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'File 73/7 II (D 22) Status of Koweit [Kuwait] - Baghdad railway, Anglo Turkish negotiations' [71r] (147/540)
The record is made up of 1 volume (268 folios). It was created in 24 Oct 1911-26 Dec 1912. It was written in English, French and Arabic. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
' [B]
ASIATIC TURKEY AND ARABIA.
[April 18.]
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 1.
[12347]
No. 1.
Mr. Parker to Djevad Bey.
(Private.)
My dear Djevad Bey,
Foreign Office, April 18, 1912.
YOU asked me to let yon know privately, as soon as possible after we had received
yonr reply, whether I thought the proposals of your Government were likely to prove
acceptable.
As you only communicated the reply on the 15th April, there has not been time
to submit it to Sir E. Grey ; but I may tell you now, though purely as my own personal
view, that I am greatly disappointed and, after what passed at our informal discussions,
not a little surprised at the terms of your official reply.
When contrasted with the terms of the British memorandum of last July, the
Ottoman reply seems to show, on almost all the principal points, marked divergency,
and I cannot conceal from you that I apprehend grave and insuperable objection to
some of your proposals.
I think that a very bad impression will be produced by the attempt which is made
to whittle away the formal assurances which were given by the Ottoman Minister for
Foreign Affairs to our Ambassador in 1870 ; those assurances, though verbal, were
repeatedly given, and were referred to in subsequent correspondence. I can show you
the original signed despatches from our Ambassador at Constantinople.
Then as to Koweit: I had been led to expect that, while the Ottoman Government
might feel some reluctance to withdraw the military post from Bubiyan Island, the
remaining proposals included in our memorandum of last July respecting Koweit
furnished the basis of an agreement between the two countries. I must confess that a
great stretch of the imagination appears necessary to reconcile the basis of agreement
proposed in your reply with the determination of His Majesty's Government not to
consent " to any interference with the succession or with the internal administration,
or any infringement of the complete autonomy of the Sheikh."
It may be that there are omissions from your reply. 1 am almost led to think so
from your language about Koweit to me.
You know how desirous I am that the negotiations should succeed ; yet I fail to
discover the elements of conciliation, whether in regard to accepting our last proposals
as to participation in the railway, or in regard to several other points.
I am, &c.
ALWYN PARKER.
[2435 s—1]
About this item
- Content
The volume contains letters, telegrams, and memorandums pertaining to Anglo-Turkish negotiations brought on by the Baghdad Railway and particularly the extension to Basra. Correspondents include: Percy Cox, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. at Bushire, William Shakespear, Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Kuwait, Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Louis Mallet, Assistant Under-secretary of State for Near and Middle Eastern Affairs, Charles Marling, British Ambassador to Persia, Gerard Lowther, British Ambassador to Constantinople, George Buchanan, British Ambassador to Russia, Admiral Edmond Slade, the Board of Trade, the Government of India, the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , and several private companies, including Trans-Atlantic Trust Company, Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Imperial Ottoman Bank, and Imperial Persian Bank.
The form of the negotiations was a series of memorandums containing proposals and counter-proposals. The issues and subjects discussed are:
- ownership and control of the line;
- custom duty increases in the region;
- navigation of the Shatt al-Arab, including the establishment of a commission to oversee this;
- transport of railway materials by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers;
- delimitation of the Turkish-Persian border;
- status and territorial limit of Kuwait;
- other Gulf matters, including the statuses of Bahrain and Qatar, the suppression of arms traffic, piracy, and slavery, and the protection of pearl fisheries.
Folios 261-262 are a map showing the proposed territorial limits of Kuwait.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (268 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged chronologically. At the beginning (ff. 3-4) is a subject index, in no particular order but grouped under several broad headings. The numbers refer to folio numbers from the secondary, earlier sequence.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The volume is foliated from the front cover to the inside back cover, using circled pencil numbers positioned in the top-right corner of each recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. . There are two earlier foliation systems running through parts of the volume. The first uses uncircled pencil numbers in the top-right corner of recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. pages, and the top-left corner of verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. pages. This foliation system numbers pages if they have content on them, which is the case for all rectos and some versos. This foliation system appears intermittently through most of the volume. The other foliation system uses circled blue pencil numbers in the top-right corner of recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. pages, and appears from folios 5 to 42. Numerous printed materials contained in the volume have their own internal pagination systems. The following foliation irregularities occur: 1a, 34a, 51B, 219B, 250B.
- Written in
- English, French and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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'File 73/7 II (D 22) Status of Koweit [Kuwait] - Baghdad railway, Anglo Turkish negotiations' [71r] (147/540), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/611, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023826000.0x000094> [accessed 6 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/1/611
- Title
- 'File 73/7 II (D 22) Status of Koweit [Kuwait] - Baghdad railway, Anglo Turkish negotiations'
- Pages
- 68r:71v
- Author
- Government of the Ottoman Empire xx Sublime Porte
- Usage terms
- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.