International Marmara Strait

The **International Strait of the Marmara** **Sea** is a demilitarized zone located around the coast of the Marmara Sea, encompassing most of the geographic Marmara Region. Its largest city and capital remains Constantinople. It borders Greece in the west and east.

Established in 1896, it has remained a relatively stable nation, a neutral middle ground between the then expansionist Greeks, French, Russians and British. Today however, only the Greeks remain invested the region as all other major countries have pulled out from the Zone over the last few years. Despite the Greeks continually encroaching upon the Straits, they have recently avoided plans to occupy Constantinople as doing so would risk hurting international relations, but as pressure between the Greek government and their nationalistic population grows, the Marmara Strait, for so long seen as a beacon of democracy and a prosperous multi-ethnic democracy, may not survive into the 40s.

# History

## The Erivan Accords

As Britain, France and Russia signed the Erivan Accords to divide the Ottoman Empire and colonize Constantinople's lands, the biggest hurtle the 3 powers went through was to whom Constantinople and the Dardanelles would go to. Each nation, but mostly Britain and France wanted the Marmara coast to themselves, but as time went on and both sides were exhausted talking they eventually reached an agreement. It wouldn't go to Britain or France, but instead the coast would see a new overlord, one that would guarantee the neutrality of the nation and allow Britain France and Russia special economic and trading privileges, known as the International Zone of the Marmara Sea, stretching from the Dardanelle Straits to the Bosporus.

Nothing was set in stone, and it would further be discussed during the Treaty of Baku when the Accords needed to be revised.

## The Ottoman Collapse and Treaty of Baku

When the Ottoman surrender finally came, the region that would come under Marmara administration was occupied by a plethora of various European forces, from Serbian to Russian, but a few months later the victorious nations met in Baku to discuss a proper peace, which is when the Erivan Accords went public. The Greek delegation was outraged at the fact that the Marmara coast was to be divided without their consent and demanded the Accords be revised or face the Greeks walking out of the peace conference.

Not wanting to delay the treaty any further the 3 nations agreed to Greek demands which were that Greece be given special commerce and economic privileges just as Britain France and Russia, and any matters concerning the Zone will also involve the consultation of Greece. They also agreed to shrink the size of of the IMZ slightly, importantly giving the Greeks full control over Bursa. During the Treaty of Baku the governmental structure of the Zone was also established as with several different laws, which were as follows:

*The Zone will be divided into a bicameral legislative body. The first body, known as the "Economic Chamber" is comprised of only delegates from the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Greece, the French Republic and the Empire of Russia. This body is responsible for all economic and trade activity that flows in and out of the Zone and is made to upkeep the privileges awarded to the four nations. The second body, known as the "Chamber of Law" is made up of a neutral, international council comprised of various groups that encompass the Marmara territory to ensure unbiased rule. A number of representatives are appointed and elected every 5 years by the populace. These representatives are divided equally into 4 groups based on religion and ethnicity, being Armenian Apostolic, Greek Orthodox, Jewish Orthodox, and Turkish Muslim. Within the government, after the general elections are held every 5 years the new representatives will elect the Zone's leader. In order to ensure a non-bias within the government this leader will have no actual authority and is nothing more than a figurehead to the people.*

*Marmara is to be demilitarized. No foreign army will be able to enter the Zone's territory unless upon special request, and if said request is voted on and is agreed upon by a majority in the Economic Chamber and Chamber of Law. Instead, a global gendarmerie, made up of thousands of soldiers from across the world (but none coming from Russia, Britain, France or Greece) will enforce law and order within the Zone's borders.*

*In order to avoid any religious confrontation the government, including both chambers will be agnostic and secular in nature, while the Zone will always have open borders unless voted on otherwise in times of absolute necessity and/or crisis like war.*

## Early years of governance (1896-1913)

In the end, after tensions with Greece between Britain France and Russia died down and after the Treaty of Baku was ratified, the Zone was proclaimed on the 28th of May, 1896 in Constantinople, the new capital of the Marmara Zone. Britain, France, Russia and Greece chose their representatives that would encompass the first chamber of government, while in September, after a joint rebuilding campaign by all 4 nations the general election was announced by the first chamber and to be held on the 3rd of October. After 1 week of voting, the new representatives were sworn in, and the provisional government that made up the second chamber was finally abolished. By 1897, the Zone successfully was established, the provisional government was gone and any separatist agitation present in the land was stomped out. For now, the Zone was here to stay.

In the years following the Ottoman capitulation and before the Great War, the zone saw significant changes of life. Armenians, Greeks and Jews saw an explosion of culture, mostly in Constantinople but also outside of the capital. Armenians in Eastern Anatolia frequently migrated to Constantinople for educational and economic purposes.

In the same time period, heavy investment from Britain and France ushered in an economic boom that lasted until 1914. The Zone drastically expanded its industrial base and expanded several coastal cities.

## The Great War (1914-1917)

When the Great War began, in a vote by the second chamber it was agreed upon that the Zone would be fully neutral during the war and did not want to get involved. This decision however angered Greece Britain France and Russia, who wanted the Zone to fully join the Entente, and in return in an almost unanimous vote by the first chamber, Marmara would blockade all trading with the Central Powers and confiscate German and Austrian ships in their ports.

While the war didn't directly affect the IMZ, it resulted in Britain and France halting all investments into the IMZ, and after 1914 the Zone would suffer from economic stagnation, never to recover to pre-war levels. When the war finally ended, mass celebrations were held all across Marmara commemorating the victorious Entente and the fact that the bloodshed finally ended, but storm clouds brewed on the horizon.

## Modern history (1918-1932)

Tumultuously, just as things seemed to get back to normal for the people in Constantinople, the Cairo War began. While at first the British-aligned media in the Zone shook off the war as nothing more than small battles against Arab insurgents, after the fall of the Suez the media couldn't distort the truth and hold it from the public, and the event was leaked shortly after as well as the scale of the war. The reason why the British did not want the media finding out about these losses was because Britain did not want to be kicked out of the Zone's influence, but evidently that is exactly what happened. After the fall of Cyprus and Malta the British couldn't reach the Aegean and therefore couldn't directly access the Marmara ocean, making it effectively useless that they still had economic and trading privileges. Once the British surrendered and in the midst of the creation of the Treaty of Valletta, the Zone's first chamber went through a process of voting to see whether the British should still have access within the region. While the British representatives overwhelmingly voted yes, the Greek, French and Russian representatives were more skeptical, and wanted British influence for themselves. In a 60/40 vote, the majority said the British should be kicked out, and that's exactly what happened.