What did Sykes and Picot plan to do with Turkey itself?

by Ronald_McDouchebag
WardenOfTheGrey

The plan for Anatolia contained within the Sykes-Picot agreement itself was for France to be given a zone of 'direct control' corresponding to the blue area on this map. So essentially an occupation of the Levantine coast North of Palestine, a portion of the Anatolian interior, and much of the South East Anatolian coast. The French had become somewhat unnerved during the war at growing British influence in the Middle East and these concessions were meant largely to assuage those fears.

Other plans for Anatolia existed but in other agreements and treaties. For example in 1915, in order ensure continued Russian commitment to the War despite their heavy losses and military failures up to that point, the British and French signed the Constantinople Agreement which allowed Russia to annex Istanbul itself as well as the Dardanelles. These claims, however, were renounced by the Soviet government after the Revolution.

Lastly, there was the Treaty of Sevres which the Ottomans signed in 1920 and thus was what actually happened (though it, of course, dissolved very quickly). I've struggled to find a good map online so this will have to do. The Key points of the treaty were:

  • Greece received much of Thrace, bringing the border to within 25 miles of Istanbul, as well as Izmir (labelled Smirne on the map) and much of the area surrounding the city.

  • Italy received a zone of control on the South West Coast, marked by Zona Italiana.

  • France was to administer the South East coast

  • A large Armenian state was to be created in Eastern Anatolia and to the South of that was to be a semi-autonomous Kurdish region (the vertical stripes).

  • The Turkish Straits connecting the Mediterranean to the Black Sea became an international zone administered by the allies

  • The Ottomans were forced to give effective control of their finances to the Allies and to bring back the Capitulation agreements (which essentially allowed European merchants to operate within the Empire without taxation or tariffs on goods)

As I said the Treaty quickly broke down with the and most of the land which was lost was regained during the Turkish War of Independence and the subsequent Treaties of Kars (1921) and Lausanne (1923). I can go into more detail on how the land was regained if necessary.

Source: Cleveland, Bunton; A History of the Modern Middle East