'File 61/11 VII (D 122) Hejaz-Nejd Miscellaneous' [‎57r] (126/454)

Netherlands.
• iqq ^"' 1 4: ( ^ r \ a . anse ' w ho succeeded M. van der Meulen as Chare:6 d'Affaires
n 1931. is, like him, a member of the Dutch East Indian civil service He is
Se™ f S ll0W - He does DOt s P eak English as well as his
predecessor, but has quite an adequate command of it. He has made a serious
study of classical Arabic at the feet of Professor Snouck Hurgronte and 3
as general secretary to the Orientalists' Conference at Leiden He can get on
in the spoken language. Although far from brilliant, he makes a very good
tra<i, " 0 ~ 1 S™ 1 >«"">» British .ni
wS sSSftSSTMS h "
Ibeic is nothing to add to previous accounts of M. Adriaanse. except that
his winter visit to Sana is now an annual event. P
Persia.
Mohamed Ali Khan Mogaddam, to adopt his own spelling, arrived in Jedda
early m January 1934 and proved to have been appointed a full Minister, unlike
ms predecessor. He does not appear to be much more than 40, but had had
twenty-seven years service before coming here. In old days he was employed in
the Persian Embassy at St. Petersburg, and was later, after the war, counsellor
m London. He subsequently became consul-general at Tashkent, and finally
served for two years as " chef de cabinet " in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
^T^nraji He does not seem to have made any particular impression on British
omcials m his previous posts. I have seen comparatively little of him here, but
he is an agreeable colleague, with pleasant manners and a most ingratiating
smile. He has some knowledge of English, but prefers to speak French, which
he knows fairly well. As a Moslem he is eminently latitudinarian. He keeps
his family in the Lebanon, and was away with them from early in June until
Decembei. He did not treat this as absence from Jedda, regarding the Lebanon,
presumably with the consent of his Government, as one of our outer suburbs.
Soviet Russia.
*M. Nezir (or Nezir Bey) Turakoulov is the doyen of the Diplomatic Body.
He is a round-headed Moslem from Turkestan and has distinctly Tartar features.
His age is 38. He seems intelligent and has a considerable aptitude for
languages, having acquired a good working knowledge of Arabic, greatly
improved his French and started on English since he came to Jedda about three
years ago. We converse a good deal in Turkish, the language in which he is
most at his ease.
# We are quite good friends, but meet comparatively rarely, as M. Turakoulov
goes little into European society. In the summer of 1932 he appeared to avoid
me on purpose, possibly owing to the complications of the then situation. When
we do see each other we never approach any kind of political subject, but exchange
folitesses and simple stories. In this sort of talk M. Turakoulov displays a
lively sense of humour. I think that he is genuinely more interested in com
mercial and economic subjects than in politics, and is content to devote himself
to the uphill task of marketing Russian goods (he did an important deal in
petroleum products in 1931, but is still whistling for the money), and securing
the removal of the restrictions still imposed by the Saudi Government, in
principle at least, on direct trade with Russia. He presents no appearance of
wishing to make a splash, but after my departure in September 1932 he came
out of his shell again and even gave a diplomatic dinner. I used to think him
a good Moslem, but have modified this opinion. He, nevertheless, poses as a
believer, is attentive to local personages and affects Arab head-dress. (Written
in January 1933.)
M. Turakoulov hardly ever leaves this country, and his wife, a plump and
blonde non-Moslem from Samara, now lives with him uninterruptedly. She
engages in dispensary work in Jedda, and during a long stay they made at Taif
last autumn she apparently helped to doctor the Royal harem. M. Turakoulov's
own qualities tend on the whole to become more and more negative, but he gave
another diplomatic dinner recently, and he no longer pretends in European society .
to be a strict Moslem. He will drink whisky on occasion, even in Ramadan.