File 1855/1904 Pt 10 'Koweit:- Relations with Turkey. Sheikh's properties at Fao and Fadaghia' [‎167r] (333/398)

REPORT.
On the claims of Sheikh Mobarak against the Turkish authorities at Basrah in
respect of the alleged encroachment by Turkish soldiers on his lands at
Fao.
The facts of the case, as represented by Sheikh Mobarak, are as follows :—
In the beginning of the year 1908, a Turkish corvette was sent to Fao and
the soldiers of the Fort by night destroyed an embankment, enclosing a portion
of Sheikh Mobarak’s lands at Fao.
Various reasons have been alleged for this action but two contradictory ones
now stand out:—
, 0 ). that the land was newly reclaimed land. This contention is evidently
implied in His Excellency the Wali of Basrah’s ambiguous letter, of which a
copy and translation was forwarded with my letter Vo. i8i, dated the i ^th Aoril
1908, to the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ;
(2) that the cultivation on the land of which the embankment was broken
was obstructing the view from the fort and that a clear space of 600 metres was
required all round the fort for defensive purposes. Mr. Consul Crow makes
a casual reference in a private letter to me, which I quote “ Sorry I could not do
more for Mobarak, but the military people at Constantinople are absolutely
opposed to any encroachment on the perimeter of the Fao fort. The local autho-
rities seem well-disposed to the Sheikh, though the arms traffic is a sore point
and they think he encourages it.” v
Sheikh Mobarak declares that the embankment in question is certainly very
old and^ that from the^ land which^ it protects, the mud was taken to build the
fort. He,says that it runs in a continuation—interrupted however by a creek—and to
the north of the fort embankment; and that, when the fort was built, he and <-he
fort authorities combined amicably to embank or repair embankments together.
He says that, since that date, 23 years ago, he has carried out yearfy and
even more frequent repairs, as occasion demanded, to the embankment * and
* in another letter he gives the age of the embank- his men have never been interfered with
ment at 14 years. unt ;i nQW>
In support of this contention, he has produced copies of certain corres-
t Appendix b. pondence f which took place in the early-
f r, , ' „ . part of the year between His Excellency the
Wall o Basrah and the Kaim-mokam of Fao. It must be said that these do not
appear to be officia copies, but they were probably furnished by the Kaim-
mokam of Fao to the Sheikh. Sheikh Mobarak explains that certificated copies of
I urkish records are not procurable. In that correspondence, the Kaim-mokam
corroborates the destruction by night of the embankment by Turkish soldiers—in
itself a sufficiently lawless and high-handed proceeding, for which it would not
perhaps be too much to demand the punishment of the officer commanding the
fort and the Sheikh s statement that the embankment is an old one. The letters
ot the Kaim-mokam also indicate that the nearness of the cultivation to the fort
is the reason why the embankment was destroyed.
A Turkish Commission, composed of the following members
The Commander of the Turkish corvette;
The Kaim-mokam of Fao;
A Yus-bashi from Basrah ;
sat on the question. No Koweit representative was present, according to Sheikh
Mobarak. The embankment had not been repaired after the damage done to
them by the Turkish soldiers and have not been repaired yet. The Commission
expressed the opinion that there was no necessity to interfere with the embank
ments, but that they obstructed the view from the fort and that future repairs
should not be executed [vide Political Agent’s letter No. g=t, dated 2rd March
igc8, to the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ).