File 345/1908 Pt 2 'Mohammerah: situation. Sheikh's dispute with the Vali of Basra. decoration for Sheikh. renewed assurances to Sheikh.' [‎107v] (219/566)

7. The case of Muhammad Meshri, also mentioned in the despatch above
quoted, has another aspect. The removal of “ fallahs Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. in the usual way ” is a
euphemism for an attempt, on the part of the Turks, to oust the tenants of certain
lands (alleged to be Persian subjects), without reference to the Turkish courts
ot law, in favour of the Turkish owner. It is not stated who gave the message
to the Tabur Agassi that Meshri would be killed in the same way as Chamaran,
if the arrest of Muhammad Chanan were insisted on. Itjs strenuously denied
here and seems inherently improbable that Muhammad Chanan, or his men,
would have been so foolish to utter such a threat to 15 armed gendarmes on
Turkish soil. The story is not unlikely to be a fabrication on the part of
Turkish subordinate officials with the object of causing trouble between the
Sheikh and the Wali.
8. The Wall’s demands that Muhammad Chanan be handed over, and his
refusal to even discuss the matter with Sheikh Khazal seems to be arbitrary
and unjustifiable. As headman and hereditary leader of one of the Sheikh’s
tribes, it is impossible for the Sheikh to hand over him to the Wali without
incurring the hostility of a powerful section of the tribes who uphold him.
Basrah ;
April igio.
No. 46.
My dear Wilson,
I have your letter of this evening. A list of about 25 people was sent to
the Sheikh giving names of persons wanted for various matters connected with
troubles on the river in Turkey.
The Wali could not tell me anything against Haji Athbi and did not seem
to know the name, but said that the cases of the persons asked for would be dealt
with judicially if surrendered. I told him it might be extremely difficult for the
Sheikh, as an Arab, to surrender either Chanan or Athbi, who were Chiefs of some
of his most powerful tribes, as such a surrender would be contrary to Arab customs
and tribal rules.
The Wali said Chanan was an Ottoman subject, resident in Turkey, and, even
if he were not an Ottoman subject, he was concerned in past troubles on the
river. The Turks hitherto had not been able to exact redress, but that time was
over. The Sheikh, in years past, had frequently been asked to restrain his
adherents from disturbing the peace of the Vilayet. He had not done so. As he
protected these people and refused to surrender them, the Wali said he had no
choice in the latter but to take his own measures.
My impression is that the Wali is acting on instructions from Constantinople,
and I hear that he wired after refusing the Sheikh when the latter brought up
Chanan to Basrah. I do not think anything fresh is contemplated at present
unless the Sheikh gives cause by raising his tribes and creating trouble. In that
case the Turks might move against Failiyah or destroy some of the Sheikh’s
property in Basrah^ I notice that they pulled down part of a new house which
the Sheikh is erecting on the Asshar creek, near the brigade, but they did not
do much damage, and the proceedings were stopped, I hear, by the Wali in person.
At the same time they pulled down part of Khaderi’s new house (unfinished) a
little lower down, but I do not attach much importance to these incidents.
The Wali spontaneously told me that the Sheikh’s house at Failiyah, which
he called 1 Persian yildiz ” was, strictly speaking, situated in Turkey, according to
the line of demarcation laid down by the Commission. He seems to have learned
this from Constantinople. The Turkish officials are childishly exultant over the
Zain affair, and matters must rest a while till they are cooler.
^ There have been no troubles on the river as far as I know except the recent
affairs at Ajariwiyah and Minawaiand Chibasi, but, according to my reports to
the Embassay, there is a heavy cumulative record against Mohammerah from