File 1356/1912 Pt 2 'Turco-Persian Frontier:- negotiations at Constantinople. (Mohammerah Boundary)' [‎314v] (637/680)

forty years and between the date of Hassan Khan’s death and the present year
thVlie Kent the Feili tribes under hie rule to settle in the IWit-hKuh, the tune th»t
has elapsed since the Feili tribes encroached on the Pusht-i-Kuh works out at seventy-f
sevei^years^or^eigM^yearsj^inttst.^ trustworthy man sen t by Haidar Khan were
to this effect:
That he belonged to the Rabia tribe who lived in the vilayet of Bagdad, and were
_ i • , 5 rir i n c^ort time before he had sometimes lived in parts of the
PushT-t-Kuh? and'sometimes in the vilayet of Bagdad, and at times had been an Ottoman
subject. In the days when the Great Suleiman Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was Vali of Bagdad * one of Ins
ancestors Ismail Khan had come to the vilayet of Bagdad w,th a few tribes and
settled in a place called Muhavil, a dependency of Bagdad. An allowance had been
made to him, and the administration of the affairs of the Mufaja tribe a branch of
the Muntefik tribes, had been handed over to him. In Little Suleiman Pashas t.mej
Mehmed Khan, son of Ismail Khan, went with the Kurds his father had brought with
him and took up his residence in Khurnabad, a dependency of Bagdad His own father,
Hassan Khan, had come in Abdullah Pasha’s time with the tribes that followed him
and lived in Amara, a dependency of Bagdad, for twelve years During this period he
was subiect to the Muntefik sheikhs for two years, and for those years he was with
the Rabia tribes. After that he built a castle in Amara, where he tarried and lived
for seven years during which period all his belongings were transferred to Bedra, Jessan,
and Mendeli. He therefore begged that, as he still had many vineyards and gardens
in Bedra and Zorbatieh, and about a hundred houses and pieces of land m Bagdad
itself he might become an Ottoman subject as before.
As a fact, it has been learned and ascertained from others, too, that the tribes in
question came to this side several times in that way and obtained vineyards, gardens,
and lands in the places referred to, and in fact still possess them. It is legitimate to
look upon these from the tribes’ point of view as debatable land ; hut there is no doubt
that in return for this the Persians would also dispute those branches of the Beni Lam
tribe which are mentioned in Chapter XVII, as having gone over into Persian territory.
It would therefore seem better to give up the idea of claiming the Feili tribes, and to
claim as Ottoman territory only the Pusht-i-Kuh lands in which they dwell now. If the
Persians, in reply to this claim, say that the localities in which their tribes live belong
to them, this will lay them open to the defence that in that case Fellahieh, Kamiz,
Behbehan, Shava, Dizful, and other places must belong to Turkey, since the Beni Lam
tribes who inhabit them to-day have been Ottoman subjects ab antique, and only
recently passed over into Persian territory. This provides a pretext for demanding that
the Pusht-i-Kuh be saved from the Persians.
Chapter XX.
No one can say accurately what is really the old frontier decided upon by the State
at the time when investigations were carried out in Bedra, Zorbatieh, and Mendeli. It
is said that the present frontier lies on the extreme skirts of the Pusht-i-Kuh mountains,
which extend to the plains; and below is a translation ot a summary of two reports m
Arabic from the council of Bedra and Beni Lam tribe respectively, dealing with this
view and with other matters.
Translation of a Summary of the Bedra Repoi’t.
Between the head of the Kunjiajem stream, which comes from the Milleh Bazan
mountains in the north-east of Bedra—that is to say, between the place where the
Kunjiajem escapes from the hilly country, and the locality known as Makhlat— the
right side of the boundary of Bedra belongs to Bedra, and the left side to the Feili tn c,
who are subject to Persia. There is a stream called Gavi, which comes from the Aarva
mountains, to the east of Bedra, and joins the Kunjiajem at Makhlat. Now, from f e
point where this stream escapes from the mountains, right up to Makhlat, both si os
* Xote by Dervish Pallia .—The Great Suleiman Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was vali of Bagdad from 1193 to 1207 a.h
i.e., 1779-1793.
f Note by Dervish Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. .—Little Suleiman Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was Yali of Bagdad from 1223 to 1225 a.
e., 1809-1811, and Abdullah Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. from 1225 to 1227 a.h., i.e.. 18l 1-1813.