Hatay State | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938–1939 | |||||||||||
 Flag | |||||||||||
| Anthem: İstiklal Marşı | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
| Capital | Antakya (Antioch) 36°25′49″N36°10′27″E / 36.43028°N 36.17417°E /36.43028; 36.17417 | ||||||||||
| 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 withTurkey | 29 June 1939 | ||||||||||
| Currency | Turkish liraa | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Today part of | Turkey | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Hatay State (Turkish:Hatay Devleti;French:État du Hatay;Arabic:دولة حطاي,romanized: Dawlat Ḥaṭāy), also known informally as theRepublic of Hatay (Arabic:جمهورية حطاي,romanized: Jumhūriyyat Ḥaṭāy), was a transitional political entity that existed from 7 September 1938 to 29 June 1939, being located in the territory of theSanjak of Alexandretta of theFrench Mandate of Syria. The state was transformedde facto into theHatay Province of Turkey on 7 July 1939,de jure joining the country on 23 July 1939.
Formerly part of theAleppo Vilayet of theOttoman Empire, theSanjak of Alexandretta was occupied byFrance at the end of theFirst World War and constituted part of the French Mandate of Syria.
The Sanjak of Alexandretta was an autonomoussanjak from 1921 to 1923, as a result of the Franco-TurkishTreaty of Ankara, as it had a large Turkish community as well as its Arab and Armenian population. Then it was attached to theState of Aleppo, then in 1925 it was directly attached to the State of Syria, still with a special administrative status.[1]
MarshalMustafa Kemal Pasha (later known as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk), refused to accept the Sanjak of Alexandretta as part of the Mandate and, in a speech on 15 March 1923 inAdana, he described the Sanjak as "A homeland where Turks lived for centuries and can't be a captive at the hands of enemy".[2] Turkish policy aimed at annexing the Sanjak of Alexandretta when the French mandate of Syria was due to expire in 1935. Turks in Alexandretta initiated reforms in the style of Atatürk's, and formed various organisations and institutions in order to promote the idea of union with theRepublic of Turkey.
In 1936, the elections returned two Syrian independentist MPs (favouring the independence of Syria from France) in thesanjak, and this prompted communal riots and passionate articles in the Turkish and Syrian press. In particular,Arab nationalistZaki al-Arsuzi was influential.
In response, the Atatürk government coined the nameHatay for the Sanjak of Alexandretta, as a reference toHittites (Syro-Hittite states), and raised the "Issue of Hatay" (Turkish:Hatay Meselesi) at theLeague of Nations. On behalf of the League of Nations, representatives of France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey prepared a constitution for thesanjak. The new statute came into power in November 1937, thesanjak 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, thesanjak 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 withNazi Germany.[4]
Hashim al-Atassi, thePresident of theSyrian Republic, resigned in protest at the continued French intervention in Syrian affairs, maintaining that the French were obliged to refuse the annexation under theFranco-Syrian Treaty of Independence of 1936.
The Hatay State Peoples Assembly (Turkish:Hatay Devleti Millet Meclisi) consisted of 40 members, consisting of 22Turks, nineAlawites, fiveArmenians, twoOrthodoxGreeks and twoSunniArabs.
On 7 July 1939, theGrand National Assembly of Turkey approved the law establishing the Hatay Province and incorporating districts fromAdana Province (then Seyhan Province) andGaziantep 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 theArmenian 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 inAleppo, with many others moving to Lebanon where they founded the modern town ofAnjar near the ruins of its historic castle.
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 group, Arabic speakers, including Sunnis, Alawites and Christians, were more numerous.[6]
.jpg)
| Population of Hatay State in 1936 according to the French census[6] | ||||||
| Ethnoreligious groups | Inhabitants | % | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AlawiteArabs | 61,600 | 28% | ||||
| SunniArabs | 22,000 | 10% | ||||
| Melkites,Greeks and otherChristians | 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 186,000 people (which is according to the French government's 1932 report) in sanjak of Alexandretta, 85,000 people were Turks, 25,000 were Armenians, and the remainder was largely made up of Arabs with some Greeks, Jews, Kurds, and Circassians.[7]
Media related toHatay State at Wikimedia Commons
| States |  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conflicts | |||||
| Treaties |
| ||||
| People |
| ||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
