Eleftherios Venizelos’un Hatıratında Paris Barış Konferansı Ve İzmir’in Yunanlara Bırakılma Kararı.

Participating in the Great War alongside the Entente Powers in 1917, Greece formed its national demands at the table of the victorious states at the Paris Peace Conference, after the war ended in favor of the Entente. The Greek Prime Minister of the time, Eleftherios Venizelos, tried to use the goals he set for Greater Greece as a propaganda tool in all the political backstage of Paris. In particular, in the memorandum book he compiled in order to attract the Allies to his side, he demanded that the lands of Western Anatolia, which he claimed with ethnological and historical heritage, be left to Greece. Supporting these demands with exaggerated statistical information, he claimed that the Greek population in Western Anatolia was more than the Turkish population. In particular, Venizelos suggested that the Greeks in the region determine their own destiny and that Izmir be connected to Greece with the right of self-determination included in Wilson's principles. However, Greek national interests coincided with the national interests of Italy, another winner of the Great War. On the other hand, the importance of the Eastern Mediterranean in both the Greek organization in Europe and the British foreign policy made it necessary to leave the region unconditionally to Greece. The Supreme Council, which decided to leave Izmir to Greece in the Paris Peace Talks, where Italy was excluded throughout the conference, formed a new contract on 12 May 1919 regarding the occupation of Izmir. In this article, the only written memoir written by Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos during the Paris Peace Conference is analyzed. Moreover, in this article, the secret and encrypted telegrams in the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Greek State Archives and the The Benaki Museum’s Historical Archive were examined and the decision to leave the Western Anatolian lands to Greece during the Paris Peace Conference was examined. The main findings obtained in the article are that the Greek foreign policy shaped in the shadow of the British foreign policy occupied İzmir as a result of a fait accompli decision. The aim of the Great Powers that support Greece against Italy is the Eastern Question and the desire to shape the Eastern Mediterranean policy according to their own interests, rather than the realization of the Megali Idea goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]