The Treaty of Lausanne, signed in 1923 in the guise of “peace”, failed to bring about lasting harmony, said People’s Democratic Congress (HDK) spokeswoman Esengül Demir during a panel in Istanbul on Sunday.
The conference entitled “The Centenary of Lausanne: Reckoning and Possibility”, organised by the Congress, consisted of two sessions titled “The Century of Lausanne” and “Possibilities of Our Common Future,” aiming to explore the impact and implications of the Treaty on its centenary. Distinguished figures such as politicians, writers and intellectuals participated in the panel’s discussions.
Demir argued that the Treaty of Lausanne marked an era of exclusion and denial of identity. She further pointed out that the founding of the Republic of Turkey had led to the centralisation of power and the suppression of diversity. The concept of the nation-state was imposed on the region, aiming to homogenise and erase any differences or dissenting voices.
Regarding the Kurdish issue, Demir contended that the global powers, through the Treaty of Lausanne, not only divided the Kurdish people into four parts within the borders of four countries, namely Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq, but also left the Kurds without a recognised status.
Demir criticised the concept of a “common homeland” mentioned in the treaty, stating that it was built upon submission to the powerful, leaving the Kurds in a marginalised position. She asserted that the Treaty of Lausanne served as a seal of denial for the Kurdish people and emphasised the necessity of eradicating this mark of denial.
