Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎36r] (72/540)

173. The first steamer to call at the new Saudi port of Ras Tanura, on the
coast of Hasa, was the steamship Gierfels, of the German Hansa Line. This line
applied to C.A.S.O.C. for the work of landing agents at Ras Tanura, but it seems
to have received no encouragement. On the Red Sea side of Arabia there is not
much German trade, though the Hansa Line call at Jedda regularly. Two
German citizens are now living in Jedda, a Mr. Hall and his wife. Mi\ Hall is
a member of a well-known family, half-German, half-Abyssinian, long established
in Addis Ababa, which has been squeezed out since the Italian conquest.
Turkey.
174. The solution of the Alexandretta problem which was eventually
adopted by France and Turkey will have served to strengthen the suspicions of
Turkish policy towards the Arabs which Ibn Saud has expressed to His Majesty’s
Government on so many occasions. He has shown little outward interest in the
subject this year, but his views probably differ little if at all from those of the
Kaimakam of Jedda, who considers that the sanjak has been sold to the Turks
by the French in exchange for security for the rest of Syria and for the recognition
of the special position of France therein.
175. In June the Ministry for Foreign Affairs showed to His Majesty’s
Minister copies of telegrams exchanged between the Turkish Charge d’Affaires
and Ibn Saud. M. Goren, acting on instructions from Angora, telegraphed to
the King urging him not to be misled by the rumours and slanders about
'turkey that were being uttered : the trouble in the sanjak was mainly due to
certain Catholics acting apparently under the protection of the French High
Commissioner with the Pope in the background. Turkey, said M. Goren, adhered
firmly to her desire for the freedom and independence of the Arabs and for the
establishment of a lasting friendship between Arabs and Turks, and His
Majesty must therefore be on the watch for anything that interested parties might
do to disturb that friendship. In his reply Ibn Saud reciprocated the good wishes
of the Turkish Government, said that he had advised the Syrian Prime Minister
in 1937 to act with moderation and had informed His Majesty’s Government of
that fact, and expressed the hope that a satisfactory settlement would be arrived
at. Being asked for his views on this correspondence by the representative of
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs who had read the telegrams to him, Sir R.
Bullard, refraining with some difficulty from the comment that the Turks obviously
thought more highly of Ibn Saud’s influence than of his intelligence, merely said
that some compromise seemed inevitable in the circumstances and spoke with high
appreciation of the counsel of moderation which His Majesty had given to Jamil
Mardom.
176. In reporting to His Majesty’s Government the gist of the above-
mentioned telegrams, His Majesty’s Minister reminded them that Ibn Saud used
to believe, or affect to believe, that His Majesty’s Government were strangely blind
to the Turkish peril, but that by now he might perhaps have come to the conclu
sion that they had helped to sacrifice the Arabs in the sanjak to the Turks in
return for Turkish friendship and support; he might even connect their attitude
with the advice which the Turkish Foreign Minister had recently given the
Palestine Arabs, to accept the partition policy of His Majesty’s Government,
Sir R. Bullard said that if Ibn Saud could see the minutes of the proceedings at
which the sanjak question had been discussed, he might take a more favourable
view of British policy, but with the information at his disposal he would
inevitably believe that from fear or self-interest we had allowed the Turks to
attain in the sanjak a political predominance which was not justified by the
strength of the Turkish element in the population.
177. The Foreign Office sent to Jedda a copy of a telegram sent to His
Majesty’s Ambassador in Bagdad, setting forth’the point of view of His
Majesty’s Government on the subject of the sanjak. This telegram, they
considered, would furnish His Majesty’s Legation with the necessary background
for a reply to any further enquiries from Ibn Saud on the subject, and to refute
any suggestion that His Majesty’s Government, in order to obtain Turkish friend
ship and support, had used their influence with the French Government to induce
them to accede to Turkish demands regarding the sanjak without regard for the
interests of the local Arabs.