Miscellaneous papers on the Near and Middle East [‎33r] (65/70)

district is Turkish in origin and of the Sunni sect of Islam in faith. The Persian
Government have already the utmost difficulty in maintaining authority over the
Turcoman tribes within their own borders south of the Atrek river, and would find the
Turcomans on the other side of their present frontier quite unmanageable. The whole
district, including Bokhara and Samarcand, was, before the Russian conquest of Central
Asia, a hotbed of Sunni fanaticism, and it took the Russian Government twenty years to
subjugate this territory and reach the provinces beyond it. The Persian Shiahs would
find it impossible to govern such a district, even if the necessary forces were available
for the purpose. Should such an experiment be undertaken, it is much to be feared
that the resulting conflicts and general disturbances would react most unfavourably on
the North-West Provinces of India. Sir P. Cox, however, states that Persia’s great
ambition is to get back Russian Sarakhs, and this might possibly be conceded, should the
inhabitants so desire, on the basis of self-determination.
15. The second claim is to a vast district to the north of Persia’s present border on
the Aras river, extending as far as Darband on the north-east, passing close to Tiflis,
Kars, and Erzerum, and including Erivan and Elisabetpol. Here there is
a mixed population of Turks, Armenians, Georgians, Tartars, and Kurds,
a combination utterly out of touch with Shiah sympathies. It would be
difficult to imagine anything more incongruous than the placiug of such a
town as Baku, with its important oil industry and unruly population, under
Persian rule. It is true that a small proportion of Persian Shiahs is to be found
at Baku and the surrounding district, but these have mainly emigrated from Persia in
order to better their condition and to free themselves from Persian misrule. The whole
proposal seems, in fact, to be of so fantastic a nature as not to merit serious
consideration.
16. The above remarks apply with even greater force to the third claim, namely, to
Kurdistan in the west. Ibis claim includes a very large proportion of Asia Minor as
far as the line of the upper reaches of the Euphrates on the west and to Mush on the
north, including Mosnl on the south, and coming to within about 100 miles of Bagdad.
17. Though the Kurds are an Iranian people, speaking dialects of Persian, and
their original home was in the mountain ranges which separate the plateau of Persia
from the basin of Mesopotamia, they have not, and never had, a vestige of Persian
national feeling. During the war the partisanship of the Kin ds varied with the military
situation ; they were sometimes with the Turks and at other times with the Russians,
but at no time have they shown anything but hostility to the Persians.
18. The future of the Kurils lies in Northern Mesopotamia. They should have a
large share in its economic development, and become in the process more susceptible to
the influence of civilisation.
1 9. There remains the fourth paragraph, which is not so much a claim as a pious
aspiration, relating to the “ Holy Places ” in Mesopotamia, namely, Karbala, Najaf,
Kazimain, and Samarra. The contention as to the spiritual ties existing between
Persia and these “ Holy Cities ” is undoubted, but it must be remembered that,
together with a large number of Shiah Persian residents, chiefly of the clerical classes,
there are also large numbers of Arabs who are extremely difficult to govern. The
Persian hope is that “ Persia’s important interests be safeguarded,” and the best wav to
do this, for the present, is for these cities, in conjunction with the rest of Mesopotamia,
to be properly administered by British officials.
20. It should be remembered, however, that Mushaver-ul-Mamalek, in putting-
forward these extravagant claims, does not represent the aspirations of the present
Persian Cabinet in respect of frontiers, and I would remind you of Sir P. (’ox’s telegram
No. 261 of the 10th instant, in which he says that if His Majesty’s Government agree
to help Persia in this matter on lines based on the much more reasonable suggestions
which are at present under examination, any fantastic pretensions put forward by
Mushaver-ul-Mamalek on his own initiative will be dropped.
I am, &c.
CURZON OF KEDLESTON.