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This study focuses on foreign policy making process in the Turkish Grand National Assembly between April 1920 and 1923, namely, during its first period. The foremost aim of this assembly, which has been called the First Parliament in Turkish historiography, was undoubtedly to lead the National Struggle to victory. Therefore, foreign policy constituted one of the most important realms of the Turkish National Struggle. This study, in this respect, shows the foreign policy related issues that the parliament paid attention to, and the debates around them. In Turkish historiography, the First Parliament has been associated with dynamism and democracy mostly because of its convention system (meclis hükümeti sistemi) and of its political composition. This presentation displays that foreign policy was not an exception regarding the vivid discussions taking place in the parliament. This study has three main assumptions. First, it suggests that the First Parliament actively engaged with foreign policy making, which is usually regarded as the realm of the executive body. Second, it argues that this active involvement stemmed not only from the extraordinary circumstances of the day, but also from the political system itself. In other words, since the convention system formulated the legislative body superior to the executive, the relationship between these two powers turned into a struggle about authority in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, not excluding the area of foreign policy. Third, it emphasizes that all these conflicts inside the parliament cannot be separated from the ordinary politics of the day. The content and specifically the parties of these debates explain this situation well.

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