ON THE MIDDLE EAST: COULD THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE BE THE SOLUTION?

Ottoman Empire--1699-1914

Since they met in early August to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the start of the Great War, Francois Hollande, President of France, and David Cameron, Prime Minister of Great Britain, have been discussing the horrific mistake their countries made after World War I in an effort to determine if they can fix it a century later.  

This blog has learned they plan to re-create the Ottoman Empire, ceding the entire region to Turkey without including Turkey's President, Recep Erdogan, in the discussions.

An aide to President Hollande, who asked to remain anonymous, went so far as to say, "We in the government wish Francois Georges-Picot was never born. We think it only fitting we end this horrendous agreement in the same way we came to it in 1916, without discussing it with anyone in the Middle East."

Prime Minister David Cameron

In an interview with Prime Minister Cameron two days ago, the Conservative Party leader said he agreed with the statement of the aide to his Socialist French counterpart, adding, "I cannot for the life of me figure out why anyone alive in England after the war even listened to Mark Sykes, much less knighted him."

The Sykes-Picot Agreement, officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was concluded in May 1916, and effectively divided up the Middle East. It led to the creation of Syria, Israel, and Iraq, crossing ethnic and tribal lines to provide spheres of influence to Russia, France, and Great Britain. Russia wisely withdrew from the agreement after the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917.

Francois Georges-Picot

Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, when asked at his home about his relative Picot, stated bluntly, "Non, non, non. Dans ma famille, nous ne parlons pas de mon grand-oncle!" [No, no, no.  In my family we do not speak of my great uncle!]. After commenting, the aging VGE slammed the door closed in this reporter's face.

Since breaking this story, Musings has been given exclusive access to the French and British government negotiating teams that meet three consecutive days each month. The meetings alternate monthly in the cities of Calais and Dover. The current schedule calls for a formal signing ceremony to be held November 11, 2015. Planned implementation of the agreement is to occur on November 11, 2018, at 11 a.m., Paris time. 

British team leader Sir Thomas E. Lawrence, when asked why the three-year delay in implementation, stated, "We learned from the mistakes of Sykes-Picot. It wasn't the secrecy that caused all the later problems, it was the fact that the Middle East didn't have time to acclimate to the change."

President Francois Hollande

His French counterpart, Margaretha "Mata" MacLeod, interrupted, "And, we aren't including the Russians this time. If Erdogan wants the Crimea back into his Empire he can talk to Putin about it."

The agreement will be known as the Hollande-Cameron Agreement.  In a fitting tribute to mark the end of the Great War, the agreement will be signed in the Palace of Versailles next November.

Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, when told of the meetings, reportedly said, "Mein Gott!  Perhaps if they had been this reflective back in 1918 the whole Nazi thing would have never taken hold here!"