Bilad al-Sham history at Ottoman Time concludes

Syria's Minister of Culture Mahmoud al-Sayyed called on Thursday to read history of Bilad al-Sham during the Ottoman time, in a new way that depends on objective, scientific and methodical means.

Concluding three-day activities of Bilad al-Sham Conference at the Ottoman Period, the minister said history should be dealt with in a positive way by return to genuine and true references.

Bilad al-Sham At Ottoman Time was including each of Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan. The partition of Biald al-Sham came after the Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and UK. According to the Encyclopedia Britanica, Sykes-Picot was a "secret convention made during World War I between Great Britain and France, with the assent of imperial Russia, for the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. The agreement led to the division of Turkish-held Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine into various French- and British-administered areas."

"Look to history must be objective and comprehensive and there must be no separation among historical, intellectual as well political dimensions when reading history," the minister said.

He called to distinguish between what the objective orientalists wrote and others who have their own targets when writing history, noting the importance to study sophism movements and their dimensions, and to define belongings tendencies at that time.

Director General of the Research Center for History, Arts and Islamic Culture in Istanbul Khaled Aren underlined significance of adopting original historical documents during the historical study.

He hailed the conference holding to allow the opportunity for an elite of academics and specialists in the Ottoman studies to meet and exchange view points as well consult and encourage the translation movement.