Occupied Enemy Territory Administration
| Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (Middle East) |
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| Occupied territory | |||||
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 Area of the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration in Syria and Palestine
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| Capital | Not specified | ||||
| Languages | Ottoman Turkish, Syrian Arabic, French, English | ||||
| Political structure | Occupied territory | ||||
| History | |||||
| - | Established | 1917 | |||
| - | San Remo conference | 19 to 26 April 1920 | |||
| - | Disestablished | 1920 | |||
| Today part of |  Syria Lebanon Iraq Palestine Jordan Israel Turkey |
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The Occupied Enemy Territory Administration or (OETA; pronounced o-eet-a[1]) was a joint British and French military administration over Levantine and Mesopotamian provinces of the former Ottoman Empire between 1917–20, set up during and following World War I. The administration ended following the assignment of the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon and British Mandate for Palestine at the 19–26 April 1920 San Remo conference.
History [edit]
Following British and French occupation, the region was split into three administrative sub-units, which varied very little from the previous Ottoman divisions.[2] OETA South, consisting of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre, OETA North (later renamed OETA West) consisting of the Ottoman sanjaks of Beirut, Lebanon, Lataqiya and a number of sub-districts, and OETA East consisting of the Ottoman sanjaks of Syria and Hejaz. But, success of Turkish War of Independence, Maraş, Antep and Urfa sanjaks of former Halep Eyalet remained in Turkey after 1921. Also, Antakya and İskenderun kazas of Halep Sanjak in one were separated as Republic of Hatay in 1938. The republic joined to Turkey in 1939.
When the British forces occupied Ethiopia, Libya, and other Italian colonies during World War II, the OETA was revived as the administrative structure by which the British governed these territories.[3] In Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie was allowed to return and claim his throne, but the OETA authorities ruled the country for some time before full sovereignty was restored to Ethiopia.
Military administrators [edit]
OETA South
- Field Marshal Edmund Allenby (Dec 1917 – Jun 1918)
- Major General Arthur Wigram Money (Jun 1918 – Jun 1919)
- Major General H.D. Watson (Jun 1919 – Dec 1919)
- Lieutenant-General Louis Bols (Dec 1919 – Jul 1920)
OETA East
References [edit]
- ^ The memoirs of Sir Ronald Storrs
- ^ Israel: the first hundred years, Efraim Karsh
- ^ Harold G. Marcus. Haile Selassie and Italians, 1941–1943. Northeast African Studies, Vol. 10, No. 3 (New Series) 2003, pp. 19–25. (Online version of the article).
