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Zones of French and British influence and control established by the Sykes-Picot Agreement

The Sykes-Picot Agreement of May 16, 1916 was a secret understanding between the governments of Britain and France defining their respective spheres of post-World War I influence and control in the Middle East (then under Ottoman control), after the expected downfall of the Ottoman Empire. The boundaries of this agreement still remain in much of the common border between Syria and Iraq.

The agreement was negotiated in November 1915 by the French diplomat François Georges-Picot and Briton Mark Sykes. Britain was allocated mandate control of areas roughly comprising Jordan, Iraq and a small area around Haifa, to allow access to a Mediterranean port. France was allocated mandate control of South-eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The controlling powers were left free to decide on state boundaries within these areas.

The area which subsequently came to be called Palestine was slated for international administration pending consultations with Russia and other powers.

This agreement is seen by many as conflicting with the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence of 1915–1916. The conflicting agreements are the result of changing progress during the war, switching in the earlier correspondence from needing Arab help to subsequently trying to enlist the help of Jews in the United States in getting the US to join the First World War, in conjunction with the Balfour Declaration, 1917. The agreement had been made in secret. Sykes was also not affiliated with the Cairo office that had been corresponding with Sherif Hussein bin Ali, and was not fully aware of what had been promised the Arabs. However many academics believe that the British, and Skyes, knew exactly what they were doing, and would deal with the consquences after the war

The agreement was later expanded to include Italy and Russia. Russia was to receive Armenia and parts of Kurdistan while the Italians would get certain Aegean islands and a sphere of influence around İzmir in southwest Anatolia. The Italian presence in Anatolia as well as the division of the Arab lands was later formalized in the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 led to Russia being denied its claims in the Ottoman Empire. At the same time Lenin released a copy of the confidential Sykes-Picot Agreement as well as other treaties causing great embarrassment among the allies and growing distrust among the Arabs.

Attempts to resolve the conflict were made at the Sanremo conference and in the Churchill White Paper of 1922, which stated the British position that Palestine was part of the excluded areas of "Syria lying to the west of the District of Damascus".

The agreement is seen by many as a turning point in Western/Arab relations, as it negated the promises made to Arabs^[1] through T.E. Lawrence for a national Arab homeland in the area of Greater Syria, in exchange for their siding with British forces against the Ottoman Empire.

The agreement's principal terms were reaffirmed by the inter-Allied Sanremo conference of 19–26 April 1920 and the ratification of the resulting League of Nations mandates by the Council of the League of Nations on July 24, 1922.

1. ^ - *Lawrence of Arabia: The Battle for the Arab World, Director James Hawes. PBS Home Video, October 21, 2003. Interview with Kamal Abu Jaber, former Foreign Minister of Jordan

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The Sykes-Picot Agreement

• The Sykes-Picot Agreement
• Sykes-Picot agreement - text at UNISPAL
• Sykes-Picot agreement - Key maps