Sanjak of Alexandretta

According to the estimates of the French high commission in 1936, out of a population of 220,000, 46% were Arabs and among them 61% Alawites and 39% Sunni, 39% were Turks, 11% Armenians, , 8% other Christians and 4% were Circassians, Kurds and Jews. Although Turks formed the largest single ethno-religious pulurality, Arabic speakers including Sunnis, Alawites and Christians were more numerous.[4]

Turkish forces under Colonel Şükrü Kanatlı entering İskenderun on July 5, 1938

The allocation of seats in the sanjak assembly was based on the 1938 census held by the French authorities under international supervision: out of 40 seats, 22 were given to the Turks, nine for Alawi, five for Armenians, two for Sunni Arabs, and two for Antiochian Greeks. This repartition was the result of a Turkish military intervention from Payas and Hassa just beforehand, on July 5, 1938, with the ethnic cleansing of most of its Arab and Armenian inhabitants who constituted the majority of the population.[5] Turkey had also crossed tens of thousands of Turks into the Sanjak of Alexandretta to register as citizens and vote.[6] Moreover, the results seemed to be questionable because it happened for the sole purpose of seat repartition, and Turkish propaganda was very active among Alawis and Circassians, all of whom were considered as Turks by Ankara.[2]

According to the official registration numbers by July 22, 1938, 57,008 voters in the Sanjak were registered, belonging to the following ethnic groups.[7]

• Turks: 35,847
• Alawites: 11,319
• Armenians: 5,504
• Greek Orthodox: 2,098
• Arabs (Sunni Muslim): 1,845
• "Others": 359

40 seats of the sanjak assembly per qadaa were distributed as follows:

• Antakya: 14 Turks, 7 Alawis, 2 Armenians, 2 Sunni Arabs, 1 Greek Orthodox
• İskenderun: 3 Turks, 2 Alawis, 1 Armenian, 1 Greek Orthodox
• Kırıkhan: 5 Turks, 2 Armenians
• Total: 22 Turks, 9 Alawis, 5 Armenians, 2 Sunni Arabs, 2 Greek Orthodox

Despite the voter registration, no elections were held and an "approved" sanjak assembly was commissioned by Turkish and French authorities. Tayfur Sökmen who was appointed by Atatürk to lead the transition arrived in Antakya from Dörtyol on August 25, 1938.[8]

Protests in Damascus by women demonstrators against Turkey's annexation of the Sanjak of Alexandretta in 1939. One of the signs reads: "Our blood is sacrificed for the Syrian Arab Sanjak."

On September 2, 1938, the assembly proclaimed the Sanjak of Alexandretta as the Hatay State. The State lasted for one year under joint French and Turkish military supervision. The name "Hatay" (Turkish for Hittite) itself was proposed by Atatürk and the government was under Turkish control. The president Tayfur Sökmen was a member of Turkish parliament elected in 1935 (representing Antalya Province) and the prime minister Dr. Abdurrahman Melek, was also elected to the Turkish parliament (representing Gaziantep Province) in 1939 while still holding the prime-ministerial post. The Hatay State became the Hatay Province of Turkey in 1939.