On May 16, 1916, a secret agreement between the British and French was ratified. It provided:
t is accordingly understood between the French and British governments:
That France and Great Britain are prepared to recognize and protect
an independent Arab states or a confederation of Arab states (a) and (b)
marked on the annexed map, under the suzerainty of an Arab chief. That
in area (a) France, and in area (b) Great Britain, shall have priority
of right of enterprise and local loans. That in area (a) France, and in
area (b) Great Britain, shall alone supply advisers or foreign
functionaries at the request of the Arab state or confederation of Arab
states.
That in the blue area France, and in the red area Great Britain,
shall be allowed to establish such direct or indirect administration or
control as they desire and as they may think fit to arrange with the
Arab state or confederation of Arab states.
That in the brown area there shall be established an international
administration, the form of which is to be decided upon after
consultation with Russia, and subsequently in consultation with the
other allies, and the representatives of the Shereef of Mecca.
That Great Britain be accorded (1) the ports of Haifa and Acre, (2)
guarantee of a given supply of water from the Tigres and Euphrates in
area (a) for area (b). His Majesty's government, on their part,
undertake that they will at no time enter into negotiations for the
cession of Cyprus to any third power without the previous consent of the
French government.
That Alexandretta shall be a free port as regards the trade of the
British empire, and that there shall be no discrimination in port
charges or facilities as regards British shipping and British goods;
that there shall be freedom of transit for British goods through
Alexandretta and by railway through the blue area, or (b) area, or area
(a); and there shall be no discrimination, direct or indirect, against
British goods on any railway or against British goods or ships at any
port serving the areas mentioned.
That Haifa shall be a free port as regards the trade of France, her
dominions and protectorates, and there shall be no discrimination in
port charges or facilities as regards French shipping and French goods.
There shall be freedom of transit for French goods through Haifa and by
the British railway through the brown area, whether those goods are
intended for or originate in the blue area, area (a), or area (b), and
there shall be no discrimination, direct or indirect, against French
goods on any railway, or against French goods or ships at any port
serving the areas mentioned.
That in area (a) the Baghdad railway shall not be extended southwards
beyond Mosul, and in area (b) northwards beyond Samarra, until a
railway connecting Baghdad and Aleppo via the Euphrates valley has been
completed, and then only with the concurrence of the two governments.
That Great Britain has the right to build, administer, and be sole
owner of a railway connecting Haifa with area (b), and shall have a
perpetual right to transport troops along such a line at all times. It
is to be understood by both governments that this railway is to
facilitate the connection of Baghdad with Haifa by rail, and it is
further understood that, if the engineering difficulties and expense
entailed by keeping this connecting line in the brown area only make the
project unfeasible, that the French government shall be prepared to
consider that the line in question may also traverse the Polgon Banias
Keis Marib Salkhad tell Otsda Mesmie before reaching area (b).
For a period of twenty years the existing Turkish customs tariff
shall remain in force throughout the whole of the blue and red areas, as
well as in areas (a) and (b), and no increase in the rates of duty or
conversions from ad valorem to specific rates shall be made except by
agreement between the two powers.
There shall be no interior customs barriers between any of the above
mentioned areas. The customs duties leviable on goods destined for the
interior shall be collected at the port of entry and handed over to the
administration of the area of destination.
It shall be agreed that the French government will at no time enter
into any negotiations for the cession of their rights and will not cede
such rights in the blue area to any third power, except the Arab state
or confederation of Arab states, without the previous agreement of his
majesty's government, who, on their part, will give a similar
undertaking to the French government regarding the red area.
The British and French government, as the protectors of the Arab
state, shall agree that they will not themselves acquire and will not
consent to a third power acquiring territorial possessions in the
Arabian peninsula, nor consent to a third power installing a naval base
either on the east coast, or on the islands, of the red sea. This,
however, shall not prevent such adjustment of the Aden frontier as may
be necessary in consequence of recent Turkish aggression.
The negotiations with the Arabs as to the boundaries of the Arab
states shall be continued through the same channel as heretofore on
behalf of the two powers.
It is agreed that measures to control the importation of arms into
the Arab territories will be considered by the two governments.
I have further the honor to state that, in order to make the
agreement complete, his majesty's government are proposing to the
Russian government to exchange notes analogous to those exchanged by the
latter and your excellency's government on the 26th April last. Copies
of these notes will be communicated to your excellency as soon as
exchanged.I would also venture to remind your excellency that the
conclusion of the present agreement raises, for practical consideration,
the question of claims of Italy to a share in any partition or
rearrangement of turkey in Asia, as formulated in article 9 of the
agreement of the 26th April, 1915, between Italy and the allies.
His Majesty's government further consider that the Japanese government should be informed of the arrangements now concluded.
Public Domain File:MPK1-426 Sykes Picot Agreement Map signed 8 May 1916.jpg, from Wikipedia Commons. Royal Geographical Society (Map), Mark Sykes & François Georges-Picot. This is because it is one of the following:
- It is a photograph created by the United Kingdom Government and taken prior to 1 June 1957; or
- It was commercially published prior to 1966; or
- It is an
artistic work other than a photograph or engraving (e.g. a painting)
which was created by the United Kingdom Government prior to 1966.
HMSO has declared that the expiry of Crown Copyrights applies worldwide
The agreement has gone down in history as being an infamous one, leading to the charge that the British and French carved up the Middle East without the consultation of their Arab allies, then in revolt against the Ottoman Empire.
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