Are experts who say the Sykes-Picot agreement is responsible for much of the trouble in the Middle East today correct?

Answer 1

NO. While Sykes-Picot and the current border arrangements in the Middle East exacerbate tensions, those tensions come from underlying problems and issues that Sykes-Picot did not cause nor is responsible for.

Exacerbation from Sykes-Picot
The borders delineated by the implementation of Sykes-Picot were not reflective of the actual ethnic and religious groups on the ground. Some groups were split between different states, like the Kurds, between French Syria, British Iraq, and Turkey, and some groups were pushed together unnaturally into states like Syria, which houses Alawites, Sunni Muslims, Druze, Christians, and Ismaili Shiite Muslims.

Underlying Issues
The majority of Middle East conflicts derive from the tribal mentality that is present in Arab States along with repression-based politics. The system as set up in numerous Arab countries, such as Libya and Iraq is that each person has sole loyalty to his tribal leader and not to a national government. As a result, these tribal leaders become their own de facto city states that go to war against each other. Sadr City in Baghdad was the most famous such micro-country. Each tribe promises its members better conditions at the expense of the conditions of a different tribe. As a result, the tribes come into direct conflict.

What has typically happened in Arab National Governments is that one tribe has ascended to power and forcibly represses the other tribes to make good on its promise. This particular case is most visible in Syria where the Alawite Muslims (who make up less than 20% of the country) have ruled with an iron fist since the 1960s and made life terrible for the majority Sunni Muslims (completely without Israeli or Palestinian intervention).

If more Arab countries become like Tunisia, federated states based on the sentiment of national unity, pride, and self-defense, where there is true freedom of religion and freedom of speech there may a great lessening of Middle East Conflicts. It is the deprivation of these identities and rights that results in much of the Middle East conflicts. These kinds of governments could exist in the current states determined by Sykes-Picot.