File 345/1908 Pt 2 'Mohammerah: situation. Sheikh's dispute with the Vali of Basra. decoration for Sheikh. renewed assurances to Sheikh.' [‎177v] (359/566)

the subject of the difficulties between the Sheikh of Mohammerah and the Vali of
Bussorah, and of the result of negotiations between the two parties, together with
a telegram of the subject of the rules regarding extradition in force between Turk
and Persia. ^ . ,
2. I can add little to Mr. Crow’s statement of the case, which seems to me in the^
main to represent the facts of the case from an impartial standpoint.
3. I think that the harbouring of bad characters by the sheikh is not so serious
an evil or so deliberate a piece of mischief on the part of the sheikh as the Turks
make out.
It has been the_ policy of the sheikh, like all other Arab chiefs, to take such
persons into his service, pay them, clothe them and feed them, and thus keep them
under surveillance and out of mischief, whilst at the same time securing for himself an
efficient bodyguard. It is only when the sheikh has been stirred to indignation by
the ineptitudes of certain valis that he has connived at the perpetration of outrages by
such persons with the object (usually successful) of securing the removal of the vali or
the cessation of the practices objected to.
4. Nor can it be assumed that the sheikh is generally cognizant of outrages
committed by his subjects. The reverse is the case. The latter, living in Turkish
territory, have hitherto been emboldened to commit depredations by the knowledge
that the Turkish police were not likely to disturb their operations, and tilt
subsequent punishment was not likely to follow. They only occasionally bothered to
take refuge in Mohammerah, being safe in Bussorah, a larger town, where they would
not be known personally.
5. The proofs of the Persian nationality of Muhammad Chanan, which have been
submitted to ^ me by the local authorities have satisfied me that he is a Persian
subject according to international law, but this point has now ceased to have more than
academic importance.
6. The settlement that has now been reached between the sheikh and the vali is
shown by the enclosure to Mr. Crow’s despatch No. 26 of the 14th May.* It takes the
form of a letter from the Turkish authorities to the sheikh, in which the latter set forth
their case against the sheikh in brief and polite but forcible language, and announce
their willingness to be friends with him if he will undertake to surrender fugitives and
prevent his tribesmen from causing trouble in Turkish territory. i '
Something less than justice is done to the sheikh by this form of settlement, which
is entirely in favour of the Turks.
But this must be accepted as inevitable, since they are, owing to Persia’s weakness,
nov predominant on the river, and preparing to make good their claim to exercise
sovereign territorial rights in the Shatt-el-Arab, which they regard as the territorial
waters of the Ottoman Empire, to which Persian vessels have access only by virtue of
the special clause in the Treaty of Erzeroum.
7. ^ I hope to see the sheikh shortly, and shall urge on him the necessity of
accepting tlm settlement, unsatisfactory though it may be, and of endeavouring to
cultivate cordial relations with the Turks afresh. In the words of Mr. Crow, he must
modernise his ideas with regard to them, and realise that the change of regime, in
urkey, has brought about radical changes to which he must accommodate himself.
• ^ f rus f that the Turks, on their part, will not again be so precipitate in their
action should they have any cause of complaint, real or imaginary, against him.
(Copies of foregoing, with enclosures to His Majesty’s Minister, Tehran, and to
His Majesty’s Consul, Bussorah.)
I have, &c. j
A. T. WILSON, Lieutenant, LA. \
o