Today, Monday May 16, 2022, marks the 106th anniversary of the signing of the Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and Britain to divide the Arab countries located in the eastern Mediterranean within the framework of dividing the lands of the Ottoman Empire, which was described as the "sick man".

The agreement was reached between April and May 1916 in the form of an exchange of documents between the foreign ministries of the three countries (France, England and Tsarist Russia).

split the cake

- The French government appointed its former Consul General in Beirut, Georges Picot, as a high commissioner to follow up on Near Eastern affairs and to negotiate with the British government on the future of the Arab countries.

Soon, Picot traveled to Cairo and met with the British High Commissioner for Near Eastern Affairs Mark Sykes under the supervision of the representative of Russia.

Sykes said that he wanted to "draw a line that begins with the letter Alif (meaning the city of Acre, which is called in English acre), and ends with the letter Kaf in relation to Kirkuk," as British writer James Barr tells in his book "A Line in the Sand."

- This black line divides the Middle East in the middle on the agreement maps without any consideration of tribal, clan and religious affiliations.

These meetings and correspondence resulted in an agreement known as the "Secret Cairo Agreement", then they moved to the Russian city of Petersburg, and these negotiations resulted in a tripartite agreement called the Sykes-Picot Agreement, in order to define the areas of influence of each country as follows:

France's seizure of western Syria, Lebanon, and the state of Adana.

Britain's seizure of southern and central Iraq, including the city of Baghdad, as well as the ports of Acre and Haifa in Palestine.

Russia's seizure of the Armenian states in Turkey and northern Kurdistan.

Russia's right to defend the interests of the Orthodox in the holy places in Palestine.

The area confined between the territories obtained by France, and those obtained by Britain is a union of Arab countries or united Arab countries, yet this country is divided into British and French areas of influence, and French influence includes the east of the Levant and the Wilayat of Mosul, while British influence extends to Transjordan and the northern part of the province of Baghdad to the Iranian border.

The remaining part of Palestine shall be subject to international administration.

Iskenderun port becomes free.

- He revealed the agreement with the arrival of the Communists to power in Russia in 1917, which angered the Syrian people, who were directly affected by the agreement and embarrassed France and Britain.

The region was divided according to the agreement, and France obtained the largest part of the Levant, a large part of southern Anatolia and the Mosul region in Iraq. As for Britain, its areas of control extended from the southern tip of the Levant, expanding towards the east to include Baghdad, Basra and all the areas between the Arabian Gulf and the French region.

- It was decided to place the area that was later carved out of southern Syria “Palestine” under international administration to be agreed upon in consultation between Britain and France (later and under the Balfour Declaration to the Jews Palestine was given to the Zionists to build the State of Israel).

The agreement stipulated that Britain would grant the ports of Haifa and Acre, with France being free to use the port of Haifa, and France granted Britain in return the use of the port of Iskenderun, which would have been under its control.


agreement terms

Article one:

- France and Great Britain are ready to recognize and protect an Arab state headed by an Arab president in areas A (inside Syria) and B (interior of Iraq) shown in the map annexed to this agreement.

France in Area A and England in Area B shall have the right of priority in local projects and loans. France in Area A and England in Area B are the only ones to provide foreign advisers and employees at the request of the Arab government or the alliance of Arab governments.

second subject:

It is permissible for France in the blue zone (coastal Syria) and for England in the red zone (the region of Basra) to establish whatever form of government they desire directly or through intermediaries or supervision after agreement with the government or the alliance of Arab governments.

Article Three:

An international administration shall be established in the brown region (Palestine), the form of which shall be determined after consulting Russia and in agreement with the rest of the Allies and the representatives of the Sharif of Mecca.

Fourth Article:

England gets the ports of Haifa and Acre.

- A limited amount of the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates are guaranteed in Zone A to Zone B, and His Majesty's Government, on their part, undertakes not to give up in any negotiations with another country to cede the island of Cyprus except after the approval of the French Government in advance.

Article Five:

Alexandretta shall be a free port for the commerce of the British Empire, and there shall be no different transactions in port fees, and no special facilities for navigation and British goods are imposed. and B or issued by them.

No various transactions arise, directly or indirectly, on any of the railways or in any of the ports of the aforementioned regions, affecting British goods and ships.

Haifa shall be a free port for the commerce of France and its colonies and the countries under its protection. There shall be no difference in transactions and no facilities for navigation and French goods shall be refused. The transportation of goods shall be free through Haifa and on the English railways in the brown area (Palestine), whether the goods originate from the blue area or red or from areas “A” and “B” or contained therein.

- The slightest difference in treatment, directly or indirectly, affecting French goods or ships, shall not take place on any railway or in one of the aforementioned ports.

Sixth Article:

The Baghdad Railway shall not extend in Area A beyond Mosul in the south, nor to Area B beyond Samarra in the north until a railway is established linking Baghdad to Aleppo passing through the Euphrates Valley, with the assistance of the two governments.

Article Seven:

Great Britain shall have the right to construct, administer, and be the sole owner of a railway connecting Haifa to Area B, and shall otherwise have a permanent right to transport soldiers at any time along this line.

- It must be known to the two governments that this line should facilitate the connection of Haifa with Baghdad, and that if the establishment of the line of communication in the brown region is prevented by technical difficulties or abundant expenses for its management that make its construction impossible, the French government allows its passage on the Barboura-Umm Qais-Malaka road. Idar-Ghasta-Varied until it reaches Zone B.

Article Eight:

- The Turkish customs tariff remains in force for twenty years in all areas of the blue and red zones in zones “A” and “B.” No additional fees are added to the fees, and the valuation rule in fees is not replaced by the rule of taking the eye unless it is by agreement between the two governments, and customs do not arise Internally between any region and another in the above-mentioned regions, and the customs duties imposed on the goods sent shall be paid at the port and given to the administration of the region to which the goods are sent.

Article Nine:

- It is agreed that the French government does not negotiate at any time to relinquish its rights, and does not give its rights in the blue zone to another country except to the state or to the alliance of Arab countries, without the approval of His Majesty's Government in advance, which undertakes the same to the government French in the red.

Article 10:

The English and French governments - in their capacity as protectors of the Arab state - agree not to own and not allow a third country to own countries in the Arabian Peninsula, or to establish a naval base on the eastern Mediterranean coast, but that this does not prevent a correction within the borders of Aden that may become necessary due to hostility last leave.

Article eleven:

Negotiations with the Arabs will continue in the same way as before, by the two governments to determine the borders of the state or the alliance of Arab countries.

Article 12:

- It is agreed, with the exception of what was mentioned, that the two governments consider the necessary means to control the importation of arms to the Arab countries.

After Sykes-Picot

- After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and Britain's annexation of the lands of Palestine and Iraq, Britain abandoned the idea of ​​dividing the Sultanate's property according to the Sykes-Picot scheme, and replaced it with the mandate system approved by the "San Remo" conference, which it held with France on April 26, 1920, with the aim of determining the fate of the states of the Levant. occupied Arab.

With the end of the First World War, practically nothing remained of the Sykes-Picot Agreement except for the initial demarcation of the borders of Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Palestine.

The French-British colonialism remained, until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, as dominant in the countries of the East, armed with the mandate power granted to it by the League of Nations at the London Conference in 1922, with exceptions in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. The royal regimes in them, respectively, in 1952 and 1958.

With the decline of the role of the French and British empires globally in favor of the United States and the Soviet Union, Britain moved in the sixties and seventies to liquidate its presence in the Arabian Peninsula, so it withdrew from Kuwait in 1965 and from the Aden Protectorate in 1967, followed by similar arrangements in Muscat and Oman (1970), Qatar, the Emirates and Bahrain (1972). ).

Since that date, the countries of the Arab Mashreq have not witnessed a significant change in their borders until after the unification of the two parts of Yemen in 1990, and the Oslo Accords of 1993 between Israel and the Palestinians did not lead in practice except to a self-governing authority with limited sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza, and not geographically continuous.