الجيل العثماني الأخير وصناعة الشرق الأوسط الحديث

The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies published the book **Lausanne 1923: Contexts and Consequences**, by a group of Arab and Western authors and researchers, and it was edited by Muhammad Jamal Barot. This book is 743 pages long, and includes an introduction by the editor, an introduction to the contributors, twenty-one chapters divided into five sections, and a general index. The book presents a collection of research on the Lausanne Conference (1923), as the culmination of a cumulative historical process between the years 1918 and 1923, which followed the collapse of four major empires in World War I, the last of which was the Ottoman Empire, which was legally and politically abolished by the Treaty of Lausanne. It deals with the various dimensions of this pivotal stage in global history, as its goal was to fill the gap in Arab historical studies on the treaty, and to re-examine its contexts and effects in Arab countries. Given the scarcity of modern research on it since the 1950s, with the exception of limited studies that focused on its regional consequences. The book shows what happened between the Armistice of Mudros and the fall of the Caliphate. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and the signing of the armistice on October 30, 1918, the Allies imposed harsh conditions that included the surrender of military garrisons and the disarmament of the army, while the British took the initiative to occupy Mosul. The following five years, 1918-1923, represented a pivotal stage in world history, after the collapse of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman empires during or as a result of World War I. The system of national states emerged from its ruins, within the framework of unjust peace treaties, most notably the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920, which aimed to liquidate the Ottoman Empire once and for all. In the face of this, Mustafa Kemal led the Anatolian resistance movement and achieved a decisive victory over Greece in the Battle of Sakarya in 1922. Which forced the Allies to accept the Mudanya Truce and recognize the Ankara government, an event that was considered resounding in the Islamic world and paved the way for redrawing the balance of power. ## The Lausanne Conference and the changing regional balances and its consequences. In response to the new reality, Britain, France, and Italy called for the Lausanne Conference to be held in November 1922 to settle the Turkish-Greek conflict and amend the Treaty of Sèvres, but the Arabs were excluded from direct participation, and the matter was limited to the presence of the Kingdom of Hijaz and Iraq as observers. During the conference, the Grand National Assembly approved the separation of the Caliphate and the Sultanate, ending the rule of Istanbul. The conference passed through two stages: the first between 1922 and 1923, which failed due to disputes related to concessions and the Mosul problem, and the second between April and July 1923, which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, which demarcated the borders of modern Turkey, approved the exchange of populations with Greece, and established the sovereignty of the nascent republic. The treaty was followed by the final abolition of the caliphate, in 1924, in parallel with Turkish-French cooperation to dismantle the “Islamic Union” movement in Syria. In the Arab world, developments have led to profound changes. The Kingdom of Hijaz disappeared after King Hussein bin Ali rejected the Treaty of Lausanne and obstructed the agreement with Britain, so the British transferred their support to the Saudis, which led to the emergence of a new power in the Arabian Peninsula. ## The structure of the book, its research axes, and its purpose. The book Lausanne 1923: Contexts and Implications consists of five main sections: The first section, “On the Road to Lausanne,” deals with three chapters on the Eastern Question, the stage from the Armistice of Mudros to the Lausanne Conference, and the role of Soviet Russia in the Turkish War of Liberation (1918-1923). The second section, “The Arabs and Lausanne,” examines in nine chapters the Arab relationship with the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, the exclusion of the Arabs, the Alexandretta issue, the Mosul issue, the Kurdish issue, and developments in North Africa until 1923. The third section, “The Lausanne Treaty in the Arab Press,” includes two chapters on the resonance of the Lausanne Treaty in the press of the Levant and Morocco. The fourth section, “The Impact of the Lausanne Conference on Türkiye’s Relations with Greece and Albania,” deals in three chapters with population exchange, the image of war in literature, and its repercussions during the period 1923-2023. The fifth section, “From the End of the Caliphate to the Turkish Republic,” concludes with four chapters on the separation of the Sultanate from the Caliphate, its impact on Islamic thought, re-understanding the Caliphate, and the establishment of the Republic.