page_title: Agreement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
section_title: 19 April Meeting
hierarchical_section_title: Agreement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne / 19 April Meeting
caption_attribution_description: English: Minutes of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at: 10 Downing-Street, Wednesday, April 25, 1917 From CAB/23/2 [1]
context_page_description: The Agreement of St.-Jean-de-Maurienne was an agreement between France, Italy and Great Britain, which emanated from a conference in a railway car at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne on April 19, 1917, and signed by the allies between August 18 – September 26, 1917.
  The 19 April meeting was attended by British and French Prime Ministers, David Lloyd George Alexandre Ribot, and the Italian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Paolo Boselli and Sidney Sonnino.
  It was intended as a tentative agreement to settle the Italian Middle Eastern interest - specifically article 9 of the Treaty of London. The agreement was needed by the allies to secure the position of Italian forces in the Middle East. The goal was to balance the military power drops at the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I as Russian forces were pulling out of the Caucasus Campaign, even though they were replaced with what would be named as Democratic Republic of Armenian forces. Russia was not represented in this agreement as the Tsarist regime was in a state of collapse.
context_section_description: The 19 April meeting discussed the concept of Italian influence after the war. It was clear to the Italians that the area allotted to them may not be easily given up by the Turkish Empire, such that the British Prime Minister proposed a vague formula for post-war adjustment should the actual post-war allocation not appear to be balanced. The minutes of the meeting are below:
  M. Ribot made objections regarding assignment of Mersina and Adana to Italy, but admitted facilities should be granted to commerce of the Interior in the direction of Mersina as in the case of Alexandretta and Haifa. The Italian zone will commence at a point to be determined west of Mersina. 
  Baron Sonnino asked for the inclusion in Italian zone of occupation of everything which so figures on Mr. Balfour's map. He asked, besides, that the northern part of the vilayet of Smyrna be also included. Mr. Lloyd George and M. Ribot undertake to submit this claim to their Governments. 
  It was agreed that the interests of the other Powers already established in the different zones shall he scrupulously respected, but that the Powers concerned in these interests shall not make use of them as a means of political action. 
  An exchange of views took place as to the situation which might result for the Allied Powers at the moment of peace with respect to the Ottoman Empire. After the discussion. Mr Lloyd George made the following proposal. which was accepted: — 
  It is agreed that if, at the time when peace is made, the total or partial possession of territories contemplated in the agreements concluded between France, Great Britain, Italy and Russia as regards attribution to them of a part of the Ottoman Empire, could not be granted entirely to one or several of the Powers in question, then the interests of those Powers would he taken afresh into equitable consideration
  In a general way. the Ministers undertook to recommend the above decisions to their Governments.
caption: Six days after the meeting, the British War Cabinet approved a note to be sent to the Italians stating that they "agree conditionally" to the proposal made at the conference, whilst pointing out that the Italian contribution the war was yet to justify it.[4] The French government sent a similar communication on 10 May.[5]
exif: {}