File 4880/1913 Pt 2 'Turco-Persian Frontier Commission: protocol of 1913' [‎269r] (405/499)

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government,!
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PERSIA.
[Jrme 19.]
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 1.
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[27302] .
No. 1.
Sir Edward Grey to Count Benckendorff.
SIR E. GREY presents his compliments to the Russian Ambassador and has the
honour to acknowledge the receipt of his Excellency’s communication of the 14th June,
respecting the Turco-Persian frontier between Hawizeh and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
Sir E. Grey has, in view of the communications which took place between His
Majesty’s Government and the Russian Government in April and July 1912, read
Count Benckendorff’s memorandum with considerable surprise.
On the 11th April, 1912, Sir E. Grey telegraphed to His Majesty’s Ambassador at
St. Petersburgh as follows :—-
“Having regard to the wording of article 2 of the Treaty of Erzeroum, His
Majesty’s Government are inclined to think that nothing more can be claimed on the
Shatt-el-Arab for Persia than freedom of navigation, Turkey having taken great pains
to assert her right of ownership over the entire waters of that river, while conceding
such freedom.
“ From the sea to where the mediating commissioners’ line strikes off from the
Shatt-el-Arab, I do not think, therefore, that a fiontier more advantageous to Persia
than the mediating commissioners’ line could be successfully claimed against Turkey.
On the 16th April, 1912, Sir G. Buchanan reported that he had seen the Russian
Minister for Foreign Affairs, that his Excellency concurred in the views of^His Majesty s
Government, and that he would instruct the Russian Ambassador at Oonstantinop e
to support Sir G. Lowther in regard to the frontier His Majesty’s Government had
indicated to the Russian Government from Hawizeh to the sea.
As His Majesty’s Government were careful to obtain the concunence o le
Russian Government in the line suggested at an early stage of the negotiations, an
as that line is more advantageous to Persia than the one allotted by t e me la mg
commissioners in 1851, to which Persia then acceded, His Majest} s icveinmen are
at a loss to understand why any exception on the part of any party s iou c e laise o
it at this late period, when it has been placed before the 1 urkish Governmen o
nearly ten months. The present declaration to be made y ui my in no _ Y
invalidates or supersedes that clause of the Treaty of Erzeroumw nci secure
right of navigation to the Ivarun via the Shatt-el-Arab, and Sn iiey ee s
that the draft convention, already communicated to the Russian ‘ T • i "
latest form contains adequate guarantees, certainly in excess o am v ic
existed, for international navigation on the Shatt-el-Arab. . rnffir.-nlm
Si; E. Grey hopes that the Russian Government will not
in regard to the proposed arrangements for the Shatt-el-Ara . _ " , si r Tr Grev
were communicated to the Russian Government seveial mon is ago , < ' A TTj g
was under the distinct impression that the Russian Governmen w i 0 f ]onm-
Majesty’s Government in regard to the southern frontiei m w ic , y the magnitude
standing association, of services rendered to navigation m genera , a otniilarlv^under-
of their commercial interests, they are particularly intei es e , an Maiestv’s
took to afford the Russian Government the full diplomatic suppoit of Hi S ^
Government in regard to the northern part of the fiontier, w no c pp
on the eve of settlement in accordance with Russian views.
Foreign Office, June 19, 1913.
[2948 £-1]
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