Partition of the Ottoman Empire

Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after WWI is the liquidation of the huge conglomeration of territories and peoples under the Sultan's rule by the victorious powers. In fact the partitioning began from the early days of the war. After the occupation of Istanbul the Ottoman government collapsed completely and the Ottoman Empire was divided amongst the victorious powers with the signing of the Treaty of Sèvres on August 10, 1920. The partitioning caused the Islamic world to be directly or indirectly ruled by the leading western powers (Britain, France and the USA).

The allies disagreed over post-war aims which were contradictory and a collection of dual and triple agreements with each ally wanting to improve its position in the region. The dissolution brought the creation of the modern Arab world and Republic of Turkey. The League of Nations granted France mandates over Syria and Lebanon and granted the United Kingdom mandates over Iraq and Palestine (which comprised two autonomous regions: Palestine and Transjordan). Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became parts of what are today Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Overview

Sykes-Picot Agreement

The Ottoman Empire had been the leading Islamic state in geopolitical terms, but also in cultural and ideological terms. The partitioning of the Ottoman Empire changed this lead to rule by the leading western powers (Britain, France and the USA). The Ottoman Empire was the last 'Great Power' that could potentially speak for Muslim interests. Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire also altered the balance of power in the Middle East and marked the beginning of the cycle of declining legitimacy and increasing repression. The early resistance to the leading Western powers come from the Turkish national movement, and after World War II, the post-Ottoman Middle East began to develop resistance.

The change of the power goes back to agreements concerning the Ottoman Empire during the war by the Allies. The British and French penned (the Sykes-Picot Agreement) to partition between them. The Balfour Declaration established the international Zionist movement to support the creation of a Jewish homeland in the Palestine region, which was the site of the old Kingdom of Israel, but had a mixed Arab/Jewish population during the past thousand years. The tsarist regime also had wartime agreements with the Triple Entente on the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The Russian revolution removed Russia from the plans.

Modern Arab states

See also: League of Nations mandate

The Treaty of Sèvres formally acknowledged the new League of Nations mandates in the Middle East, the cession of their territories on the Arabian Peninsula, and British sovereignty over Cyprus.

France

Syria became a French protectorate (thinly disguised as a League of Nations Mandate), with the Christian coastal areas split off to become Lebanon.

Mandate of Lebanon

See also: Greater Lebanon and French Mandate of Lebanon

The state of Greater Lebanon was the name of a territory that was created by France and is the precursor of modern Lebanon. It existed between September 1, 1920 till 23 May 1926. France carved its territory from the Levantine land mass (mandated by the League of Nations) in order to create a "safe haven" for the local Maronite population. Maronites gained self-rule and secured their position in the independent Lebanon in 1943.

French intervention regarding Maronites begins with capitulations of the Ottoman Empire. The first French led naval force was dispatched to Lebanon and threats were made at the Sultan's Porte regarding Dawood Pasha. However, the Sultan's continued to support the capricious authority of the Druze and Muslim warlords and in 1866 caused Youssef Karam led a Maronite uprising in Mount Lebanon against governor Dawood Pasha. A European fleet arrived in Lebanon and following a swift bombardment and marine invasion Dawood Pasha went into exile to Algeria.

Mandate of Syria

See also: French Mandate of Syria

British

British Mandate of Palestine

Iraq and Palestine became British mandated territories, with one of Sherif Hussein's sons, Faisal, installed as King of Iraq. Palestine was split in half, with the eastern half becoming Transjordan to provide a throne for another of Hussein's sons, Abdullah. The western half of Palestine was placed under direct British administration, and the already substantial Jewish population was allowed to increase, initially under British protection. Most of the Arabian peninsula fell to another British ally, Ibn Saud, who created the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1922.

Mandate of Mesopotamia

Main article: British Mandate of Mesopotamia

Issue of Mosul

Mosul issue was between British and Turkey over the control of the former Ottoman province of Mosul in 1926, which British (over British Mandate of Mesopotamia) therefore represented British Mandate of Mesopotamia in its foreign affairs. The new Turkish republic claimed the province as part of its historic heartland, see Misak-ı Milli. A three person League of Nations committee was sent to the region in 1924 to study the case and in 1925 recommended the region to be connected to Iraq, under the condition that the UK would hold the mandate over Iraq for another 25 years, to assure the autonomous rights of the Kurdish population. Although Turkey had accepted the League of Nations arbitration in the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, it rejected the League's decision. Nonetheless, Britain, Iraq and Turkey made a treaty on 5 June 1926, that mostly followed the decision of the League Council. Mosul stayed under British Mandate of Mesopotamia until Iraq was granted independence in 1932 by the urging of King Faisal, though the British retained military bases and transit rights for their forces in the country.

Mandate of Palestine

Main articles: British Mandate of Palestine and Arab revolt

Britain had promised the local Arabs, through Lawrence of Arabia, independence for a united Arab country covering most of the Arab Middle East, in exchange for their supporting the British; and Britain had promised to create and foster a Jewish national home as laid out in the Balfour Declaration, 1917. The British had, in the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence, previously promised the Hashemite family lordship over most land in the region in return for their support in the Great Arab Revolt during World War I. The British, under General Allenby during the Arab Revolt stirred up by the British intelligence officer T. E. Lawrence, defeated the Ottoman forces in 1917 and occupied Palestine and Syria. The land was administered by the British for the remainder of the war.

The United Kingdom was granted control of Palestine by the Versailles Peace Conference which established the League of Nations in 1919 and appointed Herbert Samuel, a former Postmaster General in the British cabinet, who was instrumental in drafting the Balfour Declaration, as its first High Commissioner in Palestine. In 1920 at the Conference of Sanremo, Italy, the League of Nations mandate over Palestine was assigned to Britain. In 1923 Britain transferred a part of the Golan Heights to the French Mandate of Syria, in exchange for the Metula region.

The resistance

When the Ottomans departed, the Arabs proclaimed an independent state in Damascus, but were too weak, militarily and economically, to resist the European powers for long, and Britain and France soon established control and re-arranged the Middle East to suit themselves.

During the 1920s and '30s Iraq, Syria and Egypt moved towards independence, although the British and French did not formally depart the region until they were forced to do so after World War II. But in Palestine the conflicting forces of Arab nationalism and Zionist colonisation created a situation which the British could neither resolve nor extricate themselves from. The rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany created a new urgency in the Zionist quest to create a Jewish state in Palestine, and the evident intentions of the Zionists provoked increasingly fierce Arab resistance. (For a detailed account of this, see Israel-Palestinian conflict and History of Palestine.)

Anatolia

The Greeks had visions of a new Hellenic Empire (Megali Idea), based on particularly British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who had promised territorial gains. Italians sought the southern part of Anatolia (Mediterranean region) which was promised to them. Under the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement, the French obtained Hatay, Lebanon and Syria and desired a part of South-Eastern Anatolia, and the British had already control of Arabia, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq. The British also sought control over the straits.

Russia

The tsarist regime gave consent to the splitting of the Middle East, Western Anatolia, and Cilicia, and they wanted to replace the Muslim residents of the Northern Anatolia and Istanbul with more reliable Cossack settlers. In March, 1915, Foreign Minister Sazonov impressed upon British Ambassador George Buchanan and French Ambassador Maurice Paléologue that a lasting postwar settlement demanded Russian possession of "the city of Constantinople, the western shore of the Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, and Dardanelles, as well as southern Thrace up to the Enos-Midia line," and "a part of the Asiatic coast between the Bosporus, the Sakarya River, and a point to be determined on the shore of the Bay of İzmit." These documents were made public by the February/March revolution to gain the support of the Armenian public for the revolution by Russian journal Izsvestia, in November 1917. Russian revolution took the Russians out of the secret plans.

British

Zone of the Straits

Main article: Occupation of Istanbul

British wanted to have control of zone of straits and caucuses. They acted on South West Caucasian Republic

Italy

See also: Agreement of St.-Jean-de-Maurienne

Under Agreement of St.-Jean-de-Maurienne terms France would be allotted the Adana region, while Italy would receive the remainder of southwestern Anatolia, including İzmir (Smyrna). In 1919 the Greek prime minister, Eleuthérios Venizélos, by obtaining the permission of the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 for Greece to occupy İzmir, overrode the provisions of the agreement despite Italian opposition.

French

Main article: Franco-Turkish War

Administration of Cilicia

See also: French-Armenian Agreement (1916)

Greece

See also: Occupation of İzmir and Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)

Greece and territorial gains.

In May 1917, after the exile of Constantine, Venizélos returned to Athens and allied with the Entente. Greek military forces (though divided between supporters of the monarchy and supporters of Venizélos) began to take part in military operations against the Bulgarian army on the border. At the 1918 Paris Peace Conference Venizelos lobbied hard for an expanded Hellas (the Megali Idea) that would include the large Greek communities in Northern Epirus, Thrace (includes Constantinople) and Minor Asia. The western Allies, particularly British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, had promised Greece territorial gains at the expense of the Ottoman Empire if Greece entered the war on the Allied side. These included eastern Thrace, the islands of Imbros (Gökçeada) and Tenedos (Bozcaada), and parts of western Anatolia around the city of Smyrna (İzmir)

South West Caucasian Republic

See also: South West Caucasian Republic

The "Democratic Republic of South West Caucasus" was a short-lived and nominally independent provisional government headed by Fakhr al-Din Pirioghlu and centered in Kars and constituted after the Armistice of Mudros that end abolished by British High Commissioner Admiral Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe.

Armenia

There are three regional issues shaped during and at the end of World War One regarding the Armenian people and the Ottoman Empire. First one, begins within the pre-war boarders of Ottoman Empire, which is establishment of Armenian provisional government" ( Administration for Western Armenia) and its defense. The second one is solidified under Turkish-Armenian War, which the source was who is going to own the region defined under Wilsonian Armenia, which this conflict extended the Kars and Ardahan on the Turkish national movements side. The third one is regarding with the French-Armenian Agreement (1916) an establishment of French colony/Armenian state.

Administration for Western Armenia

Main article: Administration for Western Armenia

See also: Caucasus Campaign and Treaty of Batum

Fight in this region begins with April, 1915, with the establishment of "Armenian provisional government", Administration for Western Armenia. The governor Aram Manougian (leader of Van Resistance) of "provisional government" was an organizer in this front. As the Armenian militia and Armenian volunteer units with the tsaris army pushed the Ottomans east, Administration for Western Armenia developed the policies to become more stable, such as 150,000 Armenians relocated to the provinces of Erzurum, Bitlis, Mush and Van in 1917 . In preparation of the changes in the political structure Armen Garo (famous Karekin Pastirmaciyan) and other spokesmans asked Armenian regulars in the European theather to be to be transferred to the Caucasus front. The move aimed to increase the stability and give protection to the new establishment. Armenian soldiers began to create a strongmen between the Ottoman Army and Armenian front, which will be shortly (Russian Revolution of 1917) only defense against the Ottoman Army.

The support of Armenian national liberation movement through Armenian militia and Armenian volunteer units to tsaris regime was performed with the assumption that Armenian national liberation movement from the Ottoman oppressing regime, could be reached with helping the Russian army. However, The tsarist regime had secret wartime agreements with the Triple Entente, See: heading Russia. These plans were made public by the February/March revolution in 1917 to gain the support of the Armenian public.

The signing of the Ottoman-Russian friendship treaty (January 1, 1918), helped Vehib Pasha to move the Third Army (Ottoman Empire) to this region where Democratic Republic of Armenia filled. As Aram Manougian took other responsibilities for establishment of Democratic Republic of Armenia, Tovmas Nazarbekian become the commander on the Caucasus front and the governor of the Administration for Western Armenia. Aram Manougian took the control of minister of Interior of Democratic Republic of Armenia.

With 1918, as the Democratic Republic of Armenia becomes stable, and secure a western support, defending the regions of (Erzurum, Bitlis, and Van Province). Andranik Toros Ozanian took the command of within this region, and become the governor of Administration for Western Armenia between March 1918 - April 1918. Under heavy pressure from the combined forces of the Ottoman army and the Kurdish irregulars, the newly established Republic was forced to withdraw from Erzincan to Erzurum. Van which was under Armenian control since the Van Resistance was abandoned as well. Vehib Pasha also occupied Trabzon on the north. DRA at the end evacuated also Erzurum and Sarıkamış after resisting at the Battle of Kara Killisse (1918), the Battle of Sardarapat, and Battle of Bash Abaran.

The issues regarding "Administration for Western Armenia" concluded with the Treaty of Batum. Democratic Republic of Armenia, the newly established republic, left this region and established under the areas occupied by Russia before the war.

Wilsonian Armenia

Main articles: Wilsonian Armenia, Turkish-Armenian War, and Treaty of Alexandropol

Wilsonian Armenia

Armenians defended the idea that Armistice of Mudros should eliminate the Treaty of Batum and borders should be reshaped. Armenian Diaspora and the ARF defended the idea that the region which stayed outside the control of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 3 years, (1915-18) (Historical Armenia) should be part of DRA in the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. The discussions were shaped around the "Fourteen Points". Armenian Diaspora defended the argument that it was natural to extend it to Armenian control, as after the Russian Revolution this region was controlled by Armenian volunteer units and Armenian militia and later |DRA (even it was mainly on the paper because of Vehib Pasha's offenses). The Armenian "provisional government" that was set up used as an argument to "the ability to control the region" for the Fourteen Points. Boghos Nubar, the president of the "Armenian National Delegation" to conference:

In the Caucasus, where, without mentioning the 150,000 Armenians in the Imperial Russian Army, more than 40,000 of their volunteers contributed to the liberation of a portion of the Armenian vilayets, and where, under the command of their leaders, Antranik and Nazerbekoff, they, alone among the peoples of the Caucasus, offered resistance to the Turkish armies, from the beginning of the Bolshevist withdrawal right up to the signing of an armistice."

A secondary argument developed during this period was the dominant population becoming Armenian as the Turkish inhabitants of the region moved to the western provinces. President Wilson’s acceptance letter (for drawing the frontier), to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 said: "The world expects of them (the Armenians), that they give every encouragement and help within their power to those Turkish refugees who may desire to return to their former homes in the districts of Trebizond, Erzerum, Van and Bitlis remembering that these peoples, too, have suffered greatly." At the suggestion of Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic Republic of Armenia was to be expanded into present-day eastern Turkey in areas Wilsonian Armenia.

Republic of Turkey

See also: Turkish War of Independence

However, the Treaty of Sèvres was never applied and Turkish resistance led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk forced out the Greeks and Armenians while the Italians were unable to establish themselves. Kurdish attempts to become independent in the 1920s were suppressed by the Turkish revolutionaries. After Turkish resistance gained control over Anatolia, a new treaty was needed as the conditions of the Treaty of Sèvres were no longer applicable. The Treaty of Lausanne formally ended all hostilities and led to the creation of the modern Turkish republic. Before Lausanne, Turkey and the newly-formed Soviet Union had already signed the Treaty of Kars, which already brought the peace on the eastern border of Turkey. The Treaty of Kars established that the Bolsheviks would cede the provinces of Kars, Iğdır, Ardahan, and Artvin to Turkey in exchange for Adjara. The treaty was ratified in Yerevan on September 11, 1922 after the remainder of Armenia became part of Soviet Union.

Effect of Turkish National movement and Arabs

Oil wealth also had the effect of stultifying whatever movement towards economic, political or social reform might have emerged in the Arab world under the influence of the Kemalist revolution in Turkey.