Figure 1.--This is Ahmed Tevfik Pasha (1845-1936) and his daughters, probably about 1905. The girls are dressed in fashionable European dresses. Tevfik was a destinguished Ottoman diplomat and served three times as Grand Vizier, including the vinal Ottoman Grabd Vizier. He served as the president of the Ottoman delegation to the Paris Peace Conference ending World War I. Tevfik and his delegation rejected the punative terms of the proposed treaty. Another delegation sent by the Grand Vizier Damat Ferit Pasha subsequently accepted the terms and signed the Treaty.

World War I for the Ottoman Empire was formally ended by the Treaty of Sèvres (August 10, 1920). This was the peace treaty between the Entente (Allies) and Associated Powers and the Ottoman Empire. As at Versaiiles, the Allies dictated the terms, dismembering the Empire. The Allies used the same approach as with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, dividing up the Empire into ethnically based nation states. The Ottoman Empire had already lost a great deal of territory as the result of largely British offensives, one through Paledstine and Syria and the other through Iraq. The Hejaz (Saudi rabia) was lost through the Arab Revolt supported by the British. An outline for the treaty had been reached at Sanremo Conference (April 1920). Several new states were to be created under the terms of the Sèvres Treaty. The Hejaz (Saudi Arabia) and Armenia were to become independent countries. Kurdistan was also to become independent and would include Mosul. The British and French during the War had reached the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This was incorporated into the Treaty. The territories involved were made League of Nation Mandates. Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Palestine were assigned to the British. Lebanon and Syria were assigned to the French. The Dodecanese Islands and Rhodes which had been occupied by Italy in an earlier war with the Ottomans (1911) and small areas of southern Anatolia were to become Italian territory. Thrace and Western Anatoliaincluding İzmir/Smyrna would become Greek territory. The critical Bosphorus, Dardanelles and Sea of Marmara connecting the Black Sea and Mediterranean were to be demilitarized and internationalized. The Ottoman Army was restricted to a maximum 50,000 men. The Ottoman Navy was restricted to 7 sloops and 6 torpedo boats. The Ottomans were prohibited from creating an air force. Sèvres was near Paris and where the Treaty was signed. At the time the Allies occupied the Ottoman capital (İstanbul) and other areas of Turkey. The Ottoman Parliament had been forced to close earlier (April 1920) and thus could not ratify the Treaty. Sultan Mehmed VI Vahdeddin did ratify it, but he had become a poweless figurehead. The Turkish republican movement refused to ratify the Treaty. The republican movement was led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha who was the president of the Turkish Grand National Assembly based in Ankara which was not occupied by the Allies. The republican victory in the Turkish War of Independence made the Ankara republicans Turkey's real government. The Allies offered to adjust the Treaty, but the Ankara Government rejected it entirely.

Created: 7:33 PM 1/18/2016
Last updated: 7:33 PM 1/18/2016