians was the current region of Armenia, and the matter was closed. 

When some Kurdish leaders also declared that “their destiny was tied to the Turks and that they were brothers with the Turks,” the imperialists abandoned their demands to establish a Kurdish state in the East.  

It wasn't just territory that was demanded at Lausanne. 

The British demanded compensation for the war damages they had suffered since World War I, which began in 1914 and ended in 1918. Why?  Because the Ottoman Empire had been defeated in World War I. We did not give it. We said we would not pay.

Furthermore, the British calculated a cost for us due to the occupation of Istanbul. They presented us with a bill: 22,500,000 pounds for the Army, 6,000,000 pounds for the Navy, and 615,000 pounds for the Air Force, and so on. They even calculated tax losses, putting a total bill of 39,875,000 pounds in front of us as the cost of military expenditures incurred by Britain during the occupation of Turkey. Approximately 40 million pounds.As if we had invited them to come and occupy us.

But what did we do? We only accepted and paid the Ottoman Public Debt (Düyun-u Umumiye). We had no other choice because everyone had claims against the Ottomans.

Well, if Britain asks for this, would America stay silent? Supposedly, America was not even a party to the Lausanne Peace Conference. It participated as an observer. It was not a party, but America said that if Turkey requested a loan from America, it would only provide it under the umbrella of the Public Debt Administration. It wouldn't give it otherwise.  In other words, America was not in favor of abolishing the Capitulations, but it also did not want the Public Debt Administration to be abolished. We did not accept this.

We also abolishedthe Public Debt Administration.

America also demanded special economic privileges for itself at Lausanne. It wanted to maintain its oil concessions and economic interests in Turkey. As if that weren't just another form of capitulation. İsmet Pasha refused. He did not grant them.

Of course, American demands were not limited to this. 

For some reason, it requested permission for its own institutions to conduct archaeological excavations in Turkey. I suppose the man was going to look for treasure in our country.

İsmet Pasha said no to that as well; he refused.

If America and Britain ask for these things, would France and Italy stay silent?

It is as if we lost the War of Independence, for heaven's sake. But these people are sharp; they try to trivialize and ignore the War of Independenceand demand compensation for the First World War, which they won 5 years ago.Now that there is no Ottoman Empire left, they are asking us. 

It is easy to say we are 'Ottomanists' now. Try saying that back then. They would immediately put the Ottoman debts in front of you. And then you would pay them off, limping just like the Ottomans did.

France demanded the Syrian border and that its claims against the Ottomans be guaranteed. Italy, on the other hand, wanted to maintain its dominance in the Aegean Islands and its economic privileges in Anatolia.

We refused. The Aegean Islands were not given away in İsmet Pasha's Lausanne, but in the 1912 Lausanne of Sultan Mehmed Reşad, in the Treaty of Ouchy. Finally, the Aegean Islands issue was resolved by demilitarizing them.

The matter didn't end with just the Americans, the British, the French, and the rest.

My friend, even the Japanese, from the other side of the world, were at Lausanne. They told İsmet Pasha regarding the abolition of the Capitulations, “stop, don't be in a hurry, wait.” they said.

What were we supposed to wait for? We didn't wait. We abolished them.

Portugal also made demands. Would they be left behind? My friend, what does Portugal have to do with this? They were an international colonial power in the 17th and 18th centuries. That's why. They didn't want the Capitulations abolished. They claimed they had their own rights.  They asked us. İsmet Pasha did not give in. He refused.

Belgium was the same. 

Do you know what Belgium wanted? They wanted their wagons that were left over from the First World War, sitting idle in Kocaeli or on the Geyve line. At Lausanne, they claimed ownership of these vehicles and demanded their return.

The Ottomans had bought wagons from Belgium; whether they were paid for or not, the state of war was unclear. Anyway, they were asking for them. Did we give them? No. İsmet Pasha was stubborn; he didn't give them. We said they were scrap.

So, even if they didn't take the clothes off our backs, 

they even asked for our wagons at Lausanne.

Bulgaria.

You might say, 'Is Bulgaria there too?' Yes. What could Bulgaria want? They wanted access to the Gulf of Saros. That is, a bit from Komotini, a bit from Turkey. Why did they want it? Because after the Balkan Wars, the Western Thrace Turkish Republic had been dismantled, and that region had been given to the Bulgarians.

They felt justified in their own way, wanting back the lands they had won. But what did İsmet Pasha do? Of course, he didn't give them.

We forgot about Greece,didn't we? They asked too. Since Greece had occupied up to Çatalca during the occupation of Istanbul, they demanded compensation for it.

I can almost hear you saying, 'Teacher, they didn't defeat us; we threw them into the sea, what compensation?'

But do you know why they asked?

Because, just like those with confused minds today, they were ignoring the War of Independence. They were directly linking the matter to the Ottoman defeat in the First World War. Now, if you ignore the War of Independence, if you tie yourself to Ottoman childhood, Ottoman admiration, and the continuation of the Ottomans, if you remove the War of Independence from textbooks, from the minds of generations, from their intellects and memories, don't worry, the imperialists won't miss that.

They will warm up and bring back all the articles of the Armistice of Mudros, the Paris Conference, and Sèvres, and they will make you pay for every sin the Ottomans ever committed.

Because that is exactly what they did to us at Lausanne.

By ignoring the War of Independence, they put all the bills for the Mudros and Sèvres treaties, signed during the Vahdettin era, in front of you.