Mosul przede wszystkim… Stosunki brytyjsko-tureckie w latach 1923–1929
First and Foremost Mosul…British-Turkish Relations between 1923 and 1929

Summary/Abstract: Lausanne Peace Treaty did not solve contradictions between Great Britain and Turkey. Political relations between those two countries remained strained. The Kemalists could not forget that London had been the main supporter of Greece during the Liberation War (Kurtuluş Savaşı). On the other hand, the British thought Turkey to be a seasonal state and were alarmed when Kemalists had established a close link with the Soviet Russia. However, the most serious problem was a dispute over the possession of the vilayet of Mosul. The territory of Mosul was held by Turkey until the First World War. In 1918 it was occupied by Britain. In 1920 it was assigned to Iraq, which had become a British mandate. However Kemalists refused to relinquish their claims to the territory of Mosul, which was specified in the National Pact (Misakı Millı) as Turkish one. For that reason the question of Mosul remained in a state of deadlock, even after the Lausanne Treaty had been signed. Bilateral negotiations between Great Britain and Turkey did not solve the problem, and the matter was referred to the League of Nations. In December 1925 the Council of the League of Nations decided that the vilayet of Mosul was an integraf part of Iraq. Finally the dispute over that territory ended in June 1926, when the border treaty between Iraq and Turkey was signed. However the case of Mosul cast a shadow over relations between Angora and London at least until 1929.

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