Özet:

This study analyzes the impacts of the Lausanne Treaty upon the British colonial rule. So far, much have been discussed about how the Turkish War of Independence between 1919 and 1922 and the conclusion of Lausanne Treaty in 1923 influenced anti-imperialist or anti-colonial movements on the Middle East. That means the issue was usually studied from the perspective of the colonized. However, the colonizer side of the issue is often neglected. Whereas, the British Parliamentary discussions during the ratification of the Lausanne Treaty expose that this Treaty posed serious questions for the British colonial administration. Specifically, Canada’s challenge to the British colonial rule concerning the ratification of the Lausanne Treaty provoked heated debates in the British Parliament. British colonies’ contribution to the imperial military campaigns and their role in the peace settlements were open to debate. Besides, the administrative approach to the colonies created a dispute in the British domestic politics between the liberals and the conservatives. Thus, it is argued that the Lausanne Treaty generated an immediate impact on the colonial administration and the domestic politics of the British Empire as well. From this point of view, the Lausanne Treaty as a special post-First World War (WWI) agreement is formulated here as a critical stage in the de-colonization movement, which is usually taken as a post-Second World War phenomenon.

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