Sanjak of Alexandretta

The Sanjak of Alexandretta (Arabic: لواء الإسكندرونة, romanized: Liwa' Al-Iskandarūna; Turkish: İskenderun Sancağı; French: Sandjak d'Alexandrette) was a sanjak of the Mandate of Syria composed of two qadaas of the former Aleppo Vilayet (Alexandretta and Antioch, now İskenderun and Antakya). It became autonomous under Article 7 of the 1921 Treaty of Ankara: "A special administrative regime shall be established for the district of Alexandretta. The Turkish inhabitants of this district shall enjoy facility for their cultural development. The Turkish language shall have official recognition".^[1]

In 1923, Alexandretta was attached to the State of Aleppo, and in 1925, it was attached to the combined State of Syria,^[2] with a sort of federal administrative status termed régime spécial.^[3]

The 1936 elections in the sanjak returned two MPs favoring the independence of Syria from France, and this prompted communal riots as well as passionate articles in the Turkish and Syrian press. The sanjak was given autonomy in November 1937 in an arrangement brokered by the League. Under its new statute, the sanjak became 'distinct but not separated' from the French Mandate of Syria on the diplomatic level, linked to both France and Turkey for defence matters.^[2]

^ Sarah D. Shields, Fezzes in the River: Identity Politics and European Diplomacy in the Middle East on the Eve of World War II. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Picard, Elizabeth (January–March 1982). "Retour au Sandjak". Maghreb-Machrek (in French) (99). Paris: Documentation française.
^ Schmidinger, Thomas (2017-03-22). Krieg und Revolution in Syrisch-Kurdistan: Analysen und Stimmen aus Rojava (in German). Mandelbaum Verlag. p. 59. ISBN 978-3-85476-665-0.

[1] Sarah D. Shields, Fezzes in the River: Identity Politics and European Diplomacy in the Middle East on the Eve of World War II. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

[picard-2] Picard, Elizabeth (January–March 1982). "Retour au Sandjak". Maghreb-Machrek (in French) (99). Paris: Documentation française.

[3] Schmidinger, Thomas (2017-03-22). Krieg und Revolution in Syrisch-Kurdistan: Analysen und Stimmen aus Rojava (in German). Mandelbaum Verlag. p. 59. ISBN 978-3-85476-665-0.

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