"مذكرة بشأن الحدود بين المحمرة وتركيا". [ظ‎‎٣‎١] (٨٢/٦٢)

52
APPENDIX (C).
Extract from " Layard's Early Adventures," Vol. 2, pp. 431-439.
[Edition published in London in 1887.]
SOON after my return to Constantinople from my mission to the Western
Provinces of European Turkey, the joint mediation offered by the English and Russian
Governments to Turkey and Persia to prevent a war, which was then on the point
of breaking out between them, was accepted by the two Powers. Sir Stratford Canning
was thus able to carry out his intention of availing himself of the knowledge I had
acquired during my travels in Mesopotamia and Khuzistan, and to employ me in
the correspondence and negotiations which took place. The principal matters in
dispute were certain parts of the frontiers between the two States. Persia claimed
the left bank of the Shatt-el-Arab, or united waters of the Tigris and Euphrates, from
about sixty miles of their junction with the Persian Gulf, and certain districts in
the mountains of Kurdistan, which had been seized by the Turks. Since the
Matamet's expedition against the sheikh of the Chaab Arabs, who had given an
asylum to Mehemet Taki Khan, the Persians had occupied Mohammerah and some
territory to the north of that town. This territory was claimed by the Porte, and
as the Shah refused to withdraw his troops from it, the Porte was about to have
recourse to Avar to enforce its claims. It ^vas already fitting out an expedition for
the purpose.
It was necessary for the representatives of the mediating Powers at Constantinople
to make a careful investigation into the claims of the contending parties, and to propose
to them for their acceptance a fair and equitable arrangement founded upon their
respective rights and interests. Sir Stratford Canning entrusted me with this duty on
his part. I had to examine the evidence furnished by the Porte and the Persian
Government in proof of their respective pretensions, consisting of a mass of documents,
maps and surveys, many o£ them of ancient date, and to prepare a scheme for the
settlement of the matters in dispute, to be submitted to the British and Russian
Governments for their approval before being presented to the two Powers.
I took great interest in the work, which was very congenial to my tastes. The
knowledge which I had acquired of the territory in dispute, and of the history and
traditions of the tribes which inhabited it, proved of much use to me. I was able to
prepare^a project of settlement which appeared to me just to both parties, and warranted
by the proofs which they had produced in support of their respective claims. It was
entirely approved by Sir Stratford Canning, and sent by him to Lord Aberdeen, to be
communicated to the Russian Government.* He fully expected that he would speedily
receive authority to submit it to the Porte for its acceptance. The result of my
examination of the evidence and maps furnished me was that the claims of Turkey to
the left bank of the Shatt-el-Arab and to Mohammerah were well-founded. Persia had
never exercised more than a nominal jurisdiction over the territory in dispute, the
right to which had always been asserted by the Porte. The Arab tribes which inhabited
it, and which were semi-independent, had, however, acknowledged at one time the
supremacy of the Sultan, and at another that of the Shah. The question was further
complicated by the change which had taken place in the lower part of the course of the
Karun. In the early part of this century, as may be seen by maps of the time, this
river discharged itself into the Persian Gulf by more than one outlet, the principal of
which was known as t he Bamishere. As it rose in the mountains of Luristan,
and the whole of its course was through Persian territory, it was unquestionably a
Persian river, and Persia had undoubted claims to the lands on both its banks.
But a canal had been cut to unite this river and the Shatt-el-Arab, known as the
Haffar, a name which denoted its artificial origin, and upon its banks Mohammerah
had been built by the sheikh of the Chaab Arabs. In the course of time the waters of
the Karun had enlarged this canal, and through it the main body of the river was
* Sir Stratford Canning No. 70, April 27, 1844.