'Mesopotamia' [‎21v] (42/152)

32
HISTORY
No. 92
Cyprus in 1878 was motived in part by its nearness to
the proposed line of the railway. In the latter part ot
the nineteenth century JBritish influence with the Poite
declined; and Germany seized the opportunity to make
a bid for political expansion under the guise of econo
mic development in Asiatic Turkey. Ln 1888, when
direct railway communication was established between
Berlin and Constantinople, a German syndicate
secured valuable railway concessions in Asia Minor;
and in consequence the Anatolian Railway Company
was constituted. Further concessions were granted in
1893; and in 1899 a Convention was signed conceding
in principle rights subsequently defined by the Bagh
dad Railway Convention of 1903. By this Convention
the Ottoman Government granted to the Anatolian
Railway Company 1 a concession for the prolongation
to Baghdad and Basra of their existing line. Provision
was made for certain branch lines, including one to a
l >oint on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to be subsequently deter-
mined. The Company was to be allowed to work all
minerals found within" 20 kilometres on either side of
the line, to establish ports on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and to
navigate the rivers in the service of the railway.
Further, it was stipulated that no section of the line
between Baghdad and Basra might be worked before
the completion of the main line from Koma to Bagh
dad. from which it appears that the economic develop
ment of Mesopotamia was of secondary importance to
the linking ud of Constantinople (and thereby Berlin)
with the Middle East. 2 German proposals for British
participation in this concession were not such as to
find acceptance. Tn 1911 the right to continue the line
from Baghdad to the Gulf was surrendered to a suit
able Ottoman Company, but with the reservation that
1 It was provided that the Anatolian Company should form an
Ottoman Joint Stock Company, under the title of the Imperial
Ottoman Baghdad Railway Company, which should take the place
of the Anatolian Company in all that concerned the new line
from Konia to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . , , , „ -i
2 For the financial arrangements of the Baghdad Railway Con
vention, see below, p. 63.