SYKES-PICOT AGREEMENT

The 'Sykes-Picot Agreement' of 1916 was a secret understanding between the governments of Britain and France, with the assent of Russia, defining their respective spheres of influence and control in west Asia after the expected downfall of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The boundaries of this agreement still remain in much of the common border between Syria and Iraq.
The agreement was negotiated in November 1915 by the French diplomat François Georges-Picot and Briton Mark Sykes. Britain was allocated control of areas roughly comprising Jordan, Iraq and a small area around Haifa, to allow access to a Mediterranean port. France was allocated control of South-eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The controlling powers were left free to decide on state boundaries within these areas.
The region of Palestine was slated for international administration pending consultations with Russia and other powers.
This agreement is seen by many as conflicting with the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence of 1915–1916. The conflicting agreements are the result of changing progress during the war, switching in the earlier correspondence from needing Arab help to subsequently trying to enlist the help of Jews in the United States in getting the US to join the First World War, in conjunction with the Balfour Declaration, 1917. The agreement had been made in secret. Sykes was also not affiliated with the Cairo office that had been corresponding with Sherif Hussein bin Ali, and was not fully aware of what had been promised the Arabs. However many academics believe that the British, and Sykes, knew exactly what they were doing, and would deal with the consequences after the war.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 led to Russia being denied its claims in the Ottoman Empire. At the same time Lenin released a copy of the Sykes-Picot Agreement as well as other treaties causing great embarrassment among the allies and growing distrust among the Arabs.
Attempts to resolve the conflict were made at the San Remo conference and in the Churchill White Paper of 1922, which stated the British position that Palestine was part of the excluded areas of "Syria lying to the west of the District of Damascus".
The agreement is seen by many as a turning point in Western/Arab relations, as it negated the promises made to Arabs^[1] through T.E. Lawrence for a national Arab homeland in the area of Greater Syria, in exchange for their siding with British forces against the Ottoman Empire.
The agreement's principal terms were reaffirmed by the inter-Allied San Remo conference of 19–26 April 1920 and the ratification of the resulting League of Nations mandates by the Council of the League of Nations on July 24, 1922.

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Further reading

References

1. -
★ '','' Director James Hawes. PBS Home Video, October 21, 2003. Interview with Kamal Abu Jaber, former Foreign Minister of Jordan

Further reading

★ The Sykes-Picot Agreement

★ Sykes-Picot agreement - text at UNISPAL

★ Sykes-Picot agreement - Key maps