Today in History – 26 February

İsmet Pasha discusses the Straits with Aralov

Semyon Ivanovich Aralov, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Ambassador to Ankara, met with İsmet Pasha on February 26, 1923 prior to the Lausanne Conference. Ivanov had attached particular importance to this meeting. According to İsmet Pasha, the Russians were associating the safety of the Black Sea and Russia with the status of the Straits to be determined. Therefore, they were keen to understand the policy Turkey would pursue at Lausanne and the fate they were willing to accept for the Straits. Disrupting the U.K.’s possible designs on the Straits and closing them off to battleships were among their primary objectives. They were convinced that the safety of Russia could only be assured by absolute Turkish sovereignty over the Straits.

During the meetings, Aralov sought Turkey’s support for Russia’s participation at the Lausanne Conference as a concerned party. Naturally, Turkey could not make such a demand on behalf of Russia. Nonetheless, İsmet Pasha assured him that during negotiations on the Straits, he would support Russia and other Black Sea nations in expressing their views and would work in coordination with the Russian delegation when issues concerning the Straits were being deliberated.

Despite this positive approach, the Russian Federation was not content with the conditions Turkey accepted regarding the Straits at Lausanne and Aralov later accused the Turkish delegation of “submissiveness.”