مجموعة ١٧/ ٣٦ "العراق. حول إنشاء علاقات دبلوماسية بين العراق والاتحاد السوفيتي" [و‎‎٢‎٤] (٥٧/٤٨)

ENCLOSURE IN BAGDAD DESPATCH
r .ir .9 m ^' Q MIM qrr f l PEqEI>iBER,194Q-
.fiibnl bn^ B'xo-gnA r ort IlO f crlct
tLl-nt>te date* d 4th Dfecemhel' ,"""1 ^40, by
Sir Baail C. Tr ewton t H. t « Ambassador, Bagdad.
^ 1U
I epoke to the Minister for foreign Affairs
this morning on the lines indicated in foreign
Office telegram No. 61I5,
23
I said that the Secretary of State ^*or Foreign
Affairs saw no advantage to Iraq in the establishment
of diplomatic relations with the Soviet TT n i on . •pne
two coimtries had no common interests and the Soviet
frontier was close enough to Iraq to make all Kinds
of penetration an unpleasant possibility. There
woul d moreover be risk of political Intrigues by
the Soviet Legation tending to disturb tranquillity
and stability in Iraq. A field for such activities
could readily be ^'ound among work people and among
minorities of ail kinds, particularly the Kurds
and Armenians.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs agreed and
told me that he had written on this subject to the
Prime Minister pointing out that a Soviet Legation
could nnly be accepted in Bagdad provided that it
was established beyond doubt that it would not give
offence to the ^urks or -ersians o r * lead to the
spread of Co muniat propaganda in Iraq.
I said that His Majesty*s Government considered
that the whole idea had very serious disadvantages
and I uased the minister for Foreign Affairs to give
me early information qif* there were^r.ny likelihood of
any further step. At tne same time I reminded him
of what he had at first told me to the effect that
there was no real need to reply to the informal
enquiry made by the Russian Ambassador at Angora.
Nuri Pasha observed that nothing more was likely
to be done at any rate at present as Ministers were
absorbed in the internal political crisis.
A copy