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TheSanjak of Alexandretta (Arabic:لواء الإسكندرونة,romanized: Liwa' Al-Iskandarūna;Turkish:İskenderun Sancağı;French:Sandjak d'Alexandrette) was asanjak of theMandate of Syria composed of twoqadaas of the formerAleppo Vilayet (Alexandretta andAntioch, now İskenderun and Antakya). It became autonomous under Article 7 of the 1921Treaty 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. TheTurkish language shall have official recognition".[1]
In 1923, Alexandretta was attached to theState of Aleppo, and in 1925, it was attached to the combinedState of Syria,[2] with a sort of federal administrative status termedrégime spécial.[3]
The 1936 elections in the sanjak returned two MPs favoring the independence ofSyria fromFrance, 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 theFrench Mandate of Syria on the diplomatic level, linked to both France andTurkey for defence matters.[2]
The province had an ethnic plurality of Turks and Arabs, also including various minorities.
| Population of Hatay State in 1936 according to the French census[4] | ||||||
| Ethnic group | Inhabitants | % | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alawites | 61,600 | 28% | ||||
| Sunni Arabs | 22,000 | 10% | ||||
| Turks | 85,800 | 39% | ||||
| Armenians | 24,200 | 11% | ||||
| Melkites,Greeks and otherChristians | 17,600 | 8% | ||||
| Circassians,Jews,Kurds | 8,800 | 4% | ||||
| Total | 220,000 | 100% | ||||
Despite the plurality, Turks were overrepresented in the assembly of the province, constituting more than half of it.[5] The minorities took their oaths in Turkish when they were appointed as a deputy.[6]
The allocation of seats in the sanjak assembly was based on the 1938 census held by the French authorities under international supervision: out of 40 seats, 22 were given to the Turks, nine for Alawites, five for Armenians, two for Sunni Arabs, and two for Antiochian Greeks. Based on 29 May 1937 agreement and the 3 July 1938 signings France and Turkey will co-defenceHatay with 2500 troops for each.[7] According to this agreement, the Turkish military has sent intervention forces fromPayas,Dörtyol andHassa. On July 5, Turkish forces enteredİskenderun.[8]
According to the official registration numbers by July 22, 1938, 57,008 voters in the Sanjak were registered, belonging to the following ethnic groups.[5]
40 seats of the sanjak assembly perqadaa were distributed as follows:
Despite the voter registration, no elections were held and an approved by Hatay assembly was commissioned by Turkish and French authorities.Tayfur Sökmen who was appointed byAtatürk to lead the transition arrived in Antakya fromDörtyol on August 25, 1938.[9]
On September 2, 1938, the assembly proclaimed the Sanjak of Alexandretta as theHatay State. The State lasted for one year under joint French and Turkish military supervision. The nameHatay itself was proposed byAtatürk and the government was under Turkish control. The presidentTayfur Sökmen was a member of the Turkish parliament elected in 1935 (representingAntalya Province) and the prime minister Dr.Abdurrahman Melek, was also elected to the Turkish parliament (representingGaziantep Province) in 1939 while still holding the prime-ministerial post. On 29 June 1939, following a referendum, the Hatay legislature voted to disestablish the Hatay State and joinTurkey. The Hatay State became theHatay Province of Turkey in 1939.
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36°24′50″N36°15′09″E / 36.4140°N 36.2526°E /36.4140; 36.2526
