PDF Dosyası - Ankara Üniversitesi Kitaplar Veritabanı

ish nationalist demand for the territory north of the 1918 armistice linewas mostly accepted in 1921 - vvith the exception of the district of iskenderun,Antakya and their environs (Hatay) vvhich vvere later to join themother country in 1939 - in simple recognition of the fact that the Turkshad themselves vvon back Cilicia (and the cities of Maraş, Antep and Urfafurther east) from the French vvho had advanced from Syria. The defınitivepeace treaty betvveen Turkey and ali the Allied Povvers vvas signed atLausanne on 24 July 1923. The frontier fixed in the Ankara Agreementbetvveen Turkey and the French mandated territory of Syria vvas subsequentlyadopted and confırmed by Article 3 of the Treaty of Lausanne.Victory över their enemies gave Turks tremendous confıdence intheir ovvn strength and ability and raised the morale throughout the vvholenation. It vvould have been easy to adopt a dangerous and ambitiouscourse of aggrandizement and unrealistic expansion. Yet this vvas notdone. Turkey's post-Lausanne policy fırmly rejected the pursuit of any irredentistclaims. The Hatay affair vvas only an apparent exception; for theTurkish case rested on a special agreement vvith France vvhich Turkey insistedon renegotiation at a time vvhen France vvas ready to relinquish itsSyrian mandate.Atatürk, vvhen laying the foundations of the nevv Turkey, clearly renouncedali desire to incorporate Arab lands vvithin the national state. Forhe thought that discontented subjects in such territories vvould vveakenrather than strengthen his country. Turkey vvas to become a compact homogeneousstate removed from extraneous elements. It vvas certain thatTurkey vvould give no trouble to Syria, but vvould on the contrary seek toremain on the best of terms vvith it. Although such appraisals are not centralto this paper, there vvas no reason to suspect Turkey of adventurousdesigns or of any desire to seize Arab territory. The Turks had acceptedtheir existing frontier and the statement that they had no vvish to governnon-Turkish territory rang true.Turkey's foreign policy vvould be based on peace, friendship andtrade vvith ali nations - vvhich called for the use of ali resources for internaldevelopment and the betterment of the citizen's life. Turkey's nationalenergies vvere almost entirely concentrated on reconstruction at home.Abroad its only desire vvas for the long-term peace vvhich vvould enable itto pursue its reform program undisturbed. Facts, not fancies, dominatedAnkara. Atatürk did not conduct foreign policy from theory, but accordingto the dictates of geography and the needs of the time. Possibly themost important feature of Atatürk's thinking in matters of foreign policyvvas to define the national interest strictly in accordance vvith the country'sovvn need for peace, development, stability and security rather thanforeign adventurism. Turkey had no expansionist aims. It did not vvant torecover the former Arab provinces of the old Ottoman Empire and countedit an asset that these had been struck avvay. It vvas a sound and healthyattitude in ali respects.637