The Conference of London (21 February and 12 March 1921 and March 1922, London,

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

) was a conference convened in order to deal with the problems resulting from the peace treaties that ended

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, most notably the

Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres () was a 1920 treaty signed between some of the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire, but not ratified. The treaty would have required the cession of large parts of Ottoman territory to France, the United Kingdom, ...

with the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, which was militarily opposed by the

Turkish National Movement The Turkish National Movement (), also known as the Anatolian Movement (), the Nationalist Movement (), and the Kemalists (, ''Kemalciler'' or ''Kemalistler''), included political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resu ...

First stage

To salvage the

, a diplomatic conference was held in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

between 21 February and 12 March 1921. The

Triple Entente The Triple Entente (from French meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was built upon th ...

forced the nationalists to agree with the

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

government. Bekir Sami (Kunduh), representative of

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, insisted that the delegate from Constantinople could not enter the negotiations and rejected the use of Sèvres as the basis of the talks. Sèvres had been negotiated with the

, not with the nationalist movement of Turkey based in Ankara.

Second stage

Another meeting in London was held in March 1922. The Allies, without considering the extent of Ankara's successes, hoped to impose modified Sevres as a peace settlement on Ankara. The Entente foreign ministers proposed Ankara to establish an

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n state in eastern

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, removing Turkish troops from the Straits area. Also stipulated was the Turkish abandonment to the Greeks of Smyrna and eastern Thrace, including Adrianople. In return, the Allies offered to raise the Sèvres limits on the Turkish army to 85,000 men, eliminating the European financial controls over the Turkish government, but retaining the Capitulations and Public Debt Commission. These proposals were completely at odds with the

National Pact The National Pact () is an unwritten agreement that laid the foundation of Lebanon as a multiconfessional state following negotiations between the Shia, Sunni, Maronite, and Druze leaderships. Enacted in the summer of 1943, the National Pact wa ...

of the last Ottoman Parliament, making it easy for the Ankara Assembly to reject them.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:London Conference of 1921-1922 Aftermath of World War I in the United Kingdom Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) Politics of the Turkish War of Independence

20th-century diplomatic conferences Conferences in London 1921 in international relations 1922 in international relations 1921 in the United Kingdom 1922 in the United Kingdom 1921 conferences 1922 conferences