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Abstract
After 402 years of Ottoman rule in Syria, the Arab government of Amir Faysal in Damascus tried to come to terms with the defeated Turkish government and coordinate military action with it against the common enemy, the French occupiers. An alleged treaty of friendship and military cooperation is mentioned to have been signed between Mustafa Kamal and Amir Faysal on 19 June 1919. This paper, based on Arabic contemporary sources, including memoirs of Syrian rebels who cooperated with the Turks, and also British, American and French diplomatic dispatches examines the authenticity of the alleged treaty and its implementation. In addition to ammunition provided by the Turks, a token Turkish military force approved by Ibrahim Hanano the head of the Syrian rebellion in the north was sent to Syria not to fight but to reassure the Syrians of Turkish support. Hanano had already visited Turkey in July 1920 for coordinating military effort after the Arab government of King Faysal in Damascus had fallen to the French in July 1920. The Turkish force carried a flag showing on one side the Turkish flag and on the other the Syrian flag with a band mentioning Believers are Brothers. When members of this force plundered the Christian village of Suqaylbiyya, in the region of Hamah, Hanano held a tribunal on the spot and executed the culprits with Turkish approval so as not to compromise the public trust in the integrity of the rebellion. Also, with the Turkish ammunition there infiltrated into Syria through Aleppo Bolshevik tracts from Turkey’s Soviet allies which raised the anxiety of Amir Faysal and his British supporters. When Turkey signed a truce with France on 11 March 1921, the Turks stopped their aid to the Syrian rebels who had already lost the support of the Arab government and now faced massive French pressure after the French had concentrated against them the troops they had withdrawn from the Turkish war theatre in Cilicia. The Syrian rebellion in the north petered out and many top rebels sought refuge in Turkey encouraged by Islamic solidarity with the Turks.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Syria
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries