The land of prophets and oldest civilisations i.e. Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Palestine and many other parts of Arab countries have historically remained the battle grounds for the wars of religions or civilisations, with politico-economic agenda as unspecified, yet as an established common. The breakup of the Ottoman Empire through a clever strategic scheming and division into almost 26 new states with seeds of disputes sown in the foundations and putting in place puppet governments/rulers by the main colonial powers of that time is quite instructive in understanding what has happened in those countries till to date.
The partition of the Ottoman Empire (30 October 1918 – 1 November 1922) was a geopolitical event that occurred after World War-I and the occupation of Constantinople by British, French, and Italian troops in November 1918. The partitioning was planned in several agreements made by the Allied Powers early in the course of World War-I, notably the Sykes–Picot Agreement, after the Ottoman Empire had joined Germany to form the Ottoman–German alliance. The huge conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new states. The Ottoman Empire had been the leading Islamic state in geopolitical, cultural, and ideological terms. The partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after the war led to the domination of the Middle East by Western powers such as Britain and France, and saw the creation of the modern Arab world and the Republic of Turkey. Resistance to the influence of these powers came from the Turkish National Movement but did not become widespread in the other post-Ottoman states until the period of rapid decolonization after World War-II.
The violent creation of protectorates in Iraq and Palestine, and the proposed division of Syria along communal lines, is thought to have been a part of the larger strategy of ensuring tension in the Middle East, thus necessitating the role of Western colonial powers (at that time Britain, France and Italy) as peace brokers and arms suppliers. The League of Nations mandate granted the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, the British Mandate for Mesopotamia (later Iraq) and British Mandate for Palestine, later divided into Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan (1921–1946). The Ottoman Empire's possessions in the Arabian Peninsula became the Kingdom of Hejaz, which the Sultanate of Nejd (today Saudi Arabia) was allowed to annex, and the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen. The Empire's possessions on the western shores of the Persian Gulf were variously annexed by Saudi Arabia (al-Ahsa and Qatif), or remained British protectorates (Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar) and became the Arab States of the Persian Gulf.
After the Ottoman government collapsed completely, its representatives signed the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920, which would have partitioned much of the territory of present-day Turkiye among France, the United Kingdom, Greece and Italy. The Turkish War of Independence forced the Western European powers to return to the negotiating table before the treaty could be ratified. The Western Europeans and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey signed and ratified the new Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, superseding the Treaty of Sèvres and agreeing on most of the territorial issues.
The British and French partitioned the region of Syria between them in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. Other secret agreements were concluded with Italy and Russia. The international Zionist movement, after their successful lobbying for the Balfour Declaration, encouraged the push for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. While a part of the Triple Entente, Russia also had wartime agreements preventing it from participating in the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after the Russian Revolution. The Treaty of Sèvres formally acknowledged the new League of Nations mandates in the region, the independence of Yemen, and British sovereignty over Cyprus. Greater Lebanon was the name of a territory created by France. It was the precursor of modern Lebanon.
While USA and Allies forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and then simultaneously undertook systematic destruction of Iraq and Libya, ensuring humiliation and killing of the installed rulers who dared to slip out of frame crafted by the old colonial powers and absolute plunder & possession of their national wealth and natural resources; ironically, it did not suffice to get the other Muslim states out of deep slumber. The ongoing annihilation of Syria needs to be examined in the light of briefly explained historical background. Syria virtually seems to be balkanised with USA & Israel as the main-beneficiaries, with Golan Heights gone in the hands of Israel that has ensured downright destruction of Syrian military potential and USA in occupation of natural resources. Russia and Iran obviously faced the greatest setback in the Middle East with Turkiye somewhere in between.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand," is the greatest lesson from Syria and other pulverised Muslim states. The disrespect to the public mandate, treatment of constitution like a nose of wax, undermining judiciary, trespassing constitutional boundaries, oppression of own people, lowest morals, disgusting hate speeches, suppression of freedom of expression, rampant corruption, lingering sectarian and ethnic fault lines, self serving evil scheming, nepotism and killing of merit have been common weaknesses that had prevailed in all the annihilated Muslim countries despite strong armed forces, which paved the way for foreign interventions; is Pakistan any different?
Comments