'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎213v] (424/501)

198
February 17, 1923.
OIL ENGINEERING AND FINANCE
which we understand is the literal translation from
the Turkish.
Private Not Crown Property.
We have observed in the official correspondence
between Lord Curzon and the United States Ambas
sador on the subject of Economic Rights in Mandated
Territories, published in the White Paper of 1921, Mis
cellaneous No. 10, that the Concessions above discussed
are precisely those claimed by the Turkish Petroleum
Company, a claim evidently strongly objected to by
the State Department at Washington. In his last des
patch to the U.S. Ambassador, on February 28th,
1921, Lord Curzon refers to these concessions as “ per
fectly valid and already existing concessions.” In
Article 240 of the Treaty of Sevres, it states that all
Civil List property shall, without compensation, be
come the property of successive States. It is logical,
therefore, to assume that Mesopotamian oil areas have
been accepted, at any rate by the Foreign Office, as
private property and not as Crown property. We are
confirmed in this opinion by a number of facts, of
which we will mention two, which have no doubt in
fluenced British authorities in coming to the above
conclusion.
First, under the Turkish Mining Laws in force
when these concessions were granted, all
minerals, including petroleum, were the pro
perty of the Crown as head of the State ; it
cannot therefore be supposed that the promul
gation of a special Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). of Concession was
necessary to confirm the Crown in the posses
sion of property which it already owned. The
essential point is that Crown properties are
not to be regarded as distinct from State pro
perties in a regime of absolute monarchy.
Sultan Abdul Hafmid represented the State,
and all mineral rights were granted by him as
monarch to individuals. This is established
by the form of the Concessions which are Im
perial Firmans issued by the Sultan, and not
by or on behalf of the Turkish Government.
The granting of a Concession is, therefore,
essentially the alienation of a right inherent
in the Crown, ,and when a Concession is
granted to the person of the reigning Sultan,
this can only be as an individual, for other
wise the act would be ipso facto nugatory.
MOUSSUL CONCESSION, 1888.
OFFICIAL TRANSLATION.
Sublime PorIe
Grand Vezirat
Imperial Chancery.
Imperial Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). oe Concession.
To My Illustrious Minister of Finance and of My
Imperial Private Treasury Agop Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , decorated with My
Orders in brilliants of Osmanieh and Medjidieh.
You have submitted for My Imperial sanction the pro
posal to grant exclusivelv to My Private Treasury the Con-
for the research and exploitation of petroleum
Second, by law and tradition Crown properties
of the Ottoman Empire are not subject to
taxes, tithes, or Government duties, and they
are immune from legal action of any kind.
Properties administered by the Privy Purse
or Civil List are subject to taxation and legal
action in exactly the same manner as pro
perties owned by ordinary Turkish subjects.
The cost of the up-keep and care of Crown
properties, and the payment of employees en
gaged on them, is defrayed directly by the
Ministry of Finance, while properties of the
Civil List are repaired and employees are paid
from the Revenues of the Civil List Adminis
tration. This distinction was proved in fact
by the action brought against Sultan Abdul
Hamid personally by Taksin Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. in the
Civil Courts of Turkey in 1902. While pur
suing our enquiries on this point we found
that no less than 18 civil actions were in-
instituted against the same Sultan during his
reign in respect to the purchase of landed
properties.
We may therefore assume that Abdul Hamid
himself owned the Mesopotamian oil areas as an in
dividual. Negotiations for the granting of rights to
exploit the oilfields weie conducted directly with the
Sultan, through the Administration of the Civil List
and not through the Administration of the Crown pro
perties, up to the tihne of his deposition by the Young
Turk Party in 1909.
German Option.
The Germans were the first to conclude an ar
rangement with the Sultan, and in 1904 the repre
sentatives of the Anatolian Railway Company obtained
an option for the purpose of examining the possibility
of oil deposits in the Provinces of Mosul and Bagdad,
and to prepare a scheme whereby they could be worked
on joint account. In 1906 this option was considered
at an end and the Sultan began other negotiations.
At this time the field of competition was widened by
the inclusion of a number of English, French and
German interests. Among these was Mr. H. K.
D’arcy, of Anglo-Persian oil fame, who made an appli
cation to the Sultan for rights to exploit the oilfields.
The British Ambassador in Constantinople gave strong
official support to this application.
sources in the whole of the Vilayet of MOUSSUL, within the
properties of My Imperial estates as well as within the other
parts of the Vilayet, seeing that in My Private Imperial
properties situated in the Vilayet of MOUSSUL are found
abundant sources of petroleum.
My Imperial Irade has been promulgated in accordance
with the above, and in consequence of its high tenour My
present Imperial Order has been delivered by My Imperial
Chancery affirming that the Concession for the research and
exploitation of the sources of petroleum in the whole of the
Vilavet of MOUSSUL, in my Private Imperial properties as
well’ as in all other parts of the said Vilayet is exclusively
granted to My Imperial Private Treasury.
You, My Minister above-named will do what is necessary
as regards My Private Treasury.