Summary
The program into which the General Syrian Congress meeting at Damascus on 2 July 1919 expanded the earlier Independence Program, and which then appeared, in the King-Crane Commission Secretary’s count, in 1047 of the 1473 petitions received after its adoption, 964 of them on printed blanks in seven distinct forms (Report of the American Section of the Inter-Allied Commission on Mandates in Turkey, lines 2781-2803).
Details
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It contains the three points of the Independence Program — the political unity of Syria including Cilicia, the Syrian Desert and Palestine extending to Rafah; absolute independence for Syria; and opposition to a Zionist State and Jewish immigration — modified by asking “assistance” for the Syrian State from America, or, as second choice, from Great Britain (lines 2756-2803).
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It adds: (1) a rejection of Article 22 of the League Covenant; (2) a rejection of all French claims to Syria; (3) a protest against secret treaties and private agreements, by inference the Sykes–Picot agreement and the Balfour Declaration; (4) opposition to independence for Greater Lebanon; (5) a request for a democratic, non-centralised government under Emir Feisal; and (6) a request for the independence and economic freedom of Mesopotamia (lines 2781-2803).
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Three petitions with the Damascus Program in full had been received by the Commission before its adoption by the Syrian Congress (lines 2781-2803).
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The Commissioners’ telegram of 10 July 1919 presents the Congress program in corresponding terms: immediate complete political independence for united Syria, a civil, constitutionalist, federal monarchy guarding minority rights under Prince Feisal as king, Article 22 asserted not to apply to Syria, and a mandate interpreted to mean economic and technical assistance limited in time (lines 594-711).
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As quoted in full in the Report’s Historical Sketch (part 2), the Congress program of 2 July 1919 limits any assistance to economical and technical assistance not prejudicing complete independence, for a duration not exceeding 20 years, from the United States or then Great Britain; article 5 (Great Britain as second choice) was passed by a very large majority, all other articles unanimously (Report of the American Section of the Inter-Allied Commission on Mandates in Turkey, lines 3651-3830 approx.).
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The Confidential Appendix (part 3) discusses three of the program’s items at length: its denial that the French have “Rights” anywhere in Syria, held justified because missionary, commercial and linguistic ties give no right to territory or mandatory control; its promise of full recognition of the “rights of minorities”, on which Moslem groups answered with constitutional guarantees and a discussed proposal to give Moslems one-half of the legislative seats; and its request for “complete independence”, whose demand the Appendix judges “to an extent artificial”, motivated partly by fear of a French mandate and of permanent possession, the program’s article 4 definition of a mandate as economical and technical assistance being held too restrictive (Report of the American Section of the Inter-Allied Commission on Mandates in Turkey, lines 8409-8860 approx.).
Related pages
Report of the American Section of the Inter-Allied Commission on Mandates in Turkey, General Syrian Congress, King-Crane Commission, Amir Faisal