"الملف 73/7 I (D 19) وضع الكويت، سكة حديد بغداد، والمفاوضات الأنجلو تركية في ١٩١١" [ظ‎‎٣‎٤] (٦٣١/٨٦)

i i =fotp and until she can return to a le^al and normal state it would
? r2ti to'hTnd over Sheikh Mubarak to her with the risk of his being
be I ,!tiallnfl and hanged. He seems to forget that Ismaal Hakki Bey
com- -in • the Timin the dispatch of an Ottoman torce to
oa^SStVi-*. ■>< s—"" •• M -
I have, etc.,
GERARD LOWTHER.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Extract from the Tanin of 23rd January 1911.
(Translation.)
The Persian Gulf.
The day before yesterday Rifaat Pasha, Minister for Foreign Affairs, spoke
some reassuring words about the Persian Gulf, which we think it not without
interest to reproduce here :—
" As to rumours in the press concerning the Persian Gulf there ought to be
no doubt as to the protection and safeguarding of our rights over ^ the Gulf,
owing to the maintenance of the most cordial and friendly relations between us
and the English Government. If there remain certain questions to be settled
they will be solved not by newspaper articles, but by discussion between the two
Governments on a basis of mutual good-will."
The Times has written two articles this week on the Persian Gulf .
The first was indirectly answered by M. Pichon's statement—a statement
confirmed yesterday by Rifaat Pasha-—that only the Ottoman Government can
command the Railways in Turkey, and that the right to grant railway
concessions belongs to Turkey alone. The statement of Rifaat Pasha quoted
above is a reprimand to the Times for its article; it shows that the out
rageous demands made by the Times are at variance with the " mutual
good-will between the two Governments."
Our own point of view and that of the Times differ on very many
points concerning the Persian Gulf. I note that the articles I wrote from
Bussorali about the political situation in that place have been misunderstood—
perhaps intentionally, and that their importance has been so exaggerated as
to open the door to a baseless misunderstanding. What I wanted to show in
my letters, which portrayed a foreign influence increasing day by day until it
has become a cause of uneasiness to Ottoman interests, was that an officious
spirit is being shown not by the English Government, but by its officials in the
^ersian Gulf. To regard this as an attack on the English Government shows
mat tnere exists a defence against this imaginary attack, or rather an attack
un er the name of a defence. The aim, however, was not to make an
cSZlklaL a foH England d ! rect > : we 0 % pointed out the necessity for
consolidating Ottoman power m those parts, it is always within our rights
tostme to consolidate and strengthen our country, and this ou^ht to be
considered as a proof not of hostility, but of friendship • for the stronger
Hi '7'" pi '5"3 om w ' n i»iiot trir.u! s" 'jsgj
"j a- * rs:.'
to I d ou/Mesopotamian luflll ? nce and oth er interference referred
case sincerity and correctness ^vo 1 exis ^ or do no ^ exist; in the former
then to prevent iheir oecurrpn op 118 prove their existence and
Government ought to sive a ol^n ^ i cominuance » i 11 the latter the English
i^as no hostile thoughts with regard'to iTk E ^ land