'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎223r] (444/501)

9
the main road from Mosul leading to that place would be a difficult task for the enemy
were it adequately held.
But it may he well to consider the general point of view from which the Angora
Government may be expected to approach the whole question of the Mosul frontier,
now that they have ratified the Lausanne Treaty, and must enter into further discussion
with a view to settling it.
I should like to be permitted to give what I imagine to be the view of the Angora
Turks and those of the interior rather than of those who tell plausible tales at
Constantinople to officials who have never penetrated into the interior during their
service.
First of all, we have the violent speeches on the subject delivered in the National
Assembly at Angora just previous to the ratification of the Lausanne treaty, both on
the Mosul frontier question and also as regards the French and Syrian frontier.
These may appear as foolishly bombastic to Western people, but I think they
should be considered as really serious expressions of opinion of what the Deputies
of the interior think, and, moreover, in such a subservient body as the Assembly they
would not have been permitted to be delivered unless by the express sanction of
Mustafa Kemal himself, who remained somewhat discreetly in the background on this
occasion. . .
Then there are the recent concentrations of Turkish troops at Neri threatening
Bowanduz, and the retention of a needlessly strong garrison of some four battalions at
Jezire, which may certainly be taken to contravene Article 3 of the Treaty of Lausanne,
which enjoins the Turkish and British Governments reciprocally to undertake that,
pending the decision to be reached on the subject of the frontier (that of Mosul), no
military or other movement shall take place which might modify in any way the
present state of the territories of which the final fate will depend upon that decision.
Then there is the sudden incident which has just cropped up at Bulahbashi (near
Katur), on the Turko-Persian frontier, not far north of the Bowanduz sector of the
Mosul frontier under discussion. r • + n r
Mustafa Kemal seems to have modelled his action on that of Mussolini at Oorlu,
and, moreover, his action is directly aimed at us as one of the four signatories of the
Turko-Persian Frontier Commission. , . . . . , ,, u
The incident may be looked on as a slight one, but I do not think this should be
the case, in view of the opening of the Mosul frontier question which is imminent.
It is quite clear that the Frontier Commission completed its labours up to
Mount Ararat from the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. a short time before the outbreak of the great
war in 1914 ; the map-sheets showing the boundary pillars of the new frontier and the
accompanying text were signed by the delegates of all four Powers—Great Britain,
Turkey, Bussia and Persia—and* accepted and ratified in due form just before war
broke out.^ ^ t p at t h e new frontier as then accepted has been inserted on the
various sheets of my War Office 1:250,000 map dealing with this frontier this being
done from the larger scale sheets signed by the delegates of the frontier Commission.
The new frontier has also been inserted on the 1 : 2 , 000,000 B.G.b. map.
There was certainly then no question that this frontier which had been under
dispute for some seventy years, was then finally decided, and I think will be found
r ° ’Ttinnk this arbitrary and sudden action of the Angora Government in much the
same area renders the general aspect of the Mosul question more serious than if it had
been taken under ordinary circumstances, and it will have the effect of impressing the
local Kurds along this section of the frontier, most of whom are adherents of feirnko
Agha with a sense of the power which the Angora Government can now arrogate to
itElf after its victories in the field and at the council table further west. This is no
doubt one effect which they certainly intended to produce. Strange as it may appear
to Western thought, I submit that the following may be taken as the view that the
Angora Government and the ignorant fanatics whom Mustafa Kemal leads or, rather,
dnvea ^ ^ haye esconced themselves in a stronghold so far in
the interio. that they feel themselves quite secure from any Western interference,
and certainly it is true that no Western Power is now inclined for adventures in the
ana cerca v are out of the picture for the present.
mt The triumphant’rlturn of Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. from Lausanne brought to mind the
• . 'I J the council table, but the withdrawal of our great fleet and our troops even
JrotX har^;contested’field of the Gallipoli Peninsula must have conveyed an

'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎223r] (444/501)

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'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil' [‎223r] (444/501)

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