The Lausanne Project (TLP)

From Treaty to Tree: A Postcard from Nea Roda In Nea Roda, Ethan Chandler traces the thread between treaties, pomegranates and refugees.

In Nea Roda, Ethan Chandler traces the thread between treaties, pomegranates and refugees thelausanneproject.com/2025/10/10/f...

Plotting in a Time of Cholera Gert Huskens on applying social network analysis to the history of sanitary internationalism.

Gert Huskens on applying social network analysis to the history of sanitary internationalism (with handy advice for anyone new to producing visualisations). thelausanneproject.com/2025/09/26/p...

Our friends at the Justus Liebig University in Gießen are hosting a conference on Memory, Identity and Trauma after the 1923 Lausanne Exchange. CFP (deadline 1 November) here www.hsozkult.de/event/id/eve...

PODCAST – Episode 72: The Universe of the In-Between William Stroebel introduces Jonathan Conlin to the stories Lausanne tried to silence, that combined scripts and vocabularies in ways that challenged philologists’ obsession with linguistic pu…

William Stroebel on the stories Lausanne tried to silence, that combined scripts and vocabularies in ways that challenged philologists’ obsession with linguistic purity and authorial intent @princetonupress.bsky.social etonupress.bsky.social thelausanneproject.com/2025/09/12/p...

Congratulations to the team @eliamep.bsky.social on the appearance of the book of their June 2023 conference. It includes chapters by several TLP friends, including Konstantinos Tsitselikis and Evanthis Hatzivassiliou, as well as Jon on (surprise!) oil.

PODCAST – Episode 70: Prophet of Reason Peter Hill talks to Charles Ough about Dr Mikha’il Mishaqa, the Mount Lebanon-born polymath and US Vice Consul in Damascus whose long life encompassed some of the most important events of the tumul…

"How does the personal relate to the political? Every time Mishaqa changes his world view, he doesn't just surrender, but says we need to use our reason to understand why this is happening." For more from Peter Hill on Mikha’il Mishaqa, have a listen! thelausanneproject.com/2025/08/15/p...

PODCAST – Episode 70: Restoration Histories Bariş Altan introduces Julia Secklehner to Cahide Temer, a pioneer in architectural restoration and one of the first women architects in Turkey. Recently rescued, her archive fills a gap in the sto…

"In a male-dominated environment, in 1950s Turkey, it might seem surprising that a woman architect led the body responsible for historic monuments. Being a preservationist today still requires strong nerves." @barisaltan.bsky.social introduces Cahide Temer: thelausanneproject.com/2025/07/22/p...

Milk Kinship Between Empires Salih Yasun on how unexpected and intimate ties connect Kavala to Alexandria via Görükle.

@salihyasun.bsky.social on a surprising tale of intimate kinship ties, enduring yet overlooked: thelausanneproject.com/2025/07/04/m...

Wes Anderson: "cinema progresses thanks to darkness, to the photogenic power of evil" The Phoenician Scheme is a film by Wes Anderson (Houston, 1969). And it is so from the moment the bus (yes, bus) with the entire Andersonian troupe inside (from newcomers to the...

"Zsa-Zsa Gulbenkian"? Jon's biography of Gulbenkian was name-checked by Wes Anderson, as the inspiration for his new film, "The Phoenician Scheme." www.mundoamerica.com/entertainment/2025/05/19/682ade2de85ece90708b45a2.html

‘Fouled by Oil’? Oil Diplomacy and the Lausanne Conference, 1914–1928 The centenary of the 1923 Lausanne Treaty has seen historians challenge the familiar view of this re-settlement of the defeated Ottoman Empire as an enduring success, drawing attention to the ways ...

Jon's article on how Big Oil shaped Lausanne is now out, open access. It challenges traditional state-centred accounts of oil diplomacy, looking at the role of firms we know today as BP and ExxonMobil, as well as of Deutsche Bank and other financial interests www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

PODCAST – Episode 67: Freehold of the World Can Eyüp Çekiç and Enno Maessen revisit liberal internationalist David Davies’ 1919 proposal to establish the League of Nations in Constantinople, making that city the seat of a truly interna…

Can Eyüp Çekiç revisits liberal internationalist David Davies’ 1919 proposal to establish the League of Nations in Constantinople, making that city the seat of a truly international order – of a kind the League failed to establish in Geneva. thelausanneproject.com/2025/06/06/p...

Alma’s Abdülhamid Hadwig Kraeutler on an overlooked 1940 biography that presented the sultan as a key to past, present and future.

Hadwig Kraeutler on an overlooked 1940 biography that presented the sultan as a key to past, present and future. thelausanneproject.com/2025/05/23/a...

PODCAST – Episode 66: Teaching the Greater War Jonathan Conlin invites Samuel Foster to explain the rationale behind his new module on “Europe in the Era of the Great War” and report on how students have engaged with imagology and u…

"Something that struck home with the students was the rise of the security state. It’s not something that begins with the Nazis, you need to look further back." We spoke to UEA's Sam Foster about his new approach to teaching the Great War. thelausanneproject.com/2025/05/09/p...

Teaching (While Deconstructing) Bariş Çelik takes stock of his new undergraduate module on “The Making of the Modern Middle East”, which seeks to de-essentialise the region in students’ minds

"Witnessing students grapple with Middle East politics and challenge assumptions has been truly inspiring and rewarding for me." Barış Çelik explains how he used reflective journals and creative activities at Sheffield. thelausanneproject.com/2025/04/25/t...

PODCAST – Episode 66: Developing the Nation Özge Baykan Calafato introduces Julia Secklehner and Enno Maessen to her work exploring the role of photography in developing modern Turkish citizenship.

From high art to alaminüt: we asked Özge Baykan Calafato to talk us through photography's role in developing modern Turkish citizenship.
thelausanneproject.com/2025/04/04/p...

The Gatsby of Fatih A folly built by a Gatsbyesque “Bulgur King”, Bulgur Palas in Fatih has been rescued by the city of Istanbul. But, Hande Altinay argues, there’s a story here that’s still wa…

When Fatih's answer to Jay Gatsby died in 1926, the folly he built remained, later housing Ottoman Bank employees who added their chapters to the story of Bulgur Palas. Now the Palas has been rescued, Hande Altinay argues, it's time to tell their stories, too. thelausanneproject.com/2025/03/21/b...

PODCAST – Episode 65: Nansen’s People Ozan Ozavci talks with Ismee Tames about her ongoing research into stateless people after World War I, uncovering the communities of care that stateless individuals created to rebuild their lives.

📣 In our new podcast episode, Ismeet Tames tells @ozanozavci1.bsky.social about her ongoing research into stateless people after World War I, uncovering the 'communities of care' that stateless individuals created to rebuild their lives 👇

thelausanneproject.com/2025/03/07/p...

A Tale of Two Towers Gert Huskens tells the story of two water towers, one in Tangier, the other in Utrecht, that connect the histories of global entrepreneurship and sanitary internationalism.

Last summer I joined 'Fighting Pandemics from Below.' project at @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social

In this blog for @lausanneproject.bsky.social, I reflect on how my new home is connected to my research on Belgium's role in the Sanitary Council of Morocco. 🚰

thelausanneproject.com/2025/02/21/t...

PODCAST – Episode 64: Syria’s Choice Eugene Rogan and Ozan Ozavci discuss the 1860 massacres in Damascus, the subsequent restoration of peace in Syria, and the insights this turbulent history may offer to Syrians navigating today&#821…

New podcast episode @lausanneproject.bsky.social 👇🏽👇🏼👇

Eugene Rogan on the 1860 massacres in Damascus, the subsequent restoration of peace in Syria, and the insights this turbulent history may offer to Syrians navigating today’s challenges

thelausanneproject.com/2025/02/07/p...

PODCAST – Episode 64: Syria’s Choice Eugene Rogan and Ozan Ozavci discuss the 1860 massacres in Damascus, the subsequent restoration of peace in Syria, and the insights this turbulent history may offer to Syrians navigating today&#821…

"If they can take lessons from what was achieved by the Ottomans after the 1860 massacre, then this would be the miraculous outcome of the fall of Assad." Eugene Rogan on what we can learn from an "Ottoman success story" of post-genocide reconstruction. thelausanneproject.com/2025/02/07/p...

PODCAST – Episode 53: Empire of Refugees Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky speaks to Ozan Ozavci about his new book on North Caucasian Muslim refugees, and reveals how the Ottoman Empire developed a refugee regime half a century before the League …

For more on his book and its themes, and to hear Vladimir’s engaging speaking style, check out our podcast on @lausanneproject.bsky.social

thelausanneproject.com/2024/05/31/p...

Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky will present his debut book, Empire of Refugees, at Utrecht next month.

Join us on 12 March for a discussion on the historical roots of modern refugee regimes and population transfer as a tool of governance 👇🏼👇🏾👇🏻 @vhtroyansky.bsky.social @turkeystudies.bsky.social

Jon's new IJMES article argues for a less histrionic and more historical reading of Iran's oil history. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

The Foreigner in Piraeus Anna Batzeli reveals how French forces brought cholera to Piraeus during their occupation of Greece, making the war twice as deadly.

Anna Batzeli on the public health emergency foisted on Piraeus by occupying forces during the Crimean War. thelausanneproject.com/2025/01/17/t...

PODCAST – Episode 63: My Own 1922 Anna Enepekidou looks back at a project that turned high schoolers into curators as well as students of history.

"We didn't talk about exams." This week's podcast explores a project that got 9th graders curating "My Own 1922". thelausanneproject.com/2025/01/10/p...

BSKY, meet The Lausanne Project. We're here to keep you informed about our podcasts, workshops, lesson plans and books, all devoted to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and its contested legacies, in Turkey, Greece and the rest of the world - and to share news of our collaborators and friends.