Problems Related to the 1921 Turkish-Afghan Treaty

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to find an answer to the question “why a signed treaty is ratified late”. Undoubtedly, the signing of a treaty by authorised signatories is not sufficient for it to enter into force. Treaties must also be accepted and ratified by parliaments, governments or heads of state. In history, there are examples of treaties that did not enter into force, were not ratified or were amended despite being signed by the authorised signatories. An example of the last of these is the treaty signed in Moscow between the Ankara government and the Afghan administration during the National Struggle. Although the 1921 Turkish-Afghan Treaty was signed by the plenipotentiaries of both parties and ratified by the Turkish Grand National Assembly, it was not ratified by the other signatory, the Afghan government, for a long time. Fahreddin Pasha, who was appointed as the Kabul Envoy during the process, had to hold long negotiations with both the Amir of Afghanistan Amanullah Khan and Afghan statesmen in order for the treaty to be ratified and officially entered into force. The treaty, which already had some differences in its translation, could be ratified as a result of the negotiations and in more than one and a half years. However, the problems related to the issue did not end after that. In this study, issues such as the content of the treaty, the articles of disagreement and the execution of the process, which have not attracted much attention before, are discussed comprehensively with the document analysis technique. The main material of the study is from on the Turkish Diplomatic Archive, but other archives, memoirs, and research works have also been utilised.