French Mandate Administration in Sancak and Turkey

Abstract

The Province of Hatay, popularly called Sancak in Turkish, was occupied by France after the Mondoros Ceasefire in 1918. Popular opposition rose in the Sancak against the French occupation during the Turkish National Struggle (1919-1922), during which the govemment of Ankara left the governance of Sancak to the French mandate, in accordance with the Ankara Treaty, signed between the French and Ankara govemments in 13 October 1921. With the pressure of the govemment of Ankara, France applied a special status to the Sancak which continued until the end of the mandate in 1936, after whıch the Sancak became independent. During the mandate, Turkey continued its relations with Sancak at formal and informal levels, within the framework set by Lausanne Treaty (1923). This acticle, reconsiders the mandate period, in other words the period of pre- independence, particularly the attutude of Turkish govemment towards Sancak, in the light of some newly found archival material. It suggests that, despite the long mandate governance, which took some sixteen years between 1920-1936, Turkish govemment did not cut its relations with Sancak and persistently followed the policy of waiting the best time for interference.