Economic State of Syria According to The Tournal of Commerce(1925)

The subject of this study is basically based on the information on the economic conditions of Syria as published on the “Journal of Ministry of Commerce” in September, 1925. According to article twenty-two of League of Nations on 25 April 1922, Syria and Lebanon, which was defined as a part of Syria, were entrusted to France as class “A” mandate based on the mandate system established on 28 April 1919. After the World War I, Syria was entrusted to French mandate but this caused Syria to encounter different elements in forming of state structure in the country. tur. Although mandate government requires only supervision, in the following periods it caused Syrian economy to become an area where policies for French domination could be implemented. The operation of income-generating ports and railways was transferred to French companies; the costs of French military troops in Syria were recovered by the Syrian source of income; the policies that protected major landowners were followed for the agricultural areas; a high profit was generated by the grains produced in Syria; French tradesmen were supported to generate higher income through management of market and marketplaces; policies that provoked any religious and racist tendency were pursued; the budget of Syrian official schools that instilled national feelings and influenced the youth was reduced, the number and allowance of private Catholic schools that served to the purpose of French was increased; they opened schools to educate people who would support mandate government in Syria and implemented educational policies; while they made French an equal language to Arabic, they put French classics, French history and geography into education instead of Arabic Islamic culture; they forced Syrian students to greet French flag and sing French anthem; they took control of Syrian newspapers and implemented policies supporting Armenian during the mandate period; the French spread rumor across Syria, resulting in prohibition of export of grains by Syria, thus French tradesmen purchased a large amount of grains at a very cheap price due to reduced price of grains; they systematically impaired the traditional method of trading; they imposed lower customs duty on the European goods; these all represent the policies that reflect the French domination. Therefore, a large number of economic matters such as Syria’s trade, banking, customs, foreign trade, etc. were entrusted to French management. This led Syria to have new commercial dimensions and components due to policies pursued by the mandate government in terms of economy and finance as well as newly formed economical structures. The mandate government caused the country to be faced with different structures in forming of the state structure. Although mandate government requires only supervision, in the following periods it caused Syrian economy to become an area where policies for French domination could be implemented. It is obvious that administrative management of Syria under the French mandate impaired the economic order of the country. One of the primary reasons that triggered this can include difference between the west and the east, broken economic and political geographies, economic policies implemented by colonial idea under the mandate government, high customs rate, lack of standard units of measurement, constant decrease in export, increased import, and high interest rates.