File 345/1908 Pt 2 'Mohammerah: situation. Sheikh's dispute with the Vali of Basra. decoration for Sheikh. renewed assurances to Sheikh.' [‎188v] (381/566)

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to lunch with the acting vali to-day to hear the result and will see me later his ren
will be too late for this mail. Haji Reis said one thing to the acting vali which I
thoroughly endorse, in fact I intended to use the same argument with the vali mvsclf
if called upon to discuss the matter with him. It was to the effect that if the Turks
had any grievance against Chenan, who was living on Turkish territory, let them tel ^'
the sheikh that they refused to have him in the country, and the sheikh would exuef
him from his lands at Zein and put another person in his place, which would be a
punishment for Chenan and the Turks would he rid of a knave. This is, I think a
very sound argument and we might work upon those lines. ’ •
I repeated the substance of my interview with Haji Reis in my telegram No ^
I drew his attention to the absolute necessity of getting the sheikh to modernise his
views on the subject of border relations and of aiding him to realise the genuineness
of Turkey’s wish for reform. The truth is the Turks have hitherto played such a pitiable
part here that it is not strange the Arabs should think no good can come from them
I said some arrangement would have to be made and adhered to for the surrender of
criminals who evaded justice. He replied the Turks could not keep them when they got
them. There is truth in that. Evasions from prison used to be frequent, and once in
the Maghil case, I had Khuleyf brought up from Mohammerah and turned loose in a
garden, and sent 1 5 Zapties, my dragoman, and the Tabour Agassi to catch him, and
they let him slip through their hands. I mentioned the attacks on Abul Khassib in
1908 and on Bussorah 1909, and the sheik’s pranks during Moharrem Bey’s governorship,
which sometimes almost partook of the character of a Florentine “ beffa ” of the middle
ages. Haji Reis could not deny that the sheikh was somewhat given to wreak his
vengeance on any particular vali he disliked by stirring up trouble in the vilayet in
order to discredit him. I pointed out what wretched tactics these were besides being
very unfair on the sufferers, and Haji Reis agreed and promised to offer better counsels.
I understand the sheikh is very much in the hands of his advisers, and I believe Haji
Reis is one of the best of them. For my own part I rather distrust Mirza Hamza,
Matters are somewhat complicated by two letters which the vali addressed to the
Persian consul-general on the 26th April, of which Haji Reis gave me copies in Turkish.
I enclose a literal translation of them. From these it will be seen that the vali accuses
the sheikh of harbouring bad characters to the detriment of the vilayet, and this is, I
think, strictly true. He states further that he will use the force at his command to
protect Ottoman territory against interference from the sheikh. Turkish officials under
the new regime seem to me half intoxicated with liberty and dazed with the accession of
power and, like schoolboys out for a holiday, they may make sad misuse of it. An
impetuous man like Nazif Bey requires a good deal of holding. He has his points, he
is no liar and is clean handed, but he is not a very experienced governor and is most
undiplomatic in his methods. In the second letter to the Persian consul-general the
vali demands the arrest of Mohammed Chenan. I do not understand his allusion to
attacks on farms (“ bazi muqatalera tejavuz itmessi uzerine ”). As far as we know
Chenan prevented the zapties from turning out certain refractory “fellahs” from the
land of a certain Mishri at Dowasir. He seems to have supported them because they
weie fellow clansmen, and he went rather far when the Tabour Agassi was sent to
arrest him, Chenan, by saying that Mishri’s agent would be killed if the arrest was
insisted on. I have heard nothing else specified against him except the vague accusation
that he is a brigand. Chenan, so Mr. Wilson informs me, is the headman of an
important tribe subject to Sheikh Khazal, though the Turks claim him to l>e an Ottoman
subject. 1 have so far received no proof of his Ottoman or Persian nationality. The
lurks say they can prove their contention and the Persians say the same. The only
senous part of the vali s letter is the covert threat in the last sentence, in which he
clearly menaces^ Mohammerah. I do not know how far he is acting on orders from
Constantinople in making this statement,
. ^ further complication is the death of one of the Sheikh of Mohammerah’s wives,
a sister of Chenan, who resided with the sheikh’s mother, Gulfidan, in the latter’s house
at Zein, which was inadvertently bombarded by the Turks. The lady died of fright
caused by the bombardment. Haji Reis mentioned the matter to the acting vali but
said they had no desire to press it.
I have, &c.
F. E. CROW.
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