Coll 5/11 ‘Air Route to India: Arab Coast Route – Emergency Landing Ground at Qatar’ [‎167r] (333/345)

CONFIDENTIAL.
INDIA OFFICE The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors.
B. 402.
P 4804/28.
EL KATR, 1908 16.
1. The FT Katr (or Qatar) Peninsula, which is governed by the Sheikhs
of the Thani family, lies south of Ojair, in the district of Qatif, the most
southernly point to [which, with the exception of Koweit, His Majesty’s
Government prior to the War of 1914 recognised continuous Turkish
influence. It lies, on the other hand, north of El Odeid, to which the
Trueial Sheikh of Abu Dhabi was allowed to assert his rights of possession
in 1878, and which prior to 19.lt) formed the western boundary of the
territories of the Trucial Sheikhs. The status of the Peninsula formed the
subject of lengthy discussion in the period prior to 1908, details of which
will be found in the Foreign Office Memorandum of 1908.
2 . The vexed question of the status of El Katr was finally disposed of in
the Anglo-Turkish negotiations of 1912-14. Under the unratitied Anglo-
Turkish Convention of 29th July 1913, the Ottoman Government renounced
all rights to the Peninsula, which was, as in the past, to continue to be
governed by the Sheikhs of the Thani family, while His Majesty’s Government
engaged not to permit the Sheikh of Bahrein to interfere in the internal
affairs of El Katr, to threaten its autonomy or to annex it. A supplementary
article reserved the rights of the inhabitants of Bahrein to visit the island of
Zakhnuniyah for fishing purposes, as in the past.
3. A new situation arose with the conquest of Hasa by Ibn Sand in the
course of 1913. El Katr, like the Oman coast, formed, in his view, part of
his ancestral domains, to which he could therefore prefer a claim as of right.*
But the Amir was warned at the end of the year that non-interference with
El Katr was a condition of the maintenance of friendly relations with His
Majesty’s Government,| and no difficulty in consequence arose. The
conclusion of a formal treaty between El Katr and His Majesty’s Government,
which, other considerations apart, was in the immediately pre-war period of
much importance in connection with the arms traffic, was postponed^ until
the final ratification of the Anglo-Turkish Convention, and so had not been
disposed of on the outbreak of the European War.
4. In common with the rulers of the other States in the Gulf, the Sheikh
of El Katr was notified by the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. of the outbreak of war with
Turkey in November 1914,§ and throughout the period of the war maintained
a friendly attitude towards His Majesty’s Government.
5. Under the treaty concluded between His Majesty’s Government and
Ibn Saud on the 26th December 1915, the Ruler of 'Nejd undertook to
refrain from aggression on, or interference with, “the territories of . . .
the Sheikhs of Katr and the Oman coast, who are under the protection of
the British Government, and who have treaty relations with the said
Government, and the limits of their territories shall be hereafter determined.”
6 . The outbreak of the European War, which led to a falling off in the
arms traffic in the Gulf, rendered the conclusion of a definitive treaty with
El Katr less urgent, and it was not until May 1915J that the question was
revived. Lengthy negotiation proved necessary before a satisfactory
agreement could be reached, and it was not until 3rd November 1916^[ that
a treaty was finally concluded between the Sheikh and His Majesty’s
Government. The treaty, the terms of which are summarised in the precis
of treaties appended to the present Memorandum, secured to the Sheikh the
advantages conferred under the Trucial treaties on the Sheikhs of Trucial
Oman, while imposing on him the obligations in regard to piracy, the slave
traffic, the arms traffic, the grant of concessions, the cession, sale, gift, lease
3091b 50 10.28
* P.A. Bahrein to
Pol. Res., Deo. 20
1913, P. 478/14.
t Lr. from Pol. Res.
to Ibn Sand, Sept. 11
1913, P. 4184/13.
t P.3749/13,2698/14.
§ Lr. from Pol. Res.
to G. of I.. 203,
Sept. 1 1914, P.4140,
4302.
|| Viceroy to S. of 3.
for I., May 6 1915
P.1700/15.
G. of I. to Pol. Res.,
May 13 1915,
P.3285/15.
IF P. 2430/16,
4583/16, 268/17.