Hatay Province (Turkish:Hatay ili,pronounced[ˈhataj]) is the southernmostprovince andmetropolitan municipality ofTurkey.[2] Its area is 5,524 km2 (2,133 sq mi),[3] and its population is 1,686,043 (2022).[1] It is situated mostly outsideAnatolia, along the eastern coast of theLevantine Sea. The province bordersSyria to its south and east, the Turkish province ofAdana to the northwest,Osmaniye to the north, andGaziantep to the northeast. It is partially situated on theCilician Plain, a large fertileplain along theCilicia region. Its administrative capital isAntakya (ancientAntioch), making it one of the three Turkish provinces not named after its administrative capital or any settlement.[4] The second-largest city isİskenderun (formerly Alexandretta). Sovereignty over most of the province wasdisputed with neighbouring Syria, which claimed that the province had a demographicArab majority, and hasseparated from its territory in violation of the terms of theFrench Mandate for Syria that was established on the heels ofWorld War I; however, the issue has remained largely dormant since the thawing ofSyrian-Turkish relations in the 2000s.[5]
Settled since the early Bronze Age, Hatay was once part of theAkkadian Empire, then of theAmorite Kingdom ofYamhad. Later, it became part of the Kingdom ofMitanni, then the area was ruled by a succession ofHittites andNeo-Hittite peoples that later gave the modern province of Hatay its name.
The Neo-Hittite kingdom ofPalistin was also located here.
The area was conquered by theRashidun Caliphate in 638 and later it came under the control of theUmayyad andAbbasidArab dynasties.Tulunids[9] briefly ruled it before Abbasid one was restored. From the 10th century onwards, the region was controlled by theAleppo-basedHamdanids after a brief rule ofIkhshidids. In 969 the city ofAntioch was recaptured by theByzantine Empire. It was conquered byPhilaretos Brachamios, a Byzantine general in 1078. He founded a principality from Antioch toEdessa. It was captured bySuleiman I, who was Sultan of Rum (ruler of Anatolian Seljuks), in 1084. It passed toTutush I, Sultan of Aleppo (ruler of Syria Seljuks), in 1086. Seljuk rule lasted 14 years until Hatay's capture by the Crusaders in 1098, when parts of it became the centre of thePrincipality of Antioch. At the same time, much of Hatay was part of theArmenian Kingdom of Cilicia, who subsequently allied with theMongols and took control of the Principality of Antioch in 1254. Hatay was captured from the Mongol-Armenian alliance by theMameluks in 1268, who subsequently lost it toTimur (Tamerlane) at the start of the 15th century.[6][7][10]
By the time it was taken from the Mameluks by theOttoman SultanSelim I in 1516, Antakya was a medium-sized town on 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi) of land between theOrontes River and Mount Habib Neccar. Under the Ottomans the area was known as the sanjak (or governorate) of Alexandretta.Gertrude Bell in her bookSyria: The Desert & the Sown published in 1907 wrote extensively about her travels across Syria including Antioch & Alexandretta and she noted the heavy mix between Turks and Arabs in the region at that time.
Ethnic groups in the Balkans and Asia Minor, early 20th Century,Historical Atlas, 1911
Many say that Alexandretta was traditionally part of Syria. Maps as far back as 1764 confirm this.[8] During the First World War, most of Syria was occupied by the British but under theArmistice of Mudros, Hatay remained part of the Ottoman Empire. Nevertheless, after the armistice it was occupied by the British, an arrangement which was not accepted by the Ottomans. Later, the province was handed over to France along with the rest of Syria.
After World War I and theTurkish War of Independence, theOttoman Empire was disbanded and the modern Republic ofTurkey was created. Alexandretta was not part of the new republic. It was placed under theFrench mandate of Syria after the Allies and Turkey signed theTreaty of Sèvres, which was neither ratified by theOttoman parliament nor by theTurkish National Movement in Ankara.[11] The subsequentTreaty of Lausanne also put Alexandretta within Syria. The document detailing the boundary between Turkey and Syria around 1920 and subsequent years is presented in a report by the Official Geographer of The Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the US Department of State.[12] A French-Turkish treaty of 20 October 1921 rendered the Sanjak of Alexandretta autonomous, and it remained so from 1921 to 1923. Out of 220,000 inhabitants in 1921, 87,000 were Turks.[13] Along with Turks the population of the Sanjak included:Arabs of various religious denominations (Sunni Muslims,Alawites,Greek Orthodox,Greek Catholics,Maronites);Jews;Assyrians;Kurds; andArmenians. In 1923 Hatay was attached to theState of Aleppo, and in 1925 it was directly attached to theFrench mandate of Syria, still with special administrative status.
Turkish borders according to the Treaty of Lausanne, 1923
Despite this, a Turkish community remained in Alexandretta, andMustafa Kemal said that Hatay had been a Turkish homeland for 4,000 years. This was due to the contested nationalistpseudoscientificSun Language Theory prevalent in the 1930s in Turkey, which presumed that some ancient peoples of Anatolia and the Middle East, such as the Sumerians and Hittites, hence the name Hatay, were related to the Turks. Whereas, the Turks first appeared in Anatolia during the 11th century, when theSeljuk Turks occupied the eastern province of theAbbasid Empire and captured Baghdad.[14] Resident Arabs organised under the banner of Arabism, and in 1930,Zaki al-Arsuzi, a teacher and lawyer from Arsuz on the coast of Alexandretta published a newspaper called 'Arabism' in Antioch that was shut down by Turkish and French authorities.
The 1936 elections returned two MPs favouring the independence of Syria from France, and this prompted communal riots as well as passionate articles in the Turkish and Syrian press. This then became the subject of a complaint to theLeague of Nations by the Turkish government concerning alleged mistreatment of the Turkish populations. Atatürk demanded that Hatay become part of Turkey claiming that the majority of its inhabitants were Turks. However, the French High Commission estimated that the population of 220,000 inhabitants was made up of 46% Arabs (28% Alawites, 10% Sunni, 8% Christians), 39%Turks, 11%Armenians,[15] while the remaining 4% was made up ofCircassians,Jews, andKurds.[16] 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 theFrench mandate of Syria on the diplomatic level, linked to both France and Turkey for defence matters.
Hatay State (Turkish:Hatay Devleti,French:État du Hatay,Arabic:دولة حطايDawlat Ḥaṭāy), also known informally as the Republic of Hatay, was a transitional political entity that existed from 7 September 1938, to 29 June 1939, in the territory of the Sanjak of Alexandretta of the French Mandate of Syria.
In early March 1939 French authorities were willing to return Hatay Province (then within the French Mandate of Syria) back to Turkey for a quid pro-quo.[17] The quid pro-quo was a willingness to sign a mutual pact (between Turkey and France) against potential European aggression (either Italian aggression or German aggression). The goal of the French was to ensue Turkey did not go into the German-Italian sphere of influence.
The state was transformed de jure into the Hatay Province of Turkey on 7 July 1939, de facto joining the country on 23 July 1939.
On 29 June 1939, following areferendum, Hatay became a Turkish province. This referendum has been labelled both "phoney" and "rigged", and is seen as a way for the French to cede the area to Turkey, in the hope that they would turn on Hitler.[18][19] For the referendum, Turkey moved tens of thousands of Turks into Alexandretta so they could vote.[20] These Turks were born in Hatay but now they were living in other regions of Turkey. In two government communiqués which were issued in 1937 and 1938, the Turkish government asked all local government authorities to make lists of all of their employees who were originally from Hatay. Those employees whose names were listed were then sent to Hatay so they could register as citizens and vote.[21]
TheHassa district of Gaziantep,Dörtyol district (Erzin was nahiya of it) of Adana were then incorporated into Hatay. As a result of the annexation, a number of demographic changes occurred in Hatay. During the six months following the annexation, inhabitants over the age of 18 were given the right to choose between staying and becoming Turkish citizens, or emigrating to the French Mandate of Syria or Greater Lebanon and acquiring French citizenship. If they chose to emigrate, they were given 18 months to bring in their movable assets and establish themselves in their new states. Almost half of the Sunni Arabs left. Many Armenians also left and 1,068 Armenian families were relocated from the six Armenian villages ofMusa Dagh to theBeqaa Valley which is located inLebanon. Many of these Armenians had fled for their lives and settled in the French Mandate of Syria because they were survivors of thegenocide which had previously been committed by the Ottoman Empire. The total number of people who left for Syria was estimated to be 50,000 including 22,000Armenians, 10,000Alawites, 10,000SunniArabs and 5,000Arab Christians.[22][23]
For much of its premodern history,Alexandretta, with its capital cityAntioch, was considered as part ofBilad al-Sham, the area known today asSyria. InOttoman times, Hatay was part of theVilayet of Aleppo inOttoman Syria. In 1920 thesanjak (province) of Alexandretta was awarded to Syria by theLeague of Nations in the guise of aFrench mandate. In 1936 Alexandretta became the subject of a complaint to the League of Nations byTurkey, which claimed that the privileges of the Turkish plurality in the sanjak were being infringed. (In 1921, there were 87,000 Turks amid a population of 220,000.) Unlike other regions historically belonging to Syrian provinces (such asAintab,Kilis andUrfa), Alexandretta was confirmed as Syrian territory in theTreaty of Lausanne agreed upon byKemal Atatürk but was granted a special autonomous status because it contained a Turkish plurality. However, culminating a series of border disputes with France-mandated Syria, Atatürk obtained in 1937 an agreement with France recognising Alexandretta as an independent state, and in 1939 this state, called theRepublic of Hatay, was annexed toTurkey as the 63rd Turkish province following a controversial referendum. Syria bitterly disputed both the separation of Alexandretta and its subsequent annexation to Turkey.[24][page needed]
Syria maintains that the separation of Alexandretta violated France's mandatory responsibility to maintain the unity of Syrian lands (article 4 of the mandate charter). It also disputes the results of the referendum held in the province because, according to a League of Nations commission that registered voters in Alexandretta in 1938, Turkish voters in the province represented no more than 46% of the population.[25] Syria continues to consider Hatay part of its territory as of the 2010s, and shows it as such on its maps.[26][27] At the same time, Turkey and Syria havestrengthened their ties and opened the border between the two countries.
Protests in Damascus in 1939 by women demonstrators against the secession of the Sanjak of Alexandretta, and its subsequent joining into Turkey as the Hatay Province. One of the signs reads: "Our blood is sacrificed for the Syrian Arab Sanjak."
Syrians hold the view that this land was illegally ceded to Turkey by France, the mandatory occupying power of Syria in the late 1930s. Syria still considers it an integral part of its own territory. Syrians call this landLiwa' aliskenderun (Arabic:لواء الاسكندرون) rather than the Turkish name of Hatay. Official Syrian maps still show Hatay as part of Syria.[26][27]
Under the leadership of Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad from 2000 onwards, there was a lessening of tensions over the Hatay issue. Indeed, in early 2005, when visits from Turkish PresidentAhmet Necdet Sezer and Turkish Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdoğan opened a way to discussions between two states. These discussions resulted with the Syrian government agreeing to end its demand that the province should be returned under Syrian sovereignty as a condition to end hostilities; however, there was no official announcement by the Syrians relinquishing their rights of sovereignty.[28]
Following changes to Turkish land registry legislation in 2003, a large number of properties in Hatay were purchased by Syrian nationals, mostly people who had been residents of Hatay since the 1930s but had retained their Syrian citizenship and were buying the properties that they already occupied. By 2006, the amount of land owned by Syrian nationals in Hatay exceeded the legal limit for foreign ownership of 0.5%, andsale of lands to foreigners was prohibited.[29]
There has been a policy of cross border cooperation, on the social and economic level, between Turkey and Syria starting in the 2000s. This allowed families divided by the border to freely visit each other during the festive periods ofChristmas andEid. In December 2007, up to 27,000 people crossed the border to visit their brethren on the other side.[30] In the wake of an agreement in the autumn of 2009 to lift visa requirements, nationals of both countries can travel freely.[31] However, out of 50 agreements signed between Turkey and Syria in December 2009, the Hatay dispute stalled a water agreement over theTigris andEuphrates Rivers. Turkey asked Syria to publicly recognise Hatay as a Turkish territory before signing on to the agreement.[32]
Apart from maps showing Hatay as Syrian territory, the Syrian policy has been to avoid discussing Hatay and giving evasive answers when asked to specify Syrian future goals and ambitions with regard to the area. This has included a complete media silence on the issue.[33] In February 2011, the dispute over Hatay was almost solved. The border separating Syria from Hatay was going to be blurred by a shared Friendship Dam on the Orontes river and as part of this project the two states had agreed on the national jurisdiction on each side of the border. Only weeks before the outbreak of the Syrian uprising and later war, groundbreaking ceremonies were held in Hatay and Idlib. As a result of the Syrian war and the extremely tense Turkish-Syrian relations it brought, construction was halted. As part of the ongoing war, the question of the sovereignty of Hatay has resurfaced in Syria and the Syrian media silence has been broken. Syrian media began broadcasting documentaries on the history of the area, the Turkish annexation andTurkification policies. Syrian newspapers have also reported on demonstrations in Hatay and on organizations and parties in Syria demanding an "end to the Turkish occupation".[34] However, although the Syrian government has repeatedly criticized the Turkish policies towards Syria and the armed rebel groups operating on Syrian territory, it has not officially brought up the question of Hatay.[35]
Hatay Province was heavily damaged by the2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes.[36] The province registered 23,065 earthquake-related fatalities and 30,762 injuries.[37][38] More than 13,500 buildings collapsed, 67,346 were heavily damaged and 8,162 had to be demolished.[39] The most affected areas wereAntakya,Kırıkhan andİskenderun.[40]
Hatay is traversed by the north-easterly line of equal latitude and longitude. 46% of the land is mountain, 33% plain and 20% plateau and hillside. The most prominent feature is the north-south leadingNur Mountains and the highest peak is Mığırtepe (2,240m), other peaks include Ziyaret dağı and Keldağ (Jebel Akra or Casius) at 1,739 m. The folds of land that make up the landscape of the province were formed as the land masses ofArabian-Nubian Shield andAnatolia have pushed into each other, meeting here in Hatay, a classic example of theHorst–graben formation. TheOrontes River rises in theBekaa Valley in Lebanon and runs throughSyria and Hatay, where it receives theKarasu and theAfrin River. It flows into the Mediterranean at its delta inSamandağ. There was alake in the plain of theAmik Valley, but it was drained in the 1970s and today Amik is the largest of the plains[clarification needed] and an important agricultural center. The climate is typical of the Mediterranean, with warm wet winters and hot, dry summers. The mountain areas inland are drier than the coast. There are some mineral deposits,İskenderun is home to Turkey's largest iron and steel plant, and the district ofYayladağı produces a colourful marble calledRose of Hatay.
Late 20th – early 21st century language distribution. • Turkish • Arabic speakers are shown by religious affiliation: Alawite (circle), Christian (triangle), Sunni (square), Bedouin Sunni (rectangle), Jewish (rhombus).[44][a]
The majority of the population adheres to eitherSunni Islam orAlawism, but other minorities are also present, includingSyriac Orthodox,Syriac Catholic,Maronite,Antiochian Greek andArmenian communities. The village ofVakıflı in the district ofSamandağ is Turkey's last remaining rural Armenian community.[45][46] Arabs form the majority in three districts out of the twelve:Samandağ (Suwaidiyyah) (Alawi),Altınözü (Qusair) andReyhanlı (Rihaniyyah) (Sunni). Unlike most Mediterranean provinces, Hatay has not experienced mass migration from other parts of Turkey in recent decades and has therefore preserved much of its traditional culture; for example,Arabic is still widely spoken in the province.[47] To celebrate this cultural mix, in 2005 "Hatay Meeting of Civilisations" congress was organised byAydın Bozkurt ofMustafa Kemal University and his "Hatay Association for the Protection of Universal Values".[48]
During theSyrian Civil War, the province has experienced an influx of refugees. According to official figures, as of 21 April 2016, 408,000Syrian refugees lived in the province.[49]
As of 2016, 85% of Arabic-heritage-speaking people in relevant parts of Hatay, specifically those who hear and may use the language on a daily basis, believed its use was decreasing; the rest disagree. The Arabic-speakingAntiochian Greek Christian minority has the right to teach Arabic under theTreaty of Lausanne; however, they tend to refrain from doing so to avoid sectarian tensions as the treaty does not apply to the Muslim majority.[50]
Hatay is warm enough to grow tropical crops such assweet potato andsugar cane, and these are used in the local cuisine, along with other local specialities including a type of cucumber/squash calledkıtte. Well-known dishes of Hatay are its local variety of a widespread syrup-rich shredded pastry,künefe (kanafeh), squash cooked in onions and tomato paste (sıhılmahsi), aubergine and tahini paste (Baba ghanoush), chickpea and tahini pastehummus and dishes such askebab found throughout Turkey. Particular spice mixes and herb mixes are popular. Pastes include:
Hatay is featured in the movieIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where it was portrayed as the final resting place of theHoly Grail in the fictitious "Canyon of the Crescent Moon" outside of Alexandretta. In the movie, set in 1938, theNazis offer theSultan ofHatay (amonarchy which the province never had in real life) precious valuables to compensate for removing the Grail from his borders. He ignores the valuables, but accepts theirRolls-Royce Phantom II.
The Turkish filmPropaganda (1999) bySinan Çetin, portrays the difficult materialisation of the Turkish-Syrian border in 1948, cutting through villages and families.
The 2001 filmŞelale by local directorSemir Aslanyürek was filmed in Hatay.
Map does not show all existing Hatay settlements and their linguistic composition. Arnold Werner states that his research only covered half of the Arabic speaking villages (some 50 out of a 100). Arabic and Turkish speaking villages shown on map are only those covered by Werner's research and map. The map excludes the northern more Turkish-speaking parts of the province.
^Karagiannis, Emmanuel (18 October 2013).Energy and Security in the Caucasus. Routledge. p. 76.ISBN978-1-134-54742-5.In the southernmost corner of Turkey, near Ceyhan, lies the province of Hatay, a pocket of land bounded to the west by the Mediterranean and to the south and east by Syria.
^Brandell, Inga (2006).State Frontiers: Borders and Boundaries in the Middle East. I.B.Tauris. p. 144.ISBN978-1-84511-076-5. Retrieved30 July 2013.According to estimates provided by the French High Commission in 1936, out of a population of 220,000 39 per cent were Turks, 28 per cent Alawites, 11 per cent Armenians, 10 per cent Sunni Arabs, 8 per cent other Christians, while Circassians, Jews and Kurds made up the remaining 4 per cent.
^Çağatay, Soner.Islam, secularism, and nationalism in modern Turkey: who is a Turk? Volume 4 of Routledge studies in Middle Eastern history. p. 119-120. Taylor & Francis, 2006.ISBN0-415-38458-3,ISBN978-0-415-38458-2
^Lundgren Jörum, Emma: "The Importance of the Unimportant" in Hinnebusch, Raymond & Tür, Özlem: Turkey-Syria Relations: Between Enmity and Amity (Farnham: Ashgate), p 114-122.
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