The Kurds came close to fulfilling their dream of obtaining a homeland of their own, following the collapse of the Ottoman Sultanate at the end of World War I after the Treaty of Sèvres concluded in 1920 on the right of the Kurds to determine their fate.
After its defeat in World War I, the Ottoman Empire was forced on August 10, 1920 to sign the Treaty of Sèvres with the victorious nations.
According to the agreement signed in the French city of Sèvres, the allies tended to reduce the area of the Ottoman Empire and strip it of non-Turkish speaking regions, which gave the Kurds according to items 62 and 64 of the third part of the agreement the right to self-determination and the establishment of the Kurdistan State.
"The violation of promises and agreement to deny the Kurdish identity"
However, with the beginning of 1920, nationalists led by Mostafa Kemal Ataturk made progress in what was called the War of Independence, which gave Ataturk a motive to get rid of the Sèvres Agreement and the promises made to the Kurds, as Ataturk affirmed his refusal to establish a Kurdistan state, preferring to practice the policy of Turkification against the Kurds to obliterate their identity and integrate them into the Turkish society.
After that, the allies, "Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Portugal, Belgium, Yugoslavia" were forced to retract the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres and replace them in 1923 with the Treaty of Lausanne which placed the Kurdish people under the control of Turkey and Iran, as well as Britain and France which were the mandate countries for Iraq and Syria.
This Agreement (Lausanne) had many provisions, except that nothing was mentioned regarding the Kurds, and only some general articles were put in place that confirmed that all citizens in Turkey will be protected regardless of their nationality, or culture, and that all the languages in it are also free without discrimination, to begin with the stage of denying the Kurdish identity and working to exterminate the Kurds culturally and physically, which continues to the present day.
This Agreement was tantamount to legitimate approval to keep the Kurds out of the political map, and it is considered the most dangerous agreement that has led to tearing Kurdistan.
The leader of the Kurdish people Abdullah Ocalan spoke about this in the fifth volume of the Manifesto of Democratic Civilization - The Kurdish Cause, saying, "A new stage begins with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne and the proclamation of the republic, as it works to end the ongoing differences with the British regarding Mosul and Kirkuk by concluding a very tragic treaty at the expense of the Kurds."
The leader Ocalan added, "The Ankara Agreement concluded with the French, despite the fact that it made concessions from the Millî Charter, and its expiry relatively at the expense of the Kurds (and Turkmen in Syria), it did not reach catastrophic proportions, as it left a small part of Kurdistan in the custody of France, but that requires consideration carefully at the negative aspects arising from it within the reality of the Kurdish nation."
"Turkey’s exploitation of colonial interests"
On this, the Kurdish Writer and Political Analyst Mahmoud Abbas said to Hawar news, "Despite the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and with the remnants of its military and political forces which were able to impose their conditions on the major countries, Britain and France did not dare to sacrifice their interests in the region, engage in wide wars with them, and recognize the Kurds as residents on their geography, or try to establish a Kurdish entity. It was expected that the Soviet Union would stand with Kemalist Turkey if the conflict expanded."
He added: "On the other hand, the two colonial states found themselves unable to destroy the empire completely, and they tried and lost in one of their most important battles at the gates of Dardanelles, just as France lost its struggle with it on the Syrian-Turkish borders. Therefore, they found that working to establish the state of Kurdistan is a failed policy for them in exchange for their interests, in addition to the fact that the dispute between Britain and France over the geography of Kurdistan, and whoever would be affected by it, was directly challenging their interests and colonial strategy based on the lowest losses for most profits."
"Weakness of the self-factor"
Abbas believes, "The absence of the Kurds from the international and military arenas facilitated the application of this debate, and accordingly, the geographical and political divisions that were clarified even before the Lausanne Agreement, which were completed in Ankara 1 and 2 and what followed, reflected on the fate of Kurdistan, and became a victim of the interests of the major countries, as well as the weakness of the self-factor in all respects."
What is Turkey planning now?
On the anniversary of the conclusion of the Lausanne Agreement, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is working on achieving his expansionist dreams in the region.
He does not stop stressing the need to review the historical treaty which contributed to the formation of the modern state of Turkey with its present borders over the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.
Erdogan reiterates vague information that the Treaty of Lausanne automatically falls after a hundred years, through which the Ottoman Empire accepted to cede its hegemony over several lands and countries, including Cyprus, which is the speech by which he justifies his interventions in Syria, the eastern coast of Cyprus, Iraq, Libya and other regions, particularly the Kurdish regions.
"Turkey's unity may be the price of Erdogan's ambitions"
On this, the Kurdish Writer and Political Analyst Mahmoud Abbas said, "Most likely Erdogan is digging the grave of Kemalist Turkey, despite what he attained from its advancement, in the economic and military dimensions during the past two decades, and was able to almost eliminate the deep state, but what he aspires to, and attempts to expand in two geographic and military dimensions will lead it to direct confrontations with the major powers in the future when their interests are exposed to danger, and begin to distribute roles in the region."
He added, "To expand its ambitions, Turkey has worked to place itself in the leadership of the Sunni Muslim world from the religious depth, and the East Asian from the national depth, and has also begun to search for international treaties that undermined the Ottoman Empire, and try to reformulate it."
He explained, "On this strategy, today, the Erdoganian Turkey is working in front of the European world, where its interests do not allow direct, strong and wide confrontation with it now, and that the American and Russian conflict opens the doors for it to continue these transgressions at the expense of regional states and their interests, but it is expected and in the near future that a major change will occur in the equation, and it is not unlikely that Erdogan will pay for his ambitions the unity of Turkey."
D.H
ANHA
