File 2764/1904 Pt 4 'Baghdad Railway: Anglo-Turkish negotiations; proposals of Turkish Govt; status of Kowait' [‎174r] (352/674)

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\ ISCOUNT MORLEY; That is the opinion sent to us by Admiral Slade for
example, and I think Captain Hunt, who has just come from the Gulf, would say the
same thing, would you not ?
CAPTAIN HUNT : I think that all these Chiefs here are absolutely uncivilised,
and the whole of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. is an open sore. It seems to me that it is time
that something definite should be settled as to who runs the coast and who has all the
responsibility for it. At the present moment the other Powers do not accept our rights
along that Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. .
SIR EDWARD GREY : The immediate question that we have got to decide is,
1 think, what we have to say to Turkey d propos of these negotiations. I assume we
should have to get Turkey, before we give consent to English customs dues, to define
her limits in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. in such a way as to exclude from her sovereignty the
Trucial Chiefs.
LORD CURZON : She has never made any claims over the Trucial Chiefs.
SIR EDWARD GREY: I do not say that she has done that yet, but she has
been pushing forward lately down towards El Katr, Zakhnuniyah, and so forth. What
we rather want to do is to get her once and for all to put her hand to limits of
sovereignty on her part in the region of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , which will exclude from her
sovereignty places in which we are particularly interested. We want really to know
how much we can give her. I do not think it is necessary to press her to recognise us
outside those limits, provided she defines limits beyond which she will not attempt to
assert or take sovereignty. That leaves us free to decide. One of the places we are
quite clear about is Bahrein, which we must have a protectorate over. Whatever
limits Turkey assigns must be subject to excluding Bahrein from her jurisdiction. We
rather want to decide what limit to the south is the extreme limit which we can
concede to her.
SIR WILLIAM NICHOLSON : Does not Turkey claim the whole of the hinter
land in this part ?
SIR EDWARD GREY : Turkey will claim anything that she is not prevented
from claiming.
SIR WILLIAM NICHOLSON : Has she not made a claim to the hinterland ?
SIR EDWARD GREY : I imagine she has.
SIR WILLIAM NICHOLSON : Then I presume we shall have to decide how far
the littoral extends. It will not do to say to her, “ You cannot go there,” if the whole
of this hinterland belongs to her.
SIR EDWARD GREY : The real question is where she stops on the coast. The
critical point for the moment is whether we could possibly concede her sovereignty
over El Katr, or whether we must at all costs say that she stops at Ojair (Ukeir),
which excludes El Katr. Bahrein we are quite clear about; she must not meddle
with that.
VISCOUNT MORLEY : Unquestionably.
LORD CURZON : Can anybody here tell me whether Sheikh Bin Ahmed is
alive ?
MR PARKER : No ; he is dead now. I am nearly certain.*
LORD CURZON : Who is the ruling Sheikh over El Katr now ?
MR. PARKER : Ahmed’s successor is considered, so I gather from recent corre
spondence, to be rather favourable to Turkey.
LORD CURZON : I agree with what Sir Edward Grey has said, and I think it is
very important. The point is to fix a southern limit to Turkish territory. Turkish
* He was murdered at the end of 1905.
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