'Memorandum on Bahrein' [‎25r] (49/62)

49
execute, cela ne peut nullement porter atteinte au principe de la recon
naissance du droit de la Perse sur les iles par les autorites britanniques, et
c'est au sujet de ce principe que le Gouvernement persan ne peut s attendre
que le Gouvernement britannique meconnaisse le droit traditionnel de la
Perse sur ces iles."
6. De 1'accord de 1822 jusqu'k ce jour, aucun titre yalable n^a 6te acquis par
le Gouvernement britannique. II n'avait done pas le droit d empieter sur le droit
de souvenainete de La Perse sur Bahrein par le traite qu il a conclu a\ec le bultan
Abdol Aziz-Ebn-Seoud en mai 1927. > / . 1 ^ ,
C'est pour ces considerations que le Gouvernement imperial a proteste et
qu'il maintient sa protestation contre 1'article 6 du 1 raite de Djeddah du 20 mai
1927, relatif aux iles de Bahrein. , « . / v
Mon Gouvernement espere que le Gouvernement de Sa Majeste britannique se
rendra aux considerations historiques et juridiques ci-dessus invoquees et qu il
reconnaitra volontiers qu'une telle disposition ne peut avoir d ertet que si elle a
ete conclue avec I'Etat persan, souverain legitime des iles de Bahrein.
Veuillez, &c.
F. PAKREVAN.
[E 853/33/91] (D)
Sir Austen Chamherlain to Hovhannes Khan Mossaed
gj r Foreign Office, February 18, 192&.
' IN a note dated the 18th January, 1928, I had the honour to inform you, in
replv to your note of the 26th November, 1927, respecting the claim advanced by
your Government to the islands of Baihrein, that His Majesty's Government m the
United Kingdom were not aware of any valid grounds upon which the claim oi
the Persian Government to sovereignty over those islands was or could be based.
Some months later, on the 2nd August, 1928, the Persian Acting Minister for
Foreign Affairs addressed to His Majesty's Charge d Affaires at lehian a furt e
note explaining in detail the reasons which have led his Government to consider
themselves justified in advancing such a claim. 1 now have the honour to request
that you will convey to your Government the following repl^ .
2 His Maiesty's Government in the United Kingdom have examined with
the greatest care the views set forth in the Persian Government's note of the
2nd August, and have endeavoured to extract from the many unsupported
declarations that Bahrein forms an integral part of Persia (a statement which,
as I have already indicated in my note under reference, bears no relation to
geographical facts), the essential arguments on which this claim is based. They
note that the Persian Government do not in any way base their claim on the
alleged recognition of tiheir rights in the past bv His Majesty s Government So
far as can be deduced from their note under reply, their claim is, in fact founded
on three main arguments; Firstly, on uninterrupted possession except for the
period of Portuguese occupation between 1507 and 1622; secondly, on an alleged
principle of international law that a territory belonging to a sovereign State
cannot be lawfully detached so long as its annexation by another State or its
independence have not been officially recognised by the awful owner of the
territorv and thirdly, on documents of a date later than the end of the
18th century, in which the sheikhs of the islands are a eged to have declared
their submission to the Persian Government, and on the alleged payment b\ theto
of tribute to the Persian Government. After full examination of these argumen s
His Maiesty s Government have reached the conclusion, for the reasons given
below that they entirely fail to substantiate a Persian claim to sovereignty over
Capiat!" the statement that "Bahrein has always and
uninterruptedly formed part of Persia in past centuries except during the
Portuguese occupation from 1507 to 1622" is not one which can he allowed to
immiestioned I have already drawn attention to the evident fact that
ffeosraphicallv this assertion is misleading. Historically it is almost equally
^TXadinr The earlier history of the islands before 1507 is obscure, but it cannot
serioushbe nTnta" ed that they were subject to Persiansov^ntyanthr 0 ^
the Arab Mongol and Tartar invasions and the anarchy of the MK,d ' e ^ s ' "
he fon" modern historians have expressed the opinion that from the 11th to
the beginning of the 16th century the inhabitants of Bahrein were subject to chiefs
"85-177 H