| Paris Peace Conference |
|---|
 |
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye |
Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine |
In theConference of London (12 February – 10 April 1920),[1][2] followingWorld War I, leaders of Britain, France, and Italy met to discuss thepartitioning of the Ottoman Empire and the negotiation of agreements that would become theTreaty of Sèvres. Under the leadership ofBritish Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George,Prime Minister of FranceAlexandre Millerand, andPrime Minister of ItalyFrancesco Saverio Nitti, the allied powers reached agreements that would form the basis of their arguments at theSan Remo conference.
After thearmistice of Mudros, the allies' military administration was established in Constantinople[3] on 13 November 1918, but at that time they did not dismantle the Ottoman government or the Ottoman Sultan. The control of the Ottoman Empire was the main point of discussions during the conference. Most of the discussions were based on how to restrict the power of the Ottoman Sultan (seeOttoman Caliphate) and how to keep him in Constantinople, literally and politically, including the size of the Sultan's army and the sharing of theDardanelles straits.
A balance was sought to allow the Sultan to control the security of theCaliphate, but not to enable him to change the course of the peace settlements. The members were constantly informed about theKhilafat Movement which tried to protect the position of caliphate.
However, the new Ottoman parliament deputies elected after the armistice met on 28 January 1920 and published their decisions of independence (Misak-ı Milli (National Oath)) on 12 February 1920. TheKhilafat Movement try to influence theBritish government and protect thecaliphate of theOttoman Empire and although mainly a Muslim religious movement, the Khilafat struggle became a part of the widerIndian independence movement. For Britain's part, it would seek to preserve the Caliphate, likely to utilize it as a socio-political instrument in their rule over many of the world's Muslim lands.[4] The Conference of London decided to take actions, at least on Turkish national movement, and decided to shift from "de facto" occupation of the Constantinople to "de jure"occupation of Constantinople.
