"أوراق متعلقة بلجنة بلاد الرافدين من غرفة السير إ. بارو" [و‎‎١‎٢‎٦] (١٣٨٦/٢٥١)

Tel dy/5/10/1
9
Tel.
dy/ 7/10/14
Tel,dated
7th Oct
(5)
/
jin reply to the Secretary of State’s telegram of the 3rd Oct
the Viceroyfwho had not then received Ho 1158 of the 5th)
suggested that a landing at Abadan might be considered a
violation of Persian neutrality which would be unfavourably
It also
regarded by Indian Muhammedansonoiadi mighty lead to reprisals
by Turkey and f orm a pretext for declaring war which was
to be avoided. H.E.deprecated any action which could be
regarded as a direct provocation by Turkey and suggested that
Bassidu, which is in British territory, might be the best
place to land the troops, Abadan being defended by a warship.
The Viceroy,after consulting the Commander in Chief and in
response to the Secretary of State’s request of the 5th Oct,
gave his opinion on the Abadan project. His Excellency ^
stated that it seemed clear that the Germans desired to
create an impression among Muhamedans that Turkey was the
object of agression by Christian Powers and that although
questionsjof neutrality were too technical to be understood
by the masses all would appreciate the meaning of such
provocative actions as the landing of troops in Turkish
waters. For these reasons the Vicerpy thdm&htthat in order
to avoid disturbing Mussalraan opinion in India, where we
were weaker in a military sense than usual, it would be well
to land the troops either at Bassidu or Bahrein ,preferably
the latter from the point of view of influencing Ibn Baud
and the Sheikh Katr. His Excellency said also that he pro
posed to send Sir P.Cox as Political Officer with any exped-
tion to the Gulf.
Various reports were received that the Vali of Basra,acting
under instructions from his Government, had strongly protes
ted against the presence of British ships of war in the
Shatt-el-Arab and had demanded their remov.il within 24 hours.