The Nomination of Atatürk by Venizelos for the Nobel Peace Prize

Abstract

Venizelos' rise to power in 1928, in Greece has marked a new era for Turkish-Greek relations. After Venizelos secured his office in Greece, he gave up Greece's expansive foreign policy against Turkey and the Megali Idea, and attempted to strike up a friendship with Turkey. Venizelos' attempts of friendship with Turkey were welcomed by Atatürk. As a matter of fact, after a while Venizelos was invited to Turkey. Venizelos, accepting this invitation, had officially visited Turkey in 1930. The agreements signed between Turkey and Greece during this visit had contributed much to the development of good relations between these two countries. However, Venizelos lost the elections in 1933 and fell to the opposition, but continued to watch closely Turkish-Greek relations and negotiations for Balkan Pact. Shortly before the signing of Balkan Pack, he nominated his old enemy, Atatürk for Nobel Peace Prize in 12 January 1934, believing him to be the real founder of the pact, and became the first in world political history for such an act.