'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎214v] (433/862)

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HISTORY
small and defenceless groups. When in 1935 the Yezidis rebelled
against conscription, from which they had been specially exempted
under Turkish rule, they were repressed with severity: 11 death
sentences and 326 sentences of imprisonment contrasted with the
leniency of punishment shown towards tribal insurrections in the
middle Euphrates zone. The small sect of the Bahais (p. 330)
suffered a notorious injustice in the Iraqi courts and could gain no
redress even from the Throne; they were evicted from the house of
their founder at Baghdad, which they owned, and the property was
awarded to the Shia community, their bitter enemies, at whose
instance all this was done. A similar spirit was shown by constant
measures for the exclusion of persons who were not Iraqi citizens
from most forms of trade and labour in Iraq. Yet Iraq probably
suffers less from pure religious intolerance than most countries of
the Middle East, possibly because the most intolerant elements are
secluded at Karbala and Najaf; religious motives in apparent perse
cutions are generally subordinate to political and material causes.
Foreign Relations 1918-1943
Relations with Britain and Turkey, Iraq’s most powerful diplo
matic connexions, have been considered above.
Persia
It is said that King Faisal feared aggression most from Persia
(Iran) among his country’s neighbours, then under the strong and
nationalist government of Riza Shah. Persian interest in Iraq is due
partly to the fact that Najaf and Karbala are two of the three
holiest cities of the Shia Moslem world, of which the Persians are the
largest national unit, and partly to the fact that until the building of
the new Persian harbour at Bandar Shahpur and the Trans-Iranian
railway a great part of the trade of Persia reached the sea only by the
Shatt al Arab. Hence the refusal of Persia to grant formal diplomatic
recognition to Iraq until 1929 was a serious matter for both countries.
Between Iraq and Persia there exists a number of problems, mostly
border disputes and all but one of minor importance, which can be
easily solved by goodwill but are capable of becoming the excuse for
serious trouble. The division of southern Kurdistan between the
two countries and the seasonal migration of the nomadic tribes some
times causes friction. Rebellious chiefs may seek refuge across the
frontiers and continue their intrigues from neutral soil, as did Shaikh
Mahmud in Persia in 1926, when also no less a person than the brother