other · Anatolia and the Levant
Sanjak of Alexandretta
Origins
By the Treaty of Ankara of 1921 France agreed that the district of Alexandretta, which included Antioch and a large Turkish-speaking population alongside Arabs, Alawites and Armenians, should have a special administrative regime within French-ruled Syria. It formed an autonomous sanjak attached first to the State of Aleppo and then to Syria.
Rule and society
Turkish was an official language and the sanjak had its own administration. When France promised Syria independence in 1936, Turkey demanded the district. The League of Nations drafted a statute making it a separate entity, and elections held in 1938 under Turkish military presence gave Turks a majority in the assembly.
Decline and legacy
In September 1938 the assembly proclaimed Hatay State, which joined Turkey in 1939. Syria has never formally recognised the loss.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Sanjak of Alexandretta was part of French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon1921 CE – 1938 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Sanjak of Alexandretta. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sanjak-of-alexandretta
- MLA
- “Sanjak of Alexandretta.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sanjak-of-alexandretta. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Sanjak of Alexandretta.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sanjak-of-alexandretta.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Sanjak of Alexandretta’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sanjak-of-alexandretta (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻