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In the four years 1919-23 he accomplished seven tasks that were far harder than changing names : 1) he drove out the Sultan and 2) ended the power of the Caliphate; 3) fought and won a war with the Greeks; 4) bluffed Great Britain to a standstill when a British Army tried to keep him from crossing the Dardanelles after the Greek collapse; 5) wrote a republican constitution and created a parliament; then 6) became Turkey's dictator; 7) ended foreign judicial rights and established frontiers that gave Turkey control of the Dardanelles.
These accomplishments were sealed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, when Ismet Inönü made his name as a states man.
The little Turkish general in the black lamb's fur cap of the Kamâlists went to Lausanne to discuss permanent peace terms with the Allies. The British condescendingly had the conference postponed for ten days because of a general election at home, and Ismet used this time to visit Raymond Poincare and sow a little discord between the Allies.
When the conference opened, Britain's Foreign Secretary, towering Lord Curzon. tried by browbeating and flattery to persuade Inönü to accept something less than full sovereign rights for his country. The issue was foreign judicial rights in Turkey, which had existed since the Sultanate.
Ismet would wait until Curzon had exhausted himself in an eloquent tirade, then apologize for his deafness and ask Lord Curzon to repeat the argument.
After nearly three months of this Curzon lost his patience and delivered an ultimatum. Ismet refused to be bluffed and left for Ankara.
A few months later the British reconsidered and the conference was resumed. Ismet got nearly everything he wanted. He returned to Ankara in triumph, but with his hair turned grey and his face deeply lined. He was then only 38.
"We fought too long. . . ." At 56, Ismet Inön#252; still looks old for his age. It is a Turkish saying that Turks age quickly. But in the two and a half years that he has been President he has had problems to solve that would have given Kamâl Atatürk pause.
Kamâl Atatürk's great accomplishment, like Peter the Great's, was in breaking with his country's past. Inönii, coming from truly Oriental forebears, is satisfied to let the Westernization jell. He will never be dignified by such a statue as the one of Kamâl Atatürk which dom inates the Golden Horn, showing the great Kamal in a dinner jacket with cuffs on the trousers. Yet when Inb'nu. soon after taking office, had to decide whether to ally Turkey with Britain and France or whether to attempt Oriental isolation, he chose the European alliance.
As a Moslem Asiatic, he has a deep interest in Pan-Arabia, would prefer tranquillity there and non-interference by the British. This was behind Turkey's offer last fortnight to mediate the Iraq Affair. But if forced to choose between the British and the Germans in the Middle East, there is little doubt which Inönü will choose—if there is any chance of Britain's winning through. For the Middle East under Germany would be like Eastern Europe under the Ottoman Empire.