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'Report and Proceedings of the Standing Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence on the Persian Gulf' [‎35r] (74/94)

The record is made up of 1 volume (43 folios). It was created in Nov 1911. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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3. This being the case, the discrepancy between the frontier defined by the
mediating commissioners and that locally recognised hy both sides for many years is
greater than I at first thought.
4. Commencing from the north, the line runs from the middle of the town of
Hawizeh to Failieh. Any such division of the town of Hawizeh is plainly impracticable,
as the country for many miles west of this town is, and has for many years been, in
undisputed possession of the same tribes which now occupy the town, and who are
tributary to Sheikh Khazal.
5. The mediating commissioners’ line strikes the Shatt-el-Arab on the east bank of
the Abu Jidieh Canal, thus placing the Sheikh’s court-house and official quarters at this
point in Turkish territory, and giving to Turkey the control of the head of this
important canal on which extensive date groves depend.
Even the sheikh’s palace half-a-mile above Failieh and his two other residences
behind the island of Barin and Aqawat would all fall in Turkish territory.
6. Southwards from - Failieh the line follows the left bank of the Shatt-el-Arab, not
the main channel. Thus the large islands of Mohallah and Dawasir, now Persian
territory, are assigned to Turkey, which has in consequence the full control of both
banks of the Shatt-el-Arab at several points south of Mohammerah.
7. Were Turkey to raise the question of the frontier and claim to take possession
of all the lands assigned to her by the mediating commissioners in 1851, the Persian
Government and the Sheikh of 'Mohammerah would be deprived of large areas of
valuable land, and the Shatt-el-Arab, instead of being under the joint control of Turkey
and Persia, would become solely a Turkish stream.
8. The frontier near Mohammerah, as mutually adopted by both sides both now
and for many years past, probably does not differ greatly from the status quo
provisionally accepted by the Ottoman and Persian commissioners _ in 1851 (vide
8th paragraph of p. 7 of Mr. Parker’s memorandum), and is shown in detail in the
1 mile = 1 inch maps forwarded to you under my letter of the 18th September and to
His Majesty’s Minister under cover of my despatch of the same date.
9. Keeping some 10 miles west of Hawizeh, this line approaches the Shatt-el-Arab
near Diaji, where it is marked by a well-defined mud wall. It does not, however,
reach the main channel of the Shatt-el-Arab, but. turning east, runs parallel to the
river about a-mile from the lefc bank of the main channel or half-a-mile from the boat
channel along a small canal. It strikes the main channel at a point Itt miles above
Failieh, and thence is locally considered to run down midstream along the mam
channel of the river to the open seas.
The islands of Mohallah and all other islands on the left side of the mam channel
are thus admitted to belong to Persia, and no contrary claim has been raised by
Turkey as far as is known for the last fifty years or so.
10. Since the mediating commissioners’ line was repudiated by Turkey at the time,
and since the Turkish and Persian delegates undertook shortly after the decision of the
commissioners had been promulgated to observe the status quo then existing, ! \\ould
submit that it is neither necessary nor desirable for us to uphold the commissioners
frontier, particularly in view of the joint declaration made in 1869 by England and
Russia, which omitted all mention of this line, as also did the map presented to both
Governments by the Anglo-Rusdan Boundary Commission, in connection with which
this declaration was made. To do so would be, 1 believe, to risk grave complications,
which might be avoided by supporting the status quo as agreed on at present and for
many years past by the local representatives of Persia and lurkey.
The rumoured intention of the Turks to appoint a consul to Mohammerah may
precipitate the raising of the question of frontiers, as such an official would not unlikely
make it his business to oppose the sheikh and raisepnconyenient questions. _
11. I would therefore beg that I may be furnished if possible with tracings of the
orioinal maps prepared by the mediating commissioners in 1851, which were presumably
on^a large enough scale to enable features on the ground to be identified on the map,
and the frontier thus fixed on the ground itself. ,
Although the words “delimited” and “ defined ”* are used in Mr. Parkers
memorandum, as far as I can ascertain no pillars or other marks to indicate the
boundary were ever erected. u ^ • v
12 'if copies of Colonel Williams’s large scale maps from Mohammerah to Hawizeh
are not available, the required information might, perhaps, be obtained from
Sir A. Kemball’s working maps in the embassy at Constantinople referred uo m p. -o
of the memorandum.
* 1 mean “ defined ” on the map. There were once pillars at Hawizeh. A. I.

About this item

Content

The report was printed for the Committee of Imperial Defence, November 1911, and approved on 14 December 1911. It concerns the situation in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. regarding the extent to which Turkish claims aligned with British interests, and engagements already made with the Sheikh of Koweit [Kuwait] and other chiefs.

It includes the following:

  • Report - The Standing Sub-Committee advise on the terminus of the Baghdad Railway, control of the navigation of the Shat-Al-Arab [Shatt al Arab], and the limits of Turkish sovereignty in the Shat-Al-Arab and on the shores of the Gulf.
  • Proceedings - minutes of the First Meeting, 24 May 1911; and minutes of the Second Meeting, 15 June 1911.

The following appendices are also contained in the report:

I. Memorandum on Turkish aggression in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , by the Foreign Office.

II. Memorandum on local action in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , by the General Staff, War Office.

III. Letter on the Shat-Al-Arab and Koweit, from the Naval Commander-in-chief, East Indies, to the Government of India.

IV. Report of the Inter-Departmental Conference on the Baghdad Railway terminus, by the Foreign Office, 1907.

V. Foreign Office correspondence on the frontier of Muhamrah (Mohammerah)[Khorramshahr].

VI. Memorandum on the Turco-Persian boundary question 1833-1906, by the Foreign Office.

VII. Foreign Office correspondence on the frontier of Mohammerah, 1906-1911.

Some treaty extracts and agreements are in French.

Also contains three maps:

f 25: 'MAP OF MOHAMMERAH AND DISTRICT PREPARED IN 1850'

f 43: 'Sketch of APPROACHES TO KUWEIT HARBOUR AND SHATT AL ARAB'

f 44: ' PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. AND ADJACENT COUNTRIES'

Extent and format
1 volume (43 folios)
Arrangement

The file consists of a single report and three accompanying maps. A contents page at the front of the volume (ff 3-4) references the volume’s original printed pagination.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 45; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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'Report and Proceedings of the Standing Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence on the Persian Gulf' [‎35r] (74/94), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/130, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100041003698.0x00004b> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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