File 4880/1913 Pt 2 'Turco-Persian Frontier Commission: protocol of 1913' [‎276r] (419/499)

[This Docmnent is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.!
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PERSIA.
•^CONFIDENTIAL.
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[April 9.]
Section 1,
[16221] No. 1.
Sir G. Lowther to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received April 9.)
(No. 271.)
Sir, Constantinople, April 5, J913.
AS I had the honour to report to you in my telegram No. 181 of the 3 rd instant,
on the subject of the Turco-Persian frontier, the Russian Ambassador has succeeded
in eliciting from the Porte a reply to his note of the 9th ( 22 nd) August last, and
M. de Griers has been so good as to communicate to me the text thereof.
The Turkish reply, copy of which is enclosed herewith, consists of a note from the
Minister for Foreign Affairs containing a qualified acceptance of the Russian demands,
and an annex showing the cession of territory in the Zohah districts, which Turkey
desires to obtain by way of compensation.
The greater part of the note is occupied with the modification of the line north of
latitude 36°, which are desired by Turkey, and as they do not concern us directly I
need say no more than that they do not appear to be of much importance, and that
M. de Giers believes that it should not be difficult to come to terms about them. In
its eighth paragraph the note urges that in consideration of the complaisance shown
bv Turkey in respect of the frontier north of latitude 36°, certain concessions (described
in the annex) should be made to Turkey in the southern parts of the frontier, i.e.,
between 36° and 32° latitude north, and the Porte hopes that Russia will use her
infiuence at Tehran to induce Persia to agree to these concessions. The Porte is ready
to confide the actual delimitation of the new frontier, as described in the annex, to a
joint Turco-Persian commission, to be formed in the coming summer. In conclusion,
the note states that in the event of Persia not agreeing to the arrangement proposed
concerning the Zohah district, the Porte would be obliged to “ maintenir comme par le
passe fetat de choses et la situation existants sur toute 1 ’etendue de la frontiere.”
This last phrase is ambiguous, but I think that it can be taken to imply merely
that in the event contemplated Turkey would abandon the attempt to come to a
definite solution of the frontier question, and would be content “ comme par le passe ”
to leave matters in the same unsettled and unsatisfactory condition as has existed for
the last seventy years; in other words, the Porte believes that it can trust to Russia’s
(and our own) anxiety to see this question laid to rest, to induce her (and us) to put on
Persia the pressure requisite to bring her to accept these cessions in Zohab.
The annex, after attempting to justify the Turkish demands for cessions in Zohab
on historical grounds, goes on, in paragraph 4, to explain that as, according to the
Potsdam agreement, Kasri Shirin is to be the terminus of the future Russian railway
which is to “ traverse Azerbaijan,” Turkey is willing to cede that village as also the
town of Zohab to Persia, and “as compensation” should receive a rectification of
frontier and the principle that both north and south of Zohab the territories occupied
by Sunni tribes be ceded to Turkey. The annex then describes the new frontier to
be traced in accordance with the above principle, and closes with the observation that
the annual migration of these Sunni tribes must be regulated so as to prevent their
traversing Persian territory.
I have found it somewhat difficult to follow the line proposed by Turkey on the
map, but M. Minorsky, who was present at the interview, between M. de Giers and the
Grand Vizier on the 27th ultimo, when the latter explained his proposals verbally, has
been good enough to trace roughly for me the more important parts of it on sheet 5
of the identic map, and I venture to hope that the accompanying copy^ of it with the
line shown in red will be of use.* (The remaining part of the Turkish line can easily be
identified on sheet 6 .)
Starting from the north it will be noted that whereas as far as the Kuretu River
the line verbally indicated to the Russian Ambassador by the Grand Vizier (see my
telegram No. 169 of the 28th ultimo) was almost identical with the frontier suggested
* Not reproduced.
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