Colonial Legacies in Syrian Nationality Law
I. 15 After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the Syrian National Congress issued
a declaration of independence on 8 March 1920, creating the sovereign State of
‘Bidal al-Sham’ or ‘Greater Syria’. This State was a democratic parliamentary
monarchy, which covered the current territories of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan,
Palestine and Israel. 16 The 1920 Constitution of the Syrian Arab Kingdom
instituted a separation of powers, established a legislative control of the monarch’s
prerogatives, removed Islam as the State religion, and granted equal rights to all
citizens regardless of their ethnicity or religious beliefs. 17 Unfortunately, the
Allies refused to keep their initial promise and chose, instead, to colonise the Arab
provinces of the Ottoman Empire. 18 Britain and France were looking to pursue
their colonial, political and economic aspirations — and had no desire to uphold
Syrians’ aspirations for self-government and independence. Britain was looking
to safeguard the route to India and secure oil for the navy, while France wanted to
secure cheap supply of cotton and silk. 19 In July 1920, British and French military
troops forced political leaders into exile. 20 In order to contain nationalist
movements and reinforce their domination, the Anglo–French alliance cut down
the Arab provinces and drew artificial borders in the secret 1916 Sykes–Picot
Agreement negotiations (‘Sykes–Picot Agreements’), without any consideration
for the local population. 21 Britain seized power over Mesopotamia, the Gulf and
Palestine, whilst France took control over the Levant (ie Syria and Lebanon). 22
This colonial mapping was motivated by divide-and-rule policy, a political
strategy whereby a dominant power maintains control over a land by dividing its
people, thereby preventing from uniting in opposition. 23 This colonial enterprise
created a mismatch between identity and nationality that is partially responsible
for the current plight of statelessness in Syria — and largely, in the Middle East.
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Trevor J Le Gassick, ‘Studies in Contemporary Arab Nationalist Literature’ (DPhil thesis,
SOAS University 2015) 6.
Elizabeth F Thompson, How the West Stole Democracy from the Arabs (Grove Press 2020)
xi.
Yusuf Mazin, The Syrian Congress: the Independent Parliament of Greater Syria (Dar alSharq 2011), citing the Constitution of the Syrian Arab kingdom 1920 (no longer in force);
Elizabeth F Thompson ‘Rashid Rida and the 1920 Syrian–Arab Constitution: How the French
Mandate Undermined Islamic liberalism’ in Cyrus Schayegh and Andrew Arsan (eds), The
Routledge Handbook of the History of the Middle East Mandate (Routledge 2015) 244.
Ernest C Dawn, ‘From Ottomanism to Arabism: The Origin of an Ideology’ (1961) 23(3) The
Review of Politics 378; Zeine N Zeine, Arab-Turkish Relations and the Emergence of Arab
Nationalism (Khayat’s, 1958) 58. See also Rashid Khalidi et al (eds) The Origins of Arab
Nationalism (Columbia University Press 1991).
Shambrook (n 12) 1. See also Gibbons Herbert Adams, The Defects of the System of
Mandates (1921) 96(1) Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 84;
Ayse Tekdal Fildis, ‘The Troubles in Syria: Spawned by French Divide and Rule’ (2011)
18(4) Middle East Policy 129.
Gassick (n 15) 4–5; Reem Abou‐El‐Fadi, ‘Early Pan‐Arabism in Egypt’s July Revolution:
The Free Officers Political Formation and Policy‐making, 1946–54’ (DPhil thesis, SOAS
University 2015) 289; Thompson (n 10) xv.
James Barr, A Line In The Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that Shaped The Middle
East (Simon and Schuster, 2011) 6–12.
This division was formalised in the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement (entered into force 3
January 1916). See Meir Zamir, The Secret Anglo–French War in the Middle East:
Intelligence and Decolonization, 1940–1948 (Routledge 2014) 8.
See Richard Morrock, ‘Heritage of Strife: The Effects of Colonialist “Divide and Rule”
Strategy upon the Colonized Peoples’ (1973) 37(2) Science & Society 129; Nic Cheeseman,
Eloïse Bertrand, and Sa’eed Husaini 'Divide and Rule' in A Dictionary of African Politics
(Oxford University Press 2019).
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