The Jerusalem Accords were the peace agreement that brought official peace to the Middle Eastern theatre of the Weltkrieg. This white peace was signed in April of 1920 by the Central Powers, the British Empire and the United States of America as a neutral ground between the two factions, after lengthy discussions between all participants. The signing of the peace led to the establishment of autonomous and international zones in the Basra Vilayet and the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, with the latter being administered by an International Council consisting of the German Empire, British Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, United States of America and the Ottomans themselves. Forbidding the entry of Ottoman troops into the region, an international gendarmerie force would maintain the peace within Palestine.
The Jerusalem Accords would lead to a drastic deterioration of German-Ottoman relations, as the former had betrayed their own allies for influence in the Levant and their global diplomatic reputation. Therefore, the accords are considered to be an important reason for the dissolution of the Central Powers in late 1920, which would see the rise of a new German-dominated power bloc in Europe, the Reichspakt, and the slow distancing of the former Central Powers nations from their erstwhile ally.
Prelude[]
When peace finally had arrived in Western Europe in late 1919, the situation in Western Asia remained largely unsolved. While disputes in the Caucasus could be solved on the Caucasus Conference shortly after the Treaty of Versailles, the Palestine Front proved to be a more difficult problem, as the British, who basically had kept most of the Ottoman Empire in a stranglehold since 1916, were unwilling to evacuate their occupied territories without gaining anything; It was their only bargaining chip they had left. Unofficial negotiations between Ottoman and British representatives led to nothing.
To mediate between both powers, another conference was called in Jerusalem in early December, with the United States as an impartial mediator. Germany and Austria-Hungary also attended the negotiations, taking mostly a neutral stance, which deeply angered the Ottoman delegation, which had expected unlimited support from their allies.
Discussions were lengthy and progressed very slowly. The American delegation, influenced by Wilsonian ideals, pushed for multiple ethnic autonomies within the Empire, like in Palestine, the Arab Peninsula, Mesopotamia and even on the Aegean Coast, which was unacceptable for the Turks. The British did not really care about ethnic autonomy, but they knew that they could use some of these autonomies to expand their own influence in the region. The British delegation therefore supported the American demands and especially insisted on an Assyrian autonomy zone in Mesopotamia, as they hoped to use that zone as a springboard into the Fertile Crescent, as they already had long-established military bases in Kuwait and on the Persian Gulf.
Germany and Austria rejected the American plans, thinking it would only cause ethnic unrest and destabilize the Ottoman Empire in the long-term. They were, however, ready to negotiate over an autonomy zone in Mesopotamia and even in Palestine, where autonomous structures with huge European influence had existed since the 1870s; They knew of course about the atrocities the Turks had commited in these territories during the war and did not want to appear as warmongers who defended Ottoman warcrimes on the international stage. The Turkish government was enraged when they learned that their former allies openly supported the British demands; This would lead to the complete souring of relations between the Germans and Turks, a process which already had started in late 1918 and had been drastically intensified by the results of the Caucasus Conference of November 1919.
By April 1920, the British occupation of the Levant was not tenable anymore and London agreed to demobilize, as unrest was looming in their own colonies. Also, the Hejaz was still in open revolt and the Ottomans had not been able to reach it because of the British land blockade; With high war exhaustion on both sides, the Jerusalem Accords were signed in early April.
Terms of the treaty[]
The Jerusalem Accords (10 April 1920)
- The British Empire will evacuate all occupied national territory of the Sublime Ottoman State within 31 days.
- The British Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire and the United States of America recognize the new political sittuation in the Caucasus.
- The British Empire promises to stop interfering in the Arab National Movement in the future and to not hamper the Ottoman army from reestablishing order in Hejaz and in Yemen.
- An autonomous territory for the Assyrian people is established in the Vilayet of Basra. This autonomy is to be administrated by a council led by the Catholicos Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. Ottoman troops are forbidden to enter the autonomy, security is instead guaranteed by British forces from Kuwait and the Raj and by so-called "Assyrian Levies", built on top of the volunteer divisions that fought in the war. All Assyrian refugees currently displaced in refugee camps in Baghdad Vilayet will be removed and resettled to Basra Vilayet within 31 days.
- An international mandate is established in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem up until the so-called "Allenby Line" at Nablus with the inclusion of the seaport of Umm Al-Rashrash, formerly part of the Syria Vilayet. The Mandate is to be comprised of two main governing bodies: An international council with representatives from Germany, Austria-Hungary, the British Empire and the United States of America and a council with representatives from all local religious groups. Governor of the Mandate is to be an Ottoman-appointed mutasarrif. Ottoman troops are forbidden to enter the autonomy, security is instead guaranteed by a gendarmerie consisting of international forces.
- The Sublime Ottoman State promises to persecute the ones responsible for the massacres and starvings in Eastern Anatolia, Mount Lebanon, Assyria and the Greek-speaking territories during the Great War and to hold fair and just trials.
- The British annexation of Cyprus is reversed and the British protectorate under nominal Ottoman suzerainty, in accordance to the 1878 Cyprus Convention, is to be restored.
- The Sublime Ottoman State accepts the new political circumstances in Egypt.
- Each of the High Contracting Parties hereby accepts, in so far as it is concerned, the complete abolition of the capitulations in the Sublime Ottoman State in every respect.
- Delineation of spheres of influence: The British Empire recognizes the German sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, while the Central Powers accept British sovereignty over Southern Asia and Persia.
Aftermath[]
In the end, almost everyone profiteered from the signing of the Jerusalem Accords - except the Ottomans. The US had presented themselves as reliable mediators fighting for the true and right cause, Germany and Austria-Hungary had increased their international reputation by publicly condemning the war crimes of their own ally (as the Ottoman Young Turk government had been responsible for multiple war crimes during the war, most prominently against the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek population) and the British had gained valuable influence in Palestine and Mesopotamia; Understandably, the Ottoman public was enraged, German-Turkish relations, already damaged by the outcome of the Caucasus Conference of November 1919, soured and the Jerusalem Accords became a symbol of Ottoman weakness on the global stage, a disgrace for Turkish nationalists.
The immediate aftermath of the treaty, which forced the British to withdraw, however finally gave the Ottomans the opportunity to crush the Arab Revolt in Hejaz without disturbance. The Sharifian Army, now left without an ally, was decisively defeated, with the holy city of Mekka falling after a short siege in late June. Ali Haidar Pasha, loyal to Constantinople, was installed as the new Sharif. The region would be plagued by minor skirmishes for the next few years, but Ottoman rule was consilidated once again.
The accords would also have drastic effects on the Assyrian community: As per Article 4 of the treaty, called by some the "Basra Accord", hundred thousands of Assyrian refugees stuck at British reception camps around Baghdad were forced to leave immediately and marched southwards into their new home, the Basra Vilayet. On this week-long march, the so-called "Assyrian Exodus" which is often compared to the famous Old Testament story about the Babylonian exile , thousands would die from malnutrition, exhaustion and malaria, decimating the Assyrian people even further after six years of genocide. The horrors of the Assyrian Exodus would become a hotly debated topic in the global media, with the US providing food, funds and humanitarian support via the American Committee for Relief in the Near East.
In the early 20s, thousands of Eastern European Jews arrived in Palestine, many of whom had fled the horrors of the Russian Civil War. Even though the most ambitious plans of the Zionists had been thwarted, as Palestine was split in two parts due to the Allenby Line being the northern boundary of the M.O.J. according to the Jerusalem Accords, it was still enough to enrage local muslim elites. Arab nationalism soon emerged and Palestine became the new center of the Panarab movement, something that would plague the M.O.J. over the next decade, as protests in the streets would become a common sight.
In mid-1925, in the midst of the British Revolution and the subsequent collapse of the British Empire, Constantinople revoked several terms of the accords, as Britain was not able to enforce them anymore and the other powers did not care. With British India in complete chaos and the British garrisons withdrawing from the Persian gulf, the Assyrian autonomy in Basra was dissolved. The former British tributaries in the region (Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the Trucial States) joined the Ottoman Empire as protectorates. Also, with British troops leaving the Mediterranean, the Ottomans were able to reestablish their control over Cyprus, which had been a de jure part of the Empire before, but under British oversight.
The only remnant of the Jerusalem Accords that remains would be the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, with Germany becoming the new dominant power on the International Council, as all other participants were occupied with other problems. The Germans would use the M.O.J. in the following years as a facade to strong-arm the Ottomans into giving them access to more of their oil reserves, further worsening the Turkish-German relations.