Sykes–Picot Agreement

The Sykes–Picot Agreement /ˈsaɪks piˈkoʊ/, officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was a secret agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and France in 1916. The main aim of the British and French was to agree on who should get which sphere of influence in Ottoman territories in Southwest Asia. In this way, they wanted to limit competition between each other after the First World War and secure strategically important territories for themselves. The line separating their respective zones of influence was called the Sykes-Picot line. The Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy consented to the agreement, receiving a territorial advantage in return. The agreement was named after the two diplomats who negotiated it: the British diplomat Mark Sykes and the French diplomat François Georges-Picot. They negotiated for five weeks, from the 23rd of November 1915 to the 3rd of January 1916, before agreeing on a memorandum. The agreement itself was concluded on the 9th and 16th of May 1916, when the British and French governments accepted and signed (ratified) the memorandum.

When the Russian revolutionaries made the agreement public in 1917 after the Bolshevik Revolution, which caused embarassment among the British and French and growing distrust among the Arabs. More than hundred years later, this agreement is still mentioned in the current conflicts and disputes in the respective regions of the Middle East.

Historical context

The Ottoman Empire, under the lead of the CUP, entered the war in autumn 1914 on the side of the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and initially also Italy) and was therefore opposed to the Triple Entente (United Kingdom, France and the Russian Empire). The Sykes–Picot Agreement was concluded with the British and French expecting victory against the Central Powers and thus the demise of the Ottoman Empire.

File:Mark Sykes00.jpg

Mark Sykes, the English diplomat responsible for negotiating the agreement.

British and French interests in the Middle East

As scholars have argued, the Sykes-Picot agreement was signed with the aim to further the colonial and strategic interests of the British and French in the region and settle their rivalry, rather than to create viable states after the war.

The main interest of the British was to secure their access to the Mediterranean Sea and thus the route to India, as well as access to the Iraqi oil fields. At the beginning of the twentieth century, oil replaced coal as the most important resource, being the lighter raw material. This lead to an increasing dependence on oil that was inaccessible on British soil.

The French were interested in securing access to the Mediterranean through the port of Tyre in Lebanon as well as getting their longstanding claims to Mount Lebanon and Damascus validated.

Russian and Italian agreement

File:François Georges-Picot cropped.JPG

François Georges-Picot, the French diplomat responsible for negotiating the agreement.

For the Sykes-Picot agreement to pass, Britain and France needed to satisfy the Russians. In exchange for the Russian Empire’s approval of the treaty, the Russian Foreign minister Serkey Saznov and the French ambassador Maurice Paléologue concluded the Saznov-Paléologue Agreement in May 1916. They mutually agreed that the Russian Empire would get Western Armenia in addition to the already earlier attributed Constantinople and the Turkish Straits. The Kingdom of Italy also knew about the agreement and was convinced by being promised Southern Anatolia in the St-Jean-de-Maurienne agreement in 1917.

The Saznov-Paléologue agreement, the St-Jean-de-Maurienne agreement, the Balfour Declaration (between the British and the Zionists) and the Sykes-Picot agreement (with a handful of others concerning the expected partition of the Ottoman Empire) are often referred to as "The Secret Treaties".

The Hussein-McMahon correspondence

Prior to starting negotiations with the French, the British had already discussed the future of Greater Syria with Sharif Hussein, the Emir of Mecca, in 1915. In what is known as the Hussein-McMahon correspondence, the British promised the Arabs an independent state in the area of Greater Syria. In return, Sharif Hussein would incite an Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

File:MPK1-426 Sykes Picot Agreement Map signed 8 May 1916.jpg

The Sykes-Picot Agreement map illustrates the division of the region: Area A) was supposed to fall under French control and area B) under British control.

Regional division

Geographically, the agreement primarily focused on the provinces outside of the Arabian Peninsula. A line separated a zone A (under indirect French rule) from a zone B (under indirect British rule). Zone A included the major inland cities of Syria as well as the Iraqi city of Mosul, zone B stretched from Iraq to the Sinai borders of Egypt. A blue zone along the Eastern Mediterranean coastline (and parts of what is today Turkey) was supposed to be placed under direct French rule. The United Kingdom was supposed to have direct control over the Iraqi provinces of Basra and Baghdad (the red zone), as well as parts of what is Israel today, ensuring British access to the Mediterranean Sea. Palestine was supposed to be placed under international administration.

The Arab state that McMahon had promised to Sharif Hussein was now supposed to be under indirect British and French control. This has led historians to call the Sykes-Picot agreement "a startling piece of double-dealing" by the British and an "outrageous example of imperial perfidy".

Conflicting promises and consequences

Following the October Revolution of 1917, the Russian revolutionaries (Bolsheviks) released a series of secret documents. Among these publications was the Sykes–Picot Agreement. The publication of the Sykes-Picot agreement made visible the conflicting promises the British had made concerning the Ottoman territory to the French, Sharif Hussein and the Arabs and the Zionists (in the Balfour Declaration).

The Sykes-Picot line after the War

The agreement is often accused of having "drawn lines in the sand", i.e. artificially dividing the Middle East without regard to ethnic or cultural factors. In fact the agreement was never (fully) implemented. It was in the San Remo Conference (1920) and Treaty of Lausanne (1923) that the lines were definitely drawn and decided who was going to govern (directly and indirectly) which parts of the partitioned Ottoman Empire, with Turkey wanting to rule areas that the French had initially hoped to govern. Although the agreement was indeed not implemented in its original form, the British and French were able to secure strategically important lands. The Arabs on the other hand did not see the establishment of an independent Arab kingdom as promised and felt betrayed.

Modern politics

The year 2016 marked the 100th anniversary of the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which was heavily debated given its frequent mention by ISIS (ISIS released a video entitled "The End of Sykes-Picot" in 2014). ISIS claimed that in order to create a unified Islamic State, it intended to reverse the effects of the Sykes–Picot Agreement.

Sykes–Picot Agreement Media

• 1918 British Government Map illustrating Territorial Negotiations between H.M.G. and King Hussein.png

  1918 British government map: Map illustrating Territorial Negotiations between H.M.G. and King Hussein

• Sykes-Picot negotiations, Evidence of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Mark Sykes, Bart., M.P. Meeting held at 10, Downing Street, on Thursday, December 16, 1915, at 11.30am.jpg

  On 17 December, Sykes set out his objectives for the negotiation in an interview with the British War Committee. He stated his desire for British control over Palestine ("such country south of Haifa"), creating "a belt of English-controlled country" south of "a line from the 'e' in Acre to the last 'k' in Kirkuk".

• Asia Minor Agreements - Mr Sazanof, Ministre des Affaires Étrangeres, Pétrograd to Maurice Paléologue, Ambassadeur de France en Russie,26 April 1916.jpg

  Asia Minor Agreements - Mr Sazanof, Ministre des Affaires Étrangeres, Pétrograd to Maurice Paléologue, Ambassadeur de France en Russie,26 April 1916

• Asia Minor Agreements - Maurice Paléologue, Ambassadeur de France en Russie, Pétrograd, to M Sazanof, Ministre des Affaires Étrangeres, 26 April 1916;.jpg

  Asia Minor Agreements - Maurice Paléologue, Ambassadeur de France en Russie, Pétrograd, to M Sazanof, Ministre des Affaires Étrangeres, 26 April 1916;

• Asia Minor Agreements - Paul Cambon, Ambassade de France (French Embassy), Londres to Sir Edward Grey, 9 May 1916.png

  Asia Minor Agreements - Paul Cambon, Ambassade de France (French Embassy), Londres to Sir Edward Grey, 9 May 1916

• Asia Minor Agreements - Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Office (London) to Paul Cambon, 15 May 1916.jpg

  Asia Minor Agreements - Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Office (London) to Paul Cambon, 15 May 1916

• Asia Minor Agreements - Paul Cambon, Ambassade de France, Londres to Sir Edward Grey, 15 May 1916 (received 16 May 1916).jpg

  Asia Minor Agreements - Paul Cambon, Ambassade de France, Londres to Sir Edward Grey, 15 May 1916 (received 16 May 1916)

• Asia Minor Agreements - Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Office (London) to Paul Cambon, 16 May 1916 01.png

  Asia Minor Agreements - Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Office (London) to Paul Cambon, 16 May 1916 01

• Asia Minor Agreements - Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Office (London) to Count Alexander Konstantinovich Benckendorff (Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom), 23 May 1916.jpg

  Asia Minor Agreements - Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Office (London) to Count Alexander Konstantinovich Benckendorff (Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom), 23 May 1916

Related pages

• Balfour Declaration 1917
• Treaty of Lausanne, July 1923