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30 January 1923 (population exchange convention); Treaty of Lausanne, 24 July 1923Primary source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The Treaty of Lausanne Redraws Turkey and Trades Its Populations

Two million people are compulsorily relocated by religion, formalizing the modern border between Greece and Turkey

On the timeline · around 30 January 1923 (population exchange convention); Treaty of Lausanne, 24 July 1923 · The Republic of TurkeyLate Ottoman and WarThe Republic of TurkeyThe Treaty of Lausanne Redraws Turkey and Trades Its Populations19201925193519451955

Quick facts

Population exchange convention signed
30 January 1923
Treaty of Lausanne signed
24 July 1923
Greek Orthodox relocated from Turkey
c. 1.5 million
Muslims relocated from Greece
c. 500,000

What happened

Following the Turkish victory over Greece, negotiators from Turkey, Greece, and the Allied powers concluded eight months of talks with the Treaty of Lausanne, signed 24 July 1923, which replaced the unratified Treaty of Sevres and recognized Turkey's new borders and full sovereignty. As part of the settlement, Greek and Turkish representatives signed the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations on 30 January 1923, mandating what its own first article called a compulsory exchange of Turkish nationals of the Greek Orthodox religion established in Turkish territory, and of Greek nationals of the Moslem religion established in Greek territory, beginning 1 May 1923. The exchange, organized by religion rather than language or ethnic self-identification, uprooted roughly 1.5 million Greek Orthodox Christians from Anatolia and around 500,000 Muslims from Greece, with Constantinople's Greek community and Western Thrace's Muslim community specifically exempted.

Why it matters

Lausanne is the international treaty that created the borders and the sovereign status of the Turkey that exists today, ending the post-WWI partition threat for good, while the population exchange it authorized remade Anatolia into a far more religiously and ethnically homogeneous country than the multiethnic Ottoman Empire had ever been. The exchange remains one of the largest state-organized compulsory population transfers of the 20th century and a direct precedent later invoked, and criticized, in debates over other forced population movements.

How we know

The Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations survives as a signed treaty text, hosted by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, specifying the exchange's legal terms article by article, and the Treaty of Lausanne itself is likewise a preserved diplomatic instrument documented in the historical record of the Lausanne Peace Conference.

Sources

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The Treaty of Lausanne Redraws Turkey and Trades Its Populations · History of Turkey · SourcedStory