On May 16, 1916, in the midst of World War I, two men drew the map of today’s Middle East in a room – a map whose consequences still keep the region in turmoil. The Englishman Mark Sykes and the Frenchman François Georges-Picot signed a secret agreement that was supposed to determine the fate of the Ottoman Empire after its collapse. This agreement, later named after them as **Sykes–Picot**, is perhaps the greatest betrayal in the history of the Islamic world 🗺💔.
According to this agreement, after the war the region would be divided into several zones:
🟦 **Blue Zone** (the coast of Syria, Lebanon, and southern modern-day Turkey) – under direct French control
🟥 **Red Zone** (southern Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine) – Britain’s share
🟫 **Brown Zone** (Palestine) – to have international administration, the true meaning of which would become clear later
For the more interior areas, two zones (A) and (B) were defined, where an Arab state would be formed under French and British supervision.
What made this agreement a “betrayal” was not just the division itself, but its complete contradiction with the promises being made simultaneously to the Arabs. They had been told: if you revolt against the Ottomans, you will have independence after the war. But in secret, they were drawing exactly the opposite map. **T. E. Lawrence** (Lawrence of Arabia), who was himself involved, later wrote: “We promised the Arabs independence, but in secret we divided their country among ourselves.”
**What were the consequences of this agreement for the Islamic world?** 🤔
1. **Destruction of political unity** – The Ottoman Empire, which for centuries had been a symbol of Islamic unity, was fragmented and replaced by artificial nations.
2. **Artificial borders** – Borders were drawn that had no correlation with the ethnic, religious, or tribal realities of the region. Kurds were divided among several countries, and different groups – Shia, Sunni, Alawite, and Christian – were placed together in states where neither they wished to live together nor was there any mechanism to manage this diversity.
3. **Seeds of future crises** – This weak and fragile state structure made the region highly vulnerable to foreign intervention and proxy wars. From the Lebanese civil wars to the rise of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, the roots of many bloody conflicts in the region can be traced back to this division.
A thought-provoking point: this agreement was signed in May 1916 – **exactly 110 years ago** ✨. Yet, the countries of the region are still trapped within borders drawn with a ruler that day. The Kurdish issue remains unresolved, Palestine remains occupied, and extremist groups like ISIS still rise with slogans like “abolish Sykes–Picot.”
This old wound has not healed.
**📚 Sources for further reading:**
1. Original text of the agreement – The Sykes-Picot Agreement: 1916, The Avalon Project, Yale Law School
2. Analysis of contemporary consequences – Ercan, M. (2025). The Legacy of Sykes-Picot in the Middle East: Structural Divisions and Ongoing Crises. ANKASAM
3. Historical overview – What Was the Sykes-Picot Agreement and How Has It Shaped Middle Eastern Politics? (2018). History Hit
4. Role in state formation – Csicsmann, L. (2023). State formation in the Mashrek region: Historical narratives of state-building and national history since the Sykes-Picot Agreement. Český časopis historický
5. Academic analysis – Donaldson, M. (2023). Sykes–Picot. In *The Oxford Handbook of History and International Relations*. Oxford University Press
