Sykes–Picot Agreement

The **Sykes–Picot Agreement** /ˈsaɪks piˈkoʊ/, officially known as the **Asia Minor Agreement**, was a secret agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and France in 1916. The main aim of the British and French was to agree on would have a sphere of influence in Ottoman territories in the Middle East. They wanted the agreement to limit competition between each other after the First World War and to secure strategically-important territories for themselves. The line separating their respective zones of influence was called the Sykes-Picot Line. The Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy accepted the agreement and received territorial advantages in return.

The agreement was named after the two diplomats who negotiated it: the British diplomat Mark Sykes and the French diplomat François Georges-Picot. They negotiated for five weeks, from 23 November 1915 to 3 January 1916, before agreeing on a memorandum. The agreement itself was concluded on the 9 and 16 May 1916, when the British and the French governments accepted and signed and ratified the memorandum.

When the Russian revolutionaries made the agreement public in 1917 after the Bolshevik Revolution, The Sykes–Picot Agreement was concluded with the British and the French expecting victory against the Central Powers and thus the demise of the Ottoman Empire.

The main interest of the British was to secure their access to the Mediterranean Sea and thus their route to India, as well as access to the Iraqi oil fields. In the early 20th century, oil replaced coal as the most important resource since it was a lighter raw material.That led to an increasing dependence on oil, which was inaccessible on British soil.

The French were interested in securing access to the Mediterranean through the port of Tyre, Lebanon, as well as getting their longstanding claims to Mount Lebanon and Damascus validated. Italy also knew about the agreement and was convinced by the promise of southern Anatolia in the St-Jean-de-Maurienne Agreement in 1917.

### Hussein-McMahon correspondence 
Prior to starting negotiations with the French, the British had already discussed the future of Greater Syria with Sharif Hussein, the Emir of Mecca, in 1915. In what is known as the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence, the British diplomat Sir Henry McMahon promised the Arabs an independent state in Greater Syria. In return, Hussein would incite the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. 

## Regional division 
Geographically, the agreement primarily focused on the provinces outside of the Arabian Peninsula. A line separated Zone A (under indirect French rule) from Zone B (under indirect British rule). Palestine was supposed to be placed under international administration.

The Arab state that McMahon had promised to Hussein was now supposed to be under indirect British and French control. by the British and an "outrageous example of imperial perfidy".

### Postwar Sykes-Picot Line 
The agreement is often accused of having "drawn lines in the sand", Although the agreement was not implemented in its original form, the British and French indeed secured strategically-important lands. The Arabs, on the other hand, did not see the promised establishment of an independent Arab kingdom and so felt betrayed. "The End of Sykes-Picot", in 2014. ISIS claimed that to create a unified Islamic state, it intended to reverse the effects of the Sykes–Picot Agreement.

## Related pages 
* Balfour Declaration of 1917
* Treaty of Lausanne, July 1923

## References