Sykes–Picot Agreement Facts for Kids

The Sykes–Picot Agreement officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was a secret 1916 agreement between the United Kingdom and France. It was approved by the Russian Empire. It allowed the European powers to divide parts of the Middle East for themselves after the surrender of the Ottoman Empire.

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1918 British government map: Map illustrating Territorial Negotiations between H.M.G. and King Hussein
Minutes of the first negotiation on 23 November 1915, in which both sides set out their starting positionsPicot proposed that the French area include: "the whole of Syria and Palestine, and that their southern boundary must be the present Egypto-Turkish frontier," that the boundary line would then go to "Deir ez-Zor and from there Eastwards to the south of Kirkuk, turning east of that place and running north to include the whole of the Mosul district; thence West to include Diyarbekir, and on to include the whole of Cilicia."The British had proposed as an eastern boundary: "the line of the Euphrates as far south as Deir ez-Zor and thence in south-westerly direction." With respect to Palestine, the British noted that "Jerusalem, Nazareth and other places was a question apart, and affected various other nations including Russia: and that this question could not now be gone into."
On 17 December, Sykes set out his objectives for the negotiation in an interview with the British War Committee. He stated his desire for British control over Palestine ("such country south of Haifa"), creating "a belt of English-controlled country" south of "a line from the 'e' in Acre to the last 'k' in Kirkuk".
Excerpt from The Manchester Guardian, Monday, November 26, 1917. This was the first English-language reference to what became known as the Sykes Picot Agreement.
"Maunsell's map", the British government's pre-World War I ethnographical map of the area covered by the agreement
Mosul Vilayet in 1892

Sykes–Picot Agreement facts for kids

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