"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٥‎٥‎٤] (١٧٨٢/١٧٠٩)

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1554
In May 1898 Saiyid Sulaiman died and was succeeded in the Nicjabat
of Baghdad by his brother* Saiyid 'Abdur Rahman.
Tn April 1899 Hamdi Pasha, who was by training a naval officer and
held the rank of Vice-Admiral, was re-appointed to the Waliship of Basrah
which he had previously held; and a sort of naval re-organisation or
expansion was attempted by the Porte, partly, it may be presumed, bv
way of preparation against the imaginary danger of a British descent bv
sea on Turkish 'Iraq, which appears never to be absent from the Ottoman
official mind. The Turkish corvette " Zuhaf " had a few months previ
ously visited Lingeh, ostensibly in connection with local disturbances
there; and it was now announced that the Turkish flotilla at Basrah was
about to be augmented, and that Harbour-Masterships would shortly be
created at Baghdad, Kut-al-Amarah and 'Amarah on the Tigris, at
Nasiriyah'and Suq-ash-Shuyukh on the Euphrates, at Qurnah at the junc
tion of the two rivers, and at Kuwait and other places in the Persian
Gulf, while Basrah itself would be raised to the status of a "prefecture
de port principal/' Complications which supervened at Kuwait, and
which are fully detailed in the history of that principality, prevented
the complete execution of this programme; but, in so far as it related
to Turkish 'Iraq, it was carried out in its entirety,—except that no
vessels were added to the existing flotilla.
Strongly anti-British sentiments and conduct were remarked in
] 905 on the part of Turkish officials generally at Baghdad and Basrah
and necessitated remonstrances at Constantinople. The chief causes
seemed to be recent displays of British activity in the Persian Gulf,
including the tour there of Lord Curzon, V iceroy and Governor-General
of India, in I90f3, and an Anglophobe campaign which was being
waged in Egypt by a section of the native press of that country. The
prevalent feeling showed itself partly in a disposition to attribute all
trouble between the Turkish administration and the Arab tribes of
Mesopotamia to British intrigues.
Since the establishment of a non-religious Government in Turkey (1909—1912) there
has been, apparently, no question of the employment of the Naqib of Baghdad or his
lelations as propagandists of the Khalifatic principle abroad. The family, whose import
ance in Turkey has been greatly reduced with that of religious interests in general,
legaid the altered state of affairs in the Ottoman Empire with intense, though con
cealed, dissatisfaction ; and their relations with the British Residency, though necessarily
t esen ed and somewhat distant s have been characterised by unmistakeable friendliness.
Their attitude, in fact, has been the attitude natural towards a power in whose territo.
ries their prestige has not been subverted as it has been in Turkey.
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