ملف ٩٧٨/١٩١٧ الجزء ١ "بلاد الرافدين: الإدارة؛ احتلال بغداد؛ الإعلان؛ موقف السير ب. كوكس" [و‎‎١‎٤‎٢] (٤٠٢/٢٩١)

SECRET.
15.2-5b
MESOPOTAMIAN ADMINISTRATION
DRAFT REPORT OF COMMITTEE. •
and the present
h W t s ^d)init the following 1 recomniendations :—
present 1 moment te f ritorie8 “t Mesopotowk, consisting at the
I c^eiit moment of the greater parts of the Basra and Bagdad Vilayets
c e urfti' ' ey ] ai '", af ! , '' esa,lt ‘'p '- 1 n, V st for the time being remain in military
ocenpation should ,n the fntnre be administered not by the Indian
brovernment but by His Majesty’s Government.
lat ; ln \ WK ol: the pledges that have already been given, and of the
In e e f V ? mV h eC ; 11 W d, be necessai 'y tlmt the mrritiry approxi-
Ri'-v i i ■- UDei tlie !>asra \ dayet should remain permanently under
British administration. J
•J. J hat the boundaries of the region in question should be approximately
aline drawn from Nam-ieh, along the Shat-el-Hai through Knfel-Amara Vo
He, rru on the west; along the Persian frontier (Pusht-i-Kuh) to the borders
<n Jxhuzistan and Arabistan on the north-east and east
1 honndaries of the Basra Vilayet on the south'.
4. 1 hat it would he premature to fix at present the exact northern or
western boundaries of the Bagdad Vilayet, but that the region to be controlled
trom thence should be approximately that coloured in the map attached to the
Anglo-r ranco-Russian Agreement of 1916.
o. 1 hat the Holy Places, Nejef, Kerbela and Kazimain will thus remain
m the Arab sphere and not be placed directly under British control.- It was
noted that the Sh iahs of India would be much perturbed at the establishment
ol a British Protectorate over the territory containing the Holy Places of
their faith.
' i}} ^ ( ^ esj ' re to la 7 stress on the importance of including in the future
administrative area of the State or Province of Bagdad all the land irrigated,
or to be irrigated, by the existing or future canal system of Mesopotamia.
I he Hindia barrage and the canals fed from it are in the neighbourhood of the
Shiah shrines, which it is proposed to treat as separate enclaves to be excluded
from British direct control. In delimiting these enclaves the objection to
including in them any laud falling within the limits of the canal system
should be carefully borne in mm<T.\ We also consider that, whatever form of
separate administration is set up in the Bagdad Vilayet, the control of
irrigation in the two \ ilayets (Bagdad and Basra) should be in the hands
of a single British authority.
6 .—Form of Arab Administration in Bagdad Vilayet .—We under
stand the present position to lie that the “ Irak Code,” which contains the
law in force in the Basra Vilayet, extends automatically to all additional
territory occupied since the code was introduced. We consider that this
code will not be found appropriate to the conditions of the Bagdad Vilayet
if, as is contemplated, this territory is to be administered as far as possible
on Arab lines. The right course, in our opinion, would be to maintain the
local judicial system as far as possible, both in civil and criminal matters,
and both as regards the substance of the law and the official personnel,
subject to such modifications in substance and in nomenclature as may be
found necessary (e.g., the substitution of Arabic for Turkish official titles,
wherever the latter are in use). The same principle should be followed in
constituting the executive Government and the machinery of administration.
The existing land-revenue system should be left as far as possible undisturbed,
while the tribal system of government, the provincial and local councils, and
the old official organisation (Turks being replaced by Arabs) should be
maintained. The policy of His Majesty’s Government should he to administer
the Vilayet as an Arab province, so far as possible by indigenous agency and
in accordance with existing laws and institutions. In this way no insuper
able obstacles would be created to its ultimate inclusion, under British
control, in an Arab State or Confederacy ; and the promises given in Sir
Stanley Maude’s proclamation would thus be made good. The employment
of Indians in any branch of the administration of the Vilayet is inconsistent
with this policy, and should therefore be strictly discountenanced. No
S 355 40 3/17