Hatay State
Hatay State Hatay Devleti ( Arabic )Dawlat Ḥaṭāy | |||||||||
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1938–1939 | |||||||||
Flag | |||||||||
Anthem: Mandate of Syria. | |||||||||
Capital | Antakya (Antioch) 36°25′49″N 36°10′27″E / 36.43028°N 36.17417°E | ||||||||
Common languages | Turkish (official) French (second) Levantine Arabic | ||||||||
Government | Republic | ||||||||
President | |||||||||
• 1938–1939 | Tayfur Sökmen | ||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1938–1939 | Abdurrahman Melek | ||||||||
Legislature | Hatay State People's Assembly | ||||||||
Historical era | Interwar period | ||||||||
• Independence | 2 September 1938 | ||||||||
• Union with Turkey | 29 June 1939 | ||||||||
Currency | Turkish liraa | ||||||||
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Today part of | Turkey | ||||||||
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Hatay State (
History
Background
Formerly part of the
The Sanjak of Alexandretta was an autonomous sanjak from 1921 to 1923, as a result of the Franco-Turkish Treaty of Ankara, as it had a large Turkish community as well as its Arab and Armenian population. Then it was attached to the State of Aleppo, then in 1925 it was directly attached to the State of Syria, still with a special administrative status.[1]
In 1936, the elections returned two Syrian independentist MPs (favouring the independence of Syria from France) in the sanjak, and this prompted communal riots and passionate articles in the Turkish and Syrian press. In particular,
In response, the Atatürk government coined the name Hatay for the Sanjak of Alexandretta, as a reference to Hittites (Syro-Hittite states), and raised the "Issue of Hatay" (Turkish: Hatay Meselesi) at the League of Nations. On behalf of the League of Nations, representatives of France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey prepared a constitution for the sanjak. The new statute came into power in November 1937, the sanjak becoming 'distinct but not separated' from Syria on the diplomatic level, linked to both France and Turkey for military matters.[1]
On 2 September 1938, the sanjak assembly proclaimed the Sanjak of Alexandretta as the Hatay State. The State lasted for one year under joint French and Turkish military supervision.
On 29 June 1939, following a referendum, the Hatay legislature voted to disestablish the Hatay State and join Turkey. This referendum has been labelled both "phoney" and "rigged", as the Turkish government organised tens of thousands of Turks from outside Alexandretta to register as citizens and vote.[3] The French encouraged the annexation, hoping it would act as an incentive to Turkey to reject an alliance with Nazi Germany.[4]
Legislature
The Hatay State Peoples Assembly (
Annexation
On 7 July 1939, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey approved the law establishing the Hatay Province and incorporating districts from Adana Province (then Seyhan Province) and Gaziantep Province. By 23 July 1939, the last vestiges of the French Mandate authorities had left Antakya, and the territory was fully annexed by Turkey. The result was a flight of many Arabs and Armenians to Syria. The region's Armenian population, having been survivors of the Armenian genocide, migrated to the French Mandate of Syria due to fears of Turkish prosecutions and therefore weren't able to contemplate Turkish sovereignty.[5] Following the annexation, almost the entire Armenian population of Hatay had settled in Aleppo, with many others moving to Lebanon where they founded the modern town of Anjar near the ruins of its historic castle.
Population and demographics
According to the estimates of the French High Commission in 1936, out of a population of 220,000, 39% were Turks, 28% Alawite Arabs, 11% Armenians, 10% Sunni Arabs, 8% other Christians and 4% were Circassians, Kurds and Jews. Although Turks formed the largest single ethno-religious minority, Arabic speakers, including Sunnis, Alawites and Christians, were more numerous.[6]
Population of Hatay State in 1936 according to the French census[6] | ||||||
Ethnoreligious groups | Inhabitants | % | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alawite Arabs |
61,600 | 28% | ||||
Sunni Arabs |
22,000 | 10% | ||||
Melkites, Greeks and other Christians | 17,600 | 8% | ||||
Turks | 85,800 | 39% | ||||
Armenians | 24,200 | 11% | ||||
Circassians, Jews, Kurds | 8,800 | 4% | ||||
Total | 220,000 | 100% |
In 1937, most sources pointed that out of a total population of 186 thousand people (which is according to the French government's 1932 report) in sanjak of Alexandretta, 85 thousand people were Turks, 25 thousand were Armenians, and the rest was largely made up of Arabs with some Greeks, Jews, Kurds, and Circassians.[7]
In popular culture
A fictionalized Hatay, with its own potentate and army, is the setting for the climax of the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
See also
References
- ^ a b Picard, Elizabeth (Spring 1982). "Retour au Sandjak". Maghreb-Machrek (in French) (99). Paris: Documentation française.
- ^ "History of Hatay (In Turkish)". Antakyarehberi.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
- ISBN 978-1-4000-7517-1.
- ISBN 0-7546-3338-1.
- Minority Rights Group. 1991. Archived from the original(PDF) on 3 September 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84511-076-5. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
- JSTOR 25639616. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
Sources
- Sökmen, Tayfur: Hatay'ın Kurtuluşu İçin Harcanan Çabalar, Ankara 1992, ISBN 975-16-0499-0.
- Dr. Abdurrahman Melek, Hatay Nasıl Kurtuldu, Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1966
External links
Media related to Hatay State at Wikimedia Commons