Treaty of Lausanne from 1923 is about to expire

[Stadtaffe]

I had never heard of this thing but was talking to a Turkish taxi driver on a long drive in German. Turns out that in 1923 in Lausanne, Switzerland, a treaty was signed to

officially settle the conflict that had originally existed between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied French Republic, British Empire, Kingdom of Italy, Empire of Japan, Kingdom of Greece, and the Kingdom of Romania since the onset of World War I

Treaty of Lausanne - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Some sources claim that the treaty had a duration of one hundred years, others don't mention that. The Wikipedia line on that is -

There are conspiracy theories about the treaty. It has been claimed that the treaty was signed to be effective for a century and there are "secret articles" in the treaty regarding Turkey's mining of natural resources. According to the conspiracy theory, the treaty will expire in 2023 and Turkey will be allowed to mine boron and petroleum.

From what I heard and read, the current leader Erdogan likes to talk a lot about the ending of this treaty in his speeches.

What definitely got me interested was why on Earth have I never heard of this? Everyone knew months even years in advance when the British thing with China over Hong Kong was expiring after a hundred years, it wasn't a secret. If you do an internet search there is no shortage of articles about the Lausanne Treaty, but there seems to be a mainstream media blackout on it. There's a lot of debate on quora which always pops up in the search results, but I won't quote them. This article seems to have a strong and clear description of the other side of the story, albeit with some strange English (I think it's from Pakistan) :

What will be Happen to Turkey in 2023 after the end of the Treaty of Lausanne?

What will be Happen to Turkey in 2023 after the end of the Treaty of Lausanne? - Breaking, Technology , Business, Health, World, Pakistan, Video News Of Pakistan and International

nationclip.com

If it's true that Turkey will suddenly be able to mine resources it couldn't mine before and tax the usage of the Bosphorus, (water that links the Aegean / Mediterranean with the Black Sea) then it does not sound that insignificant in the context of all the politics and war that has been going on in recent times.

I've never been to Turkey, only to Greek islands quite near it where they were armed and trained against a possible Turkish invasion. Was in a flight over it before, it's very mountainous. Still I'm unlikely to go there, would rather go somewhere else on the black sea, but would not say definitely not.

Anyway, that's a personal digression, has anyone heard of this treaty before, and can explain it in simple terms? What exactly is the conspiracy and is it true?

 

[Yeagerist]

Constantinople will become the City of the World's Desire once again, although the question remains how much exactly will Turkey benefit from taxing the Bosphorus, as well as how much leverage will they get from mining boron and petroleum.

Russia will be in an awkward position, though, despite their currently warming relations with the Turks. Will they side with their Orthodox brothers in the event of a war between Greece and Turkey?

Lastly, assuming that a conspiracy geoweapon was responsible for the earthquake in Turkey, was this disaster committed in relation to the possible consequences of Lausanne expiring?

 

[Stadtaffe]

Lastly, assuming that a conspiracy geoweapon was responsible for the earthquake in Turkey, was this disaster committed in relation to the possible consequences of Lausanne expiring?

There is tectonic activity in the region -

Aegean Sea Plate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A few years ago I was on a Greek island not far from Turkey, lying on the sand. The beach started to move! A sharp oscillation of once every 1.5 seconds or so. After 3 seconds or so I was wondering if I was imagining it, but looked up at a flag pole and it was swaying. The whole thing went on for what felt like 12 seconds. After it was over, I contemplated it for a few minutes then went to talk to someone else on the beach perhaps fifty metres away - was relatively deserted. They felt it. Two women I spoke to who were in the sea did not feel it but I warned them.

Then sat on the beach surfing my phone as did others. About half an hour later people started running panicked off the beach. They called me, I called someone else. There was some fear of a mini tsunami.

Later that day I spoke to various people on the island. One was driving at the time and didn't feel it, another said all the porcelain in the cupboards started rattling.

On that island, nothing bad happened, but on the island of Samos two Greek teenagers died when something fell on them and a few hundred died in Turkey when buildings fell down.

It was only the second time in my entire life I'd experienced an earthquake, so felt very lucky for the experience, was surreal.

Don't know if natural earthquakes are not happening often enough to achieve political goals whether TPTB have found a way to create more of them..

 

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

But modern Turkey isn't the legal successor of the Ottoman Empire, it's a different country and treaties signed with the Ottoman Empire don't apply to it.

 

[Thomas More]

But modern Turkey isn't the legal successor of the Ottoman Empire, it's a different country and treaties signed with the Ottoman Empire don't apply to it.

Doing a little reading, it looks like the Treaty of Lausanne was actually worked out by the Kemalist government, and one of its key results was to ratify the borders of the new post-Ottoman nation of Turkey. It was completed in part to enable the formal creation of Modern Turkey, and therefore, it is effectively a treaty between Modern Turkey and the other signatories.

The treaty was actually ratified before the new nation of Turkey was officially declared, by a matter of a few weeks, but it looks like the Kemalist government already held power and was conducting the negotiations before Modern Turkey was officially created.

 

[Easy_C]

I doubt it matters because the West doesn’t honor treaties made in the last decade and everyone knows it, let alone a hundred years ago.

 

[Caduceus]

The ongoing validity of any contract or treaty is only as good as the will of all parties concerned to keep adhering to them, OR the power of any of the parties concerned to ensure (or resist) further compliance.

In other words, if friendly relations have broken down, only courts of law or a strong military force can make an old contract mean anything.

 

[Stadtaffe]

Have been lightly reading a bit more about it.

From a Greek news source :
Erdogan Criticizes Lausanne Treaty: 'We Gave Away the Greek Islands'

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greekreporter.com

From a London based middle east news service:

Greece violates Lausanne Treaty as it arms Aegean islands, Erdogan says

Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reiterated that Greece is violating the Treaty of Lausanne as it is arming the Aegean islands with demilitarised status. 'We observe that the Greek ...

www.middleeastmonitor.com

From an Egyptian news source :

Erdogan's Neo-Ottoman Ambitions Grow as WWI Treaty Expires in 2023 | Sada Elbalad

Erdogan's Neo-Ottoman Ambitions Grow as WWI Treaty Expires in 2023

see.news

That one is quite interesting, will quote a bit of the intro:

This important agreement is known as the Treaty of Lausanne, however, with its expiration date in July 2023, could set a precedent for Turkey to revive its old colonial ambitions.

Turkey had to renounce sovereignty over Cyprus, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, and the Levant, except cities that were located in Syria, such as Urfa, Adana, Gaziantep, Kells and Marsh.

The old Ottoman territories went under European occupation: Syria and Lebanon fell completely under the French occupation, on the other hand, Egypt, Sudan, and Iraq became officially part of the British Empire.

Palestine was put under the hands of the British authorities before it was handed to new-born Israel, Libya faced the Italian occupation and finally, Cyprus reached its today’s tragic stand.