İsmet İnönü
İsmet İnönü
Officer who negotiated the Treaty of Lausanne and succeeded Atatürk as Turkey’s second president
Born in Smyrna, an Ottoman officer, he won the First and Second Battles of İnönü in the War of Independence as chief of the General Staff and commander of the Western Front. As Turkey’s chief negotiator at Lausanne in 1922–1923 he faced down Curzon and replaced the Treaty of Sèvres with the Treaty of Lausanne. As prime minister for most of Atatürk’s presidency he carried out the secularising reforms; after the Sheikh Said revolt he pushed the Turkification of the Kurds, and he is considered one of those responsible for the Dersim massacre. Elected second president in 1938, he took the title “National Chief” and kept Turkey in armed neutrality in the Second World War. After defeat in the 1950 election he handed over power peacefully. He died in 1973.
Career timeline
- 1921First and Second Battles of İnönü
- 1922–1923Chief Turkish negotiator at Lausanne
- 1923–1937Prime minister (twice)
- 1938–1950President of Turkey
- 1961–1965Prime minister