THE PROBLEM OF CHRISTIAN MINORITIES OF TURKEY DURING THE LAUSANNE NEGOTIATIONS: DISCUSSIONS ON THE FORMATION OF AN “ARMENIAN NATIONAL HOME”

Abstract

For many years, the negotiations and the Treaty of Lausanne were in the center of both
scientific and analytical discussions and socio-political developments in Turkey. Nowadays
these discussions, changing their focus, still have certain place in the political agenda of
Turkey in connection with different external and internal problems. Being extremely important
for Kemalists, the issue of the Christians, survived from the Armenian and Greek Genocides,
was one of the most problematic questions during the Lausanne negotiations. The issue of the
formation of an “Armenian national home” was also suggested during the negotiations in
Lausanne; however, it failed and was removed from the agenda. Actually, the Lausanne
conference became one of the unsuccessful attempts of raising the Armenian Question in the
international arena.