Mustafa Kemal?s conception of foreign policy and Turkish foreign policy from May 19, 1919 to the treaty of Lausanne

The 20th century was a time in which the centuries-old imperialist goals of the industrialized western states took a new form. At the beginning of the century, the western states started a race to share the world in the name of the welfare of their nations. This race, as might be expected, led to conflicts of interests and eventually to the outbreak of World War I.The territory under the Ottoman rule, also known as the centre of the world, was the main target of the western states fighting for a bigger share of the world. The Ottoman state, which joined the fighting and was on the losing side at the end of the war, was forced to sign a treaty with heavy conditions.After the signing of the treaty, Mustafa Kemal and his colleagues started the Independence War in Anatolia in order to set up an independent, sovereign state. With this aim in mind, he masterminded strategies by analyzing the political developments both at the national and the international levels and based the relations with the western states on the principles of the National Pact (Misak-ı Milli) during the period from 1919 to 1923. This work aims to study Turkey?s foreign policy of that period.I would like to thank my thesis advisor assistant professor Necati Aksanyar for his help and guidance and my teachers for their support during the course of my study.Keywords: National Struggle, War of Independence, Foreign Policy,International Relations, Mustafa Kemal.