At present, the Middle East is fighting a war on many fronts and is standing at the crossroads. The sounds of a big war can be clearly heard from there. From Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, from Houthi in Yemen to Iran, Israel and Syria. There is a front ready to fight the war at every end. Was the Middle East ever as turbulent as its present? No. It all started with a secret meeting between Britain and France. An agreement was signed in this meeting, of which no one was even aware, but exactly one year later, a copy of that agreement came into the hands of the Russian government. He got this copy published in the newspaper and then what was revealed shocked the whole world. Actually, under this agreement the Middle East was going to be divided. If you think that we are talking about the partition of Palestine in 1948, then let us tell you that this is the second partition. The tension that exists today between Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Jordan. It started with this partition. What happened in the meeting between France and Britain? How did the Arab countries get divided? We will know all this in today's article.
How did the Arab countries get divided?
The story begins from the beginning of the 20th century. Turkiye's Ottoman Empire, which ruled the Middle East for six centuries, was slowly declining. The British Empire was taking their place. The areas of the Middle East which were under the control of the Ottoman Empire, one by one came under the control of Britain and France. The Ottoman Empire, which once extended to North Africa, was now reduced to just Damascus, Aleppo, Raqqa, Basra and Baghdad in its last few years.
In a secret meeting
The First World War started in 1914, in which on one side were the Allied Powers i.e. France, Britain, Russia, Italy, USA and Japan. The name of the other side was Central Powers i.e. Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans were a major power in the Middle East. Therefore, here Britain and France had direct competition with them. France and Britain had to do something to deal with the Ottoman Empire, so they held a meeting. British diplomat Mark Sykes and French diplomat George Picaudal attended this secret meeting. Chess started spreading on the map of the East. Both the diplomats divided the map of the Middle East into many parts with the lines of their pencils. This line was going to pass through many religions and communities. Whose names he probably didn't even know properly. Despite this, France and Britain made an agreement to divide the Middle East, it was decided that after the war, each fellow member would get a share in the Middle East. This secret agreement was named Sykes Picot Agreement. This agreement was finalized on 16 May 1916. On which Russia has just put its seal of approval. Under this agreement, the areas under the Ottoman Empire were to be divided into five parts.
- The first part was from Baghdad to Kuwait and the Gulf coast. Which was under the control of Britain.
- The other part was from northern Iraq through Jordan to Sinai. The British had control over this also and were also staking their claim.
- The third part was from southern Lebanon to Anatolia, these were under the control of France.
- The fourth part included the Syrian desert and this part was also going to be given to France.
- The fifth part was Jerusalem, which could not be divided and was ultimately considered an international zone.
Under this agreement, Russia got control of Istanbul, Bosphorus and four provinces of Eastern Anatolia adjacent to the Russian border. Greece was given the western coast of Turkiye while Italy was given the southwestern part of Turkiye.
This entire partition took place under the supervision of the League of Nations. Before the Second World War, the League of Nations was a UN-like organization. The League of Nations recognized this partition, but did not pay attention to issues like religion and language. How careless were the British and the French. Understand this from the fact that after the agreement, British Brigadier General George Mc Donough made a comment sarcastically saying that I feel that we are like hunters who divided the skin of the bear before killing it. First of all we should think about how we can defeat the Ottoman Empire.
Under the Sykes Picot Agreement, a framework was prepared for the division of the Middle East, but Britain was not satisfied with this. Along with the sentence 'Keep meeting, keep meeting', he also made many more agreements. For example, during these days a new leader was emerging in Mecca. A leader named Hussein bin Ali Al Hashemi was leading the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire. He wanted to establish a separate Arab empire in the Middle East. The British also included them on their side in the middle of the war. An agreement was reached between the two sides under which the Arabs would support the British, in exchange for a portion of the Ottoman Empire's land after victory. Now the interesting thing is that this agreement was a violation of the Sykes Picot Agreement but because the British were a world power, they did not worry about anything. This double attitude of Britain did not stop here. He also played a double game on the issue of Palestine.
The issue of Palestine and Israel has become so complicated today. This also started due to the work of Britain. On one hand, Britain made an agreement with the Arabs that after victory Palestine would be theirs. On the other hand, he also promised the Jews that they would get a new nation inside Palestine. Now this agreement is known as Balfour Agreement.
Why did Balfour Agreement happen?
The Zionist movement was at its peak in the 19th century. The Jews were demanding a separate country. Jewish thinker Theodor Herzl thought about settling Jews in many places, but Palestine seemed the most suitable place for him. Why? Because this was the old homeland of the Jews. Some Jews already lived here. Even before the First World War, Jews started settling in Palestine. During this time, Britain felt that if they supported the Jews in fulfilling their demands then they would support them in the war.
On November 2, 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour sent a letter to a Jewish organization. It promised that the British Government was in favor of the creation of a separate homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. Till now you have learned about many agreements of Britain. He was doing all this to win the war. He won the war but after that the real chaos started. How will all Britain's promises be fulfilled? It was not clean. With the end of the World War, the Ottoman Empire also ended. Britain occupied Palestine and Iraq and put the Sykes Picot Agreement on hold. The Middle East was in limbo, so it took 5 years of conflict to resolve the issue. Finally in 1923 another agreement was reached between the Allied countries and Türkiye. An agreement was made in the city of Lausanne, Switzerland, hence it is known as the Lausanne Agreement.
The map of the Middle East that you see today was prepared under the Lausanne Agreement. However, many ground disputes and differences were ignored in this agreement. Like previous agreements, the boundaries in this agreement too were set very carelessly. The controversy that started because of this continues till today.
What were those controversies
Dispute-1 : Iran and the Kurds
In the partition of the Middle East, no country was created for the Kurdish people. Kurds are a large ethnic group in the Middle East who live in a large area of the Middle East which they call Kurdistan. These people wanted their own separate country but their area was divided among Türkiye, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Whereas their culture and language is different from those countries. Kurds became a minority in these areas and have been demanding a separate country ever since. The issue of Kurds is a major cause of tension between Iran and Türkiye.
Dispute-2 : Kuwait and Iraq
The British agreement made Kuwait a separate country that had previously been part of Iraq. This partition became the cause of war after about 67 years. In 1990, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait to annex it.
Dispute-3 : Lebanese Civil War
Under the Lausanne Agreement, Syria was divided into a separate country named Lebanon. It was occupied by the French. Mostly Christians lived in Lebanon. Despite this, France also added some Muslim areas to create Lebanon. Due to this, there were three types of population: Shia, Sunni and Christian. Now this created an imbalance and civil war broke out in Lebanon from 1975 to 1990.
Now let's talk about the biggest dispute in the Middle East which has become a scourge for the Middle East even today. We have already told you about the Balfour Agreement. The British government started settling Jews in Palestine. From 1919 to 1923, approximately 35,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine. After this, differences between Arabs, Muslims and Jews started increasing in Palestine. The British ignored the Palestinians, and tension between the two increased. Jews started forming an army for their own security. This project was named Iron Wall. After the Second World War, in 1947 the UN divided Palestine into two parts. One part was made for Jews and the other for Palestinians. Jerusalem was placed under the authority of International Administration. Jews were less in number, but 62 percent of Palestine was given to Israel. On May 14, 1948, Israel declared itself a sovereign state in Palestine. After the formation of Israel, four major wars have been fought in Palestine in the Middle East. In this way, Britain's wartime promises created a dispute in the Middle East that continues to this day. The Shia-Sunni dispute is also a major reason for the crisis in the Middle East. This conflict has been going on in Yemen for many years. About 60 percent of the population here is Sunni and 40 percent is Shia. This country has been unstable for the last several years. Most of the areas here are under the control of Houthi rebels. It is supported by Iran while Saudi Arabia supports the Yemen government. Shia-Sunni dispute is also going on in Syria. The majority of the population there is Sunni while the government is run by Shias. Because of this, war has been going on there for the last 12 years. According to United Nations figures, more than 5 lakh people have been killed in this conflict and more than 50 lakh people have had to leave their country. When will the Middle East, which has been sitting on a heap of gunpowder for years, become peaceful and stable? This is in the womb of the future only.
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Anil Paal
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