File 160/1903 'Persian Gulf: El Katr; appointment of Turkish Mudirs; question of Protectorate Treaty with El Katr' [‎30r] (64/860)

[A]
ASIATIC TURKEY AND ARABIA.
[October 17.]
-
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 4.
[32854]
No. 1.
(No. 312.)
Sir Edward Grey to Sir G. Lowther.
Sir,
Foreign Office, October 17, 1910.
I HAVE received your Excellency’s despatch No. 603 of the 22nd August and
other reports, in which you enumerate repeated instances of the arbitrary and vexatious
treatment of British subjects in Asiatic Turkey, and, further, draw my attention to
the number of incidents of political aggression, all tending to a disturbance of the
status quo, which have recently marked the conduct of the Ottoman authorities in the
region of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
It will be convenient to deal first with the injustice to which British commercial
interests have been subjected.
In July the representative of Messrs. Lynch and Co. at Bagdad was informed that
certain property of his firm would, under a municipal regulation, be demolished as
insecure and dangerous. The British Consul-General found that the property, which
he took an early opportunity of inspecting, was perfectly safe.
A few days later a notification was made to Messrs. Abdul Ali, a British-Indian
firm, respecting the projected demolition, on similar grounds, of their principal shop
and the arbitrary expropriation of the site, which is a valuable one. This property was
likewise found, on inspection, to be in excellent condition and in no wise dangerous.
The British Consul-General hereupon visited the President of the Municipality
and protested vigorously against the wanton destruction of property on a false pretext
of danger to the public. The conclusion drawn by His Majesty’s Consul-General was
that, in the absence of funds to meet the cost of legal expropriation, the procedure
complained of had been adopted.
Notwithstanding that your Excellency had in the meantime made urgent
representations through the Minister of the Interior, an extensive demolition of
Messrs. Lynch’s property, including their chief office, was begun on the 7th August,
and more recently His Majesty’s Consul-General has reported that the property of
British subjects already demolished and threatened means a loss of some £ T. 5,000;
while he learns that it is proposed to enforce further expropriations, at great loss to
many British subjects resident in Bagdad.
On the 29th September your Excellency reported that British-Indian property at
Kazimia and Kerbela had likewise been demolished, and that the Vali had declined
any indemnification on grounds which are wholly unconvincing.
His Majesty’s Government must emphatically protest against this procedure ; they
must further, in view of the fact that it has originated with the Vali, hold the Ottoman
Government themselves responsible for the damage already inflicted, and, after
receiving a report as to its precise extent from His Majesty’s Consul-General, your
Excellency should present a detailed claim to the Ottoman Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Before leaving the question of these expropriations, I think it necessary to advert
to the rumoured intention of the Vali of Bagdad to cause a new road to be constructed
through the middle of the grounds of His Majesty’s Consulate-General, whereas by
making a slight deviation it might be made to follow an existing road : it is true that
after your Excellency had made representations to the Sublime Porte, the Vali asserted
to His Majesty’s Consul-General that no interference with the Consulate buildings had
been in contemplation: I feel constrained to observe that the local evidence to the
contrary effect is of a conclusive character.
Two further cases of unwarrantable interference with British interests have
also recently occurred at Bagdad :—
In the first of these cases Messrs. Abdul Ali, the British-Indian firm already
referred to, were suddenly ordered to sell the ice manufactured by them at a reduced
rate of 10 paras a kilogramme instead of 20 paras an oke, their usual charge: I
understand that owing to non-compliance with this arbitrary order the local authorities
have threatened to close by force two ice factories belonging to British Indian subjects.
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