page_title: Alawite State
section_title: 1927–36
hierarchical_section_title: Alawite State / History / 1927–36
caption_attribution_description: English: Statut Organique of the Alawite State, 14 May 1930
context_page_description: The Alawite State, officially named the Territory of the Alawites, after the locally-dominant Alawites from its inception until its integration to the Syrian Federation in 1922, was a French mandate territory on the coast of present-day Syria after World War I. The French Mandate from the League of Nations lasted from 1920 to 1946.
  The use of "Alawite", instead of "Nusayri", was advocated by the French early in the Mandate period and referred to a member of the Alawite religion. In 1920, the French-named "Alawite Territory" was home to a large population of Alawites.
context_section_description: The Alawite State was run by a succession of French governors from 1920–36:
  2 September 1920 – 1921: Colonel Marie Joseph Émile Niéger (b. 1874; d. 1951)
  1921–1922: Gaston Henri Gustave Billotte (b. 1875; d. 1940)
  1922–1925: Léon Henri Charles Cayla (b. 1881; d. 1965)
  1925 – 5 December 1936: Ernest Marie Hubert Schoeffler (b. 1877; d. 1952)
  The Sunni landowners, primarily living in the province's cities, were supporters of Syrian unity; however, the French were supported by the rural Alawite communities to whom they catered.
  In 1930 the Alawite State was renamed as the Government of Latakia, the only concession by the French to Arab nationalists until 1936.
caption: Statut Organique of the Alawite State, 14 May 1930
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