An Attempt to Recover Armenian Properties in Turkey through the French Authorities in Syria and Lebanon in the 1920s

Abstract

On 27 October 1932, France and Turkey signed in Ankara a convention concerning the question of properties owned on the one side by Turkish citizens within Syria’s and Lebanon’s borders and on the other by Lebanese and Syrian citizens within Turkey. At that time France was the mandatory power over Syria and Lebanon, and these two countries contained the greatest number of refugee Armenians who were previously Ottoman citizens. Did the agreement mean that the Armenians could recover their confiscated properties in Turkey? In fact, the French side, under intense pressure from Ankara, ultimately decided to exclude the Armenian issue from the Franco-Turkish negotiations. This article examines the history of the French-Turkish negotiations, the Armenian expectations, and the secret agreements leading to the exclusion of the Armenians from the final convention.