"الملف 73/7 I (D 19) وضع الكويت، سكة حديد بغداد، والمفاوضات الأنجلو تركية في ١٩١١" [و‎‎١‎٢‎٥] (٦٣١/٢٦٣)

t.1 lu» D oomiisat is the Iroperty 01 His Britannic Majesty's GoBernment. 1
KASTERN DEPARTME NT. ^ [February 87.] _
SECRET SERIES. ?ECTI0N g,
[7150] No. 1.
l >n (>. [jOicthcv to Sir Edward Grey.-—[Received. Fehvuary 27.)
(No. 120. Confidential.)
T f ^ . , Pera, February 21, 1911.
V\ 1 1 H. reierence to rny despatch No. 10G of the 15th instant, I have the honour to
report that the local press here has recently contained several comments on the
"negotiations " proceeding between the Porte and this embassy on the subject of the
Gulf section of the Bagdad Railway, Koweit, and pending questions in the Persian
Gulf, and that several newspaper correspondents have addressed themselves to this
Embassy for inlormation on the subject. 1 have told them that no such negotiations
have begun, and that when they do their success will not be facilitated by my giving
information as to the course of their progress. These rumours are in part, traceable to
the Turkish Cabinet, some members of which are anxious to represent that delicate
negotiations are in progress with England, and their success would be endangered by
prolonging or pushing to extremes the present Ministerial crisis. They are thus partly
the outcome of party political manoeuvres. In an interview I had yesterday with the
Grand Vizier, his Highness had practically nothing to add to Rifaat Pasha's
communication reported in my despatch No. 100 of the 11th instant. I informed him, , ■
as instructed in your telegram No. 40 of the 16th instant, of your readiness to consider
any proposals that the Ottoman Government might make on the subject. Hakki Pasha
referred to Rifaat Pasha's communication, and said that the difficulty was that they
could not begin negotiations with us until they had settled with the German company
the basis of their renunciation of their rights in the Bagdad-Gulf sections, and that
before arriving at such a settlement it was necessary to ascertain and lay down the
general nature of the arrangements to be made for the continuation of the line from
Bagdad to the Gulf. He alluded to the pecuniary indemnity claimed by the German
company, when Herr Gwinner had discussed matters with Sir Ernest Cassel in Berlin, on
the basis of 2,000Z. per kilometre on the Bagdad-Gulf sections, as a set-oft" against the
prospective diminution of profit on the working expenses on the other and more
expensive sections of the line, and said that Koweit was of course the ^ natural
terminus and harbour, but that, if it was impossible to come to a satisfactory
arrangement on that point, Bussorah would have to become the terminus, despite its
obvious drawbacks, and, referring to Koweit, remarked that '^England imght teel
assured that any place she recognised as Turkish would remain lurkish. liakki
Pasha's use of the word "recognise," if intentional, would seem to indicate ins
contemplating the possibility of being unable to induce England to recognise the place
as Turkish in the committee's acceptation of the word. On the latter point Ismail 1 Ukki
Bey Babanzade, in an article in the " Tanin " of which 1 have the honour to enclose a
translation, gives us the committee standpoint. He would only ^ , ^ e . 8h |^ h Vj
autonomy of any Mesopotamian Arab tribes, e.g., the Bern Lam, Muntelik &c., a
would insist on having Ottoman police, customs, and gendarmerie m Koueit th
restoring Ottoman influence, which has suffered some sort oi interrupUon WO-
to its original condition." He seems conveniently to ignore the fact that pevw -
that date" Turkey can point to no real act of sovereignty in
taxes or direct administration in any form. I have before a uded to the — o
some
mcmWs of Xe committee to Wite.'Engknd to refer the
Ismail Hakki Bey has tod great ^ ,U ^ Ul ^ ly be weU^to remember that
accepted the exclusively Ottoman title oi pabiia. •> TAWArr . R n1irT1 pli a where
Prince Ferdinand also accepted the title of pasha, as \ ^ i o * , i • to Koweit
there were no Ottoman police, gendarmerie, or customs.
Katar, Debai, &c., on the grounds that such places acknowledged ^ ^
or suzerainty in the sixteenth century is of conrse pi epos r ". onst itnti 0 n proclaiming }
the basis of conquest or the inadmissible Islamic basis. ^ _ r p niin ciation of claims on : |
" Ottomanism " as opposed to theocratic Islaimsm 10 p ^ ' t c t0 Katif and f
purely religious grounds. The Turks have the itle of .XTndeU even ^ the j "
El Hasa, but they have no such title to Koweit, which ^as
[1889 dd—2]