🕊️ Peace at Home, Peace in the World: Foreign Policy under Atatürk

Under Atatürk, Turkey ran its foreign relations in peace, through talks and agreements. Today we visit the most important stops on that road, from Mosul to Hatay.

The basic principles of foreign policy are full independence, realism, rationality, reciprocity and peace. Atatürk put it in the words “Peace at home, peace in the world.”

The Mosul question could not be settled at Lausanne and was taken to the League of Nations. On 5 June 1926 the Treaty of Ankara left Mosul to Iraq. Turkey was to receive 10 percent of the region’s oil income for 25 years.

On 18 July 1932, Turkey was invited to join the League of Nations and became a member. This shows that Turkey’s standing in the world had grown.

On 9 February 1934, in Athens, Turkey, Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia signed the Balkan Pact. Bulgaria and Albania did not join. The aim was peace in the Balkans and secure borders.

The Bosphorus and the Dardanelles join the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. With the Montreux Convention of 1936 the Straits Commission was abolished, and Turkey gained the right to keep troops to defend the Straits.

On 8 July 1937, in the Saadabad Palace in Tehran, Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan signed the Saadabad Pact. The aim was security on the eastern borders and peace in the Middle East.

The Hatay question began in 1936. When France made a treaty giving Syria independence, Turkey objected to Hatay being left to Syria. In 1937 the League of Nations gave Hatay a separate status, and in 1938 the Hatay State was founded. On 29 June 1939 the Hatay Assembly decided to join Turkey.

Summary: in 1926 the Mosul question ended with the Treaty of Ankara, in 1932 we joined the League of Nations, in 1934 came the Balkan Pact, in 1936 Montreux, in 1937 the Saadabad Pact, and in 1939 Hatay joined the homeland. The road was the same each time: peace and diplomacy. Now try it in İnkılap Kartları!