Constantinople Agreement

The Constantinople Agreement resulted from a secret exchange of diplomatic correspondence among members of the Triple Entente between 4 March and 10 April 1915, during the First World War. Under its terms, France and Great Britain agreed that, in the event of an Entente victory, Constantinople and the Dardanelles would be given to the Russian Empire, while Britain and France put forward their own claims, respectively to an increased sphere of influence in Persia and to the annexation of Syria and Cilicia. The three powers also agreed that the Holy Places and Arabia would come under independent Muslim rule. Greece, though technically neutral until June 1917, negotiated with the Allies in 1915 over a geographical launching point for attacks on the Turkish Straits, seeking control of Constantinople for itself, a proposal Russia vetoed to protect its own aim of controlling the Straits and the city.