| Following
the end of WW1, French forces push northwest and have taken Dortyol, Mersin and
most of south eastern Cilicia by December 1918. The French march into Adana (the
regional capital) with great pomp on 11 December. Landing
at Iskenderun (formerly Alexandretta) in December 1918, the British push north
and take Antep (Gaziantep) in January 1919. Marash and Urfa are taken in March
1919. After many acrimonious discussions between England and France, this territory
is ceded to the latter on September 15 1919. French-held
Cilicia is awarded to French Syria by the Treaty of Sèvres, but in the face
of stubborn Turkish resistance, France has abandoned these claims by 1921. French
Cilicia goes to the new Turkish Republic by the 'Franklin-Bouillon Agreement/Treaty
of Ankara' in October 1921. The French enlarge Mt Lebanon in 1923 to include the
coastal towns, the Tyre region, and the Beqaa Valley -upsetting all religious
groups except the Christians. In
accordance with the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, the French take the
Syria/Lebanon area, the British take Palestine, Transjordan and the three former
Ottoman vilayets (provinces) that will soon become Iraq. The League of Nations
Mandates Commission and the Treaty of Lausanne rubberstamp what was by 1923 a
reality. In spite of the many promises by the English (and to a lesser extent
the French) all Arabs, Kurds and Armenians are frozen out of most negotiations
and their nationalist dreams go nowhere - for the moment. |
