August 10, 1920
After the victorious World War I Allied powers created a plan for the breakup of the Ottoman Empire at the San Remo Conference in April 1920, the Allies and the Ottomans sign a treaty in the town of Sevres, France. The same day, the British, French and Italian governments sign the secret Tripartite Agreement, which outlines each power’s interests in the former Ottoman possessions.
In addition to breaking up the Ottoman Empire, the Treaty of Sevres calls for the creation of an independent Armenia and an autonomous Kurdistan and for Greece to assume control over the Aegean islands commanding the Dardanelles.
Article 95 of the Treaty of Sevres incorporates language from the 1917 Balfour Declaration: “Article 95: The High Contracting Parties agree to entrust, by application of the provisions of Article 22, the administration of Palestine, within such boundaries as may be determined by the Principal Allied Powers, to a Mandatory to be selected by the said Powers. The Mandatory will be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2, 1917, by the British Government, and adopted by the other Allied Powers, in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI endorses the treaty, but it is rejected by the new Turkish nationalist movement under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Ataturk split from the monarchy and set up the Turkish National Assembly in April 1920. The resulting Turkish War of Independence prevents the treaty from ever being ratified by the assembly. Ataturk’s victory leads to a renewal of negotiations and the replacement of the Treaty of Sevres with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
