Sir Mark Sykes
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Sir Sykes and the Middle East"Sykes served in the South African (Boer) War (1899–1902) and was personal secretary (1904–05) to George Wyndham, British chief secretary in Ireland. After traveling in Asiatic Turkey for several years, he wrote vivid accounts of his journeys, including Through Five Turkish Provinces (1900) and The Caliph's Last Heritage (1915). He was elected to Parliament in 1911. Early in World
War I, the British government
employed Sykes on diplomatic missions in the Balkans and Turkey. He
then was chief British representative in the negotiations with France
and tsarist Russia that resulted in a secret accord known as the
Sykes-Picot Agreement (May 1916). Under its terms, Syria and Iraq were
to be divided into spheres of French and British influence and even
direct administration; Palestine was to be subject to international
control. When made public by the Russian Revolutionary government in
1917, these arrangements infuriated the Arabs, who had been led to
expect postwar independence. Until the end of the war Sykes undertook
Middle Eastern missions for the British Foreign Office." Taken
from the Encyclopedia
Britannica Online Click
here
to view two
obituaries for Sir. Sykes. |