Alongside the Lausanne Negotiations The Belated Arab-Turkish Reconciliation Agreement

Abstract

This study analyses the relationship between (a) Britain's exclusion of Arab representatives of the Hashemite government of the Hejaz from the Lausanne Conference and (b) that government's acceleration of communication channels with the leadership of the (Kemalist) Grand National Assembly to officially end the war between Turks and Arabs through an Arab-Turkish reconciliation agreement. The study reflects on official Hejazi-Turkish communications at the time of the conference; King Hussein's adoption of a neutral, pro-Turkish position toward the Turkish-British conflict on the question of Mosul; and the king's obstruction of the British-Hejazi treaty. These factors among others cleared the way for the collapse of his kingdom and his permanent exclusion from the region's geopolitical game.