Lebanon Gains Independence By French Treaty

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 18, 22 January 1937, Page 8

Lebanon Gains Independence By French Treaty

BEIRUT, Syria. Nov. 13.—A FrancoLebanese treaty granting independence to tho Lebanese Republic after a period of three years was signed here to-day. Independence of the mandated territory was made conditional on the republic’s admission to the League of Nations. The treaty stipulated that French troops might remain for tlie purpose of preserving order. Signatures of the Franco-Lebanese treaty carries a step further towaid completion the emancipation of former Turkish colonies. Iraq, from 1920 to 1932 under a British mandate, has been granted independence and a seat in the League of Nations. Syria's road to freedom is following a similar course, but the old mandate has been divided into two parts with separate treaties for each. The main Franco-Syrian treaty, * providing for termination of the mandate in three years, was signed at Paris on September 9. This division of the mandated territory came about due to problems of administration, not from the existence of two mandates. Syria as a whole was turned over to France after the war, while Iraq (Mesopotamia) and Palestine were assigned to Britain. The former Turkish colonies were considered the most advanced of any to be placed under mandate, and so were called “A Mandates." With the freedom of Syria and Lebanon in sight, only Palestine remains under mandate, among the colonies taken from Turkey after the war.