Thessalonian Treaty

The Treaty of Fez - a document signed on March 30, 1912 in Fez by the Moroccan Sultan Abd al-Hafid with representatives of France , Germany and Spain to resolve the Agadir crisis :

• Abd al-Hafid refused the sovereignty of Morocco (the Kingdom of Fez at the time) and recognized his state as a French protectorate .
• Germany refused to claim to Morocco in exchange for the concession by the French of part of the French Congo (modern Cameroon ).
• The Spanish acquired a continuous strip of possessions in the north of Morocco (the so-called Spanish Morocco ).

The conclusion of a treaty so unprofitable for Morocco forced Abd al-Hafid to abdicate the throne and, in the longer term, almost led to the collapse of the state (see the Reef War ).

According to the agreement, the sultan, who formally retained the position of the head of state, was forced to agree to a military occupation of Morocco (Article 2). The only intermediary between the Sultan and the foreign powers was declared the French general resident; he was entitled to approve and publish on behalf of the French government all the decrees of the Sultan (Article 5). Sultan undertook not to conclude any acts of an international character, without the consent of the French government (art. 6). At the same time, France was forced to include in the treaty an article (Article 1), in which she undertook to enter into negotiations with the Spanish government regarding the interests of Spain in Morocco; the same article provided for the preservation of a special regime for Tangier ^[1] . In accordance with it, on November 27, 1912, a Franco-Spanish treaty was signed, according to which a small part of Northern Morocco passed under the authority of Spain. The Treaty of Thess deprived Morocco of national independence and was annulled as a result of the signing of the Franco-Moroccan Declaration of Independence of Morocco on March 2, 1956.