ملف ٢٧٦٤/١٩٠٤ الجزء ٤ "سكة حديد بغداد: المفاوضات الأنجلو-تركية؛ اقتراحات الحكومة التركية؛ وضع الكويت" [ظ‎‎١‎٩] (٦٧٤/٤٣)

Ottoman Government would be facilitated, as they would deeply resent the discon
tinuance of the present discussion, and the initiation of negotiations between two
Powers, England and Germany, one of whom has largely renounced her claims m
return for a substantial quid pro quo, the other of whom does not possess any legal
claim at all in those regions. , .
The Ottoman Government, through the .Turkish Ambassador m Eondon, have
requested that no negotiations or discussion in connection with the Bagdad railway
should be conducted with the German Government, and His Highness was assured that
no such procedure was contemplated. ^ .
It was in consequence of the inability of His Majesty’s Government to obtain a
50 per cent, participation for British interests that the proposals now before the
Ottoman Government were made ; and Sir E. Grey thinks that one of the reasons then
advanced for being satisfied with a smaller participation has been overlooked in your
letter under reply. If it be granted that His Majesty s Government can only protect
British and Indian trade against adverse treatment by securing a participation of
50 per cent., how are they then to avoid such adverse treatment on other parts of the
railway, e.g., on the branch to Khanikin, and if adverse treatment exists on that and
other portions of the railway, the utility of securing equality of treatment on the
Bagdad-Bussorah sections is not so apparent ?
In Sir E. Grey’s view, which, until the receipt of your letter under reply, he
believed to be shared by your department, the most efficacious means of excluding
differential treatment (not only on the Bagdad-Bussorah sections but on all railways
in Asiatic Turkey) is by a binding international agreement on the subject, and by
making the continued levy of the increased customs duty dependent on the precise
observance of that instrument.
For these reasons Sir E. Grey hopes that the Marquess of Crewe will reconsider
his views and allow the negotiations with the Turkish Ambassador to pioceed on the
basis of the proposals formally made to the Ottoman Government in July 1911.
Sir E. Grey would remind Lord Crewe that his Excellency is anxious to discuss
those proposals at an early date, and he thinks that a preliminary discussion between
the departments concerned should take place as soon as possible.
As regards the Peninsula of El Katr, Sir E. Grey naturally attaches the greatest
weight to the views of the Marquess of Crewe, and although he is disposed to think
that his Lordship’s conclusions as to the result of conceding something to Turkey in
this region are exaggerated, he does not think it necessary to continue at this stage
the discussion on this point, as he would be averse from abating any of the demands
advanced in the memorandum of the 29th July, 1911, for the present; he would,
however, be glad if Lord Crewe would consider at his leisuie m what direction it
might be possible to make a concession to the Ottoman Government supposing a
successful issue of the negotiations depended upon some modification of our extreme
demands. If it were worth while to initiate these negotiations, it is worth while to
continue them in a reasonable spirit.
As to Mohammerah, Sir E. Grey does not consider it practicable to propose to the
Persian Government that they should make a communication as proposed to the
Turkish Government, or that His Majesty’s Government should support Persia against
Turkey in the manner suggested: Sir E. Grey does not consider that it would be
possible to reserve this question from The Hague Tribunal if the Turkish Government
persisted in such a reference; but, if it is possible to prevent it, Sir E. Grey has no
intention of allowing it, and proposes to treat a settlement of this frontier as part of
the present negotiations and as a necessary condition of their conclusion.
k separate letter will be addressed to you shortly respecting the course which it
is proposed to pursue in regard to the Mohammerah frontier negotiations.
I am, Ac.
LOUIS MALLET.