The Lausanne Project (TLP)

…what would the paintings say? Laura Popoviciu and Andrew Parratt explain to Jonathan Conlin how they curated the recent rehang of the UK Embassy in Ankara.

Laura is the pre-1900 curator and Andrew Head of Collection Care at the UK’s Government Art Collection.

Though they don’t earn a salary, the works of art installed in the United Kingdom’s 155 embassies and High Commissions are expected to earn their place. These mute diplomats are charged with promoting closer political, trade and other links between the UK and its international partners. When it came to the recent rehang of the embassy in Ankara, curators Laura and Andrew had the forbidding task of identifying which of the 14,700 artworks from among the UK’s Government Art Collection would best fulfill this brief, providing a commentary on Anglo-Turkish relations past and present. In this conversation, recorded on 20 June 2022, they take us behind the scenes of an overlooked example of “soft power”.

The discussion began by considering portraits of former ambassadors, including Clare Sheridan’s bronze of Sir George Russell Clerk, as well as depictions of Ottoman scenery and court ritual, among them Josef Schranz’ panoramic The Bosphorus, Anglo-French Fleet 1854 (shown in its new home above) and Antonio Guardi’s European Ambassador in the Second Court of Topkapi Palace (c. 1740, below). But the majority of the new display featured work by contemporary artists, including several born in Turkey or neighbouring territories. Among these were Güler Ates’ Eternal Maharani and She II (2013) and Mohammed Sami’s Displacement (2017). Here and elsewhere the rehang sought to gently challenge expectations: rather than the royal portrait one might expect, visitors entering the ambassador’s residence encounter a piece of 1990s video art, Dancing in Peckham by Gillian Wearing,

I think in any embassy the opportunity to get people talking is terrifically important; to generate trust and empathy, and art is a great way to do that.

The Government Art Collection promotes British art and plays a key role in British cultural diplomacy. Works of art from the Government Art Collection are displayed in UK Government buildings in nearly every capital city, making it the most dispersed collection of British art in the world. The Collection is committed to broadening public access and engagement through digital platforms and partnerships across the UK.

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.

CREDITS: Large Dining Room at H. M. Ambassador’s Residence, Ankara (Feature image). Works of art are copyright of the artist and images are Crown Copyright: Government Art Collection.

Elizabeth F. Thompson and Ozan Ozavci discuss Arab agency and exclusion at Lausanne, and its implications for the history of the wider Arab world, past and present.

Elizabeth is Professor of History at American University, Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth F. Thompson’s chapter in They All Made Peace – What is Peace? (Gingko, 2023) surveys the Arab exclusion at Lausanne as a critical juncture in the history of the wider Arab world. In this TLP podcast episode, recorded on 15 June 2022, Elizabeth explains to Ozan Ozavci the political trajectory that the diverse Arab groups followed after October 1918. Elizabeth argues that at Lausanne issues of immense importance to the Arabs were discussed, in their absence. She concludes that reinstating Lausanne in the history of the wider Arab world is necessary, not least because those who live under dictatorships today might retrieve the memory of civilian activists who stood up for democracy more than a hundred years ago.

Ozavci also asks Elizabeth about the contents of her recently published and acclaimed book How the West Stole Democracy From the Arabs: The Syrian Congress of 1920 and the Destruction of Its Historic Liberal-Islamic Alliance.

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.

MAIN IMAGE: Photo of the Syro-Palestinian Congress taken at Geneva in 1921. Seated, second from left is Rashid Rida.  Seated on the extreme right is Shakib Arslan. SOURCE: SyrianHistory.com, Courtesy of Elizabeth F. Thompson and Sami Moubayed.

Lerna Ekmekçioğlu and Ozan Ozavci discuss the Armenian mission to Lausanne in 1922-3, the (performative) support they received from the Allied Powers and the Turkish response to plans for an autonomous Armenian Home.

Lerna is Associate Professor of History at MIT.

Provisionally titled ‘Re-Mix? Debates over Armenian Autonomy at the Lausanne Conference and the Limits of Post-Genocide “Co-existence”,’ Lerna Ekmekçioğlu’s contribution to the Lausanne Project’s edited volume (forthcoming in 2023 with Gingko Library) looks into the Armenian mission at Lausanne in 1922-23.

The Armenian Unified Delegation (Miatsyal Badviragutyun) was co-chaired by Gabriel Noradungian on behalf of the Armenians of Turkey and Avedis Aharonian on behalf of the Russian Armenians. They suggested the establishment within Asia Minor of ‘an autonomous and demilitarized zone,’ i.e. an Armenian National Home, ‘either in Southern or Eastern Turkey where the survivors of the Armenian Genocide could return in order to congregate, sustain their culture, and feel safe and secure.’ Noradungian and Aharonian vowed that ‘autonomy within Turkey would turn resentful and vengeful Armenian refugees into grateful and loyal Turkish citizens.’ However, despite the partial (and arguably performative) support of the Great Powers, their plan met with categorical rejection by the Turkish delegation, who feared that the plan would be used as a means of interference in Turkey’s domestic affairs.

In this TLP podcast, recorded on 20 May 2022, Ozan Ozavci and Lerna discuss her book chapter, the Armenian plan, its implications and why it failed. Lerna argues that the Armenian mission was a science-fiction-like endeavour; theirs was ‘a stillborn project’. Lerna proposes an intervention in the historiography of the population exchange and a radical reimagining of ‘unmixing’.

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.

MAIN IMAGE: LEVON PASHALIAN AND HIS CHRONICLES, Լոզանի Խորհրդաժողովին Մասին Կարեւոր եւ Անտպի Վաւերագիր Մը, (AN IMPORTANT AND UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENT ABOUT THE LAUSANNE CONFERENCE), COURTESY OF LERNA EKMEKÇİOĞLU

Ellinor Morack explains to Jonathan Conlin how she unpicked the tangled process of expropriation and re-allocation by which early Republican Turkey sought to create a “national economy”.

Ellinor is Lecturer in Turkish Studies at the University of Bamberg.

Ellinor Morack’s first book, The Dowry of the State? The Politics of Abandoned Property and the Population Exchange in Turkey, 1921-1945 investigated how both Armenian and Greek properties were expropriated and re-allocated in the early years of Republican Turkey. Focusing on Izmir and its region, her study laid bare the rivalries between different ministries of central government as well as between central government and local notables. In this conversation, recorded on 10 May 2022, Ellinor describes her approach to identifying sources, the meaning of “nation” and the role the expropriated “other” played in the formation of a Turkish identity. Jon also asked her about her ongoing public history work, including plans for a podcast and other initiatives intended to engage German-speaking audiences. The Dowry of the State is free to download by following this link. Ellinor has since developed her research with a case study of İzmir’s Kültürpark, published in the European Review of History.

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.

MAIN IMAGE: DETAIL OF CHARLES E. GOAD, PLAN D’ASSURANCE DE SMYRNE (1905). UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON, HARTLEY LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Ozan Ozavci invites İlker Aytürk to develop his critical response to Erik-Jan Zürcher’s arguments in last month’s TLP podcast.

İlker is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Bilkent University, Ankara.

After the publication of the Lausanne Project’s last podcast with Erik-Jan Zürcher, İlker Aytürk discussed on Twitter why he disagreed with some of the arguments postulated by the Dutch historian. İlker acknowledges Zürcher as one of the post-Kemalist scholars whose work in the 1970s and 80s played a crucial role in unravelling official historiography. In İlker’s view, however, these post-Kemalists struggle to explain present-day political complications, including the authoritarian turn(s) in Turkey.

In this podcast (recorded on 15 April 2022) Ozan Ozavci invited İlker to develop his critique of Zürcher’s arguments at greater length. The two talked about the politicised nature of Turkish historiography, post-Kemalism and post-post-Kemalism. İlker contends that today’s political culture in Turkey transcends the familiar Kemalist/Islamist dichotomy. It’s time to ask new questions and come up with new answers. Studying the post-1945 history of Turkey and wider world is fundamental to this project.

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.

For İlker Aytürk’s recent publications in Turkish, see:

“Post-post-Kemalizm: Yeni Bir Paradigmayı Beklerken,” Birikim 319 (Nov. 2015): 34-48.

“Post-Kemalizm Nedir? Post-Kemalist Kimdir? Bir Tanım Denemesi, Varlık (Feb., 2019): 4-7.

“Bir Defa Daha Post-post-Kemalizm: Eleştiriler, Cevaplar, Düşünceler”, Birikim 374/375 (June-July 2020): 101-119.

Jonathan Conlin talks to Daniel-Joseph MacArthur-Seal about Britain’s short-lived post-WWI empire in the eastern Mediterranean.

Daniel is Assistant Director of the British Institute at Ankara.

Occupied postwar Istanbul has been celebrated and romanticized by twentieth-century Turkish writers as well as by many of the twenty-first-century descendants of its merchant elite. Based on the personal letters and memoirs of British servicemen as well as more familiar diplomatic and political sources, Daniel’s study of Britain’s Levantine Empire was published last July by Oxford University Press. In collaboration with Gizem Tongo he is putting finishing touches to a bibliography of occupied Istanbul, bringing together sources and secondary works in Turkish, French, English and other languages. In this conversation, recorded on 5 April 2022, Daniel discusses how the interaction of these soldiers and the communities of Istanbul, Thessaloniki, Alexandria and other port cities changed the spatial and temporal geographies of the eastern Mediterranean. He reflects on the “Levantine” label itself, as well as the apparent ease with which Britain abandoned this vast empire at Lausanne.

FEATURE IMAGE: Philip Connard, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe GCB GCMG CVO DL (1918) Wikimedia Commons

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.

Erik-Jan Zürcher and Ozan Ozavci consider the two faces of Turkish historiography, as well as the tendency of Turkey’s political culture to relapse into authoritarianism after each liberal democratic opening.

Erik is Professor Emeritus in Turkish Studies at Leiden University.

The Pembe Konak (Pink Mansion) in Istanbul was once the headquarters of the Committee of Union and Progress, which, Zürcher notes, was “unloved under the Kemalists and unloved by the Islamists”. Back in the 1990s Zürcher went up to the third floor of the Istanbul Erkek Lisesi (the former Public Debt Administration) on the other side of the road to take a picture of the mansion. The building stood in the backyard of Cumhuriyet newspaper back then and had been used as a coal and paper warehouse. Even though it was in terrible condition, it was still standing. Today a car park stands on the site; a symbol, perhaps, of the state of political culture in Turkey.

In the second part of this podcast (recorded on 3 February 2022) Ozavci asks Zürcher his thoughts about the state of the art in late Ottoman/Turkish historiography and why Turkey tends to drift into authoritarianism after each liberal democratic opening. Zürcher relates this authoritarian streak to the two cultures, Kemalist secularism and Islamo-fascism, that between them have monopolized Turkish politics. The question remains, is there a way out of this, and might the 2023 elections provide it?

FEATURE IMAGE: The Pink Mansion in Istanbul before its demolition. Source: Courtesy of Erik-Jan Zürcher

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.

Erik-Jan Zürcher talks to Ozan Ozavci about the treaties of Sèvres, Lausanne and their legacy in different official histories of Turkey.

Erik is Professor Emeritus in Turkish Studies at Leiden University.

In the 1980s Erik-Jan Zürcher was one of the first historians of Turkey to challenge Kemalist official historiography. His many publications include The Unionist Factor (1984) and Turkey: A Modern History (1993), the finest one-volume survey of its topic. In this conversation, recorded on 3 February 2022, Erik-Jan speaks about the dynamic developments in international history between 1920 and 1923 in the Middle East. Was the Treaty of Sèvres stillborn? How can we locate Lausanne in the history of Turkey and the Middle East in the early 1920s?

Zürcher maintains that Lausanne was neither a diplomatic victory nor a defeat but a “realistic solution.” He also raises the “unspoken truths” about the Greco-Muslim population exchange, and assesses what Sèvres and Lausanne mean in Turkish politics today. When Ozavci asked Zürcher for an image that represented his work, he shared this picture of the Pembe Konak (The Pink Mansion), once the headquarters of the Committee of Union and Progress. More on that to follow, next Friday, in the second part of the podcast.

FEATURE IMAGE: The Pink Mansion in Istanbul, Source: arkitera.com

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.

Ozan Ozavci talks to Christine Philliou about her new book Turkey: A Past Against History and the many lives of muhalefet (opposition) from the late Ottoman Empire to today.

Professor of History at Berkeley, Christine specializes in the political, social, and cultural history of the Ottoman/post-Ottoman world.

What would it be like if one attempted to reconstruct the political history of Turkey through the lens of oppositional figures? Christine Philliou’s 2021 book, Turkey: A Past Against History, is one such effort. It offers an insightful and perceptive analysis of the notion of muhalefet (opposition) in the late Ottoman Empire and the early Turkish republic. Its seven chapters discuss the life and writings of Refik Halid Karay (1888-1965) as a case study in muhalefet. For Philliou the shifting meanings and associations of muhalefet reflect “the deep lack of consensus about the history of Turkey”. This conversation was recorded on 14 January 2022.

FEATURE IMAGE: REFİK HALİD AND ALİ KEMAL, GÜLERYÜZ, 30 JUNE 1919 (courtesy of Christine Philliou)

Blogposts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.

Jay Winter discusses his forthcoming landmark study of Lausanne with Jonathan Conlin.

Jay is Charles J. Stille Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University.

At long last, Lausanne gets the monograph it deserves: forthcoming with Oxford University Press in 2023, The Day the Great War Ended 24 July 1923: The Civilianization of War traces the historical routes by which Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Italy, Britain and France travelled to the same Swiss resort. Drawing on archival research in six countries, the book represents an important contribution to the study of what we have come to call the “Greater War”, as well as a reflection on how civilian populations became exposed to unprecedented violence as “a new kind of decentred warfare emerged”. “My fundamental premise,” Jay writes, “is that as war changes, so does peace, and in the period 1914-24, both war and peace took on new and, in some ways, deeply disturbing features.”

Jay brings considerable expertise and experience to this study, witnessed not only by his many related books – including The Great War and the British People (1985) and Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: the Great War in European Cultural History (1995) – but also through his role as historical adviser on the Emmy- and Peabody-winning BBC/PBS series The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century (1996). The podcast was recorded on 12 January 2022.

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.