2023-5 – The Lausanne legacy in a new European light: A re-examination of Greek-Turkish relations

A century on from the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, on 24 July 1923, a pivotal moment in European history, we consider its enduring impact, its changing relevancy in our age of European integration, and most crucially, its implications on Greek-Turkish relations. Conceived in the tumult of the Ottoman Empire’s disintegration in 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was a beacon of resolution for Greek-Turkish conflicts. It accomplished this by organising population exchanges and territorial transfers, which in turn fortified the notion of homogeneous nation-states – a concept increasingly at odds with the intricacies of today’s Europe.