Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎251r] (502/540)

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88. It was understood later in the year that active steps were being taken
to promote an agreement and that the Egyptian consul at Jedda had made definite
progress. Hope ran high when he left for Cairo at the end of November after a
series of visits to Mecca. He took with him a letter from Ibn Sand to King Fuad,
and when he returned on the 25th December it was thought that he had brought
reply, but it appeared later that it was only an oral message. The consul was
extremely guarded as to the results he had achieved, and created the impression
that both the scope and the results of his activity had been exaggerated. On the
29th December the Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs denied explicitly in a
statement to the press that there had been any negotiations at all or that the
Egyptian consul had been instructed to take any action, although the Minister
admitted the exchange of communications between the Kings. The conclusion at
the end of the year was that there had been much rubbing of sensitive noses but
that nothing serious had been accomplished. The people of Jedda and Mecca,
who have little stomach for Wahhabism and a passion for gain, would dearly love
to see a Sacred Caravan, which they think would give a fillip to a depressed
economic situation. At the end of December there seemed to be no prospect of
their hopes being gratified in 1931.
(9) urkey.
89. The Treaty of Friendship between Turkey and Hejaz-Nejd, which was
signed at Mecca on the 3rd August, 1929, was in due course ratified by both
parties, and the ratifications were exchanged at Jedda on the 10th December, 1930.
The Turkish Government had already in July regularised the position of their
“diplomatic representative,’’ Seni Bey, who had previously borne that title
without definition of rank, by appointing him Charge d’Affaires at the head of a
Legation. He is an amiable Turk of the old school, who has taken kindly to
modern ideas. There are no signs of really active political relations between the
two countries, nor is Seni Bey the man to create or conduct them, although he has
fair intelligence and had a good deal of experience in Arab countries as a Turkish
administrative official in old days. The scaremongers, however, occasionally put
about tales of deep-laid plots between Ibn Saud and Turkey, and there is a
picturesque story of the King’s having had a secret meeting in the desert with
the Turkish representative. These rumours are almost certainly devoid of
foundation.
90. Reference has been made elsewhere to the activities of another Turk,
Mahmoud Nedim Bey, who has at different times played a considerable part in
Yemen affairs, and after the armistice worked hard for the Turkish interest in
that country. He was at that time in close relation with his own country, and
he still draws a salary or a pension from it, but there is no evidence that his
more recent activities have been inspired from Angora. Ibn Sand’s entourage
includes some other Turks, Kurds and ex-Turkish officers of other origins, but
they seem to be nothing more than his paid servants or dependents on his bounty,
and in some cases they are persons repugnant to the new regime in Turkey.
As against this it may be noted in passing that the Syrian ex-Turkish officer
engaged in reorganising Ibn Saud's incipient regular army (see paragraph 133 {c)
below) spent some time in Angora as recently as 1927-28 or thereabouts
(10) Persia.
91. Ratifications were exchanged at Jedda in June 1930 of the treaty
between Persia and Hejaz-Nejd, which was signed at Tehran on the
24th August, 1929. This treaty is of a simple type, but it contains one clause of
interest in view of the mutual dislike between Wahhabis and Shiites. By this
clause the Hejaz-Nejd Government undertake “ to give Persian pilgrims in every
respect the same treatment as they give to other pilgrims, and to allow no difficulty
to be created in regard to the ritual ceremonies of the pilgrims to the Kaaba and
the discharge of religious obligations by Persian pilgrims.’’
92. Persia having, like certain other Powers, created a Legation at Jedda,
sent thither in April 1930 Mirza Habibullah Khan Hoveida as diplomatic repre
sentative and Charge d’Affaires. He went on leave in June and was followed on
the 30th July by the junior whom he had left in charge. The Legation remained