Thesis title: L’Italia fascista e la Turchia kemalista (1922-1928)
The aim of this study is to analyse the development of diplomatic relations between Fascist Italy and Kemalist Turkey in the period between August 1922 - the date of the start of the great Turkish offensive against the Greek troops in Asia Minor - and 30 May 1928, the date of the signing of the Italo-Turkish neutrality, conciliation and judicial settlement agreement. This was a transitional period in relations between Rome and Ankara - characterised by the advent and consolidation of the Fascist and Kemalist regimes - in which bilateral relations experienced a decisive evolution as a result of Italy's gradual abandonment of the expansionist ambitions it had long nurtured towards Anatolia. The aim of this study is also to analyse how this evolution took place, illustrating the posture Mussolini assumed towards Turkey before and after the ‘March on Rome’, during the Lausanne peace negotiations of 1922-23 and in the following years. In this regard, particular emphasis has been placed on the study of Italian economic ambitions in Asia Minor and on those initiatives that - despite the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne on 24 July ‘23, by which the capitulation regime was abolished and by which Ankara gained full independence - Italian diplomacy would continue to support. A further main objective of this study, favoured by the recent availability of Turkish diplomatic sources, is to understand how Turkish diplomacy perceived the advent of Fascism and its diplomatic initiatives in the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans and what actions Ankara took with respect to them.