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Coll 6/81 'Syria: Status of Alexandretta and Antioch.' [169v] (339/576)
The record is made up of 1 file (286 folios). It was created in 17 Sep 1936-31 Aug 1939. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
Middle East, which might well lead to further demands for territorial
revision in that part of the world. In particular, if the Turks were
successful over Alexandretta it might easily encourage them to try
to expand further south and south-east at the expense of Syria and
Iraq towards the Iraqi oil-fields).
(&) The sanjak possessed neither racial, linguistic, geographical nor economic
cohesion, and would scarcely be able to maintain an independent
existence. It would inevitably be subject to propaganda from both
the Turkish and Syrian sides, and even if its ultimate absorption in
Turkey were avoided it would be a constant element of international
unrest.
(c) Any revision of the territorial status of the sanjak would inevitably
arouse the suspicions of Italy if not of other Powers. It would
introduce a further element of instability and danger in international
relations in the Mediterranean and render the re-establishment of a
peaceful atmosphere there much more difficult. The fact that
Alexandretta is a valuable potential naval base is important in this
connexion.
{d) It would inevitably have unfortunate repercussions in Syria. It would
deprive Aleppo and North-West Syria of its natural outlet to the sea
and make it more difficult for the new Syrian State to retain its hold
on that part of Syria. Further, the psychological effect on the Syrian
Arabs and on the Arab world in general would be most unfortunate
and might easily wreck the whole Franco-Syrian Treaty settlement.
As the French had pointed out (paragraph 14 above), such a
deterioration in Syria could not fail to affect the interests of His
Majesty’s Government in Arab countries, as well as those of the
French Government.
(e) In view of the ruthlessly totalitarian character of the modern Turkish
State, the future position of the large Christian and other minorities
in the sanjak would be most precarious if the sanjak were either
incorporated in Turkey or subjected to an administration dominated
by Turkish influence, and a new refugee problem of formidable
proportions might well be created.
(/) The political dependence of Turkey on Russia and the fact that
Alexandretta could now be joined without great difficulty by a direct
railway to Russian Transcaucasia would be likely to raise suspicions
of a Russian desire for a new direct outlet to the Mediterranean.
(#) The example of Danzig and other territories which could not stand by
themselves had shown the objections which would apply in practice
to any sort of League or other international guarantee, or for an
independent sanjak.
(A) Experience has shown that demilitarisation arrangements are of no
permanent value and can always be repudiated or abolished by
agreement without difficulty on the ground that they are no longer
appropriate to changed conditions. 18
18. While it was fully appreciated that every effort must be made to avoid
any weakening of the cordial friendship existing between His Majesty’s Govern
ment and the Turkish Government, the conclusion was reached that in the light
both of the weakness of the Turkish legal case and of the strong political
objections to the Turkish claim, His Majesty’s Government would be obliged, if
the Turks persisted with their demand for the detachment of the sanjak, to
oppose the Turkish thesis. It was considered that it would be preferable in the
interests of Anglo-Turkish friendship to warn the Turks frankly and privately
of the attitude of His Majesty’s Government before the matter came to the
Council, and instructions in this sense were sent by telegraph to the United
Kingdom delegate at Geneva. Lord Cranborne was instructed to explain that
His Majesty’s Government fully appreciated the motives of the Turkish proposal
and would be ready to support any measures merely designed to guarantee the
rights and liberties of the Turkish population of the sanjak. They considered,
however, that the proposal for detaching the sanjak from Syria could not fail to
lead to serious and far-reaching political difficulties, and also to impair the
re-establishment of normal conditions in the Mediterranean.
About this item
- Content
This file documents the British response to developments regarding the status of the Sanjak [administrative district, referred to in Arabic as Liwa] of Alexandretta, including the cities of Alexandretta [İskenderun, Turkey] and Antioch [Antakya, Turkey].
The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Ambassador, Istanbul (Sir Percy Loraine, succeeded by Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen); His Majesty's Ambassador, Bagdad [Baghdad] (Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, succeeded by Sir Maurice Drummond Peterson); His Majesty's Ambassador, Paris (Sir George Russell Clerk, succeeded by Sir Eric Phipps); the British Consul, Aleppo (Archibald William Davis); the British Consul, Damascus (Gilbert MacKereth); His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Reader William Bullard); the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Anthony Eden); officials of the Foreign Office.
The correspondence includes discussion of the following:
- The demography of the Sanjak of Alexandretta.
- Turkey's claim for the Sanjak to be given autonomy.
- The progression of Franco-Turkish negotiations, brokered by the League of Nations and resulting in the Sanjak's new autonomous status (in its internal affairs only), as granted in a League of Nations statute, concluded in January 1937 and brought into force on 29 November 1937.
- Reports of both Arab and Turkish demonstrations in Alexandretta and Antioch during January 1937 (as well as Arab demonstrations in Aleppo).
- Pressure from Syria and Iraq for the Sanjak to be partitioned between Syria and Turkey.
- The reported registration of non-Turkish electors in the Sanjak as Turks.
- Reported divisions in the Syrian Nationalist Government.
- The conclusion of a treaty of friendship between France and Turkey in July 1938.
- The announcement in September 1938 that the Sanjak of Alexandretta will in future be known as the Republic of Hatay, with Antioch as its capital.
- The Franco-Turkish agreement regarding the change of status of Hatay to that of a Turkish province, concluded in June 1939.
The French language material in the file consists of several items of correspondence, plus copies of the aforementioned Franco-Turkish agreement (dated 23 June 1939) and the Turco-French treaty (dated 4 July 1938).
The file includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence (folios 2-3).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (286 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 287; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2154
- Title
- Coll 6/81 'Syria: Status of Alexandretta and Antioch.'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:5v, 11r:12v, 14r:23v, 26r:81v, 84r:84v, 87r:131v, 133r:170v, 172r:194v, 196r:217v, 223r:236v, 239r:263v, 265r:287v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence