The Declaration to the Seven was a document written by the Sir
Mark Sykes, approved by
Charles Hardinge, the
Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office
This is a list of Permanent Under-Secretaries in the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (and its predecessors) since 1790.
Not to be confused with Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Permanent Unde ...
and released on June 16, 1918 in response to a memorandum issued anonymously by seven
Syrian notables in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
that included members of the soon to be formed
Syrian Unity Party, established in the wake of the
Balfour Declaration and the November 23, 1917 publication by the
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
s of the secret May 1916
Sykes-Picot Agreement between Britain and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
The memorandum requested a "guarantee of the ultimate independence of
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
". The Declaration stated the British policy that the future government of the regions of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
occupied by
Allies of World War I
The Allies of World War I, Entente (alliance), Entente Powers, or Allied Powers were a coalition of countries led by French Third Republic, France, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, Russian Empire, Russia, King ...
"should be based upon the principle of the
consent of the governed
In political philosophy, the phrase consent of the governed refers to the idea that a government's legitimacy and moral right to use state power is justified and lawful only when consented to by the people or society over which that political pow ...
".
Significance of the Declaration
The Declaration to the Seven is notable as the first British pronouncement to the
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
s advancing the principle of national self-determination.
Although the British sought to secure their position by adopting the
Wilsonian
Wilsonianism, or Wilsonian idealism, is a certain type of foreign policy advice. The term comes from the ideas and proposals of President Woodrow Wilson. He issued his famous Fourteen Points in January 1918 as a basis for ending World War I and p ...
doctrine of
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
, neither Britain nor France was prepared to implement their promises to the Arabs nor to abdicate the position won by victory over the Ottoman Empire.
The document was not widely publicised. The Declaration may explain the action of General
Edmund Allenby
Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, (23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936) was a senior British Army officer and Imperial Governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and also in the First World War, in which he led th ...
, who ordered a halt to the advance after the rout of Turkish forces outside
Damascus and allowed the city to be captured by Arab forces in September 1918 after the
Battle of Megiddo acting on instructions from London, thus bolstering the Arab claim to the independence of Syria whilst simultaneously undermining the French claims to the territory under the terms of the Sykes–Picot Agreement.
The Seven
*
Rafiq al-Azm;
* Sheikh
Kamal al-Qassab;
* Mukhtar al-Sulh;
*
Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar
Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar ( ar, عبد الرحمن الشهبندر; ALA-LC: ''‘Abd al-Raḥman al-Shahbandar''; November 1879 – July 1940) was a prominent Syrian nationalist during the French Mandate of Syria and a leading opponent of comp ...
;
*
Khaled al-Hakim;
* Fauzi al-Bakri (brother of
Nasib al-Bakri, both members of
Al-Fatat
Al-Fatat or the Young Arab Society ( ar, جمعية العربية الفتاة, Jam’iyat al-’Arabiya al-Fatat) was an underground Arab nationalist organization in the Ottoman Empire. Its aims were to gain independence and unify various Arab te ...
);
* Hasan Himadeh.
See also
*
Damascus Protocol
The Damascus Protocol was a document given to Faisal bin Hussein on 23 May 1915 by the Arab secret societies al-Fatat and Al-'Ahd on his second visit to Damascus during a mission to consult Turkish officials in Constantinople.
The secret societ ...
*
Hussein-McMahon Correspondence
*
Anglo-French Declaration
References
{{Arab–Israeli diplomacy
World War I documents
British Empire
Documents of Mandatory Palestine
1918 in British-administered Palestine
1918 documents