Curzon, the most influential name in British policy towards Turkey, expressed his views on Turkey as follows on December 23, 1918. “The power that holds Istanbul is given enormous strategic and political importance. History has proven this."
British politician and administrator. He was born in 1859 in Kedleston-Derbyshire. He graduated from Eton College. He was elected as a member of parliament from the Conservative Party in 1886. He was sent to India in 1898. There he served as regent. He made some reforms. He made developments by making many innovations in the economic field. He worked to protect the Indian border. He even organized an expedition to Tibet for this purpose. His autonomous behavior created unrest among the country's elite.
George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who served as Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905. From 1919 to 1924 he served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
He fell out with the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Kitchener. Unable to withstand the pressure, he had to resign (1905). He joined Prime Minister Asquith's coalition cabinet. He later served in Lloyd George's war cabinet in 1916.
He served as Minister of State responsible for Foreign Affairs from 1919 to 1924. When the request for the temporary establishment of a "Muslim intelligence office" in Istanbul came to Lord Curzon, he rejected it. According to him, this organization is unnecessary. He thinks that military attachés should not be interested in espionage. He is also convinced that the project is costly and unnecessary for now.
Curzon is one of the politicians who saw the success of the Turkish National Struggle early. Although he saw these facts, he was doing his best to prevent the political success of the Turks. He showed his discomfort with the Turkish-French rapprochement by protesting the Turkish-French Treaty dated October 20, 1921, on November 5, 1921.
In his speech at the Reform Club in Manchester on October 14, 1922, Lloyd George blamed Lord Curzon, saying that he had no role in the sharing agreements signed by the Allies in World War I, even in the Treaty of Sevres. He said that the architect of these agreements was the work of the committee of foreign ministers and ambassadors gathered at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the chairmanship of Lord Curzon.
The Conservative Party won the elections held on November 15, 1922. The government was founded by Bonar Law, who advocated that there should be peace and tranquility inside and outside. Curzon's resignation from the previous cabinet was not accepted due to the Mudanya Armistice. Lord Curzon will take his place as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the newly formed government.
Lord Curzon did not consent to the peace talks being held in Izmir for reasons he considered important. Finally, with his influence, the Allies accepted Lausanne as the conference venue. He invited both the Ankara Government and the Istanbul Government to the Lausanne negotiations because it might be in his interests. After various negotiations, Tevfik Pasha resigned and withdrew on November 5, and the Ankara Government participated in the negotiations alone. Curzon himself represented England in the first part of the Lausanne negotiations between 20 November 1922 and 4 February 1923.
Lord Curzon tried to impose his wishes on Turkey by using both his talent in diplomacy and other elements. As an element of diplomatic pressure, he tried to see the Turkish delegation as the delegation that signed the Armistice of Mudros. For this purpose, he wanted England to keep soldiers in Istanbul and the straits, and for Greece to reorganize its army in Western Thrace.
He also used British intelligence's seizure of the correspondence of the Turkish Delegation participating in the Lausanne Talks as a means of pressure. Starting from the first session, the negotiations took the form of a duel between İsmet İnönü and Curzon. During the negotiations, both sides believed in the necessity of re-establishing friendship ties between them.
Lord Curzon played a very important role in the signing of the Lausanne Peace Treaty on July 24, 1923. He died in London in 1925.