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Coll 6/81 'Syria: Status of Alexandretta and Antioch.' [279r] (558/576)
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.
6r^i
r . 4-.
^ J> ^ iie S e O£ ra P^ical and economic objections to cutting off
x.leppo and i'iorthern Syria (which have already been badly hit
economically by the post-war settlement) from their natural access to
the sea are obvious. The new territory, which, according to the
xurkish tmesis, must include Antioch, would be a geographical
absurdity. Its frontier would be essentially unnatural and
unsounu, and it is unnecessary to stress the constant difficulties
and friccion to wnich such unsound frontiers inevitably lead.
6. Fin.A_i.ly, if one Sanjak were to fall under Turkish
influence or even to be threatened with ultimate absorption into
Turkey, the fate of the large Christian and other non-Turkish
communities (particularly in the rural districts where the Turks
constitute only a small minority) and of the numerous Turkish
refugees out of sympathy with the present totalitarian regime in
Turkey, would present a grave problem. This problem would be
lively to prove hardly less serious and troublesome than that of
the disposal of the Assyrians from Iran. It is clearly to
everyone s interest to prevent such another problem from arising.
It may be noted that according to our information at lease 60A of
the population of the Sanjak is of non-Turkish race.
7. If, on the other hand, as a guarantee against ultimate
absorption by Turkey, an attempt were made to place the territory
under the aegis of the League or under an international guarantee,
the League or the guaranteeing States would find themselves
commituec. to tne maintenance and defence of a territorial unit
whose independence was politically, geographically and economically
unsound, ihe Sanjak would become the centre of every kind of
intrigue, and responsibilities would be engaged which it would be
most difficult for the States concerned to fulfil. The example
of Danzig and numerous other territories which cannot stand by
themselves but which are under international or divided control
renders...
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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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Copyright: How to use this content
- 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