Chanak Crisis The Chanak Crisis , also called the Chanak Affair and the Chanak Incident , in September 1922 was the threatened attack by Turkish troops on British and French troops stationed near Çanakkale ( Chanak ) to guard the Dardanelles neutral zone . The handling of the crisis by the British cabinet was a major contributor to the downfall of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George . In addition , it was the occasion of the Canadian government ' s first assertion of diplomatic independence from the United Kingdom . The crisis was a major factor for the Statute of Westminster 1931 , which determined that the Dominions of the British Commonwealth would have independence in foreign policy . The Events . The Turkish troops had recently defeated Greek forces and recaptured Izmir ( Smyrna ) on 9 September and were advancing on Constantinople in the neutral zone . The British Cabinet met on September 15 , 1922 and decided that British forces should maintain their positions . On the following day , in the absence of Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon , certain Cabinet ministers issued a communiqué threatening Turkey with a declaration of war by Britain and the Dominions , on the grounds that Turkey had violated the Treaty of Sèvres . On 18 September , on his return to London , Curzon pointed out that this would enrage the Prime Minister of France , Raymond Poincaré and left for Paris to attempt to smooth things over . Poincaré , however , had already ordered the withdrawal of the French detachment at Chanak , but persuaded the Turks to respect the neutral zone . Curzon reached Paris on September 20 , and after several angry meetings with Poincaré , reached agreement to negotiate an armistice with the Turks . The British public were alarmed by the Chanak episode and the possibility of going to war again . It did not help that Prime Minister David Lloyd George had not fully consulted the Dominion prime ministers . Unlike the case eight years earlier , when World War I broke out , Canada in particular did not automatically consider itself active in the conflict . Instead , Prime Minister Mackenzie King insisted that the Canadian Parliament should decide on the course of action the country would follow . By the time the issue had been debated in the Canadian House of Commons , the threat at Chanak had passed . Nonetheless , King made his point : the Canadian Parliament would decide the role that Canada would play in external affairs and could diverge from the British government . The other Dominion Prime Ministers also gave no support , nor did the Serbs , Italy or Romania . On 23 September , the British cabinet decided to abandon East Thrace to the Turks . On 28 September , Mustafa Kemal told the British , he had ordered his troops to avoid any incident at Chanak and agreed to a peace negotiation , nominating Mudanya as the venue . The parties met there on 3 October and agreed to the terms of the Armistice of Mudanya on 11 October , two hours before British forces were due to attack . The Turks may have been persuaded to agree by the arrival of British reinforcements . Consequences . Lloyd George ' s rashness resulted in the calling of a meeting of Conservative MPs at the Carlton Club on 19 October 1922 , which passed a motion that the Conservative Party should fight the next general election as an independent party . This decision had dire ramifications for Lloyd George , as the Conservative Party made up the vast majority of the 1918 – 1922 post - war coalition . Indeed , they could have made up the majority government if it were not for the coalition . Lloyd George also lost the support of the influential Curzon , who considered that the Prime Minister had been manoeuvring behind his back . Following the Carlton Club decision , the MPs voted 185 to 85 for ending the Coalition . Lloyd George resigned as Prime Minister , never to return as a major figure in party politics . British and French forces were ultimately withdrawn from the neutral zone in summer 1923 , following the ratification of the Treaty of Lausanne .