Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire

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Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire was a direct consequence of World War I and the Ottomans' involvement in the Middle Eastern theatre. The Ottoman government collapsed completely and the Ottoman Empire was divided amongst the victorious Entente powers with the signing of the Treaty of Sèvres on August 10, 1920.

The fall of the empire led to the creation of the modern Middle East and Republic of Turkey. The League of Nations granted France mandates over the Syria and the Lebanon and granted the United Kingdom mandates over the Iraq and the Palestine (which was comprised of two autonomous regions: Palestine and Transjordan). Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became parts of what are today Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

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[edit] Overview

See also: Balfour Declaration, 1917, Sykes-Picot Agreement, and London Pact

During the war, Great Power politics, Allies had planned secret agreements over the Ottoman Empire. For the Middle East there were a couple of agreements. British and the French concluded a secret treaty (the Sykes-Picot Agreement), to partition between them. The Balfour Declaration the international Zionist movement their support in creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which was the site of the ancient Kingdom of Israel but had had a largely Arab population for over a thousand years. Armenians learned the logic of all these activities over them after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. (see: mainly London Pact, also Sykes-Picot Agreement) The tsarist regime had secret wartime agreements with the Triple Entente on the partition of the Ottoman Empire. While The tsarist regime was giving consent to the splitting of the Middle East, Western Anatolia, and Cilicia, they wanted to replace the Muslim residents of the Northern Anatolia and Istanbul with more reliable Cossack settlers. In March, 1915, Foreign Minister Sazonov impressed upon British Ambassador George Buchanan and French Ambassador Maurice Paléologue that a lasting postwar settlement demanded Russian possession of "the city of Constantinople, the western shore of the Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, and Dardanelles, as well as southern Thrace up to the Enos-Midia line," and "a part of the Asiatic coast between the Bosporus, the Sakarya River, and a point to be determined on the shore of the Bay of Izmit." <ref>Armenia on the Road to Independence,' 1967, pg. 59</ref> These documents were made public by the February/March revolution to gain the support of the Armenian public for the revolution by Russian journal Izsvestia, in November 1917<ref>The Republic of Armenia, Hovannisian, R.G.</ref>.

[edit] Modern Middle East

See also: League of Nations mandate

The Treaty of Sèvres formally acknowledged the new League of Nations mandates in the Middle East, the cession of their territories on the Arabian Peninsula, and British sovereignty over Cyprus. Another turning point in the history of the Middle East came when oil was discovered, first in Persia in 1908 and later in Saudi Arabia (in 1938) and the other Persian Gulf states, and also in Libya and Algeria.

[edit] France

Syria became a French protectorate (thinly disguised as a League of Nations Mandate), with the Christian coastal areas split off to become Lebanon.

[edit] British

Iraq and Palestine became British mandated territories, with one of Sherif Hussein's sons, Faisal, installed as King of Iraq. Palestine was split in half, with the eastern half becoming Transjordan to provide a throne for another of Hussein's sons, Abdullah. The western half of Palestine was placed under direct British administration, and the already substantial Jewish population was allowed to increase, initially under British protection. Most of the Arabian peninsula fell to another British ally, Ibn Saud, who created the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1922.

[edit] The resistance

When the Ottomans departed, the Arabs proclaimed an independent state in Damascus, but were too weak, militarily and economically, to resist the European powers for long, and Britain and France soon established control and re-arranged the Middle East to suit themselves.

During the 1920s and '30s Iraq, Syria and Egypt moved towards independence, although the British and French did not formally depart the region until they were forced to do so after World War II. But in Palestine the conflicting forces of Arab nationalism and Zionist colonisation created a situation which the British could neither resolve nor extricate themselves from. The rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany created a new urgency in the Zionist quest to create a Jewish state in Palestine, and the evident intentions of the Zionists provoked increasingly fierce Arab resistance. (For a detailed account of this, see Israel-Palestinian conflict and History of Palestine.)

[edit] Anatolia

The Greeks had visions of a new Hellenic Empire (Megali Idea), based on particularly British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who had promised territorial gains. Italians sought the southern part of Anatolia (Mediterranean region) which was promised to them. Under the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement, the French obtained Hatay, Lebanon and Syria and desired a part of South-Eastern Anatolia, and the British had already control of Arabia, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq. British was also seeking control over the straits.

[edit] Italy

See also: Agreement of St.-Jean-de-Maurienne

Under Agreement of St.-Jean-de-Maurienne terms France would be allotted the Adana region, while Italy would receive the remainder of southwestern Anatolia, including Izmir (Smyrna). In 1919 the Greek prime minister, Eleuthérios Venizélos, by obtaining the permission of the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 for Greece to occupy Izmir, overrode the provisions of the agreement despite Italian opposition.

[edit] Greece

Image:Partition of Ottoman Empire (Anatolia).png

In May 1917, after the exile of Constantine, Venizélos returned to Athens and allied with the Entente. Greek military forces (though divided between supporters of the monarchy and supporters of Venizélos) began to take part in military operations against the Bulgarian army on the border. At the 1918 Paris Peace Conference Venizelos lobbied hard for an expanded Hellas (the Megali Idea) that would include the large Greek communities in Northern Epirus, Thrace and Minor Asia. The western Allies, particularly British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, had promised Greece territorial gains at the expense of the Ottoman Empire if Greece entered the war on the Allied side. These included eastern Thrace, the islands of Imbros (Gökçeada) and Tenedos (Bozcaada), and parts of western Anatolia around the city of Smyrna (İzmir)

[edit] Armenia

There are three regional issues shaped during and at the end of World War One regarding the Armenian people and the Ottoman Empire. First one, begins within the pre-war boarders of Ottoman Empire, which is establishment of Armenian provisional government" ( Administration for Western Armenia) and its defense. The second one is solidified under Turkish-Armenian War, which the source was who is going to own the region defined under Wilsonian Armenia, which this conflict extended the Kars and Ardahan on the Turkish national movements side. The third one is regarding with the French-Armenian Agreement (1916) an establishment of French colony/Armenian state.

[edit] Administration for Western Armenia

Main article: Administration for Western Armenia

See also: Caucasus Campaign and Treaty of Batum

Fight for Western Armenia begins in 1915, with the establishment of "Armenian provisional government", Administration for Western Armenia. The governor Aram Manougian (leader of Van Resistance) of "provisional government" was an organizer in this front. As the Armenian militia and Armenian volunteer units with the tsaris army pushed the Ottomans east, Administration for Western Armenia developed the policies to become more stable, such as 150,000 Armenians relocated to the provinces of Erzurum, Bitlis, Mush and Van in 1917 <ref>The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times: Foreign Dominion to Statehood: The Fifteenth... By Richard G. (EDT) Hovannisian</ref>. In preparation of the changes in the political structure Armen Garo (famous Karekin Pastirmaciyan) and other spokesmans asked Armenian regulars in the European theather to be to be transferred to the Caucasus front. The move aimed to increase the stability and give protection to the new establishment. Armenian soldiers began to create a strongmen between the Ottoman Army and Armenian front, which will be shortly (Russian Revolution of 1917) only defense against the Ottoman Army.

The support of Armenian national liberation movement through Armenian militia and Armenian volunteer units to tsaris regime was performed with the assumption that Armenian national liberation movement from the Ottoman oppressing regime, could be reached with helping the Russian army. However, The tsarist regime had secret wartime agreements with the Triple Entente. While it was giving consent to the splitting of the Middle East, Western Anatolia, and Cilicia, they wanted to replace the Muslim residents of the Northern Anatolia (the front line in 1916 as a guide) and Istanbul with more reliable Cossack settlers.<ref>The Armenians (Caucasus World. Peoples of the Caucasus) (Hardcover) by Edmund Herzig p. 95</ref> These documents were made public by the February/March revolution in 1917 to gain the support of the Armenian public.

The signing of the Ottoman-Russian friendship treaty (January 1, 1918), helped Vehib Pasha to move the Third Army, Ottoman to this region where Democratic Republic of Armenia filled. The Russian Provisional Government while it was in effect, Armenian national liberation movement learned again that Grand Duke Nicholas with the Special Transcaucasian Committee (особый Закавказский Комитет (ОЗАКОМ), osobyy Zakavkazskiy Komitet (OZAKOM)) committee, Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, and their promise in helping Armenians to move back was again to be left on cold. As Aram Manougian took other responsibilities for establishment of Democratic Republic of Armenia, Tovmas Nazarbekian become the commander on the Caucasus front and the governor of the Administration for Western Armenia. Aram Manougian took the control of minister of Interior of Democratic Republic of Armenia. With 1918, as the Democratic Republic of Armenia becomes stable, and secure a western support, defending the regions of (Erzurum, Bitlis, and Van Province) (Administration for Western Armenia) was become a priority. Andranik Toros Ozanian took the command of within this region, and become the governor of Administration for Western Armenia between March 1918 - April 1918. Under heavy pressure from the combined forces of the Ottoman army and the Kurdish irregulars, the newly established Republic was forced to withdraw from Erzincan to Erzurum. Van which was under Armenian control since the Van Resistance was abandoned as well. Vehib Pasha also occupied Trabzon on the north. DRA at the end evacuated also Erzurum and Sarikamis after resisting at the Battle of Kara Killisse (1918), the Battle of Sardarapat, and Battle of Bash Abaran.

These conflicts, and issues regarding Administration for Western Armenia concluded with the Treaty of Batum. Democratic Republic of Armenia, the newly established republic, left this region and established under the areas occupied by Russia before the war.

[edit] Wilsonian Armenia

Main articles: Wilsonian Armenia, Turkish-Armenian War, and Treaty of Alexandropol

Image:First republic of Armenia-west boarders by Woodrow Wilson.png Armenians defended the idea that Armistice of Mudros should eliminate the Treaty of Batum and boarders should be reshaped. Armenian Diaspora and the ARF defended the idea that the region which stayed outside the control of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 3 years, (1915-18) (Historical Armenia) should be part of DRA in the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. The discussions were shaped around the "Fourteen Points". Armenian Diaspora defended the argument that it was natural to extend it to Armenian control, as after the Russian Revolution this region was controlled by Armenian volunteer units and Armenian militia and later |DRA (even it was mainly on the paper because of Vehib Pasha's offenses). The Armenian "provisional government" that was set up used as an argument to "the ability to control the region" for the Fourteen Points. Boghos Nubar, the president of the "Armenian National Delegation" to conference:

In the Caucasus, where, without mentioning the 150,000 Armenians in the Imperial Russian Army, more than 40,000 of their volunteers contributed to the liberation of a portion of the Armenian vilayets, and where, under the command of their leaders, Antranik and Nazerbekoff, they, alone among the peoples of the Caucasus, offered resistance to the Turkish armies, from the beginning of the Bolshevist withdrawal right up to the signing of an armistice."<ref>letter to French Foreign Office - December 3, 1918</ref>

A secondary argument developed during this period was the dominant population becoming Armenian as the Turkish inhabitants of the region moved to the western provinces. President Wilson’s acceptance letter (for drawing the frontier), to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 said: "The world expects of them (the Armenians), that they give every encouragement and help within their power to those Turkish refugees who may desire to return to their former homes in the districts of Trebizond, Erzerum, Van and Bitlis remembering that these peoples, too, have suffered greatly." <ref>President Wilson’s Acceptance letter for drawing the frontier given to the Paris Peace Conference, Washington, November 22, 1920.</ref> At the suggestion of Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic Republic of Armenia was to be expanded into present-day eastern Turkey in areas Wilsonian Armenia.

[edit] Administration of Cilicia

Main article: Franco-Turkish War

See also: French-Armenian Agreement (1916)

[edit] Republic of Turkey

See also: Turkish War of Independence

However, the Treaty of Sèvres was never applied and Turkish resistance led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk forced out the Greeks and Armenians while the Italians were unable to establish themselves. Kurdish attempts to become independent in the 1920s were suppressed by the Turkish revolutionaries. After Turkish resistance gained control over Anatolia, a new treaty was needed as the conditions of the Treaty of Sèvres were no longer applicable. The Treaty of Lausanne formally ended all hostilities and led to the creation of the modern Turkish republic. Before Lausanne, Turkey and the newly-formed Soviet Union had already signed the Treaty of Kars, which already brought the peace on the eastern border of Turkey. The Treaty of Kars established that the Bolsheviks would cede the provinces of Kars, Iğdır, Ardahan, and Artvin to Turkey in exchange for Adjara. The treaty was ratified in Yerevan on September 11, 1922 after the remainder of Armenia became part of Soviet Union.

[edit] Effect of Turkish National movement and Arabs

Oil wealth also had the effect of stultifying whatever movement towards economic, political or social reform might have emerged in the Arab world under the influence of the Kemalist revolution in Turkey.

[edit] Notes