Is Turkey the ‘Continuing’ State of the Ottoman Empire Under International Law?

This paper examines whether Turkey should be considered under international law as the ‘continuing’ state of the Ottoman Empire or whether it should instead be deemed as a ‘new’ state. This question of ‘state identity’ is central to any discussion on Turkey’s responsibility for internationally wrongful acts committed by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian population before its disintegration. We will analyse some of the criteria that have been used in international law to determine whether two entities are in fact ‘identical’. We will focus on one determinant factor: whether what is left of a state’s territory following a significant reduction in its size is the ‘essential’ part of the state (or its nucleus) that existed before its disintegration. This paper also analyse the capital role that recognition by other states plays on matters of state identity and continuity. Finally, we will examine several provisions of the Lausanne Treaty, two international arbitration cases (Ottoman Public Debt case, 1925; Lighthouse Arbitration case, 1956) and a Dutch municipal court decision (1925) all dealing with the question of continuity between the Ottoman Empire and Turkey.