'File 73/7 III (D 24) Status of Kuwait & Anglo-Turkish negotiations' [‎37r] (81/709)

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government. 1
ASIATIC TURKEY AND ARABIA. [March 26.]
CONFIDENTIAL. Section 1,
[12978] No. 1.
Koweit Draft Agreement.
HIS Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and
of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, and His Majesty the
Sultan of Turkey, animated by the sincere desire to settle by mutual agreement certain
questions concerning their interests, have determined to conclude agreements destined
to prevent all cause of misunderstanding between Great Britain and Turkey in regard
to the questions referred to, and have nominated for this purpose their respective
plenipotentiaries, to wit:
Who, having communicated to each other their full powers, found in good and
due form, have agreed on the following:—
* Agreement concerning Koweit.
The Governments of Great Britain and Turkey being desirous of placing beyond
all doubt the status and limits of Koweit ( and th e adjacent terr itory^ as respectively
defined in articles 5 and 7 of this agreement, and the relations between the Sheikh of
Koweit and Turkey, and taking into consideration the special interests of Great Britain
in Koweit, and the lonof-established relations between Great Britain and the Sheikhs of
' O
Koweit;
Have agreed upon the following articles :—
1. Great Britain and Turkey recognise Koweit, as defined in article 4 of this
agreement, as nn autonomous sheikhdom under the suzerainty of Turkey.
2. Great Britain and Turkey recognise the Sheikh of Koweit as a Turkish
kaimakam.
3. Great Britain and Turkey recognise the right of the Sheikh of Koweit to^
exercise complete autonomy within the limits laid down in article 4 of this agreement.
Turkey undertakes to abstain from any infringement of such autonomy, and from any
interference with the succession, internal administration, or foreign relati o ns of Koweit.
4. Nothing in this agreement shall be taken to prevent Turkeylrom appointing
an agent at Koweit. 4
5. For the purposes of art icles 1 and 3 o f th is agreement the limits of Koweit are
agreed to be a segment of a circle drawn with the centre of Koweit town as its centre
and a radius extending from that point to the mid-channel of the Khor Abdulla at its
northernmost point between the island of Warba and the mainland, to include Krain in
the south, and to a point at a corresponding distance from the centre of Koweit in the
west. Within these limits are also understood to be included the islands of Bubiyan,
Mashian, Failakah, Anhah, Kubbar, Karu, and Tjmm-al-Maradim, and the islets
adjacent thereto,
6. Great Britain and Turkey recognise as subordinate to the Sheikh of Koweit
the tribes within the territory defined in article 7 of this agreement. The Sheikh of
Koweit shall continue to levy tithes from such tribes as at present, and shall conduct
such administration as may be necessary in his capacity as Turkish kaimakam. W ithin
the territory defined in article 7 of this agreement lurkey undertakes^ not to sot up
any administration apart from that ot the Sheikh of Koweit, and not, without previous
arrangement with Great Britain, to station any garrisons nor take any military or
other action.
7. The limits of the territory referred to in article 6 of this agreement are agreed
to be as follows : a line running north-west from the coast at the mouth of^ the
Khor-es-Zubair up to and past but not including the walls of the tort^at SajKvari
[2839 cc—]]