The southern province of Hatay, which lies within the borders of the National Pact, was incorporated into Türkiye on July 7, 1939, amid the pre-World War II atmosphere and thanks to the strong diplomacy pursued by the young republic.

Ahead of Türkiye’s first centenary as a republic, experts spoke to Anadolu Agency (AA) on the process of Hatay's accession and the views of the republic's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, on the issue.

Background

The British deployed troops to the Sanjak of Iskenderun, as it was called at that time, on Nov. 25, 1918, citing the provisions of the Armistice of Mudros, which was signed as a result of the Ottoman Empire's loss of World War I.

When the British troops, who occupied Antakya and its surroundings and stayed in the city for about a week, withdrew from the region on Dec. 7, 1918, they were replaced by French soldiers who entered Antakya.

Although it was within the borders of the National Pact, Hatay, as a result of the Ankara Agreement signed with France on Oct. 20, 1921, was included in the Syrian territory under the French mandate with a special status, except for its Dörtyol and Hassa districts, and remained outside the borders of Türkiye.

Professor Ercan Karakoç from Istanbul's Yıldız Technical University said that the then-Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Kemal Tengirşenk, added the 7th article to the agreement and accordingly, a special administration was established in Hatay, with Turkish as the official language.

"So that Turkish citizens can be organized to develop their culture and language. This article is important because Türkiye had started to give diplomatic notes to France using this article since 1936," he noted.

Türkiye, which announced its independence to the world with the Lausanne Peace Treaty on July 24, 1923, could not fully achieve its goal regarding Hatay in Lausanne.

Hatay in changing world balance

In 1936, after France announced that it would grant Syria, alongside Lebanon, independence within three years, Hatay became one of the main agenda items of Turkish foreign policy.

Hatay’s future and Turks there came under the spotlight then, Assoc. professor Mahmut Bolat from Ahi Evran University, said.

"Mustafa Kemal Pasha followed a truly diplomatic and beautiful path here. He wanted not land but the independence given to Syria and Lebanon for Hatay as well," Bolat said, noting that Atatürk tried to solve the issue by various means.

"He followed a two-stage plan: first, to make Hatay independent and then to reintegrate it into Turkish territory."

Pointing out that the political conjuncture that occurred before World War II was very effective, Bolat said: "Türkiye's friendship and its alliance became very sought-after. U.K. and France want to draw Türkiye to their side."

For his part, Karakoç also emphasized that Türkiye showed that it would not hesitate to use diplomacy and military force when necessary and that the issue of Hatay was resolved with diplomacy and without firing a bullet.

"The basis here, the factor that makes things easier for Türkiye, is the understanding that Germany would disrupt the peace in Europe again, and the expectation that Italy will act together with Germany and drag the world toward a new war," he recalled.

This atmosphere forced both the U.K. and France to decide on a plan.

"They pondered whether they would leave Türkiye alone in its rightful causes, which they thought would push Türkiye to Germany. They also weighed on whether they would accept Türkiye's demands and form an alliance with it. They later chose to accept Türkiye's demands. Türkiye also signed an alliance agreement with the U.K. and France before the war started," Karakoç added.

Hatay's independence

The most diplomatically difficult point in the process of Hatay joining Türkiye was that France slowed down the process, Karakoç pointed out and referred the issue to the League of Nations for this reason and decided that Hatay had a separate place within Syria.

"They wanted Hatay to remain as an entity within Syria, but Türkiye proved successful in step-by-step diplomacy," he said.

The start of negotiations in Geneva in December 1936 and the investigations of the observer delegation in Hatay ensured that the issue became one of the items in the international community's agenda.

While Türkiye applied to the League of Nations for the "independence" of Hatay, although France resisted, as a result of Türkiye's intense efforts, on Jan. 27, 1937, it was declared a "separate entity," which would later pave the way for the unification of Hatay with its homeland. The parties reached an agreement in principle with the "Sandler Report."

In the following process, the "Hatay State" was established on Sept. 2, 1938, and Tayfur Sökmen, who played an important role in the organization of the armed resistance movement that started against the French in the region with the occupation of Hatay after the Armistice of Mudros, became the first president of the state.

Reminding that doctor Abdurrahman Melek also served as the Prime Minister of the established state during the period when Hatay declared its independence as a separate state, Karakoç said that these names would later be elected as Turkish MPs after Hatay became a Turkish province following a referendum.

Karakoç stated that one of the leading figures in the process was Feridun Cemal Erkin, who would later become the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and that when Hatay started to interfere, he went there, prepared a report and presented it to Atatürk.

"After this report, Atatürk said, 'We were working toward expanded autonomy in Hatay, but we should develop a policy to annex Hatay.' Erkin says this in his memoirs as the Consul General of Beirut."

Hatay's annexation

With the "Agreement on the Final Solution of the Territorial Problems Between Türkiye and Syria" signed between Türkiye and France on June 23, 1939, the Turkish-Syrian border was drawn so that Hatay remained within the borders of Türkiye.

In line with the unanimous decision of the Hatay National Assembly, Hatay decided to join its homeland, Türkiye, on June 29, 1939.

With the "Law on the Establishment of Hatay Province" issued by the Turkish Parliament on July 7, 1939, the province of Hatay was established, with its center in Antakya.

Atatürk's 'personal matter'

While the people of Hatay did not accept living "detached" from Türkiye during the occupation, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk uttered his famous remarks after the people of Hatay welcomed him during his trip to southern Adana province on March 15, 1923: "The forty-century-old Turkish homeland cannot remain a prisoner in the hands of the enemy!"

Atatürk, who defined Hatay as his "personal cause" and attached great importance to the Hatay issue, announced that he would do everything he could for Hatay if necessary, with the following words: "In such a case (if an armed resistance is necessary) I will immediately resign from the head of state or even from being a member of parliament. As a free Turkish citizen, I will go to Hatay territory with my friends working in this field. I will try to resolve the issue properly and sincerely with the fighters there and the forces that I have no doubt will escape from the homeland and join us."

In his opening speech to Parliament on Nov. 1, 1936, Atatürk said: "The major issue that occupies our nation day and night is the fate of Iskenderun, Antakya and its surroundings, whose real owners are Turks. We have to stand on this seriously and decisively."

"The most important thing is that he moved to Mersin and Adana in 1938 when he was sick, and he was insistently advised by his doctors to rest. He sacrificed his health by being on his feet all the time," Karakoç quipped. "We can easily say that Atatürk played a leading role in resolving Hatay's issue because he saw it as his personal matter."

Bolat also explained that during this period, Atatürk's illness and "the perception that he could not do anything anymore" spread in the international media and that Mustafa Kemal Pasha went to the south after the ceremonies on May 19, 1938, despite his illness.

"Doctors said that his health is at serious risk. Even though going on such a trip would risk his life, he went on anyway because he took this issue as a personal matter and risked everything. That's why we, the people of Hatay, call Mustafa Kemal Pasha the 'Hatay martyr' because after this trip, his illness got worse and afterward, he passed away."

Reactions

Regarding the reactions of other countries to the annexation of Hatay to Türkiye, Karakoç said that when Syria became an independent state, it considered Hatay, which was under the control of France, as its own territory and that there were negative statements from Syria at first.

Quoting statements of the then-Prime Minister Ismet İnönü on the subject, Karakoç said: "'We left this land to France with the Ankara Agreement, we did not give it to Syria. Therefore, we want our justified demands regarding Hatay from France. Our addressee is France.’"

"In a period when Syrians are about to gain their independence, they should prefer Türkiye's friendship, not its hostility. This would be for the benefit of both states," he also quoted İnönü as saying.