Camille Barrère and the Italo-Turkish dispute over Kastellorizo in 1923

Abstract

In 1912, the Italians occupied the Dodecanese with the exception of the
little island of Kastellorizo. Between 1913 and 1915, after a rebellion, the
islanders declared union with Mother Greece. But towards the end of December
1915, the French navy proceeded to the occupatio bellica of Kastellorizo,
for reasons of military security against a hostile Turkey. The French
remained on the island until 1 March 1921, when they handed it over to the
Italians, despite the islanders’ opposition. Turkey refused to recognise this
action by the French, and some hard negotiating took place between the Turks
and the Italians over the fate of Kastellorizo, until the issue was finally
resolved by the Treaty of Lausanne on 24 July 1923.
The writer uses unpublished documents of the able diplomat Camille
Barrère (1851-1940), French Ambassador to Rome (1897-1924), to trace the
course of the Italo-Turkish negotiations. Barrère’s reports paint a faintly
ironic picture of the untenable arguments presented by the two parties desiring
to acquire an island inhabited exclusively by Greeks.
In the writer’s opinion, the ultimate cession of the island to Italy in 1923
was a positive step, because, after the Second World War, the island, like the
rest of the Dodecanese, was incorporated into Greece, in accordance with the
principles of international public law. Its fate would have been tragic today,
had it been awarded to Turkey in 1923.