FROM AUTHORS
Ankara Politikalar Merkezi

Lausanne Day

24 July 2023
PAYLAŞ

Last Sunday was the anniversary of Lausanne. The 99th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne.

The Treaty of Lausanne is the work of the cadre that started our war of liberation by rejecting the Treaty of Sèvres (Sevres) imposed on the defeated Ottoman Empire in the First World War and crowned that war with victory.

Atatürk and Inönü.

You know the “two drunkards”. Here they are…

After the Mudanya armistice signed at the end of the War of Independence, the Ankara government was invited to the peace conference to be held in October 1922. Along with the Ankara government, the Allies also invited the sultanate in Istanbul to the conference.

However, in Sabahattin Selek’s words, the “Anatolian Revolution” was the name of a national movement that was not only limited to defeating the enemy, but also rebelled against the Ottoman state.

What was the Istanbul government, which was against the national struggle, doing in the negotiations for the peace treaty that would crown the war of liberation? The sultan’s men who signed a death warrant against Mustafa Kemal and his comrades-in-arms?

Then the Turkish Grand National Assembly abolished the sultanate on 1 November 1922. And the Ankara government participated in Lausanne with the delegation of the Turkish Grand National Assembly led by İsmet İnönü.

When they arrived at Lausanne, they tried to treat Turkey as the loser of the First World War. However, İsmet Pasha marked the psychological background of the conference from the very beginning by saying “I came here from Mudanya, not from Mondros”.

So, instead of the Ottoman Empire, which was the loser of the World War, there was now Turkey, the winner of the War of Independence. Turkey is not a defeated country, it is the equal of everyone there.
The negotiations in Lausanne were interrupted for a while, mainly due to the issue of capitulations, among other issues. The conference was suspended.

The negotiations in Lausanne were a contentious conference that opened with the attitude of the Entente States looking down on the Turkish representatives, interrupted with the righteous attitude of the Turkish delegation that did not submit to the impositions, and was the scene of difficult negotiations that could be read as a lesson in diplomacy….

The sources, which are written in a simple manner that anyone who can read and write can understand, explain what a great diplomatic success the Turkish Grand National Assembly government led by Mustafa Kemal and its representative in Lausanne, İsmet İnönü, achieved in Lausanne…

Lausanne is the founding treaty of the Republic of Turkey. It is one of the most important legal texts of modern history.

From time to time, some claims are put forward that Lausanne will be invalid in 2023, when it will complete its centenary.

Lausanne is not an international treaty with an expiry date.

It is a document of victory.

Today, there is a considerable group of people in Turkey who say that there are some secret clauses in Lausanne and that because of these secret clauses we will be able to exploit our mines, which we have not been able to exploit until today, only after 2023.

When you ask, “What are they?” they say, “I don’t know, it’s called secret”…
In the street surveys, people are in the mood that “we will soon be liberated, we will exploit our mines and turn the corner”. As if our country has encountered any obstacle in the last hundred years to extract its mines…

In other words, for some, Lausanne is a document of captivity against Turkey… One hundred years will pass, the validity of the treaty will expire and Turkey will be freed from its shackles.

It is not possible to be angry with this ignorant bunch who see Lausanne as a document of bondage. The highest level of the state says, “What did they do to us in history? In 1920, they showed us Sevres, in 1923 they made us agree to Lausanne. And some people tried to sell Lausanne as a victory. Everything is obvious,” doesn’t he say?

Doesn’t a newspaper hostile to all the values and principles represented by the Republic of Turkey headline “99th anniversary of the Lausanne defeat” in a reckless, immoral manner?

“There are secret articles of Lausanne. What are these?” they asked CIMER.

“There are no secret clauses in the Lausanne Peace Treaty, and there is no article that prevents us from mining,” CİMER replied.

But our dear people continue to believe that there are secret clauses in Lausanne. Our dear people who have an opinion without knowledge.

It is a shame of our education system that the masses of people do not know what the Treaty of Lausanne, the founding deed of the Republic of Turkey, is and what it means.

And this shame must be remedied.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s promise that “The first bill we will propose when Parliament opens will be a bill to recognise Lausanne as an official holiday” is important in this respect. If realised, it will constantly remind our nation that Lausanne was not a defeat with secret clauses, but a victory celebrated with a feast.

Thank you Mr Kemal.

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Venezuela Elections : The test of Nicolas Maduro and the Chavez ideology with the electorate: 28 July 2024

12 July 2024

I have been following Venezuela since my transfer to Cuba (2012). At that time, Venezuela was a very prestigious country in Latin America, with very bright economic indicators, exporting its oil without any problems, challenging the US, and providing serious support to Caribbean countries, especially Cuba, through the “Petro Caribe” programme. In 2013, with the death of Hugo Chavez, this bright page was closed. The decline in oil and raw material prices, the internal political tensions that started with Nicolas Maduro’s narrow victory in the controversial 2013 elections, the increasing pressure on opposition leaders, strained relations with the US, unfinished social investments, increasing corruption, world record inflation, all brought the end of Venezuela’s success story. During the 12-year term of Nicolas Maduro, the collapse of Hugo Chavez’s ideology was put on stage. The Venezuelan people, who were introduced to prosperity in the 1999-2013 period, have experienced the deepest economic crisis in their history in recent years, with 7.5 million people fleeing the country of 30 million people due to widespread misery.

Maduro opponents united against all obstacles for elections

The Maduro regime suffered serious legitimacy problems as a result of the 2018 elections, which were boycotted by the opposition due to bans, arrests and repression. The United States and around 50 other countries have now crossed Maduro out and recognised Juan Guaido, the head of parliament, as the country’s legitimate president. This extreme pressure on Venezuela under Trump’s leadership did not bring the expected political results. The Juan Guaido bubble deflated within a year or two, but the country was brought to its knees economically, unable to breathe. The mutually damaging stalemate was ended with the mediation of Mexico and Norway. In October 2023, an agreement was reached in Barbados (an island state in the Caribbean) between the Maduro administration and the opposition. US sanctions were eased in exchange for fair and free elections. This time the Venezuelan opposition united around a single candidate, reversing the boycott of the 2018 elections. Maria Corina Machado, an ardent oppositionist, was nominated as a joint candidate. The fact that the Supreme Court, under Maduro’s command, did not approve Machado’s candidacy, in violation of the Barbados Consensus, could not break the unity and resistance of the opposition, and this time they rallied behind retired diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, whom Machado pointed out. Currently, Maria Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez are successfully campaigning side by side and hand in hand.

The opposition’s electoral victory will not bring absolute power

Although opinion polls point to Maduro losing the elections, it would be appropriate not to give too much credence to these predictions. On the other hand, there are some circles who are sceptical that Maduro, who has the army behind him, may not hand over power quietly. It is possible to come across some shenanigans regarding the election results. On the other hand, the opposition’s victory in the presidential elections does not mean that all the “Chavezian” public institutions and organisations that have held power for 25 years will fall under the control of the opposition in a few weeks; the victory in the presidential elections of 28 July will only be the first step towards a radical change. The purge of the judiciary and the armed forces of “Chavezian” cadres will certainly take time. Let us bear in mind that parliamentary elections will be organised next year, followed by provincial elections the following year. We can say that if the parliamentary majority and state governments are won, the Opposition will dominate the country and become powerful.

It is imperative that the Chavezists and the opposition continue their dialogue on common ground.

Relations between the government and the opposition in Venezuela have been tense beyond normal for decades. The Chávezists regard the opposition as traitors and US lackeys. The opposition, which adopts neoliberal economics and sympathises with the US, considers the leftist governments and their supporters as inferior, primitive and outdated, and considers them insulting by labelling them communists. Naturally, such extreme polarisation constitutes a serious obstacle to peace and tranquility in the country. It has become a necessity for both sides to accept each other and learn to live together in peace. In this context, the most rational option would be for the opposition to maintain dialogue with the existing Chávezist cadres and cooperate with them to overcome the problems in the event of a victory in the July 28 elections. The masses of distraught people expect from the new government, first and foremost, running water, an end to power cuts, hospitals to provide services, salaries to increase and poverty to disappear.

Hugo Chavez passes and Maduro fails

An unbiased evaluation of the Venezuelan experience of the political understanding developed by Hugo Chávez, known as “Chavismo”, shows that the first period yielded positive results, with lower and middle income people rising to the upper class.In this period, Chavez also achieved successful results in foreign relations, strengthening regional co-operation by providing various supports to Caribbean countries (especially Cuba) in difficult situations.In sum, Chávez gained credibility with the public by prioritising the needs of the poor masses in the allocation of oil revenues.Under Maduro, who took the helm after the leftist populist leader, “Chavismo” collapsed.The situation of the prioritised poor masses has worsened and people have fled their country. Maduro also failed the test of democracy, trying to intimidate the opposition with repression and driving the people away from the polls. Maduro, who also scored badly in terms of foreign relations, was virtually isolated in his region and waited for patronage from Iran, Russia and China.If asked what Maduro has achieved, I can say that he succeeded in keeping the army on his side.I could not see any other success.

If the oil sector is revived and exports increase, the economic crisis will end; what about the social crisis?

The key to getting out of the deep political and economic crisis Venezuela has fallen into is to return to the days when the country extracted 3 million barrels of oil a day and exported it without any problems.In recent years, production has fallen below one million barrels.Spending oil revenues for the welfare of the masses of people, free from corruption, would bring social peace to a country suffering from income inequality.Venezuela has collapsed mainly due to its own mistakes, and the US sanctions against the country have accelerated the collapse.If Maduro wins the elections on 28 July, it will be almost impossible to revive the crisis-ridden oil sector, increase exports, end corruption, promote social peace and restore democracy.Considering that the US is the leading natural buyer of Venezuelan oil in the region, if the united opposition wins the elections, it will be recognised that the country is highly likely to emerge from the crisis with the end of US sanctions.If Edmundo Gonzalez and his team prioritise the poor masses in the distribution of oil revenues, the problem of political polarisation will disappear and Venezuela will regain its position as the most prosperous country in the region.

 

A Fact Charlie Hebdo Neglected: The French Once Really Sent Tanks to the Territory

16 February 2023

The cartoon by the humor magazine Charlie Hebdo, which mocked the devastation caused by the earthquake disaster in Turkey by saying, “There was no need to send tanks,” rightly drew widespread public outrage. However, there was a fact that the cartoonist did not know or seemed to have forgotten: The earthquake took place in the very lands where the French had sent tanks a hundred years ago, but failed to take them, such as Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş and Urfa, cities that had resisted the French occupation. According to this cartoonist’s twisted logic, the places that they could not take even though they destroyed them with tanks and artillery at the time, would have been destroyed this time without the need to send tanks.

 

There is no doubt that this cartoonist is someone with certain obsessions or prejudices who wants Turkey to be harmed, destroyed and punished. If he tried to draw a parallel with the issue of sending tanks to Ukraine in order to make a topical issue, such a cartoon is at least an unqualified work; he has opened old books while trying to make satire. Making fun of the people whose houses were destroyed has deeply wounded his so-called “artist” personality.

 

Let us now take a look at the past, which this person may know but seems to be ignorant of. The Treaty of Sèvres, signed 103 years ago, left Mardin-Urfa-Antep-Ceyhan to Syria under the French mandate. Mersin-Adana-Maras-Diyarbakir-Diyarbakir-Silvan-Elazig-Arapkir-Sivas-Tokat became the French zone of influence.

 

The French army occupied the region, including Urfa, Maraş and Antep, with a force of 21,500 soldiers, 300 machine guns, heavy artillery, six airplanes and five tanks. Among the French troops entering Ayntab was an Armenian contingent of 500 men. While the people of Ayntab greeted the occupation with anger and indignation, the Armenians, who had lived with the people of Ayntab for centuries, welcomed the invaders with flowers. In November 1919, protests, armed resistance and clashes broke out in the city against the occupation. In the same period, uprisings against the occupation also took place in Maraş. Law of Defense organizations were established in the region. Mustafa Kemal from Ankara sent Kılıç Ali Pasha to the region to organize the resistance.

 

In the face of intense resistance, the French withdrew from Maraş on February 12, 1920 and from Urfa on April 11, 1920. On the other hand, with five tanks, 105, 155 guns, 65 mountain guns, they headed towards Ayntab with all their might.

 

The houses of Antep, which has an exceptional place in our history with its glorious resistance and was awarded the title of “Gazi” by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on February 8, 1921, were turned into ruins with these weapons for months. The people of Ayntab, who heroically resisted the occupation, suffered 6317 martyrs and argued that these attacks directly against the civilian population fell within the scope of the 1907 Hague War Crimes Convention. This photo of the city’s Suburcu Street, taken at the time, “resembles” Charlie Hebdo’s depiction of the earthquake.

(Source, Photographs from Gaziantep Defense, Şehit Kamil Municipality Cultural Publications, page 30)

The French agreed to withdraw from Ayntab with the Ankara Agreement of October 20, 1921. The withdrawal began on November 4, the victory and liberation took place on December 25, 1921. The French tanks left as they came, but the “tank” obsession in some minds has not been easily erased.

 

While the concept of “the West” is associated with enlightenment, reason and science, unfortunately, it has also been tainted with colonialism and racism, with many examples in history. While Western people are expected to know how to put themselves in the shoes of others, a cartoonist comes out and sees other peoples as second class people.

 

On its most painful day, the Turkish people were confronted with Charlie Hebdo’s attitude full of hatred and hatred. We can only hope that the rationality and enlightenment of the West will teach this cartoonist a lesson.

Tanks used by the French in the Battle of Ayntab, armed with 37mm guns and 8mm Hotchkiss machine guns (Same source, page 23)

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