Agreement
Treaty of Sèvres provisions on Kurdistan, 1920
· Sèvres, France
The peace treaty with the Ottoman government provided for Kurdish local autonomy and a conditional route to independence; it never took effect.
What happened
Article 62 of the treaty provided for a scheme of local autonomy for predominantly Kurdish areas east of the Euphrates.[1] Article 64 set conditions under which those areas could become independent from Turkey, with Kurds of the Mosul Vilayet free to join such a state.[2]
The treaty never took effect, and the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 made no provision for a Kurdish state.[3] Analysts debate whether Sèvres amounted to a promise of independence, though many Kurds regard it as one that was broken.[4]
Sources for this page
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
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1.
Claim: The Treaty of Sèvres, signed on 10 August 1920, provided for a commission to draft a scheme of local autonomy for the predominantly Kurdish areas east of the Euphrates and north of Turkey’s frontiers with Syria and Mesopotamia.
- Principal Allied Powers and Turkey, Treaty of Peace with Turkey, signed at Sèvres, August 10, 1920 (His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1920) link, art. 62, p. 21. Government perspective or primary official source Source record
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2.
Claim: Article 64 provided that if, within a year, the Kurdish peoples of those areas showed the League of Nations Council that a majority desired independence from Turkey, and the Council recommended it, Turkey would renounce its rights over the areas; the Allies would not object to Kurds of the Mosul Vilayet joining such a state.
- Principal Allied Powers and Turkey, Treaty of Peace with Turkey, signed at Sèvres, August 10, 1920 (His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1920) link, art. 64, p. 21. Government perspective or primary official source Source record
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3.
Claim: The Treaty of Sèvres never took effect; it was replaced in 1923 by the Treaty of Lausanne, which made no provision for a Kurdish state.
- International Centre for Defence and Security, A Hundred Years of Attempts to Create an Independent Kurdistan (International Centre for Defence and Security (Tallinn), 19 December 2017) link, section on the Treaty of Sèvres. Source record
- BBC News, Who are the Kurds? (BBC, First published 21 October 2014; updated 15 October 2019) link, section on why Kurds have no state. Source record
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4.
Claim: ICDS notes that the conditions attached to independence in the Treaty of Sèvres were vague, and that whether it amounted to a promise of Kurdish independence can be debated, though many Kurds regard it as a betrayed promise. Attributed to International Centre for Defence and Security (2017)
- International Centre for Defence and Security, A Hundred Years of Attempts to Create an Independent Kurdistan (International Centre for Defence and Security (Tallinn), 19 December 2017) link, section on the Treaty of Sèvres. Source record