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    "label": "Central Intelligence Group, Office of Reports and Estimates Report, Number 15, The Hatay Question",
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    "title": "Central Intelligence Group, Office of Reports and Estimates Report, Number 15, The Hatay Question",
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 28,
            "logicalDate": "1947-02-28",
            "month": 2,
            "year": 1947
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    "ocrText": "ORE 15\n28 February 1947\nCOPY NO.\n1\nTHE HATAY QUESTION\nThe Province of Hatay, which was known as the Sanjak of Al-\nexandretta prior to 1938, is an area of approximately 1875 square miles\nbordering the Gulf of Iskenderun. Its southern border is a part of the\nTurkish-Syrian frontier. Hatay includes the port of Iskenderun (Alex-\nandrettal and the town of Antakya (Antioch). See attached Map.\nARCHIVES AND\nRECORDS\n:\nSERVICE\"\nSUMMARY\nRumors have recently come from Damascus that Syria might soon\nrefer the legality of Turkey's sovereignty over the Hatay to \"an inter-\nnational ody\"--which would presumably be the United Nations Security\nCouncil or International Court of Justice. Although the Syrian Prime\nMinister has denied the current rumors, the issue remains a very live\none. The Secretary General of the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs\nhas expressed the opinion that the rumors are Soviet-inspired, and has\nstated his hope that if Syria should appeal to the Security Council, the\nUnited States would oppose the demands upon the territory of a member of\nthe United Nations. He maintains that Turkey is willing to discuss with\nSyria concessions in the Hatay, but would never consider renouncing sov-\nereignty over the Turkish province.\nThe 1921 Franco-Turkish Treaty ceded the Ottoman Turkish Ter-\nritory of Hatay to France, the mandatory power for Syria and Lebanon.\nThe Treaty of Lausanne (1923) confirmed Turkey's renunciation of sover-\neignty over the territory. When in 1936 France promised Syria and Leb-\nanon full independence after three years, the Turks protested, claiming\nthat the Hatay had been ceded to France as such, not to France as man-\ndatory power, and should also be given independence. The issue was\nfinally referred to the League of Nations, which granted the province\nquasi-independence from Syria. Although the Turkish population in the\nHatay was a minority, the Turks were able to establish an exclusively\nTurkish provincial government, and in 1938 a republic was proclaimed.\nThe following year the province was incorporated into the Turkish Re-\npublic despite the disapproval of the League of Nations. Syria has not\nrecognized Turkish sovereignty over the area.\nBesides the strong feeling of nationalism with which both\nSyria and Turkey view the matter, each country considers the province\nimportant to it for economic and strategic reasons. The fruit, olive,\ngrain, tobacco, cotton, and silk crops of the well-watered interior are\nof considerable value. Furthermore, the Syrians feel that Iskenderun\nis the natural outlet for northern Syria, and that the country has no\nOnly limited coordination of this report with departmental intelli-\ngence agencies has been attained. Substantial dissent, if any, will\nbe submitted at a later date.\n- 1 -"
}