Anger in Turkey over Syrian document: ‘We will take back Hatay’ from Turks says Assad

It has been 82 years since the province of Hatay became part of Turkish territory.

In a report, the fanatical Erdogan Yeni Şafak comments on a government document, in which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad talks about the recapture of Alexandretta by Turkey.

“In a recent document released by the Syrian People’s Assembly, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made clear his intentions as he once again turned his gaze to the border province,” the bulletin said, adding that Hatay is Syrian territory, according to with various Turkish media.

The document stated that Syria would do “everything in its power to take back the province of Hatay and prevent it from remaining in the hands of Turkey”, arguing that the French mandate of the period offered Hatay as a bribe to form an alliance with Turkey during World War II.

According to the Turkish propaganda narrative, which is very similar to Russia’s justification for Crimea, “Hatay, or Iskenderun in Arabic, joined Turkish territory in 1939 after a referendum”, however, Syria continues to include the province in its official maps.

In fact, it is characteristic that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is following exactly the same strategy for the region of northern Syria, which prepares with steady steps for attachment “ala Alexandretta”.

What had happened to Alexandretta in 1938

After the defeat of the Turks in the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was dismembered and France was given the “governance by order” of Syria. Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk refused to accept Alexandret’s Sandzak as part of the Order, and in a speech on 15 March 1923 in Adana, Ataturk claimed that it was “a Turkish homeland for 40 centuries” and that “it could not be taken prisoner”. in the hands of the enemy. ” Turkish policy was to integrate Alexandretta’s sanjak when Syria’s French mandate expired in 1935.

The local Turks embarked on Ataturk-style reforms, forming various organizations and institutions to promote the idea of ​​union with Turkey. “In response to the Arab aspirations for the complete Arabization of Iskenderun (in Arabic Alexander the Great is called Iskenderun), Kemal coined the term Hatay for the wider region, referring to the Hittite era to support his previous sayings,” Hatai “. After pressure on the Great Powers and the preparation of a special constitution, in November 1937, the autonomous state of Hatay took on flesh and blood, while remaining integrated into Syria.

With this as a shield, Turkey sends ships of tens of thousands of Turks either as “security forces” in 1938 or as monkey-voters, in the referendum held on June 29, 1939, in which “the people” decided to include Alexandretta in state of Turkey, something that to this day Syria calls illegal and refuses to recognize, according to what British journalist Robert Fisk writes in his book on the subject.

Petros Kranias