Sèvres, << SEH vruh, >> Treaty of, forced the defeated Ottoman Empire to give up much of its territory at the close of World War I. The treaty was signed on Aug. 10, 1920. It gave independence to parts of the empire and gave other parts to Britain and other Allied powers.
Under the terms of the treaty, Britain received a mandate (order to rule) over what is now Israel, Jordan, and most of Iraq. France gained a mandate over what is now Syria and Lebanon. The Ottoman Empire was to give up all its territorial claims in northern Africa and to cede eastern Thrace to Greece. Parts of present-day western Turkey were to be under Greek rule for five years. The independence of Armenia was recognized after the United States refused a mandate over it. The waters around the Ottoman Empire were to be opened to the vessels of all nations, and the Ottoman armed forces were to be reduced to a police force. The treaty also provided for Ottoman finances to be controlled by an Allied commission.
The treaty was signed by the Ottoman government but never ratified by Turkish nationalists. The nationalists, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (later called Kemal Ataturk), overthrew the Ottoman government, set up an independent state of Turkey, and drove the Greeks from what is now western Turkey. Kemal then negotiated a new peace treaty with the Allies. It was signed at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1923. The treaty set Turkey’s borders about where they are today, but left Britain in control of much of the former Ottoman Empire.
See also Ataturk, Kemal ; Versailles, Treaty of .
