INFORMATIVE SPEECH

ISIS, civil war and refugee crises. These phenomena combine to provide the Middle East the reputation of being one of the most tumultuous regions on the planet. Yet, for 613 years, prior to World War I, the area was relatively peaceful and prosperous, so what happened? In a word: Europe. As World War I raged, a furtive meeting was attended by Sir Mark Sykes representing the British government and Georges Francois Picot representing the French. They had assembled to discuss the division of the Ottoman Empire, in what would be known as the Sykes-Picot agreement. During these discussions, the European powers carved apart the middle east, drawing new borders according to their own interests and desires while simultaneously sowing the seeds of civil strife. The contents of this meeting would not be made public until two years later, and the implications are still being felt today.
Sir Mark Sykes was the heir to vast estates in England, and served in the military before becoming a member of parliament. It was not these credentials, but rather his family vacations to the middle east, which enabled to him negotiate on behalf of the British. These travels prompted many to view him as an expert on the inner happenings of the middle east - despite the fact he had no valuable insight to the running of the region (Boyd). Georges Francois Picot was a more conventional choice for the role however, as he was a blossoming lawyer and diplomat back in France ("Britain and France Conclude Sykes-Picot Agreement.").
Both men actively sought to exert their own imperialistic interests over the area. They divided the Arab World into four sections, two of which were under direct control and governance by Britain or France respectively, and two were spheres of influence, in which puppet governments agreed to every demand by the European powers. Ironically, in an attempt to avoid conflict, land in Turkey was designated to give to Russia, who were not present at the meeting. However, as stated by Lauren Katzenstein, the new borders were “created in accord with the economic and strategic needs of the colonial powers without attention to ethnic, religious, or racial identities” (Katzenstein). This meant that they completely disregarded the people who were already present in the area, and tried to merge very different cultures and groups of people together. Complicating the situation, various deals which contradicted the Sykes-Picot agreement were made as a result of the secrecy of the meeting. At the end of the war, Britain had promised the same land to three different countries. This meant that discontent towards the European occupation in the Middle East began almost immediately.
According to Tarek Osman, a writer for the BBC, as dissatisfaction grew in the Arab World, political opinion took a turn from creating effective governments, to seeking someone who could help expel the Europeans from the area. The desire for these strong governments created power vacuums, which were filled by the detestable dictators who ruled for the following decades . Moreover, the same desire to evict the Europeans caused the birth of militant islamic groups similar to those that terrorize the globe today, such as Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and ISIS (Sutherland).
Sykes-Picot caused the Middle East tremendous political and civil upheaval which they are still trying to overcome today, as governments and militant groups battle each other for land they feel entitled to, and all blame falls on European shoulders. The lasting resentment towards the Sykes-Picot agreement and other European influence was ultimately shown in 2014 when the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi said “ This blessed advance will not stop until we hit the last nail in the coffin of the Sykes-Picot conspiracy.”