Patrick Seale: that "by disregarding its pledge to protect the integrity of Syria, France had committed a flagrantly immoral political act.”

Alexandretta covers an area of 4.805 square kilometers of the Levant coast along the Eastern Mediterranean. It is located on the Western section of what is known as the 'Syrian Saddle'. Its port (namely, the port of Alexandretta) is said to be "the first natural harbour in the Eastern Mediterranean". It offers safe anchorage for large ships in a gulf over 35miles in length. Furthermore, it is "the natural outlet for the vasthinterland of Aleppo and the Upper Euphrates valley and is connected by rail with Osmanich(Ottoman Empire) and thus with the main lines running west to Ankaraand Istanbul, east to Baghdad, and south, through Aleppo, Damascus and Haifa, to the Suez Canal". Within the boundaries of the sanjak (administrative division) of Alexandretta, however, lie, in addition to the port of Alexandretta, the ancient historical town of Antioch (Antakya) that has become the sanjak's capital; the fertile valley of the Orontes; and the Southern section of the Amanus Range.

 ANTIOCH,(ST)_ People from Iskenderun in the city of Antioch demonstrated yesterday on the anniversary of the Turkish authorities change the name of Iskenderun district to the Turkish name "Hatay", which falls September 2, 1938 under the slogan " Iskenderun will be Syrian until eternity."

The participants in the demonstration raised Syrian flags, stressing their belonging to the Syrian motherland. One demonstrator raised the picture of martyr Yahya al-Shighri.

 One of the people of Iskenderun said: I am from Iskenderun region. I was born and grew up there, It means everything to me; homeland, family and origin. This region houses several towns: Antioch, Swedieh, Al- Harbyiat, and al- Rihanieh. Antioch is located on Mount Alomanus.

Antioch is an ancient city and  is the capital of old empires, but earthquakes destroyed its monuments many times. The city is about 10 km from Dafna, a summer resort which is 30 km from Swedieh port and 5km from Iskenderun city the capital of Iskenderun.

Villagers come from all over the place  to sell  their produce and come back home with what they need for decent living. He added: I was in the secondary school  when  France conspired with Turkey to skin off Iskenderun  from Syria the motherland to annex  it to Turkey. This phase lasted two years and was  characterized by solidarity of all Arab people. All have one motto "Arabism over all, religion is for God and  homeland is for all."

During that period the youth had premonitions about how this region will be far from the homeland "Syria ". what would happen to the Arabic language?

 The tendency that spread then was to flee to Syria. The national Government in Syria opened a boarding school to accommodate us where we pursued our studies for one full year.  Other students continued their studies in different Syrian cities especially in Aleppo, Damascus, Lattakia, and Hama.

N.H.khider

Al-Sewedeyah city is called  Saman Dag in Turkish, which means the mountain of hay. It is located about 30 km to the north -west of Kasab, 25 km to the village of Alyerdi and 25 km to the city of Antakya.

Owing to its location on the Orontes River , Alsewedeyah is famous for its important port which had witnessed a great prosperity in the Roman Ages. The beautiful beach made Alsewedeyah to be one of the most important touristic towns.

Besides, it is characterized by its black stones, and the majority of its population have dark skin because of the hot climate of the city. During the Byzantine centuries, Alsewedeyah was subsidiary to the Emirate ( Seis ) , which is considered as the western Emirate of the Kingdom of Armenia in the east.

Agriculture is the important economic resource of Alsewedeyah town especially olives , citrus and all kinds of fruits.
In addition, people in Alsewedeyah subsist on tourism and fishing in their livelihood.

The inhabitants of Alsewedeyah still retain their customs, traditions and their main language which is Arabic.

There are three churches related to the Roman Orthodox in Alsewedeyah, the most important and largest is the one which carries the name of the prophet Eliya. This church was restored in 1996.

Alsewedeyah also embraces several ancient and modern mosques. There is also a large market in the city center which plies all kinds of fish.

On Latakia road and about 18 km before reaching  Alsewedeyah, there stands the wonderful monastery of St. Simeon.
The Turkish occupation has displaced most of Alsewedeyah population who emigrated to Latakia as being the closest to their city, geographically and climatically.

M.Wassouf

Despite the elapse of 74 years after the usurpation of Liwa Iskenderun from its motherland Syria by Turkey, it still lives in the hearts and minds of all Syrians as an occupied Arab land which will inevitably return to its legitimate owners.

The countries which are claiming that they are friends of Syrian people and keen on democracy, human rights and UN resolutions, France and Britain agreed to give Iskenderun as a bribe to Turkey in return that the latter will support them in the World War II and guarantee their colonialist interests in the region. The move was a grave precedent as it is a flagrant violation of international law and conventions. The League of Nations refused to pass the illegal usurpation and annexation of Iskenderun. So, the French British Turkish decision remained illegitimate and was not ratified by any international body. Internationally, the Liwa is still an independent region which follows Syria in its external affairs and linked to it in the currency, customs and mail. The UN which replaced the League of Nations after World War II didn't recognize all the procedures and the demographic and geographic changes made by France and Turkey to change the status of the Liwa to wipe out its genuine Arab identity.

The Liwa came under the French occupation in implementation of the notorious Sykes-Picot Accord signed between France and Britain in 1916 dividing Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq among themselves as if they were their inheritance. Following the signing of the 1936 treaty between Syria and France and the rejection of France to implement the treaty which provided for giving Syria its unconditional independence, huge protests took to the streets of all Syrian cities demanding independence of all Syrian territories including the Liwa and denouncing the French policy which wanted to perpetuate its occupation and ignore the legitimate demands of the Syrian people.

The League of Nations, which rejected the Turkish French conspiracy of annexing the Liwa, sent a committee of observers who came to Iskenderun and met with political and religious leaders there and listened to their demands. The committee reached a conclusion that the majority of the population categorically reject the annexation of the Liwa. At the beginning of January, 1937, huge demonstrations were staged in Antakya, al-Rehaniya and al-Sweidayeh in front of the committee demanding to preserve the Liwa as part of Syria. The committee returned to Geneva and conveyed the demands of the inhabitants of the Liwa to the League of Nations stressing that the Turkish inhabitants of the Liwa are not a majority and they live peacefully along with the Arab population of Iskenderun enjoying their complete rights. The League formed a committee of six experts who put a general law for Iskenderun on November 29th, 1937 stating that Iskenderun would be independent internally and its external affairs should be run by Syria. The law also provides for forming a unified military, postal and customs system between Syria and the Liwa. 

Turkey and France announced their agreement on the final status of the Liwa. However, they immediately started provocative acts that run contrary to the settlement declaring the nature of their sinister conspiracy and malicious attempt. On June 9th, 1938, the French envoy to Iskenderun resigned in protest of his country’s immoral policy there. However, the French- Turkish colonialist policy continued through deploying 2500 Turkish soldiers in the Liwa under the pretext of helping the French troops in preserving security and stability there. On September 1, 1939 Turkey exploited the outbreak of the World War II and the Coalition's need to join Turkey to them or keeping it neutral, particularly after the treaty of Montero 1939, it dominated the straits in the time of war, announcing the annexation of the Liwa. The French and Turkish governments exploited the international circumstances and usurped Iskenderun. They appointed a Parliament of Turkish members for fear of electing Arab parliamentarians and formed a government in the Liwa’ which immediately started a racist policy that aimed to obliterate the genuine Arab features replacing them with Turkish ones with the aim of wiping out its Arab demographic and geographic features. The racist measures included halting education in Arabic and starting a Turkish curriculum and replacing the Syrian currency with the Turkish Lira in a way that flagrantly violates the resolution of the League of Nations.

Despite all the racist measures taken by France and Turkey to eradicate the Arab features of the Liwa, it is still preserving the genuine Arab nature. The names of cities, areas, mountains and valleys in the Liwa still bear the spirit of the region and its deeply-rooted history and civilization; they speak through the identity of the land, as Antakya, Iskenderun and al-Swiediya are names which reflect the Arab nature  of the cities. Iskenderun and Antakya are considered as main cities of the Liwa. Iskenderun was founded by Alexander the Great in 333 BC and it was an important trade Centre between the East and the West. Antakya is also an important city built by Alexander’s successor Selecus I Necator in the 3rd century BC. It played a very important political and economic role under the Romans.

Lying on the north-west of Syria, the Liwa overlooks the Mediterranean and it is distinguished for its magnificent landscapes, beautiful scenery and splendid views. More than one million people live in the region where the average of the Turks didn't exceed 20% of the residents in 1920, even following the influx of thousands of Turks to the area by order of the French and Turkish authorities in the 1930s with the aim of changing the demographic status of the area.

The Liwa was liberated by the Arabs in 20 Hijra from the Byzantine occupation and restored its Arab identity. But, it was occupied by the Crusaders in 1090 and remained under their control until it was liberated by Saladin in 1291, four years after the great battle of Hittin which resulted in the liberation of Jerusalem. After the fall of the Ayyubid state and the occupation of Syria and other Arab countries by the Ottoman state, the Liwa suffered a great deal as was the case of all the regions that were under the Ottoman occupation suffering from poverty, ignorance and backwardness. However, the people of the Liwa remained in contact with their brothers in Syria and other countries and took part in all the revolts that erupted against the Ottoman occupation including the revolution of Fakr Eddin al-Ma’ani al-Thani and the Great Arab Revolt in 1916 which ended the four-century Ottoman occupation of the Arab homeland.

History repeats itself. The states which conspired against Syria 74 years ago and usurped Liwa Iskenderun are now complicit in shedding the blood of the Syrian people through supporting the armed terrorist groups with funds and weapons to destroy Syria and commit savage massacres against Syrian people and their public and private properties with the aim of implementing a Zionist agenda in the region and putting an end to Syria’s pivotal role in the region, especially its support of resistance against Israel and confrontation of all colonialist projects in the region. Britain and France offered sophisticated weapons to the terrorist groups which are trained in camps opened by Erdogan’s government before being exported to Syria. But thanks to the steadfastness of Syrian people and army, the heralds of Syrian victory against terrorism began to appear repelling the global conspiracy against Syria and disclosing the shameful role of Britain, France and Turkey in the conspiracy.

K.Q.