Britain will control Iraq, Transjordan, and Palestine; and France will control
Lebanon and Syria.
November 1:The Turkish Grand National Assembly declares the abolition of the sultanate.
November 17:Mohammed VI, the last sultan, leaves Istanbul.
1923
May 26:Britain establishes Transjordan as an autonomous state under Amir Abdallah
ibn Hussein.
July 24:The Treaty of Lausanne is signed, modifying the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres
and allowing sovereignty for Turkey over all of Anatolia and eastern Thrace (includ-
ing Istanbul). In a related agreement, Greece and Turkey decide to “exchange”
nationals on each other’s territory, leading to the forced relocation of more than 1
million ethnic Greeks from Turkey and more than 400,000 ethnic Turks from
Greece.
September 29:Britain officially assumes control of Palestine under the League of
Nations mandate.
October 29:Mustafa Kemal declares the establishment of a republic in Turkey. He will
become its first president.
1924
February 2:Turkish Grand National Assembly abolishes the caliphate, which had been
held by a relative of the deposed sultan.
1925
December 12:The Iranian parliament approves the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty
under Reza Khan, who becomes Reza Shah Pahlavi.
December 16:The League of Nations awards most of the region of Mosul to Iraq,
rebuffing a claim by Turkey.
1926
January 8:Having defeated Sharif Hussein to gain control of the Hijaz in the west-
ern Arabian Peninsula, Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud (or Ibn Saud) declares himself king of
the Hijaz in a major step toward the unification of the Hijaz and Najd regions in
the creation of Saudi Arabia.
May 23:France officially establishes Greater Lebanon as a republic.
1927
May 20:Britain recognizes Ibn Saud as king of the Hijaz and Najd on the Arabian
Peninsula.
October 15–20:President Mustafa Kemal of Turkey delivers a thirty-six-hour-long
speech to political supporters recounting events since the beginning of the Turkish
war of independence in 1919.
December 14:Britain signs a treaty promising to recognize Iraq as an independent
country by 1932 in exchange for the right to maintain three airbases there.
1928
February 28:Britain grants limited independence to Transjordan.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE MIDDLE EAST, 1914–2007 655