Sykes-Picot 1916 – 2017

2017… London and Paris do they reap in Iraq and Syria fruits they have sown … in 1916?

In 1916, France and England had their eyes turned elsewhere: toward east, toward Germany of Bismarck and William II (Kaiser) which threatened at any moment to break their lines filled trenches and barbed wire. What link with the Middle East?

This region of the world at the time, was probably the least of their worries. And yet …

1916 agreements SYKES-PICOT

1916. Inside London’s official buildings, a battalion of mysterious diplomats agitated. A British Lord, Marc SIKES, and a French diplomat, Georges-François PICOT, meet in secret. The old power of the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire, they know, will not survive the war. They must therefore prepare the future, redraw the Middle East and, if possible, to the benefit of their respective countries; profits that Sykes and Picot hope, express in oil termes : the region full of black gold, the essential fuel to any modern power.

Sykes and Picot draw lines on the staff cards  that give rise to paper states: artificial States that do not meet any logic that ignore the people, history and geography. Sykes and Picot does not know it yet, but they program with their crayons, future conflicts in the middle east.

The secret agreements of SYKES-PICOT (1916)

On the ruins of the empire OTTOMAN

1916 marks the beginning of the end for the Empire OTTOMAN, power which, since the sixteenth century, controlled the Middle East; OTTOMAN the empire had its heyday.

Founded by Osman, a Turkish tribal leader who had crushed the Byzantines near Nicaea (in modern Turkey), it culminated in Soliman , said “the Magnificent” (1529), who came to the gates of Vienna (the crescent on the Ottoman flags also gave the idea for the Viennese pastry).

The Ottomans ended the Sunni Abbasids, making their own the Khilafah (the succession of the Prophet) and stabilizing the region for four centuries. However, the Ottoman domination was resented by the Arab tribes.

In 1914 the empire chooses the wrong OTTOMAN camps: the camp of the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary). From 1914 to 1916, then played the British Arab (Saudi Arabia) against the Ottomans, to weaken, in turn, Germany and Austria.

For movie buffs, we will review with pleasure the Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean Peter O’Toole in the title role and Omar Sharif).

The British fired first

The English sent on site multilingual officer (who spoke especially Arabic): Sir Lawrence, with a mission to unite the Arab tribes, then under the authority of Hussein ibn Ali (1856-1931), the guardian of the Holy Places ( Mecca).

Lawrence, sincere in his remarks, promised HUSSEIN broad autonomy, if not a real vis-à-vis the Ottomans independence. He did not know what was going on then between London and Paris. Of course, the promise of Lawrence was only “scrap of paper”, in his own words. The British and French had already divided the Middle East to their advantage.

The French

France, for its part, wanted to expand its area of influence, already well established in North Africa. Why not establishing Lebanon and Syria a French protectorate ? For France, from the start, there was never any question of involving Arabs Faisal (son of Hussein who became King of Iraq in 1921) negotiations. The latter, however, had released DAMASCUS (to the benefit of the Allies) and was made king of Syria. For the French, Syria could be, in time, a French colony, France, she was not the heir of the kingdom of Syria Franc built during the Crusades around Saint Jean d’Acre?

The Sykes-Picot agreements in a few lines

In short, there was a way to agree (for once) between English and French, especially as the common enemy (Germany) in 1916 was still far from his knees. Franco-British agreements bore the name of their two main architects: Sykes and Picot.

For the French, Lebanon, Syria, part of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, specifically the region of Mosul and the oil-rich Mosul).

For the English, the southern Mesopotamia and the West Bank (across the Jordan) that will eventually become Jordan.

Palestine

Palestine became a neutral zone under international administration. But British and French promised the Jews the eventual creation of a national state in Palestine; State whose contours were not clear at this stage Meanwhile, the administration was assured by the British, anxious to control the east bank of the Suez Canal, to sustain the strategic route to India.

Lawrence of Arabia revealed to the Arab leader ( Feisal ) the content of secret agreements that gave France the tutelage of some of the territories he desired (notably Syria and Iraq ).

Sykes-Picot agreements

1918 – Germany (and OTTOMAN Empire) are defeated

The initial cut was modified: Mesopotamia, rich in oil, was finally fully attached to the Columbia area. The border between Syria and Iraq was born … border that now challenges the Islamic state (DAECH).

1920 – The San Remo Conference and the Treaty of Sevres

Sykes-Picot Agreements  are (with some modifications) endorsed:

The French mandate over Syria and Lebanon and Assad

The French mandate over Syria will be at the origin, in 1947, of the establishment of  BAAS party (BAAS means “rebirth” (meaning the OTTOMAN Empire)), which will oppose Western protectorate. Hafez al-Assad (father of Bashar, who ruled as dictator of Syria) results from its ranks.

Lebanon will experience a violent civil war between 1975 and 1990: the Maronites (the oldest Christians in the Middle East) defended the special relationship with France, the other factions (Druze, Shiites, Sunnis) seeking independence. Michel Aoun, who in 1989 led the Maronite Christian forces, demanded and obtained the intervention of France in the conflict that opposed Syria of Hafez Assad .

The British mandate on Iraq and Palestine and Hussein

Similarly, the British mandate will create the Iraqi banche party BASS including the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein (1973-2003).

The other points of the Conference of San Remo

• confirmation of an independent Republic of Armenia;
• the dissolution of the Empire OTTOMAN, (which will be reduced to Turkey), which will cause the Turkish nationalist uprising of Mustafa Kemal and the negotiation of a new treaty in 1923 (Lausanne), although cheaper, which will give the Turks the means to undertake the Armenian genocide;
• the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region.

The Kurdish autonomous region will never see the day. The Treaty of Lausanne (1923) will cancel this provision and give the starting signal to the Kurdish uprising against Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria; uprising that continues today.

Iraqi Kurds will be gassed by Saddam Hussein in 2007.

The consequences of the gentlemen carvings Sykes and Picot were multiple (to use a technical qualification)… DAECH is a distant descendant of the Sykes-Picot agreements.

2014 – the consequences of SYKES-PICOT

The border between Syria and Iraq (which did not Feisal) is challenged today by the Islamic State (DAECH).

One of the major goals of the Islamic State (DAECH) is to restore the Sunni Caliphate over the borders drawn in 1916 . This is also in Mosul that DAECH established his headquarters: the organization has made clear its intention to tear agreements Sykes-Picot .

The eternal conflict of the Middle East (Palestine to Iran, via Syria and Iraq) is a direct consequence of the disorder that followed the collapse of the Empire OTTOMAN and the Franco-British redistricting. Western, drawing in their favor artificial boundaries, despised people, thrown from both sides of zones of influence divides.

They are now reaping the fruit of secret agreements Sykes-Picot.