Coll 6/85 'Arabia. Boundaries in: Interpretation of Rome Understanding of 1927.' [‎36r] (71/80)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOYERNMENT
April 30, 1934. ^
^
i, * 2 ,)
Section 2.
[E 723/723/91] No. 1.
Memorandum respecting the Boundaries in Arabia: Anglo-Turkish
A rrangements.
[With Map.]
Aden Protectorate.
IN 1873 the Ottoman Government advanced a claim to sovereignty over
the whole of the area that had at one time been in possession of the Imams
of the Yemen, including tribal areas in South-West Arabia, with the rulers of
which the British Government were in special treaty relations. The British
Government, in reply, maintained that the rulers of these tribes were
independent. There followed a period of frequent encroachments by Turkish
authorities into the protectorate, of British representations and Turkish
assurances, and of British measures to protect the tribes, until, in 1901, the
Government of India and the Ottoman Government both proposed that the
frontier should be demarcated. In 1902 frontier commissioners met and carried
out demarcation on the ground. The results were embodied in three protocols
of 1903, 1904 and 1905 respectively. Formal ratification was delayed until 1914,
the agreement arrived at in 1905 being completed and ratified in the Anglo-
Turkish Convention of the 9th March, 1914. The text will be found in
C.P. 10517. Ratifications of this convention were exchanged at London on
the 3rd June, 1914.
2. After the war, the Imam of the Yemen refused to recognise the frontier
agreed upon in the 1914 convention, and revived the ancient claims of his
predecessors. A situation similar to that in the last part of the 19th century
subsequently prevailed, until a treaty was concluded with the Imam at Sanaa
on the 11th February, 1934, which included a mutual undertaking providing
for the maintenance of the situation in regard to the frontier as it existed on
the date of signature of the treaty^ 1 ) and for the prevention of any violation
of this frontier pending negotiations for its final settlement. These negotiations
are to be initiated before the expiration of the present treaty, which is to remain
in force for forty years. This treaty has not yet been ratified.
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Principalities.
3. In March 1911 the Ottoman Government formally intimated to His
Majesty’s Government their wish that a precise definition might be reached as
to the respective position of the two countries, commercially and politically, in
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , His Majesty’s Government being concerned in view of their
special treaty relations with the Arab rulers on the Arabian shores of the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The ensuing negotiations resulted in the signature at London
of the Anglo-Turkish Convention of the 29th July, 1913 (see C.P. 10515). This
convention, inter alia, recognised Koweit as an autonomous Kaza of the Ottoman
Empire, and established its boundaries, and contained Turkish renunciation of
rights in Qatar. The boundary of the Ottoman Sanjak of Nejd was not
delimited in detail, apart from where it marched with that of Koweit, but was
described generally in the convention as a line commencing at a point on the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. a little to the south of Uqair, opposite the Island of Zakhnuniyah*
running due south into the Ruba-al-Khali desert, until it met parallel 20° N. r
after which it turned and continued in a south-westerly direction in a straight
line to meet Lakmat-esh-Shub, the most easterly point reached in the delimitation
of the Aden Protectorate boundary.
( x ) One of the conditions attached by His Majesty’s Government to their consent to the
conclusion of the treaty was that certain portions of the territory of the Aden Protectorate which
were still in Yemeni occupation should be evacuated. The British Resident at Aden reported
that prior to signature of the treaty this condition had been fulfilled. His Majesty’s Government
have reserved their right to claim the district of Rubeiatein, which at present remains in the
Imam’s possession.
7435 [81 gg 2] B
EASTERN (Arabia).
CONFIDENTIAL.